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(female announcer) This is a production of WKNO - Memphis.
Production funding for "Sports Files" is made possible in part
by..
My guest today on "Sports Files" is Nascar hall of fame driver
and television analyst Darrell Waltrip.
[upbeat music] ♪♪♪
After capturing three Nascar points championships,
taking the checkers in the Daytona 500,
and retiring as one of the sports greatest drivers,
I'm sure somebody shouted to Darrell Waltrip.
Hey D.W., "What do you do for an encore?"
It must be awfully hard for anyone successful and famous to
leave one career and become just as successful at another but
that's exactly what Waltrip has done.
The animated, anything but shy personality of D.W.
has made him a natural to talk Nascar on the Fox Network
Telecasts.
He has become one of the most entertaining analysts in sports
and has carved out that rare "second" career.
Today I head into victory lane with one of the most popular and
successful drivers in the history of Nascar,
Darrell Waltrip, ahead on "Sports Files".
♪♪♪
Darrell, thank you so much for being with us.
It's an honor.
We appreciate to have somebody like youself.
Get this award -- I mean, this is like winning the Daytona 500
right here.
It is pretty neat.
The Distinguished Citizen Award presented by the Autozone
Liberty Bowl.
When you got the call, what was -- You know,
here's a football bowl game honoring one of the great
Nascar drivers of all time.
That's what made it sort of like,
"Me?"
Because you know when I looked at the list when they told me
who had won this award before, I said,
"I don't see any Nascar drivers on there.
"I don't see any Nascar personalities on there."
So that made it even that much more special for me to be kind
of like the first Nascar personality to recieve this very
distinguished award.
The people that won it before me,
it's amazing.
And I am honored.
You never know.
You just never know when you've retired from one career,
what the future holds.
And I've been blessed to have two careers.
And that's kind of what this awards been all about.
You know it transcends what you've done all your life or
what you're known for.
I'm known for putting on a helmet and driving a car.
And now I'm known for putting on a coat and a tie and holding on
to microphones.
So I've been blessed.
Speaking of awards, last year just honors in your third year
of eligibility, you were elected to the Nascar Hall of Fame.
Of all the honors, of all the great accomplishments after
racing from what you did in your career,
is that the pinnacle?
Yeah, it is.
That's the ring, the Hall of Fame ring.
And what makes any hall of fame special for every athlete that's
inducted in any hall of fame is for us,
it's voted on by your peers.
There are 50 men that go in to a room and they look at the work
you've done, what have you contributed,
what kind of results have you gotten.
And they look at a lot of different criteria to decide
who's going to get in to the Hall of Fame.
And they vote on it.
And there are people in that room that I've had to race
against that don't necessarily like you.
There are media people in there that don't necessarily agree
with you.
There's Nascar officials that you've had disagreements with.
But at the end of the day when they say,
"You're Hall of Fame material," and you get inducted in to the
Hall of Fame, it's like icing on the cake.
You invest, invest, invest.
That's what a career is.
It's an investment.
You put in the time.
You put in the work.
You put in the effort.
And you get the results.
And at the end of your career, hopefully those numbers all add
up.
And people agree that you deserve to be in the Hall of
Fame.
It's as good as it gets.
You have been one of the lucky ones to have this lustrous
career after getting out of the race car and,
as you said, getting behind the microphone and in front of the
camera.
But how hard was it, D.W., when you first got out of the car for
good?
Was it something that really bothered you?
"I want to get back.
"I miss it."
Or were you able to get out of it and say,
"Okay, I'm moving on."
Yeah, I couldn't just walk away.
I ran a few special races.
I drove in a few races at Martinsville,
Indianapolis, some of the smaller race tracks,
drove a nation-wide race.
Couldn't quite let go of it totally.
Was that because of the competitive juices in you?
But I had to have the little withdrawl,
you know.
From the time I was 12 years old,
for about 40 years of my life, every Sunday of my life I got up
and put a helmet on and raced somewhere.
That was a hard habit to break.
So it really was difficult in the beginning to stand up there
on the other side of the fence and watch guys do what I've done
my whole life.
That was hard to adjust to.
But in the end, you know, with my wife -- We've been married 44
years.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
I have two beautiful kids.
And it was time for me to give back something to them.
And I couldn't have a better job.
The TV deal for us is pretty cool.
We work half a year and then we're off.
And somebody else does the second-half of the year.
Right.
And so I always told Stevie, I said,
"I'll pay you back for all those 30 years sitting on a tool box."
At 30 years and a half a year at a time,
it's going to take me 60 years to get back even.
But anyway, I'm making an effort toward it.
And I'm so thrilled with what I get to do.
Well you've really carved out a niche for yourself with your
style.
Did it come naturally?
Well, there are people that have accused me of talking too much.
You know my nickname was Jaws.
And there's a number of reasons for that.
Because I talked a lot.
We're not talking fish.
No, no, no, no.
We're talking the big Jaws.
And so yeah, it was rather easy for me.
I had a lot of experience.
I've been in Nashville for over 40 years.
Ralph Emery was a really good friend of mine.
I did a lot of late ngiht radio shows on W-S-N with Ralph.
Nashville Now was a huge success on T-N-N.
What was it?
-- The Nashville Network back some years ago.
I got to host the show a number of times and it's a live show.
So what you see is what you get.
I did a lot of celebrity appearances,
you know, with other networks calling races.
So I had some experience.
I knew what I was getting in to.
But I tell ya.
Where you're sitting, that's the hardest job.
Where I'm sitting, this is what I do.
You can interview me.
You can ask me one question and I've pretty well got it.
Sit back and you've got it -- right?
But sitting over there, having those notes,
thinking of those questions to ask that guy,
something that will reveal something about that guy that no
body ever -- he had never said before or a side to a guy that
people had never seen before.
That's the hard job, bringing ourt that interview.
And sitting where you are, it's the hardest thing I've ever had
to do.
I love doing it.
I like the challenge.
But it's a totally different situation when you're being
interviewed and when you're the interviewer.
Well this next question I didn't have to homework on it and it is
a repetitive question.
I'm sure you've heard it a million times.
But where did the catch phrase come from?
(laughter) Well it's really not that complicated.
One of the things that as a driver,
a former driver -- One of the most important parts,
one of the most exciting parts of the race,
one of the most exhilarating parts of the race is the start.
And I listen to these other announcers and other analysts.
And the cars will be coming off turn four to get the grand.
And they say ,"And the green flag is in the air."
You've got to be kidding me.
That's all there is?
I mean the drivers in there.
His hearts racing.
His palms are sweatin'.
He's getting ready to go to war and the guy says,
"And the green flag is in the air."
So I said, "There's got to be a better.
"There's got to be something better than that."
And so I was listening to a Ray Stevens song,
"The Streak."
-- probably heard it.
I know "The Streak."
Yeah, here he comes.
Boogity boogity, there he goes!
I said, "That's it!"
Here he comes!
Boogity boogity boogity!
And there he goes!
Let's go racing boys -- and girls!
And you know I threw it out there one Sunday just for fun
because it seemed like a fun way to start a race.
Well it stuck.
And people won't let go of it.
I can go in any restaurant from New York to California.
And when I walk in for somebody in there that's never seen me on
TV or knows me at all, always hearing about,
"Hey D.W., give us a 'boogity boogity boogity'!"
Like and one of my buddies said, "How does it feel to be more
"famous for 'boogity boogity boogity,
let's go racing boys!' than it does to be a three time champion
with 84 wins?"
Well at this point in my life, it feels pretty good.
It feels darn good.
You mentioned the three points championships.
Bigger accomplishment in your career -- to get the Daytona 500
win or any of the three championships?
Yeah, it's really -- It's like this award.
It's the sum of all the parts.
You know to be in the Hall of Fame and to won those
championships and have those wins,
if the Daytona 500 wasn't one of them,
you feel like your career was incomplete.
Right.
It's the pinnacle.
It's the biggest race we have.
It's the one with all the big names that attach to it.
And so you know when you look at your resume,
when you look at what you've done,
hopefully I only won it once.
But that's all I ever asked for!
Just let me win it once!
And my names on that list so that's a big accomplishment.
The Ickey Shuffle after you won -- Was it improvved or was this
something you were thinking to yourself,
"If I win this race, I'm going to do it."
Because he was hot at the time.
It didn't last long but it was hot at the time.
It was funny becuase people were doing all,
you know.
Again, Victory Circle -- You talk about the exhilarating
start.
But then the finish of the race.
And you're standing in Victory Circle with your family,
your friends, your team.
I mean, that's a big moment.
And I just don't.
I think it needs to be.
I want it to be exciting.
I want it to feel like it did.
That was my 80th-something win, I guess.
I wanted that 80th win to be just as exciting as that first
one was in 1975.
And so it's a celebration.
Victory lane is a celebration.
And you want it to be memorable.
And again, I don't want to be considered a goofball.
You know, I just want to be considered a guy that has fun
and loves what he does.
And that Ickey Shuffle thing, it came to me because I've seen him
do it.
And that was when -- I don't think there was a lot of guys
doing end zone celebrations.
I think he may have been one of the very first.
In the N-F-L, no fun-leg, they were calling it.
And he came out and made it interesting.
You're right.
You've got to have fun.
And so I had that in the back of my mind.
And when I got out of the car, I had told.
We were down testing a few weeks before.
And the guy said, "You've never won the race.
"What would you do if you ever won?"
I said, "It will be memorable."
And it is.
"It will be memorable.
"I don't know.
"I might strip down and go run out in the lake.
"I'm not sure but it will be memorable!"
Anyone who has a brother, anyone who has a sister,
there's always some type of sibling rivalry.
Your little brother getting two Daytona 500 wins.
You know, "I got three points championships."
And my brother comes back, "I got two Daytona 500 wins."
Well Mikey is a great restrictive plate racer.
When he comes to Daytona and Talladega,
even today, he just finished fifth at Daytona back in July in
the Fourth of July race.
He could have won the Talladega race.
Tony Stewart cut him off and they wrecked.
But my brother, for whatever reason,
he has a real knack.
They always said Dale Earnhardt could see the air.
We all know you don't see air.
But I know you can feel air.
And I think my brother just has kind of a sixth sense about
where to put his car, how to get in the right position to get the
best result.
And I'd put him up against anybody on a restrictor plate.
Me?
I was just mediocre.
But him, he's one of the best.
D.W., best driver today, best driver of all time.
It might be the same guy, Jimmie Johnson.
Wow.
By far and away, the best driver of this era.
And..
What makes him so good?
Well I think it's his commitment.
He is so dedicated.
He doesn't have any other.
Driving that race car, winning races,
winning championships -- five championships,
five in a row!
Thats -- No body else has ever done that!
He just swept Daytona -- February,
July.
It had been 31 years since anybody had done that.
He's doing things that people back in the '60s and '70s did.
he's breaking records, tying records that have been there for
a long, long time.
He has a great crew chief, Chad Knaus.
They communicate well.
They believe in each other.
And the results are phenomenal.
This man has 64 wins.
And he's finished now the top five in points one time in the
last ten years.
So he's just a commited guy.
This is what he does and he does it to perfection.
I always tell all the other people.
I say, "Why don't you just watch what he does and try to emmulate
that?"
Model yourself after him.
I mean he doesn't have any other hobbies.
You don't hear about him going and playing golf.
You don't hear about him at car dealerships.
You don't hear about him going fishing.
All you hear about is he's in the gym focusing on the next
race.
Monday morning -- He wins the race on Sunday afternoon.
Monday morning, he's in the gym working.
That's how dedicated this guy is.
There's a lot to be said and he's a great role model if you
want to do something and do it right.
In about a minute, give me the major differences other than the
purses, the money their making today and the car itself,
major differences between when you drove and now.
Yeah, well back when I drove, you drove by the seat of your
pants.
You were the only.
Everything that the team knew about that race car came from
the driver.
Everything that needed to be done to that race car came from
the driver.
Driver gets in the car, driver goes on the track.
Cars doing this.
Cars doing that.
Change this.
Change that.
Fix this.
Fix that.
So the driver was the on board computer.
Today, the driver just drives.
There's so much technology.
We had no technology.
You know we had a pencil and a pad.
Me and Hammond would get down on the ground and draw it out in
the sand.
And now these guys, I mean, they have all the technology in the
world.
They have on board computers that gives them back data that
they can look at after practice.
They can't look at it during the race.
But during practice, qualifying.
Throttle traces, brake traces, steering input,
brake input, things that I had to tell me team that these
drivers now, they just have to ,
Yeah, that's right.
"The data is correct."
(laughter) Big difference.
D.W., you're off the hot seat.
But now quite done in the interview.
We like ot end every interview and find out a little bit more
about our guest called 'Five for the Road'.
So first thing that comes to mind with these five quick
questions for ya.
What is your favorite professional sports team of all
time?
Of all time?
Uh, I guess the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics?
Yeah.
Well..
I know you're in the Nashville area.
I thought you might go Titans.
Eh, don't put words in my mouth.
But I'll tell ya why.
I've always been -- kind of liked the Boston Celtics.
And then you'll love this.
It's a long time ago.
Carl Yastrzemski.
Oh sure, yes!
And her mom, at the World Series -- I'll never forget.
She wasn't a big sports fan.
She was hollering at Yastrzemski to hit a home run.
And so I've always liked the Red Sox.
I've always liked the Celtics.
And the reason I like the Celtics is because of Coach
Pitino.
Coach Pitino, I'm a big fan of his.
And when he coached the Celtics, I know it didn't work out too
hot.
But it's working out at Louisville.
Favorite pro athlete of all time?
Oh, I don't know.
You can go driver, too.
Yeah, there's a lot of guys that fall in to the category.
I think Roger Staubach.
Roger Staubach.
Favorite music or a band a group?
Ah man, country music.
Country music -- Who would it be?
What artist?
Oh, I love the old guys.
You know George Jones was a really good friend of mine.
He just passed away.
Um, I don't know.
Vern Gosdin was a good friend of mine.
Martina McBride, Wynonna Judd.
It's country.
It's all country.
And there's a lot of young guys.
I mean my wife loves Blake Shelton.
And she's not a big country music fan.
But she knows every word to "Boys 'Round Here".
I caught her at the bar.
I went up to the bar.
She was cleaning the bar and she had the radio turned up.
And Blake was on it.
And she was singing that song and she knew every word to it.
♪ "Boys 'round here.." ♪
She was.
Real quick, favorite movie of all time?
Oh, "Remember the Titans".
Favorite TV show of all time?
Oh, this is really bad.
Don't say "Hee Haw".
I love Mayberry.
There ya go!
Yep and of course I like it, too.
We'll leave it at that.
D.W., what a pleasure.
Thank you so much for joining us.
[upbeat music] ♪♪♪
(male announcer) Three..
Two..
One..
[buzzer sounds]
The name Dulin is synonymous with baseball in
Memphis and the Mid-South.
Tim Dulin is a former professional baseball player in
the Orioles organization, and a standout at then,
Memphis State.
For years, Tim, through his Dulin's Dodgers,
has helped develop countless numbers of players,
many of whom have moved onto college and some who have made
it to the pro ranks.
Dalton Dulin, Tim's son, is a chip off the old block.
He is headed to Ole Miss in the fall after a standout prep
career at M-U-S and with the Dodgers.
He has captured countless honors,
including being named to this year's World Wood Bat 18 and
under all tournament team, and looks to one day play on the big
stage.
Recently I had a chance to chat with Dalton,
who I found to be just as engaging,
as he is talented.
Well Dalton, let's first of all talk about Ole Miss.
You start in the fall.
How excited are you to play for Mike Bianco?
I'm really excited.
I'm really excited to get down to Oxford.
My sister graduated from there this past year.
So I've been kind of going down there and hanging out with her a
little bit.
But I grew up with a bunch of guys who graduated from there --
Zach Cozart, Drew Pomeranz, Cody Overbeck.
And those guys played in my dad's organization.
So they kind of took me in as their little brother.
And the coaching staff, they welcome me as I was a fmaily
member.
And that's just where it went from.
So with that said, was it an easy decision?
It was.
It was an easy decision.
I've been going down there since I was probably 10.
And just, they welcome me in ther locker room like I was a
player, a teammate.
So I felt comfortable there with the coaching staff.
And it was an easy decision.
And I just felt like I should get it out of the way because
that's what I knew I wanted to do.
That was the easy decision.
And the hard decision came a couple of months ago with the
baseball amateur draft.
Your picked in the 36th round by the team I grew up with,
the Philadelphia Phillies.
You're coming out of M-U-S.
You're thinking about it.
You're already signed with Ole Miss.
Did you really comtemplate it, going professional?
Right, right.
I did.
And really the showcase year was last year,
my junior year summer.
And I was on the road all summer long showcasing and doing all of
that kind of stuff.
So I got drafted with the Phillies.
And I knew it was going to get down to the wire with the
deadline.
And I mean I've always had dreams of playing the big
leagues and I still have those dreams.
And the Phillies had flown in when it was getting down to the
wire.
And they watched me work out.
And we were trying to get a deal done but it just didn't happen.
And I'm really excited about my opportunity at Ole Miss.
You're following in your father's footsteps as a middle
infielder, primarily second base.
You're a switch-hitter.
Tell everybody a little bit more about what you bring to the
game.
What I bring to the game, let's see.
First of all and foremost, I'm a winner.
And I'm a great teammate.
I know how to win.
And with that comes responsibility.
And to be a leader on a team, on a high caliber team,
you can't be the guy out there bossing everybody around.
You've got to be the leader and you've got to be in front of the
pack guiding and showing people what to do.
I mean that's what a leader does.
So I feel like I'm a lead-off hitter.
I use gap-to-gap power to drive the ball to all parts of the
ball park.
I get on first base and I'm looking to steal second and
third as soon as I can and rely on my teammates to get me in and
put some runs up on the board.
What was it like to grow up as a little tot in a baseball
household with your father, Tim, having played professional?
Did you start right away as a little guy?
Oh yeah, I'm sure I did.
My mom shows me pictures constantly.
And just growing up in the Dulin Dodgers organization,
it's humbled me and I've seen a bunch of big leaguers come
through the system.
And I see how they carry themselves.
And I try to model myself after them.
Yeah, and for those who don't know -- and you should know in
this area what the Dulin's Dodgers is all about.
But perennial national championships contenders.
You win so many tournaments around the country.
You did so again earlier this summer.
You play both aluminum bat tournaments,
wooden bat tournaments.
That gets you ready for both the collegiate level,
the professional level.
Just a stand-out organization.
And you're going to be humbled because that's your pop that's
running the show.
Of course, yeah!
I mean you have to carry yourself as a professional.
And I've learned that since I was a tot.
And um, just being around these big leaguers and seeing the way
they play the game and how they are on and off the field,
you kind of have no choice.
You just fall right in to the mold.
And that's what they expect of you.
And I don't really cross the line with my parents.
I would imagine there's a disagreement or two when it
comes to the game of baseball.
What's the one area maybe your dad's saying,
"Look, you gotta do this."
And you say, "No, I think I'm okay."
Yeah, yeah!
I mean, there's constantly arguments.
And they don't really get heated or anything like that.
But baseballs constantly on at my house 24-7 whether it's
watching my godbrother, Julio Borbon with the Cubs on TV.
But yeah, we're constantly just going over things -- What would
you do in this situation?
Going through pitch counts and just little things with your
swing and defensively on the field.
And just things like that.
Was there ever a worry growing up?
Here are your buddies.
You know some are playing baseball.
Maybe some are doing something else.
"Ah, I don't have time to go out with you guys because I'm
playing baseball."
Were you ever worried that there could be a burn-out factor?
Oh yeah, of course.
I mean that's always in the back of your mind.
And um, with me, I really keep a tight circle.
I'm friendly with everybody.
I have all kind of friends.
But at the same reason, same point,
you can't get off track.
Because as soon as you get off track is when you stop looking
at the main goal.
And so with me, that wasn't really a factor.
I mean playing baseball all summer long,
you don't have a choice.
So that's really all we did and baseball is my life.
What is the one area of the game itself -- hitting,
running, fielding, throwing -- that you want to work on a
little bit more?
Um, see I hit naturally left-handed.
And so when I was probably 13 or 14 years old,
I started hitting right-handed.
I started switching.
And so of course, that's going to be your weakest part of the
game.
But growing up and maturing and just taking thousands of swings
right-handed, it's gotten me more fluent.
And it's getting there.
And just that's the main point I've been working on.
Just all around everything in the field,
hitting.
You've got to keep working.
Was that something that you came up with that you wanted to try
switch-hitting or did your dad recommend it?
Um, my dad, he kind of lays back about that kind of stuff.
I mean I'm self-motivated and that's really how it goes.
And just watching big leaguers.
And I've only seen a very few amount of baseball players that
can actually switch it.
So I figured if some of these guys can do it,
why can't I.
One final question for ya.
Other than the actual games itself which won't be until the
spring, you're getting ready for fall ball.
What's the one thing you are looking forward to the most
about going down to Oxford and going to school at Ole Miss and
playing baseball?
Yeah, I'm really excited to get down to Oxford.
And I've had a guy live with me from West Palm for about three
years now.
And he's one of the top pitchers in the country,
right-handed pitcher.
And so really the recruiting classes that Coach Bianco's,
he's put together for this 2014 season.
I'm really excited to get down there and play with these guys.
And the main goal is to win and try to get to Omaha.
Continued success!
We've enjoyed watching you play as a prep player playing
obviously with the travel team with Dulin's.
And now we look forward to watching you at Ole Miss and
eventually, Dalton, professional baseball.
That's right.
I appreciate it.
Best of luck!
Thank you.
The Grizzlies made a move this week acquiring the rights to
former Florida Gators point guard Nick Calathes.
Calathes has played four seasons overseas and has a year left on
his current deal with a team in the Russian Professional League.
But the deal contains an N-B-A out,
so if terms can be agreed upon, he could be a member of the
Grizzlies this year.
Calathes was this past season's EuroCup Most Valuable Player.
And that will do it for the show.
Have a great week and we'll see you next time.
♪♪♪
CLOSED CAPTIONS PROVIDED BY WKNO - MEMPHIS.