The God-Story Behind Why This Famous NASCAR Driver's Wife Encourages Racers With Bible Verses

News Staff : Feb 23, 2016
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

Stevie Waltrip is probably most well known for her pre-race Bible verse. She pores over her Bible and waits each week for the Lord to direct her to just the right Scripture. Never, did she imagine, this would become a topic of conversation outside of the garage. And never did she dream she would be writing verses weekly for a man known as the Intimidator.

(Franklin, TN)—[BillyGraham.org] For a moment, Stevie Waltrip was speechless, gripped by emotion. (AP Photo via BGEA)

For decades, the wife of FOX analyst and NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip has equipped drivers with Bible verses prior to Cup events. She started doing that in the 1980s for her husband and then in the 1990s for Dale Earnhardt Sr. at his request. She has continued the tradition with Earnhardt's son.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s fiancée Amy Reimann tweets the Scripture—#SteviesVerse—every week during NASCAR's 10-month season. Some fans consider it more than a way of connecting with the driver who has been chosen the fan favorite for the past 13 seasons.

"They are good motivational verses to study," one fan tweeted in appreciation.

And that's what moved Stevie to tears on an otherwise quiet February Monday in her Franklin, Tennessee, home.

"It's so gracious and kind of the Lord to use a little act like that and expand it to that point," said Waltrip, who plans to attend this Sunday's Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Florida. "That just makes me really happy. For (Earnhardt and Reimann) to have that kind of platform and to use it in that way is so valuable, so significant; it's a great thing for the Kingdom." (Photo via Twitter/BGEA)

But the affable Waltrip will be the first to tell you she hasn't always had a Kingdom mindset. There was a time some 50 years ago that she was doing her own thing, not realizing Jesus was all she needed.

Growing Up Fast
Nicknamed Stevie by her older sister, Stephanie was a native Texan and resident Kentuckian who dreamed of going to Southern Methodist University—the same place her dad attended and the same place her grandfather taught. Her 16-year-old mind was made up until she met a loud, brash, little-known racecar driver by the name of Darrell Waltrip.

"I had just gone in a completely different direction from the way I was brought up," Stevie said. "Darrell was a wild and crazy guy, and my family was ultra conservative."

Much to her parents' initial horror, the lovebirds were wed once she graduated high school. They immediately moved to Tennessee so he could focus on his dream of racing.

Stevie, a self-described "race fan by marriage," started learning the sport. That helped in two major ways. First, it saved money for the cash-strapped Waltrips. Second, it gave her something to do other than pray and fret while the love of her life raced in close quarters around fast tracks in underwhelming safety equipment.

So she stayed busy. Stevie prayed while she tracked laps, calculated fuel mileage, recorded pit stop performance and so on. For perspective, today one engineer on the Cup level might focus on fuel mileage during the race, while a pit crew coach would track pit stop activity. And never mind the fact she's a female doing all this—a rarity even in today's racing world.

It was a fast-paced lifestyle, but Stevie found it quite lonely. She started seeking God. For the Waltrips' 10th anniversary, she wrote a letter to her husband telling him how much she loved him. (AP Photo via BGEA)

"But then I said, 'Truly Darrell, I want to love the Lord more than you, and I don't believe I do,'" Stevie said she penned in August 1979.
"I believe the Lord took that, and He knew that was my heart's desire."

Stevie knew Jesus thanks to her church upbringing, but she had some gaps to fill. Why was the crucifixion necessary? She prayed about it and struggled to find a satisfactory answer until she crossed paths with Ann Isaacs.

Now Ann knew the Waltrips because her husband Leonard asked Darrell to serve on his bank's board in the 1980s. But Ann had no idea that Stevie was at a loss on this particular topic. So Stevie's mind was blown when Ann presented her with a tape discussing the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ.

"She had no idea where I was spiritually," Stevie said. "She had no idea I had asked the Lord to explain this."

Fast forward a few days later. Stevie played the message on her cassette tape player while tending her flower garden outside their Franklin, Tennessee, home. She learned that the penalty for sin is death, which is why before Jesus, people would sacrifice a lamb's life to pay for their sins. In the Old Testament, the lamb's innocent blood covered the sins of the people. When Jesus arrived on the scene, He became the once-and-for-all sacrificial lamb. His blood needed to be shed to cover our sins.

"I had never heard that before in my life, and that was the picture I needed," Stevie said. "That moved me from wherever I was spiritually to a whole other plane. I was on my knees, and I had my hands raised in the air. I'm crying. It was awesome."

Stevie's spiritual thirst was insatiable. She was ordering tapes and attending Bible study with Ann. She was turning up the volume on Christian radio broadcasts at home and relaying her notes to Darrell during car rides. He didn't object, and he wasn't just tolerating it. He wanted to hear what she was learning. He even started to attend Wednesday Bible study with his wife and the Isaacs.

Stevie was also putting Scripture in her husband's car even though his lifestyle didn't match up. You see, Darrell wasn't exactly a fan favorite early in his career, although he was successful on-track. He earned the nickname Jaws from the legendary Cale Yarborough for his mouthiness, and then there was the time he was inviting Yarborough's fans to fight in the K-Mart parking lot.

No matter, Stevie still kept putting God's Word right in his office—the racecar—right where he could see it.

"I believe God's Word is living and powerful and life changing so I put Scriptures on the dash of his car not for any other reason than to just help him focus on what truly was most important to give him encouragement," Stevie said.

God's presence took on a whole new meaning for Darrell after a serious accident in 1983 at Daytona.

"He spent a night in intensive care," Stevie recalled. "I think the Lord used that to knock him conscious."

From that point forward, subtle changes took effect. He prayed with his wife, and his faith—supplanted by hers—was getting stronger. Neither of them knew how important that would be for the upcoming season in their lives.

A Change, A Champion & A Cause
Stevie felt certain God wanted the Waltrips to have a child, but in 1985, their hearts were broken after a second miscarriage.

They sat side by side in their room and poured out their hearts to God.

"We're sitting on this blanket chest, and we both opened our hands and gave the whole situation to the Lord," Stevie said. "We said if you want us to have a child, we would love for You to give us a child but only if it's Your will."

They began the adoption process but by late 1986, Stevie was pregnant. Darrell was a wreck. This man with three NASCAR Winston...

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