Michael Waltrip pulling a dance/drive double this weekend at Talladega
TALLADEGA, Ala. – It’s safe to say Michael Waltrip is about to attempt something never before tried in NASCAR history.
Drivers have run two races in a day, sometimes even in different states. Drivers have raced one night and run a footrace the next morning. But no driver has ever run a race one day and gone on a national dancing show the next … until now.
Waltrip is a surprisingly long-lived contestant on “Dancing with the Stars,” the insanely popular television show which airs on Monday nights. Waltrip, now largely an owner/commentator, also still drives at NASCAR’s superspeedways, and he’s entered in Sunday’s GEICO 500. Once he finishes that, he’ll jump on a plane to California for Monday’s show.
A dancing show is pretty much the last place you’d expect to find a Daytona 500 winner, and yet there’s Waltrip, hanging on by his fingernails.
“It’s been a wonderful experience,” Waltrip said. “I had the best time last week doing my disco. And I was so proud of it until those four judges spoke. They didn’t like my disco so well. One of ’em said, and I quote, ‘It was entertaining as hell, but I’m tired of being entertained,’ ” said Waltrip. “Well, what the heck? I’m not trying to win a Pulitzer Prize or anything, I’m trying to dance, you know?”
This week, he’ll be performing an Argentine Tango. “It’s quite a lot different than the disco,” Waltrip said. “So it’s really, like, romantic and sexy.”
“Romantic and sexy” are not the first, or the 50th, adjectives to come to mind when describing Talladega. So Waltrip brought along his dancing partner, Emma Slater, to keep him on point and sharp in between his racing and commentating duties. They’ve been practicing in a local YMCA, which is almost surely every bit as ridiculous as it sounds.
Waltrip also took Slater out to visit with the Talladega fans on Friday night, which seems a very brave thing to do:
Slater apparently survived the experience, along the way meeting with drivers Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski:
Waltrip is not expected to win at either Talladega or “DWTS.” But he’s giving both a try, and that’s certainly something. We’re not sure if his old friend Dale Earnhardt would be proud, but he’d certainly be amused.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter.
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