Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
First Person is produced in cooperation with the Far East Broadcasting Company, who rejoice in the stories of changed lives through the power of Jesus Christ. Learn more at febc.org. I lived two lives, before I met the Lord and after I got saved. And of course, she'll tell you, she dated two men with the same name. I wanted to do all I could do to influence his focus from being so wrapped up in racing to being totally wrapped up with Jesus.
NASCAR champion driver and television commentator Darrell Waltrip and his wife Stevie join us now for this edition of First Person. Welcome to this week's program. I'm Wayne Shepherd. You'll meet this couple who are Christ followers and have much to teach us about following God's leading.
Before we get to the interview, however, I encourage you to visit us online when you get a chance. Today's interview is just the latest in a long series of conversations that you can listen to whenever you like. Go to FirstPersonInterview.com and click on the red Listen Now button. Explore all the previous programs. FirstPersonInterview.com
Through mutual friends, I first met Stevie Waltrip and then her husband, Daryl, who was a legendary race car driver and spent many years on television calling the races after retiring from driving. This couple lives in the Nashville area and invited me to their home to talk about their life and their decision to live for God's glory. The extended version of this conversation is available as a podcast and at FirstPersonInterview.com.
I began by asking Daryl and Stevie about their early life together. I worked at Don Moore Chevrolet in Owensboro. I sold cars. And so on Friday we get paid. And so Friday we'd go to PD Spotlight Inn and we'd have lunch. PD Spotlight Inn had a shuffleboard. So that day we started, we had lunch and then we, then the first thing you know, we're playing shuffleboard and
All of a sudden, I look at my car. It's 7.15. I was supposed to pick Stevie up at 7 o'clock. So I jumped in my car. I had a really nice brand-new car, 69 Chevelle. Oh, 396, no doubt. SS396, 375 horse. Of course, of course.
chambered exhaust. I mean, this thing sound like a race car. So I'm going out. Oh, Hartford road, not new. Oh, Hartford road. And I am flying. I am. I got to get there. And I, as I was going down the road, uh, a cop car came down out of one of the side streets and I went, I went flying by. Well, here he come.
turns on his blue lights and here he comes following us i can't her dad didn't like her dad and i were not best of friends at that point so i was not real sure what i should do so i thought i got to figure out i got to think of something fast so i turned off my lights because we were coming to an intersection before you get to her house i thought i'll turn off my lights he won't know which way i went well i didn't calculate how fast i was going
So when I turned on my lights, I was up in the air, upside down, going up in the air, upside down, and I landed in her front yard. Oh, my goodness. Well, her sister, who was not a big fan of mine by any means, she had gone and told Stevie, Stevie, I think your date's here. Well, I was waiting for him to come to the door to pick me up, and I hear the car coming.
So I got my coat on, and he never showed up. And the curtains in our house faced this road that he turned upside down on. And my sister looked out the curtains that had been drawn and all the blue lights and all the stuff. And she said, why don't you come with me? And so I said, okay. Okay.
So we go down the driveway, and I don't know how, I guess she figured out it was Daryl because you couldn't tell. And they'd already taken him to jail. And I'd never been to, I didn't even know where the jail was. She didn't either. It was a holdover, honey. It was a holdover. And so, jail. And so we get down there, and he's at the end of a hallway with this door at the end.
And this tiny little window's got bars in it, and he's looking out at me through the bars. And then my dad, who was 6'4", a big man, and he's looming...
Behind me looking at Daryl, and I'm thinking, no wonder they didn't want me to go out with him when I was 16. And you claimed it was a police escort. Yeah. And you said what? I'm glad he had one because we didn't know the way to the jail. The way I heard the story, you said, aren't the police usually in front of you for a police escort? Good point. Needless to say, from that point for several months after that, I was a senior in high school.
Mother and dad would not let me ride in the car with him. I don't think I would have if I were your dad. I was a little nervous about riding in the car myself. But anyway, so we lived through that, and we had a tumultuous relationship. I never got a chance to ask her dad. I said...
I said, I asked you, I said, you want to get married? She said, well, I guess, I guess so. You got to ask, you got to go talk to my dad though. And, uh, Mr. Rader, he was one of my best friends later on, but in the beginning we were a little, we were adversaries and we didn't see eye to eye about a lot of things, but anyway, so we're in the, in the den and he's got a pair of half glasses on. He had a trimmer. Well, I don't know if you know what a trimmer is or not, but your head Bob's.
A trimmer. Yeah, it's called... He just... If he got upset... Oh, a trimmer. Oh, I see. Yeah. If he got nervous, his head started bobbing. So I'm sitting on the couch. He's sitting in his chair with his glasses on. And he said, a young man, he called me young man, he said, I understand you want to talk to me about something. And I said, yes, sir. I said, I would like to... And his head starts bobbing. And I said, I haven't even asked him yet. And he's already saying no. He's shaking his head. You know, come on, man, give me a break. But anyway, I said...
I'd like to ask you. Well, it's fun to hear how it all started. Oh, it was crazy. It was just, you know, I lived two lives. I really did. Before I met the Lord and before we got saved and after I got saved. And, of course, she'll tell you she dated two men with the same name. As I looked you guys up online and read some of your stories and looked at the photos of all these years together, I
Every time he wins a race, you're standing beside him. The photos. You're right there with him all those years. I mean, you guys are inseparable during this life, aren't you? We were. Racing, I was not familiar with the racing world at all. And so it was a real eye-opening experience. I was exposed to a lot of things that I'd never been exposed to before. And then when he started racing...
And at that time, it was called Winston Cup. So up to that point, he just raced on short tracks, quarter miles, half mile at the most. And then he started racing on super speedways and, you know, going 100 and, well, actually more than that at Daytona, like 210, 220 miles an hour. Oh, my goodness. Wow. And so we didn't have children. I was in school.
And so I'd schedule my classes Monday through Thursday, and then I could leave and go with him. But because of the danger involved and the time that we would be apart, I just decided I'm going to put my life on hold other than going to school.
and go with him to the races. And so one of the first big races that he went to, that we went to together was Daytona. And I didn't sleep the night before. It was just really caused a lot of anxiety. But because of that, you know how the Lord redeems these unfortunate situations, shall we say?
And because of the anxiety and the fear and all of that, that just drew me closer to the Lord. And he provided a job in the pits for me to do. So it gave me something to keep my mind on during the races. And eventually, because my life with Christ grew,
As a result of being married to Daryl, I started listening to Michael Card. And I took Michael Card with me to every race and listened to Michael Card music in one ear and Daryl in the other. And I heard you used to put scripture verses on the dashboard of some of the other drivers. I did that, started out doing that for Daryl. That was in the early 80s. And I had had a spiritual awakening, I guess is the best way to put it, with the Lord and
and started going to Bible study fellowship, and just I couldn't get enough of God's Word. I was so enamored with Him and with what I was learning in the Bible. I didn't grow up in a church that really taught specifics that I remember, but I always was, I never not, I always believed, but it kind of just stopped there until I started going to BSF. So I
I just wanted to share all of that with Daryl, which I did. I'd read him my notes, and he loved it. And so as a result of that, I'd put scripture in Daryl's car because he was so passionate about racing, which was a wonderful thing, but I didn't want him to lose his focus. I wanted...
I wanted to do all I could do to influence his focus from being so wrapped up in racing to being totally wrapped up with Jesus. And so I'd put scripture on his dash to just help him keep his perspective. And then down the road, that was in the 80s. I started doing that for him in the 80s. And then in the 90s, I started doing it for Dale Earnhardt
And some of the other drivers, Mark Martin, I remember, would ask me every once in a while to give him a scripture. I did it for Dale every Sunday. I did it for Daryl every Sunday. And then I started doing that after Dale died for Dale Jr. It's a great story from Stevie Waltrip. And Stevie and Daryl continue the conversation next here on First Person.
I'm Ed Cannon. The Far East Broadcasting Company partners with First Person because we celebrate the stories of people everywhere who have given their lives to Christ and serve Him. Our broadcasters in 50 countries of the world hear stories every day of people whose lives are transformed by the gospel and who have
faithful we've been taught God's Word. In addition to First Person, I'm pleased that Wayne and I host a podcast, and we invite you to join us. Listen to Until All Have Heard at febc.org. That's febc.org. You're listening to both Daryl and Stevie Waltrip talk about their life and testimony. As we sat in their living room, the conversation turned to the spiritual. Stevie picks up their story. He was invited to speak at a Billy Graham conference
event leading up to Billy Graham's day to, you know, speak to people, to preach. And I said, so what are you going to talk about?
And he said, I don't know. He said, what can I talk about? I said, well, first thing, they don't want to hear about Junior Johnson and all the races that you've won. They want to hear what Jesus has done in your life. And I said, Daryl, I feel like I've been married to two different men with the same name. And that made a difference. That made him...
Think about the before Jesus and the after Jesus. Makes me cry right now just telling you this story. Big turning point, though. Yeah, it was. Big turning point. It was. Well, there were a lot of things. When I was driving for Junior Johnson, there was a guy named Roger that was working in a parts department. Strong, strong Christian. Read the Bible. He knew the Bible inside and out.
So one day, we're getting ready to run Wilkesboro, and we're on, let's say, on a Friday or Saturday, race on Sunday. I go in the parts department for a summit, and Roger says, hey, are you a Christian? And, you know, I said, well, I don't know. Why do you ask? He said, well, you don't act like one. If you're a Christian, you don't really act like one. He said, you know, you need to start to, you really ought to start giving the Lord a little credit for your accomplishments.
Because without the Lord, you would not have been able to do anything that you've been able to do. And so he wasn't preaching to me, but he was lecturing. How did it make you feel at the time? Oh, I felt about two feet tall. I mean, I sunk in my shoes right there because I kind of thought I was a Christian, but I wasn't sure if I was a Christian. I'd never really prayed the prayer, you know, to ask the Lord to come into my heart, forgive me of my sins. I'd never really done that. But anyway...
So Roger, he goes through this whole deal. And so Sunday I win the race, and I think about we're in Wilkesboro. I think about Roger. I said, I'm going to give the Lord a – I got out of the car and said, I want to thank Goodyear, and I want to thank God, and I want to thank all the fans for my win today. Well, when I said I want to thank God, like Monday and Tuesday of that next week,
All these people were saying, I had no idea you were a Christian. Praise the Lord you're a Christian. Thank you for it.
And I thought, wow, just that one little word, you know, one thing I said made a huge difference. And so that kind of got the ball rolling. Gave you boldness. And it woke me up and kind of got my attention. And from then on, you know, I want to thank the Lord every week. I'd say, if I won, I want to thank the Lord for giving me this opportunity to win this race today. Well, a lot of, there were, there were still, you know, and I had to take a lot of, when you're, when you're,
on top of the world, everything's going your way. There were people say, you mean you think the Lord gives you privileges over everybody else? I said, no, no, no, no, no. I don't think that at all. I just think he blessed me today because, because of who I am and what I've done. And so that's,
It was funny because for a while I was kind of torn between should I say I'm thankful for this win today or should I let it go? And so it just became a habit. It's interesting to hear about the quiet witness behind the scenes, this guy in the parts department and Stevie. Yeah. And people like that just contributing little by little to,
to your spiritual awakening. Well, they had their hand on me and they wouldn't let go. I was, I'll never forget, we're at Hillsborough High School, Dr. Cortez Cooper. I don't know if you remember Dr. Cooper or not. No, I don't. And we had not gone for the first 10 or 11 years of our marriage. We did not have a church to go to. And then we had dear friends, well, they weren't even dear friends at the time. They became dear friends, but they invited us to go to church with them and
And we started going on Wednesday nights because we were always gone on the weekend. So we started going to a Bible study at this Christ Presbyterian Church at Hillsborough High School decades and decades ago to a Bible study that they had on Wednesday nights.
And we both just loved the pastor, Cortez Cooper. We'd never heard the word preached like him. It was just a phenomenal spiritual time in both of our lives. And he was a guy's guy.
I mean, Dr. Cooper, he knew more about me than I knew about myself. Isn't that interesting? So those Wednesday night prayer meetings turned into a turning point. And that's how we met Michael Card, too. He came one morning, and this young man comes out with his guitar and starts singing this song. And Daryl and I were sitting there. We had never heard any kind of music, spiritual music, like Michael Card music.
And we are looking at each other like, oh my gosh, this is so incredibly beautiful. And he's saying about Simeon, well, we didn't know who Simeon was. So we're on the way to Talladega, and we get to the Holiday Inn where we stayed, and I'm running around trying to find a Bible and asking people,
Who's Simeon? I've got to find out who this guy is because Michael Card's singing about him. And so the Lord just used him in a mighty way in both of our lives. I could sit here all day long and listen to you guys tell stories. And I was so moved a few years ago when you were invited to Washington, D.C.,
And spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast. Yeah. You were in front of world leaders. Yeah. One of the largest platforms ever given to anybody. Yeah. And there you are faithfully telling people they needed Jesus. Yeah. Well, my friend, the governor from South Carolina, had been the governor of South Carolina, called me and asked me would I like to go to the prayer breakfast.
And I said, well, I've never really been. I said, what would I do? And he said, we want you to be the keynote speaker. I said, oh, no, no, no, no. You got the wrong guy. I can't. I'm not qualified. I don't think I could do that. But anyway, he said, no, we've group got together, and we all decided we want you to be the keynote speaker. So just think about it and then call me back and let me know. So I thought, I can't do that.
I mean, you're right. The Dalai Lama was there. Right. He sat right in front of me. And the president of the United States. And the president sat right beside the president of the United States. So it's a big deal, you know. But anyway, for three months, I'd write a speech or I'd write things down. I'd tell her. She said, no good. That ain't going to fly. No, no, no, no. How's that? No, that ain't going to go. Finally, after three months of...
process of elimination. I came up with a speech, a presentation, and she liked it. And so on Tuesday morning here at the house, every Tuesday morning we have a Bible study. About 100 men come every Tuesday morning to the house here for a Bible study. So it was on a Tuesday morning, and I said, I'm going to try it out on them. And if these guys are a bunch of older guys, if they like it, I'll feel pretty good about it. So I went down and I did the presentation like I was going to do at the prayer breakfast.
They loved it. They said, if you can do that, I think you'll be okay. That's quite a focus group you had there. It was. No kidding. But anyway, so we got to Washington, and I get a little uptight when I have to talk for a crowd of people. There was just a piece about it that I never had before, and I was prepared. I knew what I wanted to say. Now, knowing what you want to say and saying it is important.
Two totally different things, as you well know. But anyway, they came and got us that morning, and I slept good the night before. Came and got us that morning. We walked down, met the president, the first lady, passed the Dalai Lama in the hallway, and then we went up on stage. And it just all felt normal. It felt like I was at a driver's meeting or something like that. And so...
I got up, and a friend of ours who passed away recently, Stan Hardcastle, he's there. He'd come from Franklin to hear the speech, and he was at a table with these people, and he said, now listen.
And Stan, you don't know Stan, but Stan said, now listen, when he gets up there, I want y'all to say boogity, boogity, boogity. Let's go racing, boys. And so they introduced me, and as soon as they introduced me, he has his table saying boogity, boogity, boogity. And they don't even know what they're saying. They just said it because that's what he – but anyway, so that broke the ice. It put you at ease? I was at ease, and I just went right through it. Well, again, thanks to both of you. You have to look back on your life together.
And just thank the Lord for the opportunities you've had, for even the recognition that you've turned into His glory, right? The Lord just used all of the things that we did wrong.
the things that we did right, and the things that we didn't have any control over one way or the other, to draw us both closer to him. He redeemed all of the stuff, and I wouldn't take anything for it. And there were some really difficult, difficult situations and events and things that we found ourselves in, but we grew through it.
And because of it. So, yeah, I had a really interesting life that I never would have orchestrated for myself in the way that it got orchestrated. And I don't think, I think Daryl, too, he did get to live out his dream, which was incredibly graceful of the Lord to let him do that.
But it's been fun and hard. It's life experiences. You know, people can tell you about things, and you can read about things, but until you experience them yourself, you really, I don't know if you learned that lesson or not. So we learned a lot just from life experiences, and we have...
I get up every day and I wonder what to do. Something's going to happen today that somebody's going to find very interesting. Just a normal day in our life, but probably to someone else, they think, wow, that's crazy. I never heard of such a thing. Happens every day. What's it going to be today, Lord? Who knows?
Their life together has been an incredible faith journey. Daryl and Stevie Waltrip have been our first-person guests, and if you joined us late or would like to listen to even more of this conversation, you'll find an extended version online at FirstPersonInterview.com. In the longer version, Daryl gives the background on the boogity catchphrase, and they talk about the death of their friend Dale Earnhardt. The full interview is available as a podcast at Spotify, Apple, Google, and many other podcast platforms. Search for First Person Interview with Wayne Shepard.
These programs would not be possible were it not for the support of the Far East Broadcasting Company. FEBC is fully committed to reaching the unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ through radio and new media. It's an exciting ministry, and you can learn more at febc.org. Well, thanks for listening. With thanks to my producer and friend, Joe Carlson, I'm Wayne Shepherd. Join us next time for First Person.