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Wally Dallenbach Jr.
Dallenbach in 2004
Born	Wallace Paul Dallenbach (1963-05-23)May 23, 1963 (age 62) Basalt, Colorado, U.S.
Achievements	1985, 1986Trans-Am Series champion Four class wins at24 Hours of Daytona Three class wins at12 Hours of Sebring
Awards	2025Trans-Am Series Hall of Fame inductee
NASCARCup Series career
226 races run over 11 years
Best finish	18th (1999)
First race	1991Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 (Atlanta)
Last race	2001Pocono 500 (Pocono)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 23 0
NASCARO'Reilly Auto Parts Series career
16 races run over 4 years
Best finish	61st (2004)
First race	2002Cabela's 250 (Michigan)
Last race	2005Ameriquest 300 (California)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 3 0
NASCARCraftsman Truck Series career
2 races run over 2 years
Best finish	68th (1995)
First race	1995Subway 100 (Sonoma)
Last race	1996Lund Look 225 (Topeka)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
Statistics up to date as of February 5, 2025.

Wallace Paul Dallenbach (born May 23, 1963) is an American formerracing driver. He competed in theNASCAR Cup Series, and is known for his prowess as a road racer. In addition to NASCAR, Dallenbach has raced inSCCATrans-Am,IMSA Camel GT,CART, and thePikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Dallenbach is the son ofIndy car driver and officialWallace Jacob Dallenbach. After the younger Dallenbach began a professional racing career during the middle 1980s, he came to be known by theretronymDallenbach Jr.

Mostly retired from full-time driving, Dallenbach was a race commentator forNBC Sports andTurner Sports. His primary responsibilities are forTNT's NASCAR coverage, a position he had held since 2001, andNBC Sports Network'sIndyCar Series coverage, which he has been a part of since NBC was bought by Comcast in 2010 until 2014. Dallenbach worked withAdam Alexander andKyle Petty on TNT and withLeigh Diffey andJon Beekhuis on NBC Sports Network. In 2015 Dallenbach joinedFox NASCAR onNASCAR Race Hub.

Dallenbach was born inBasalt, Colorado. He grew up inDenver with his fatherWally Dallenbach Sr. and mother. After graduating high school, Dallenbach left Colorado for North Carolina to start a racing career. He began his pro racing career in theSCCATrans-Am Series. Immediately he won the Rookie-of-the Year title in 1984, and followed that up with two Trans-Am championships. The first one in 1985 driving forJack Roush in aMercury Capri. This made Dallenbach the youngest Trans-Am champion at the age of just 22 years. The following year Dallenbach joined the Protofab team and drove theirCamaros to another championship. The success garnered him an invitation to race in theInternational Race of Champions in 1987. Dallenbach followed up those accomplishments by winning the24 Hours of Daytona four times and the12 Hours of Sebring three times. He later drove in the GTO class of theIMSA GT championship, finishing runner-up in the standings in 1988 (driving forJack Roush) and 1989.

Initially, Dallenbach followed the steps of his father by pursuing an open-wheel career, taking part the inaugural round of theAmerican Racing Series in 1986, on which he raced four more times over the following two seasons, finishing 3rd at Phoenix in 1988. One year before, he had made hisCART Indy Car debut atRoad America subbing for driver-ownerDick Simon, who had undergone an arm surgery after a fall off his motorbike. After qualifying seventeenth, Dallenbach went off the track late in the race and retired, though he was classified in the twelfth and final points paying place. Three years later, in 1990, he took part in three road course races at the end of the season for the Leader Cards team, in place of the departingPancho Carter, with an 11th place finish atDenver followed by engine failures atMid-Ohio andLaguna Seca.

By 1991, Dallenbach was ready made the jump to the world ofNASCAR, racing in theWinston Cup Series. He made eleven starts that year driving one ofJunie Donlavey's Fords. In 1992, former bossJack Roush called Dallenbach up to have him drive as a teammate toMark Martin in the No. 16 Ford. He drove for Roush during the 1992 and 1993 seasons, finishing second at Watkins Glen 1993, fifth at the 1991 Watkins Glen race, seventh at 1996 Sonoma, and tenth at the 1993 Daytona 500 and 1993 Talladega 500.

In 1994,Richard Petty put Dallenbach in the famous No. 43 Pontiac. He was the second driver other than Petty to drive the No. 43.^[a] Dallenbach finished fourth at Sonoma, eighth at Talladega and tenth at Dover, but was released part way through the season. 1995 was an up-and-down year for Dallenbach, as he did not have a full-time ride. However, a one race deal withBill Davis in the No. 22 Pontiac almost got Dallenbach his first Cup win atWatkins Glen, but he fell in the closing laps to finish in second.

The following years saw Dallenbach jumping around to different rides. He was considered one of the better road course drivers and was often recruited to drive at such tracks asSonoma and Watkins Glen, as many drivers struggled on these more demanding tracks. In 1996 he drove the No. 15 Ford forBud Moore Engineering, finishing sixth at the Daytona 500, third at Sonoma and tenth at Watkins Glen. Then he drove the No. 46 First Union-sponsored Chevrolet forFelix Sabates from 1997 through part of 1998, claiming a tenth-place finish at the 1997 Watkins Glen race.

Later in 1998, Dallenbach stepped in to sub forRicky Craven in the No. 50 Chevrolet forHendrick Motorsports. The combination worked out well, earning three top 10s, and Dallenbach signed on to drive the No. 25 Chevrolet for 1999. It resulted in his best position in the standings of eighteenth with six top tens.

In 2000, Dallenbach joined the new Galaxy Motorsports and drove the No. 75 Ford. It was a difficult season, with a best result of ninth at Watkins Glen. In addition, promised sponsor opportunities fell through, leaving Dallenbach without a ride right before the 2001 season was to begin. In fact, Dallenbach was listed in several season preview media sources, despite never attempting a single race that season. Dallenbach would also sub forJoe Nemechek in the Pocono event in 2001.

Dallenbach made his return to racing in 2021 in the Trans-Am TAH subcategory of the TA class with the Ultimate Headers Racing Team under the ownership of John & Debbie Cloud.^{[citation needed]}

Without a ride, Dallenbach took up TV commentating in 2001, covering the NASCAR races forNBC andTNT alongsideAllen Bestwick (later Bill Weber, thenAdam Alexander) andBenny Parsons (laterKyle Petty). In doing so, he became known for his pre-race "Wally's World" segment, where he takes celebrities for a ride around the track. The commentating also allowed Dallenbach to drive in a fewBusch Series races and do some live commentary from the car. Dallenbach and Weber also teamed up to commentate severalChampionship Off-Road Racing events, with Dallenbach pre-running the track in a Pro-4 truck. With the NBC and TNT partnership splitting at the end of the 2006 season, Dallenbach stayed with TNT's new six-race package, and also reunited with Weber during NBC Champ Car broadcasts.

He has since runDaytona Prototypes with his brother Paul at the 24 Hours of Daytona and in 2006, won the open wheel division at thePikes Peak International Hillclimb with Paul finishing right behind in 2nd. On September 22, 2014, Dallenbach announced he would return to Trans-Am for the season finale at Daytona in the TA2 class, stating the "broadcasting phase of my life is over".^[1]

Dallenbach was married toRobin Dallenbach, until 2016. Robin is the daughter ofdrag racing driver, engine builder, and team owner Bob McCall.^[2] Their daughter Kate Dallenbach was a member ofRichard Childress Racing'sdriver development program.^[3]

• Pikes Peak Hill Climb Museum Hall of Fame (2022)^[4]
• Trans-Am Series Hall of Fame (2025)^[5]

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

• Wally Dallenbach Jr. driver statistics at Racing-Reference

• 1963 births
• American color commentators
• American television sports commentators
• Champ Car drivers
• Hendrick Motorsports drivers
• Indy Lights drivers
• International Race of Champions drivers
• Living people
• Motorsport announcers
• NASCAR drivers
• People from Basalt, Colorado
• Racing drivers from Denver
• RFK Racing drivers
• Trans-Am Series drivers
• Daytona 500 drivers
• Coca-Cola 600 drivers
• Brickyard 400 drivers
• Sportspeople from Pitkin County, Colorado

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