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CNN Live Today

Interview With Michael Waltrip

Aired February 17, 2003 - 11:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the meantime, a totally different scene to talk about. Michael Waltrip let the champagne flow this morning. He is celebrating his second victory in the Daytona 500. Snow was no problem down there. He sped past leader Jimmie Johnson after a restart on lap 106. NASA -- NASCAR, listen to me, NASA. NASCAR called the race three laps later due to the rain there.
Now, Waltrip's first Daytona win, that one came under an emotional cloud two years ago. You might remember that one. He watched as his boss and mentor Dale Earnhardt died in a last lap crash in that particular race. So, his victory was somewhat overshadowed, but Michael Waltrip, he is the man this morning. He's now won three of Winston Cup's last five races at that Daytona track.

I guess you own that track down there, huh, Michael Waltrip as you join us live this morning?

MICHAEL WALTRIP, WINNER, DAYTONA 500: It's a great place to dominate at. There's nothing like coming to Daytona. The Daytona 500 is what our sport is all about. As a racecar driver, you come to Daytona in February to get plugged in. Kind of get charged up for the year and Victory Lane was a great way to get charged up yesterday.

HARRIS: Now you know something? I had to think for a second, it seemed kind of funny, I don't know. I was watching the pre-race coverage and your brother, Daryl was on talking about a, well you know what I think the big factor's going to be, DEI. OK, and the two guys that showed up in the interview after that were you and Dale Earnhardt Junior. And the predictions going in had been one of you two was actually going to pull this out. When did you really know it was going to be you?

WALTRIP: Well, his car was very strong. He won on Thursday in the qualifying race and I ran second. It's too bold for me to predict that I could win the race. You know, I knew we both had good cars, but I had no idea that we could actually pull it off and make it work. But fortunately, we did.

HARRIS: Yes, well you know, a lot of folks were looking at Dale Earnhardt Jr. because he had already won but three of the events from Speed Week and its never been done before where somebody wins all four events. Did you think that he had a chance to win all four?

WALTRIP: Yes, I really did. His car was that good, but this race is so fickled, fate plays into what happens so many times. Yesterday was the first time since 1966 that the official distance of 500 miles wasn't completed.

It was shortened because of rain and I told my wife when we were sitting on the pit box feeling the rain drops falling on our heads in total, total prayer and hope that it was over, I said, aren't we due? You know, isn't it time for one to get messed up by the rain? And I also told her I felt like we could win it if it went 200 laps. But I said there's no need for us to. We win right now, if it will just rain, let it rain.

HARRIS: Wait a second, you mean to tell me that you guys were sitting there praying for rain?

WALTRIP: Oh, like really hard. I went to the Lord and I said, Lord, I know I really mess up sometime. I want you to forgive me for those sins. And by the way, could you make it rain for like 40 days and 40 nights right now because we were setting -- there was no reason for us to want it to go back to green.

The fans had seen a lot of racing action. A day had been drawn out because of the weather, and the weather wasn't looking good for later on. So why not hope and pray? And that's what we did.

HARRIS: Oh man. Listen, I got to ask you first of all about that -- did you happen to see that big crash? Was it Ryan when Weaver's car that went -- there it is. We've got the video playing.

WALTRIP: Ryan Neumann.

HARRIS: Ryan Neuman, there you go. Were you able to see that from your car when you were actually driving around?

WALTRIP: No. A lot of times you check out what happens in the mirror and see it. I did realize there had been a wreck. I saw some smoke back there but when I came around the front straightaway and his car was on its roof and his whole rear end was gone, I didn't understand how that happened. Usually it has to be a much -- you know, I figured more cars had to be involved to be such a violent looking crash.

But I heard Ryan interviewed and he said when he came to a stop he was hanging upside down in his car and he had sod on his head. The sod from the grass had gotten tangled around his head. But other than that, he was just fine.

I think we've come so far in the safety world, as far as NASCAR racing goes. The cars are safer now, the drivers are more conscious of the safety issues. And you know, you feel much more comfortable coming to the racetrack these days than in recent history.

HARRIS: Yes. I tell you something and considering the way that the rain was actually wreaking havoc with that race and bringing up the memories from that crash that Dale Earnhardt had back in 2001, glad to see things turned out well for Ryan and for you as well.

Michael Waltrip, congratulations, good luck to you down the road. We got to move on. We got another live event we have to get to right now, but all the best to you and yours. All right, take care.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 17, 2003 - 11:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the meantime, a totally different scene to talk about. Michael Waltrip let the champagne flow this morning. He is celebrating his second victory in the Daytona 500. Snow was no problem down there. He sped past leader Jimmie Johnson after a restart on lap 106. NASA -- NASCAR, listen to me, NASA. NASCAR called the race three laps later due to the rain there.
Now, Waltrip's first Daytona win, that one came under an emotional cloud two years ago. You might remember that one. He watched as his boss and mentor Dale Earnhardt died in a last lap crash in that particular race. So, his victory was somewhat overshadowed, but Michael Waltrip, he is the man this morning. He's now won three of Winston Cup's last five races at that Daytona track.

I guess you own that track down there, huh, Michael Waltrip as you join us live this morning?

MICHAEL WALTRIP, WINNER, DAYTONA 500: It's a great place to dominate at. There's nothing like coming to Daytona. The Daytona 500 is what our sport is all about. As a racecar driver, you come to Daytona in February to get plugged in. Kind of get charged up for the year and Victory Lane was a great way to get charged up yesterday.

HARRIS: Now you know something? I had to think for a second, it seemed kind of funny, I don't know. I was watching the pre-race coverage and your brother, Daryl was on talking about a, well you know what I think the big factor's going to be, DEI. OK, and the two guys that showed up in the interview after that were you and Dale Earnhardt Junior. And the predictions going in had been one of you two was actually going to pull this out. When did you really know it was going to be you?

WALTRIP: Well, his car was very strong. He won on Thursday in the qualifying race and I ran second. It's too bold for me to predict that I could win the race. You know, I knew we both had good cars, but I had no idea that we could actually pull it off and make it work. But fortunately, we did.

HARRIS: Yes, well you know, a lot of folks were looking at Dale Earnhardt Jr. because he had already won but three of the events from Speed Week and its never been done before where somebody wins all four events. Did you think that he had a chance to win all four?

WALTRIP: Yes, I really did. His car was that good, but this race is so fickled, fate plays into what happens so many times. Yesterday was the first time since 1966 that the official distance of 500 miles wasn't completed.

It was shortened because of rain and I told my wife when we were sitting on the pit box feeling the rain drops falling on our heads in total, total prayer and hope that it was over, I said, aren't we due? You know, isn't it time for one to get messed up by the rain? And I also told her I felt like we could win it if it went 200 laps. But I said there's no need for us to. We win right now, if it will just rain, let it rain.

HARRIS: Wait a second, you mean to tell me that you guys were sitting there praying for rain?

WALTRIP: Oh, like really hard. I went to the Lord and I said, Lord, I know I really mess up sometime. I want you to forgive me for those sins. And by the way, could you make it rain for like 40 days and 40 nights right now because we were setting -- there was no reason for us to want it to go back to green.

The fans had seen a lot of racing action. A day had been drawn out because of the weather, and the weather wasn't looking good for later on. So why not hope and pray? And that's what we did.

HARRIS: Oh man. Listen, I got to ask you first of all about that -- did you happen to see that big crash? Was it Ryan when Weaver's car that went -- there it is. We've got the video playing.

WALTRIP: Ryan Neumann.

HARRIS: Ryan Neuman, there you go. Were you able to see that from your car when you were actually driving around?

WALTRIP: No. A lot of times you check out what happens in the mirror and see it. I did realize there had been a wreck. I saw some smoke back there but when I came around the front straightaway and his car was on its roof and his whole rear end was gone, I didn't understand how that happened. Usually it has to be a much -- you know, I figured more cars had to be involved to be such a violent looking crash.

But I heard Ryan interviewed and he said when he came to a stop he was hanging upside down in his car and he had sod on his head. The sod from the grass had gotten tangled around his head. But other than that, he was just fine.

I think we've come so far in the safety world, as far as NASCAR racing goes. The cars are safer now, the drivers are more conscious of the safety issues. And you know, you feel much more comfortable coming to the racetrack these days than in recent history.

HARRIS: Yes. I tell you something and considering the way that the rain was actually wreaking havoc with that race and bringing up the memories from that crash that Dale Earnhardt had back in 2001, glad to see things turned out well for Ryan and for you as well.

Michael Waltrip, congratulations, good luck to you down the road. We got to move on. We got another live event we have to get to right now, but all the best to you and yours. All right, take care.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com