Lauren Wallace is the third cousin (once removed) of Rusty and Mike Wallace; and these are his adventures. Many have speculated as to his relation to the Wallace family, due in part to his attitude - when Mike is so passive and Rusty, is well Rusty. He is third cousins (once removed), so there has been enough genetic interferrance to negate any significant damage Wallace DNA may have caused.

ATLANTA: Andretti Speedway, Andretti Indoor Kart Racing Center

Lauren Wallace finished his triple stack pancakes at IHOP and pulled a toothpick out of his junior sized Wrangler jeans. On his way to the track -while watching Disney/Pixar's CARS on the DVD inside the family's Dodge Caravan, Lauren's mother received a call from a potential sponsor wanting Warren as their junior circuit sponsor. But Lauren was not interested in sponsoring car insurance.

"It's beneath me," he said. "I'm like 10 years old. Who is gonna buy insurance because I'm riding around with their logo on my car? Plus, what do I get out of it? Where's the free stuff? What free stuff can I get from a car insurance company?"

At the speedway, Mrs. Wallace drops the rear gate of the stocky Featherlite trailer and Lauren climbs inside and begins pushing his kart racer out - according to Lauren , it is a kart racer, not a go-kart. "Go-karts are for kids."

After Lauren pushes his kart through the access door, his mom hands him his freshly cleaned white racing suit with its retro red-black-yellow racing strip down his left side. "Your glasses are in the case, inside the pocket, honey," she says.

The suit is believed to be a hand-me-down from Mike and/or Rusty Wallace and is a Wallace family racing tradition. Lauren also believes it to be the source of his racing power, and has vowed to take it with him into his ARCA, Nationwide, and Sprint Cup racing careers.

"Mom, knock it off," Lauren scolded. "You don't know who might be around."

Walking out of the changing room (aka: restroom), Lauren glides the oversized sun glasses on to his face, shifts his toothpicks around in his mouth, and looks around to see who else has shown up.

"Good day to lose, eh, Lauren ?" says Timmy Turner, who drove down from Richmond for the big Atlanta Juniors race. "And where's your mommy? Getting some tissue for your tears after I beat you?"

"The only thing you could beat me at Timmy is booger eating," Lauren quipped. "Hey, remind me later to introduce you to a friend of mine; the wall."

"Your wall comments never get old," said Billy Buttons, a rather chunky kid from Paducah, Kentucky who travels the country kart racing because he is a spoiled kid who's parents have more money than they know what to do with. They own a glue factory or something.

The loud speaker booms: "All junior racers to the waiting area. Qualifying begins in 10 minutes."

"It's on, boys!" Lauren said.

"Like Donkey Kong," Billy retorted. Both Lauren and Timmy laugh.

"You are so lame, Billy," Lauren said as he flipped his toothpick to the ground.

TO BE CONTINUTED: FRIDAY

Note: These are all fictional stories of fictional people. The Misadventures of Lauren Wallace will run concurrently with the NASCAR schedule in several segments each week.