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Focus on the Family Broadcast

Marriage in the Stressful World of NASCAR (Part 2 of 2)

Marriage in the Stressful World of NASCAR (Part 2 of 2)

Darrell and Stevie Waltrip share some stories from the NASCAR world and talk about how their marriage endured during his racing career.
Original Air Date: April 20, 2016

Teaser:

Darrell Waltrip: Our God’s a jealous God. I mean, the Bible says so. He is a jealous God, “You will put no gods before me.” Well, the, my racing career, uh, Stevie and our marriage, uh, I kind of threw God in there every now then, you know, when I needed help. Uh, I, the, the races I won, the things I did, uh, it was things that I had done and I, and I wasn’t giving God any glory.

End of Teaser

John Fuller: Former driving champ and NASCAR announcer Darrell Waltrip describing his spiritual condition at one point in his racing career, and, today, on Focus on the Family, you’ll hear more about the Waltrips’ faith journey as a couple. Your host is Focus president Jim Daly, I’m John Fuller, and, Jim, we’re going back to a conversation recorded in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Jim Daly: Yeah, John, we visited with Darrell and Stevie at the Darrell Waltrip Museum in front of a live audience with friends of Focus. There were a bunch of Darrell’s old race cars in the room, and they’re in good shape, don’t get me wrong, he fired up a couple of them, it was a lot of fun, but the racing banners, photos of his great victories, all of it. Darrell was one of the most successful drivers in the 1980s. He tied for fourth on the all-time win list for NASCAR, and we really had a great time while getting to know this couple, uh, who’ve been married for over 50 years, and we heard about their ups and downs in their relationship and in the racing business.

John: And Darrell and Stevie Waltrip have volunteered for a number of years with Motor Racing Outreach, which is a Christian organization holding chapel services for drivers and their families and crew, and MRO also distributes literature and other support in the, uh, NASCAR community and we really appreciate their work. Uh, last time, Darrell talked about a crash at Daytona in 1983 that really changed his life and led him to rededicate his life to Christ. Today, on this Focus on the Family broadcast, we’re going to pick up with the discussion as Jim is asking Darrell about his second big crash at Daytona. That happened in 1990.

Jim: Darrell, again at Daytona, you had the flipper crash.

Darrell: Yeah.

Jim: You had the big one. Describe that and what happened and, again, how that added momentum to knowing and thinking about eternity.

Darrell: Well, once, you know, I always like to tell people that, once you give your life to the Lord, you, you know, it doesn’t solve all your problems, you know. It, it’s not a bed of roses. Being a Christian is the hardest thing I’ve ever done-

Jim: Huh.

Darrell: … and it’s not something that it’s just, you know, you flip a switch and, uh, you go from not serving the Lord to, all of a sudden, you serve the Lord and that’s all there is. Uh, it’s a progression. Uh, it evolves over time and, and, uh, at least that’s the way … I always … I, I, I love it when … there’s probably some folks in this audience that have … when somebody tells me, “yeah, man, 1983, 5:00 Saturday afternoon, I was here and I, and I got down on my knees and I prayed that prayer and, man, I got a chill and I stood up and I never felt that way before in my life,” and I, I’ve said, “Well, that’s good to know, but it didn’t quite happen that way for me.” And I, and I remember what Max Helton, my dear friend that was, uh, at the MRO for years, helped, helped us start MRO, he said, “Don’t matter ’bout all that, here’s what matters. Where are you right now?” That’s what Max would always say, you know. You know, you don’t have, uh, one of those moments, what really is important is where are you right now when you’re sitting here in this chair? Are you, you know, is your relationship with the Lord where it should be?” So, uh, 1990, I, I had another serious wreck at Daytona, turn four, a terrible turn, I hate that turn-

Jim: (laughs).

Darrell: … I’ve wrecked more there than I have all the other turns put together.

Jim: (laughs).

Darrell: But, uh, and, and I was messed up, um, uh, broke my leg, shattered my femur, broke my arm, ribs, concussion. I was pretty messed up. I got hit in the driver’s door by another car. I was setting still and another car hit me around 180 miles an hour.

Jim: Oh, my goodness.

Darrell: That should’ve probably been the end of my career, or it could’ve been the end of my career, uh, but nonetheless, uh, by the grace of God and, uh, God felt like I think he had other work that He, that I was supposed to do, um, I, I was able to overcome those injuries and get back in my car and race. But all those times that things like that happened, it really just drew me closer to God. It just knew my dependence on God. I depended on my car, I depend on my crew, I depended on me, and none, none of those things could help me. Uh, the only thing that could really help me was our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And when, when I started to get that, get that in perspective, uh, I, I really, I didn’t worry about anything.

Jim: Huh.

Darrell: I didn’t worry about being hurt ’cause I, I knew that the Lord would either … He would heal me-

Jim: Yeah.

Darrell: … and I would be able to race again or He would have something else that He wanted me to do.

Jim: You know, as you’re describing it, Darrell, it sounds like that, that parable that Jesus talked about, when the seed is cast, how it’ll take root, hopefully, and it sounds like these experiences really deepened the roots of your faith every time.

Darrell: Oh, yeah. Well, you know, you, (laughs) when you do what we do, you need to have a good relationship with the Lord.

Jim: Yeah.

Darrell: I mean, and I say … that’s kind of funny, I know, but it, it really and truly, you better have your priories right. A year later, one year later to the day, I had another serious wreck at Daytona.

Jim: Turn four?

Darrell: That’s where was flipper was.

Jim: (laughs).

Darrell: It was going down the turn … I was getting there. Uh, that crash you see on the wall up there, uh, that was one year to the day later. After my serious wreck at Daytona, I got back going again and, uh, that’s a Fourth of July race, and I got clipped coming off turn two about halfway down the back straightaway and the car went into the infield, uh, grass there and just started flipping and it tore it all apart, as you can see.

Jim: Yeah, it’s barely a car. It’s just a shell.

Darrell: Yeah.

Jim: Uh, let me ask you this, uh, there was an experience there, Stevie, where you were providing Darrell a scripture card for every race-

Stevie Waltrip: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … and putting it on the dash or … and then you started doing it for someone else. Talk about your relationship with Dale Earnhardt, all three of you, and wh- what that meant to him when he was at Daytona in turn four.

Stevie Waltrip: Um, I had started putting scriptures, um, in Darrell’s car on the dash, just to give him words of encouragement. If, if we had a caution flag, the cars slow down.

Darrell: The woman was relentless (laughing). I mean, she read to me going to the track.

John: Persistent.

Darrell: I’d get to the track, then I’d get ready to get in the car, and now I’m going to get this scripture and put it on the dash and … she was relentless, but in a good way.

Stevie: (laughs). Um-

Jim: Good for you.

Stevie: Yes (laughing). So, uh, so I started doing that in the early ’80s and, um, then in the ’90s, and I don’t remember what year Neil died.

Darrell: [crosstalk], um-

Stevie: Neil Bonnett was, uh, one of our co-competitors-

Darrell: … ’95, ’94, ni-, yeah, ’94.

Stevie: … and, um, he had, uh, a terrible wreck at Daytona and he died. And Dale Earnhardt and Neil Bonnett were really good friends and it just, it, it really affec- … well, it affected the whole community.

Jim: Right.

Stevie: Uh, we all, uh-

Jim: It is a family, isn’t it?

Stevie: It truly is and I always made it, um, kind of my mission … I didn’t want to have feuds with other wives or other race teams, that’s just not who I am, so I made every effort to just leave whatever happened on the racetrack there and to have, be able to have good relationships with, with the other (laughs)-

Darrell: Me, on the other hand …

Stevie: … with other peop-

Jim: So that’s kind of like be a friend to your enemies (laughs).

Stevie: Yes. Yeah. Well, actually-

Darrell: Yeah, heaping coals.

Stevie: Yes. We had that scripture. I read that to … we, we were having, um, some very strong feelings about a certain driver at the time, and it wasn’t Dale, and so I ha-, was reading, uh, Proverbs out loud to us, um, and I think it’s in Proverbs, but, anyway, it’s where, um, be good to your enemies. It’s like, uh, pouring whatever.

Jim: Heaping hot coals.

Stevie: Heaping hot coals-

John: Yeah. Yeah.

Stevie: … on their head and, and whatever it was.

Jim: (laughs). It’s good justification.

Stevie: And I said, “Hey, Darrell, listen to this, you’re going to love this (laughing). This is going to motivate you to love this particular driver.” So, anyway, but back to Dale, um, we were at the racetrack at Daytona and I had, um, was writing madly this, down this scripture because I was late getting out on Pit Road. And Dale and, and Darrell had qualified relatively close, um, so they were on-

Jim: The cars were … yeah.

Stevie: … Pit Road, um, getting lined up for the race to start, and they’re going to their cars to get in and Dale saw me with the, with the card and he said, “What are you doing?” And I said, “Well, uh, these are scriptures that I write for Darrell and I put them in the car every week,” and he puts out his hand and he said, “Well, where’s mine?”

Jim: (laughs).

Stevie: And so you know the Lord just used Neil Bonnett’s death to probably, um, soften Dale or give him-

Jim: To stir his heart.

Stevie: … something to say, “I want this.” And, um, so we … I, I said, “Well, wait just a second, I’ll go get you one.” So, anyway, and so from that-

Jim: You go write one up.

Stevie: … point forward, ’94 until 2001, uh, Darrell and Dale got scriptures. And sometimes I would-

Jim: At every race.

Stevie: At every race-

Jim: Wow.

Stevie: … ’cause I went to all the races-

Jim: Yeah.

Stevie: … that Darrell raced in. And so-

Darrell: I wasn’t, I wasn’t necessarily thrilled about this.

Stevie: (laughs).

Jim: You, you wanted to be the only guy with the advantage of scripture.

Darrell: Exactly (laughing).

Stevie: Well, so Dale … sometimes, uh, uh, I would write, depending on what the circumstances were in our lives and, and in Dale’s, the scriptures sometimes would be the same, but sometimes they weren’t, and Dale would grab both of them and read them both and he’d say … and he’d pick one and he’d say, “I got the good one, didn’t I?” And so-

Jim: Yeah, give this one to Darrell (laughs).

Stevie: Yeah, he did and so anyway.

Jim: Competitive about everything.

John: I tell you what.

Stevie: And so Darrell says, “Honey, you’re going to have to put my name on mine and Dale’s name on his (laughing),” so.

John: What, what did those scriptures mean to each of you guys?

Darrell: Well, you know-

John: I mean, beyond the competitive aspects.

Darrell: … I always told people they were not good luck, it was not a good luck charm. Uh, it, it was just a message, uh, and Stevie didn’t just, uh, you know, throw something together Sunday morning and stick on a card and put it in the car, she gave it a lot of thought. And, normally, it would be some scripture that was related to maybe something that’s going on in that weekend, maybe I’d had a problem with another driver and it would be, you know, “Forgive your enemy,” or, you know, whatever. And, and so the scriptures were real dedicated to what was going on at that time. And, uh, and, a lot of times, during a caution flag, you’d always put them on the dash on a little note card, a lot of times, during the caution flag, maybe things weren’t going so great, and you’d look over and you’d read that scripture and you’d get some encouragement from it.

John: You, you had time during the competition of a race to look at the dash and read a scripture?

Darrell: Oh, yeah, I, I was-

Jim: That’s why he crashed in turn four so much (laughing).

Darrell: Yeah. Yeah.

John: No, I’m just, I’m just struck by how intense that situation is and there’s-

Jim: That was his version of texting (laughing).

Darrell: Well-

John: … and there’s a scripture for you.

Darrell: … yeah, normally, we would do it under, uh, probably do it under a caution flag, you know, when you’re going slow. But, anyway-

Jim: About 100?

Stevie: (laughs).

Darrell: Yeah. We’d, we’d be not at racing speed, but ano- another, another thing that was kind of … along with the scripture … with Lake Speed, who’s a good friend of ours and one of the board members at MRO. So me and him and bobby Hillen, you know, we’re trying to be good examples to the other drivers and ’cause, you know, drivers have a lot of hand signals they do, uh, a lot of (laughing) si- single-digit waves and (laughing) shaking their fist and all that kind of thing, and so-

Jim: Rooting each other on (laughing).

Darrell: Yeah, yeah.

John: Go, guys, go.

Darrell: Brotherly love. Um, so Lake, I think, uh, Lake saw me maybe do one of those single-digit waves at somebody and, uh, after the race was over, he said, “You know, you shouldn’t have done that,” ’cause that, uh, uh, Lake’s just like this, he will confront you in a heartbeat.” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Well, that didn’t set no … that’s not a very good example. Uh, you know, you’re a member of the Motor Reaching Outreach. You’re on the board. You should-”

John: You claim, claim the name of Christ.

Darrell: That’s right.

Stevie: (laughs).

Darrell: “You say you’re a Christian and then … it didn’t look like it out there today.” I said, “So what would you do?”

Jim: Okay, now you’re going after ever driver on the highway (laughing)-

Darrell: Right.

Jim: … who claims Christ (laughing).

Darrell: That’s right. I said, “So what would you do, Lake?” He said, “Well, instead of throwing up your finger like you did, why don’t you just hold up your cup?” I said, “Do what?” He said, “Hold up your cup.” He said, “God cannot bless you if your cup is upside down.”

Jim: Huh.

Darrell: “And, apparently, yours has been upside down quite a bit lately (laughing),” he said, “so my suggestion is, when you get mad or you, you want to send message to someone, make it a message of encouragement and hold up your cup-”

Jim: Okay-

Darrell: “… and God can fill it with blessing.”

Jim: … you don’t need to be a NASCAR driver to do this, that’s for sure.

Stevie: (laughing). No, and, and just to, uh, to be filled with the spirit-

Darrell: Yeah, the spirit and … yeah.

Stevie: … rather than … yeah.

Jim: Stevie, I, I want-

Darrell: It’s better than some of the other things we did. Yeah.

Jim: … I do want to catch the end of that story, that last race, for Dale Earnhardt, uh, that you gave him that scripture. Do you remember the scripture it was?

Stevie: Uh, yes, the … it’s Proverbs 18:10, um, “The name of the Lord is a watchtower. The righteous run to it and are safe.”

Jim: And he would have read that before that race and he put it on his dash and then, uh, Darrell, you were calling that race for Fox. It was on television. I was actually watching that race as well, the 2001 Daytona race.

Darrell: Yeah.

Jim: Uh, talk about the emotion of that because Michael, your brother-

Darrell: Yeah.

Jim: … was involved with the end of that race. What happened?

Darrell: Yeah. Well, and this was an unusual weekend for us as a family. My girls and Stevie and I were all in the motor coach like we had been for years, but I don’t have a race car. I’m not going to Pit Road. Uh, we don’t have a team. I’m not going to the garage, or not going down and hanging out with the team before the race starts. I’m putting on a coat and a tie and I’m getting ready to go upstairs in the TV booth. And so the girls, Sarah and Jessica and Stevie, they’re sitting there looking at me, well, like, “What are we supposed to do?” I said, “Well, go out on Pit Road. You’ll, you know all the drivers. Just go out onto Pit Road like you always have.” And, and, uh, she said, “You think Dale will still want me give him scriptures?” I said, “Honey, I know he would.” I said, “You got to do that for him. Even though you don’t have to do it for me anymore, you got to keep doing it for him. He’s still racing.” “Well, I don’t know. I just don’t feel real …” She’s telling me, “I don’t feel real good about that.” I said, “But, well, pray about and think about it.”

Stevie: Because I didn’t have a husband to go out on Pit Road for, so it was just … it was a huge life change for, for both of us.

John: Felt, felt awkward?

Stevie: It really did, um.

Darrell: Yeah, it was awkward, really awkward, and it was for all of us. And, uh, anyway, I said, “Well,” I had to go, I said, “think about it, pray about it, and, and you’ll come up with something. Open your Bible, you’ll find something that, that, that, uh, is appropriate.” She came up with Proverbs 18:10. She went on Pit Road that day without me, her and Jessica. They saw Dale and Teresa and, uh, Dale saw Stevie. He had her to come over. They … she gave him his scripture and they hugged and, and then he-

Stevie: And I get to tell him I loved him and he told me he loved me, so that’s a wonderful comfort and, and memory to have, yes.

John: Yeah.

Jim: Describe the end of the race. What happened?

Darrell: So, so Dale has his scripture and it’s, it’s on the dash. You can see it on the dash of the car. You can see it on … she does that for Dale Jr. now as well, uh, at his request. It’s not like she’s out there promoting this. Uh, she’s, she’s not that way. But Dale Jr. wanted those scriptures just like-

Stevie: Only with my husband (laughing).

Darrell: … yeah, just Dale Jr. wanted those scriptures the same way. But, yeah, the last few laps of that race were insane. Uh, we had had, uh, we’d had a big wreck, uh, with about 25 laps to go, I think, a huge wreck, 20-car pileup. We always talk about the big one at Daytona and Talladega, well, we had it. And, uh, actually, it’s odd because, uh, Tony Stewart was running up front and his teammate, Labonte, was running in the back and they ended up on top of each other.

Jim: Huh.

Darrell: That’s how crazy the wreck was and how hard it is to avoid one of them. So the cars are stopped on the back straightaway, and this is the first race for my brother to be driving for Dale.

Jim: Michael.

Darrell: Michael, and he’s in the NAPA number 15 car and Mi-, and Michael’s leading, Dale Jr. is in the eight Budweiser car and, and senior is in the three, the Goodwrench car, and the cars are stopped on the back under the red flag ’cause they had to clean up the track from the big wreck. And Dale, like he always liked to do, he had to orche- … he had to direct everything, you know. If he was here, he would have rearranged this whole room (laughing) and, and, and he’d say, “Why are you sitting there? You need to sit over here,” and that’s just how he was. Uh, uh, I always thought he was a control freak, but people just said he wanted to be sure he … you know, he was trying to help you. He wanted to be sure you had it right. And so I had to think about that, but, uh (laughing)-

Jim: It could be a control freak (laughing).

Darrell: I, I, I, I think, I still think he was a control freak, but, anyway, (laughing) uh, so he’s telling Michael and Dale Jr. how to run these few laps of this race, “Michael, if you’re going to be … you’re leading. Dale Jr., do not pass him. You stay behind him and you push him and, if anybody gets a run on us, I’ll take care of that. You don’t have to worry about that.” And so they go back to racing and there’s just, uh … the race is winding down. Uh, uh, Dale was driving defensively. Uh, he was-

Jim: Blocking.

Darrell: … he was blocking, uh, which, for Dale, is totally out of character. For Dale, he’s used to people pushing him and helping him and getting him to the front and … but he was really just kind of helping Michael and, and Dale Jr. win the race and … but in, in his wildest dreams, I’m sure he never thought about getting wrecked and I’m sure that, because my brother had never run a race, people were saying, “Well, why’d you put him in that car? All the drivers you could find out there and you had to put him in that car?” But Dale loved to be one of those kind of guys that, “I told you so,” uh, and the last thing he saw, as they came into the third turn and started off turn four, he saw his two cars headed for the checkered flag. But because of the way he was driving, he blocked Schrader and he blocked Sterling and he, finally, he just made one move too many and Sterling got into him a little bit going in the, down in the third turn there and the car got loose and went up the track and smacked a concrete wall, not a SAFER barrier like we got now, a concrete wall, at probably about 170 miles an hour.

Jim: Head-on.

Darrell: Yeah, head-on.

Jim: Now the race was finishing. I remember watching that-

Darrell: Yeah.

Jim: … and everybody was excited for Michael ’cause it was his first-

Darrell: Yeah.

Jim: … big race, Daytona-

Darrell: Yeah.

Jim: … but everybody eye kind of went back to that crash behind him.

Darrell: Yeah.

Jim: In fact, you were on Fox and you asked what happened to Dale.

Darrell: Well, uh, a couple things, uh, when a car hits a concrete wall head-on, it, it’s just like if I walked over in front of you and went … just like that.

Jim: The force?

Darrell: The force, I mean, you, your head can’t stop, it’s brutal, and that’s what happened to Dale. And I, I, I was watching Michael and I, I’m so excited for my brother who’s going to win his f- … not only his first race, but the biggest race we have, the Daytona 500. It’s his first time in the car. It’s my first time to do a race. We had talked about, in the off-season, wouldn’t it be cool if I was calling the race and you won it? Wow, that’d be a cool moment, and that’s what’s happening. And he’s coming down to get the checkered flag and Jr.’s going to run second, and I, I saw the black car go up the hill, uh, up the track, out the corner of my eye, but I’m, I’m focused on Michael, “Come on, baby. You can do it. Bring it home. Don’t let him get by you,” you know. And Michael crosses the start, finish line and I’m so … I’m euphoric. He won the race. God, this is perfect! We’re going to celebrate, go to Victory Circle. It’s going to be so much fun. And in our booth, we have a lot of monitors, and they showed a replay of Dale’s wreck and I knew right then, “I don’t think we’re going to go to Victory Circle ’cause I think it’s pretty bad.” And then came to me and I said, “I hope Dale was okay,” and I knew he wasn’t. I knew he wasn’t for a couple of reasons. First of all, it was an incredible crash. It didn’t look that bad on TV, but I knew the effect. And then Kenny Schrader, a really dear friend, Kenny is a tough guy, raced all over the country, he walked around to Dale’s car and he dropped that window net down and, when he did, he jumped back like that and started waving for the safety crew, and I knew right then that there … it was something very seriously wrong. So, now, my brother, who’s headed for Victory Lane, Dale, who’s being put in an ambulance, and one of the most eerie sights I think I’ve ever seen was that ambulance comes out of the track and starts up, uh, 92 there headed toward Halifax Hospital going about 20 miles an hour, no urgency whatsoever, and that was just another indication to me that it was much serious than everybody had thought.

Jim: You know, there are so many life applications to that. Um, you guys have lived in the fast lane and won big races and you have a beautiful career and great memories. For that to happen all on that one day, it really sums up so much of life, doesn’t it?

Darrell: Yeah. Uh, a lot of ways it does and, and I tell you something that people, I don’t think … I don’t know if you realize this or not, maybe not at the time, but you kind of feel guilty, uh, you know, that I, I survived, uh, I survived, uh, some tough wrecks. And Dale had survived all the tough wrecks too, but that one got him. And you always wonder, you know, how come I survived and he didn’t, and I think sometimes you feel guilty about that to some degree.

Jim: You know, but it’s true for each of us. Uh, we’re all kind of running the race, like Paul said, and something’s going to get everyone of us.

Darrell: Yeah.

Jim: We can’t, uh, outrun death.

Darrell: Yeah.

Jim: Uh, Stevie, knowing what you had done there for Dale, um, talk about the comfort in your heart that he thought about God before he passed away.

Stevie: He did, and we’d had, uh, talked about the Lord and I am convinced he is in the arms of Jesus right now, and so just knowing that I had prayed and asked the Lord and he specifically, he gave me that scripture because I read it and, um, you know, I’m re- I’m reading Proverbs, all of that chapter, and then I got to that one and I thought, “This is it,” and I’d never used that scripture before and so I … but then I kept on reading ’cause I kind of doubted, you know, I wasn’t real sure, and then I went back to it and I asked Darrell about it, “What do you think?” And, um, and I said, “I just really believe this is the scripture that I’m supposed to give Dale today,” and so I wrote it out. So knowing those things, knowing that I went to the Lord and that I think I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to pick that scripture, that that gave me tremendous comfort. It gave his family comfort. It gave his racing family comfort. It gave race fans comfort, just to read those words, know they were specifically chosen for Dale in that situation, and for each one of us, so it, it gave us all tremendous comfort.

Jim: Yeah, it’s a beautiful thing to know about. From both of your perspectives, can I just ask you to speak to that person that’s living that hard-charging life, Darrell, that business guy, um, the doctor, whoever it might be-

Darrell: Yeah.

Jim: … the person that’s just fully consumed with their environment and themselves, um, speak to that person.

Darrell: Yeah. Well, I had the privilege of doing an I Am Second video. I was one of the first or second people that did an I, I Am Second, and that’s the hardest thing for someone successful to be able to do is to say that I’m going to be second. It just, it’s not in your nature to feel that way, but when you realize that, when you do put God first and when you are second and when there are no other gods, uh, before him, um, then you can start to live, uh, the real life, uh, a life of, uh … uh, athletes, a lot of professionals, I think, are selfish people, they just worry about themselves, and I, I was one of those kind of guys. I worried about myself and didn’t really care what happened to anybody else. But, uh, when God got inside of me and got in my heart, uh, that all changed. And that’s what it’s about, change. If you haven’t experienced a change in your life because of your relationship with Jesus Christ, then you might want to go back and try it again ’cause something has to change.

Jim: See, you’ve got to see a change.

Darrell: Got to see a change, yeah.

Jim: Yeah.

Darrell: And so, uh, that’s what I say to … when someone … and another thing I think is important, when someone like your wife says, “I’m praying for you,” or your friends say, “I’m praying for you,” don’t take that lightly. That’s … I love it when people say, “It’s my privilege to pray for you.” Uh, that, that’s huge. They’re thinking of you and taking you and your name and your situation to the Lord and they’re doing it for you. And when you’re a- … when, when you’re in a position where you can finally say to someone, “I’m praying for you. I’m not just praying for my selfish self, but I’m praying for you,” I think that’s a big turning point.

Stevie: Yeah.

Jim: Amen. Darrell Waltrip, known as DW-

Darrell: Yeah.

Jim: … and his wife Stevie-

Darrell: Yeah.

Jim: … thanks for being with us.

Darrell: You’re welcome. Good to be here. Thanks, all you folks. Nice to … nice audience. (Clapping)

John: As Darrell noted, it really was a nice audience, and what a great conversation we had, uh, featured today on Focus on the Family with Darrell and Stevie Waltrip, recorded at the Darrell Waltrip Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Jim: Now the Waltrips, uh, really had some fascinating stories about NASCAR and their faith and marriage of more than 50 years, and I hope our listeners will contact us and get a copy of the CD of this two-day broadcast and share it with others. When you call, uh, please, consider making a generous donation to the work of Focus on the Family to help us share Christ with others and encourage them in their marriages. And when you donate any amount today, we’ll send you the CD of this conversation as our way of saying thank you. And then, most importantly, if you don’t know Jesus Christ as your personal savior, maybe you’re not really sure even what that means, we’d be happy to tell you more and we’ll send you a free booklet called Coming Home: An Invitation to Join God’s Family.

John: And tens of thousands have requested this booklet or have, uh, viewed it online and it’s our privilege to send it to you. Um, just call 800, the letter A and the word FAMILY, or look for that online. It’s, uh, going to be linked at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. Well, on behalf of Jim Daly and the entire team, thanks for joining us today for Focus on the Family. I’m John Fuller inviting you back as we, once again, help you and your family thrive in Christ.

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