Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
Despite being around racing from a young age and watching his father Kim Wallace promote a pair of race tracks, Mike Wallace didn’t get started behind the wheel of a racecar till later than expected.
Though once he got started behind the wheel, the success immediately came. In his rookie year of competition, he finished second in Kawartha Speedway’s points while winning the Peterborough Speedway Championship. He then backed that up with championships at both Kawartha and Peterborough in his sophomore season.
With the success, he made a big decision – he sold the car and decided to go late model racing.
“I went to Hartford, Connecuit and picked up a late model, and made the long trek home with it,” he commented.
His first trip to the track with the new car didn’t pan out well, though, as he would stuff it in the front stretch wall at Kawartha.
“That was a huge learning curve,” he admits. “I thought I was on top of the world till I wrecked it.”
Wallace was able to get it repaired and be in attendance for the opening night of the season. With realization on his side, he made the decision to take things slow and build up to be a consistent front-runner.
“The way I started the season, I started at the back of the pack till I told myself I could run with the field,” he stated. “It took a few weeks and then we started to be able to catch up with the field. Then I started my pill draw where I pulled, and that’s where I started, and gained the respect of these older guys, like Tom (Walters) and Derek (Lynch).”
Getting the chance to race against the veterans, Wallace admits was a good experience as they don’t shy away from telling you the truth about how you’re performing.
“If they don’t like what you’re doing to them, they’ll take you behind the trailer and Derek took me numerous times and told me what to do, what not to do,” Wallace stated. “I’ve gone to Tommy at Autumn Colours a few times and they’ve all given me their advice. It’s awesome to look up to veterans like these guys.”
Since those small beginnings, Wallace has built himself a solid successful racing career, winning late model features at both Kawartha Speedway and Peterborough Speedway through the years.
He notes that it’d be nice to have his grandfather and father involved in his career, but “they’re doing their own thing and I support them with what they do”. He also admits that despite watching how successful his father was a promoter, it wasn’t something that ever crossed his mind.
“Racing was always in my blood. I’m a third generation racer,” he commented. “The racing thing was always in my blood. Unfortunately, it took till the later stages of my life to get started in it – and I had good friends that helped me get started in it.”
