Wallace initially posted about the incident on his Facebook page and his brother, Kenny, offered more details on his own social media accounts over the weekend. In a report appearing on the News-Journal’s site on Tuesday morning, Wallace said that he was at the concert with a group that included his daughter, Lindsey Wallace Van Wingerden, his wife and his son-in-law Thomas Van Wingerden, among others.
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Wallace has said in multiple interviews that he talked to a group in a pickup truck parked in front of him both before and after the concert. It was after the event, though, that things reportedly got heated. He said he spoke casually to the men about the show and that one of the men in the truck starting yelling at people. He said he asked why the man was so upset and the man “screamed at the top of his lungs.”
After that, he has no idea what happened other than that he got knocked out. He told the News-Journal that when he regained consciousness, he saw his daughter “on the ground … in the fetal position.” He and his daughter were taken to a local hospital where they underwent tests. As Kenny Wallace told FOXSports.com earlier this week , Mike Wallace had stitches in his mouth. Mike Wallace told the News-Journal his teeth were damaged, his nose was bloodied and he has an issue with his right eye and cannot see clearly out of it right now.
According to multiple reports , three men were arrested and charged following the incident — Paul Lucas, Nathan Lucas and Randolph Mangum. According to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Sheriff’s Office web site, two were charged with simple assault and one was charged with assault on a woman. Wallace told the News-Journal that he doesn’t know for certain which of the men punched him.
“The three they arrested, the police must have felt they were the ones that did it, because they arrested them,” he said. “They took those three to jail and they were out of jail before we left the hospital.”
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Wallace said that he is supposed to be made aware of what the incident report contains on Tuesday. Wallace added that he has “never been involved in anything remotely like this” and that he “doesn’t believe” in fighting in general.
“I don’t [see] the merit of beating the crap out of each other,” he said in the interview.
His story has gained attention beyond the NASCAR community and has been picked up by national publications. Still, Wallace hopes the incident — and ensuing recovery time — doesn’t change he or his family. Not much, anyway.
Wallace did tell the paper that in the future he might not socialize as much, or speak as freely to everyone he meets.
Still, he hopes this doesn’t change his life.
“All I can say is I hope it doesn’t change it forever,” he said. “It will change my outlook of certain things. … We will be cautious. We will continue to do the same things we were doing. Instead of [chatting] with somebody in another car, we will talk with the people we go with to an event."
The full interview is available here .
Rascal Flatts tweeted out a message of support to Wallace on Monday after news of the incident went national.
Wallace, who is the brother of fellow racers Rusty and Kenny Wallace, has 197 career starts in the Sprint Cup Series. He has 494 Xfinity starts with four wins and 115 Truck series starts with five wins. He last raced in 2015. His daughter, Chrissy, has also raced in the Truck series. Rusty Wallace is a NASCAR Hall of Famer. Kenny Wallace, who drew attention to the story through his social media posts, has 344 Sprint Cup starts and 547 starts in the Xfinity Series, including nine wins. He is an analyst for FOX.
