Darrell Waltrip net worth
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What is Darrell Waltrip’s net worth and career income?
Darrell Waltrip is an American motorsport analyst, author, national television broadcaster and former race car driver. Darrell Waltrip has a net worth of $25 million. From 1972 to 2000, Waltrip competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. During his career, he won 84 Cup Series races, 13 Busch National Series races and 7 American Speed Association races. Waltrip is recognized as one of the greatest racers of all time, earning numerous honors and being inducted into various Halls of Fame.
career income
During his career, Darrell has won $19.9 million in tournament winnings.
Early life and career
Darrell Waltrip was born in Owensboro, Kentucky in 1947. At the age of 12, he started driving karts, and just four years later entered his first racing event. He went to Davis County High School, graduating in 1965. An early racer at Kentucky Motor Speedway and Ellis Speedway, Waltrip eventually caught the attention of Nashville driver PB Crowell, who encouraged Waltrip to move to Tennessee to race at Fairgrounds. In Nashville, his success at the Music City Motorplex and his multiple television appearances were the stepping stones to his NASCAR career.
In 1972, at the age of 25, Waltrip began competing in the NASCAR Winston Cup at the Winston 500 in Talladega. As a driver and owner, he won five races in 1972. He won more over the next few years, winning 14 in 1973, 16 in 1974, and 17 in 1975, including his first Winston Cup champion.
Racing with DiGard
In mid-1975, Waltrip signed a multi-year contract with DiGard Chevrolet. He competed in 11 races with DiGard throughout the season, had three top-five finishes and won his second career NASCAR Winston Cup race. Waltrip continued its success over the next decade, dominating NASCAR short-track venues such as Bristol International Speedway, Martinsville Raceway and the Music City Motorplex. In 1977 and 1978, Waltrip won six races a year, including victories at the Talladega Superspeedway and the Coca-Cola 600. One of Waltrip’s most memorable races was the 1979 Daytona 500, marked by a major crash on the final lap and a fight between Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison. Waltrip ended up being runner-up to Richard Petty, who became his rival in the 1979 NASCAR Championship. In the end, Petty won the cup by just 11 points over Waltrip.
Johnson’s success
Waltrip joined the Junior Johnson & Associates team in 1981. He was an immediate success, winning 12 races in each of his first two years with the team and taking his first two Winston Cup victories. In 1983, Waltrip set 22 top-five modern NASCAR series records. He went on to achieve incredible results with teenage Johnson in the 1986 season, when he won his third Winston Cup. Overall, with Johnson, Waltrip won three national championships and 43 Winston Cup games.
Hendrick Motorsport
In 1987, Waltrip signed with Hendrick Motorsports. In his first year, he couldn’t repeat his success with Johnson Jr., winning just one game. He won two races the following year, including his fourth career Coca-Cola 600. An even bigger victory came in 1989, when Waltrip won six races, including his first Daytona 500 on his 17th attempt. He also won an unprecedented fifth Coca-Cola 600.
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Occupation as an owner driver
After a fourth relatively unsuccessful season at Hendrick Motorsports, Waltrip formed his own team for the 1991 season. He finished his first year in a respectable eighth place overall in the championship. In 1992, he won three more victories, including the Mountain Dew South 500. It was a historic year for Waltrip, as that win marked his 84th and final NASCAR victory. Two years later, Waltrip was last in the top 10, in ninth place. After two top-10 finishes in 1996, Waltrip and his team struggled. By 1997, they were nearly insolvent; Waltrip sold the team to Tim Beverley as a result.
Final racing year and retirement
In 1998, Waltrip signed with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and finished fifth in the California 500. He later signed to drive the No. 66 Big K Ford Taurus for Haas-Carter Motorsports, but failed to qualify seven times for the season. In the summer of 1999, Waltrip announced that he would retire from NASCAR at the end of the 2000 season. In November of the same year, he entered the final race of the NAPA 500, finishing 34th.
Broadcaster’s Career
After retiring from racing, Waltrip signed with Fox as its chief NASCAR analyst and race commentator. He soon became known for his colorful, distinctive phrasing, which included words like “coop-petetion” and “s’perince,” as well as phrases like “use of a chrome horn.” Waltrip also got into the habit of yelling “Boogity, boogity, boogity, let’s go racing boys and girls!” Make the phrase his trademark at the start of every game.
In 2019, Waltrip announced its withdrawal from broadcasting at Bristol Motor Speedway. The last race he aired was the 2019 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.
Awards and Honors
Waltrip has won numerous NASCAR awards during his storied career. His accolades include NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver Award, American Driver of the Year, NASCAR Driver of the Decade of the 1980s and Motorsports Press Association Driver of the Year. Waltrip was inducted into the American Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2003 and the International Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2005.
