According to his autobiography In the Blink of An Eye, Waltrip\'s career started at age 15. When he was 15 he phoned his older brother Darrell Waltrip, who was out racing in the 1978 Daytona 500 and asked Darrell to help him build a career in NASCAR. Darrell, however, claimed he had no time to help him and advised that Michael focused on school. When Michael asked his dad for help, his dad ignored his requests. With none of his parental figures helping him, Michael built his racing career all by himself with influence & help from his older brother Bobby Waltrip, who was very close to him in childhood. He began building a career by racing go-karts at carnivals and various racing clubs around his hometown. He won many races and, thanks to Bobby\'s help, was noticed by rising hotshot star Dale Earnhardt. When Waltrip moved out of his house, he moved in with Kyle Petty and then he ultimately ended up living with Richard Petty as a roommate. When Michael explained to Petty that he was going to try the Busch Series (now the Xfinity Series) to build his NASCAR career, Petty told Michael he was "wasting his time" and advised that Michael immediately went for the Cup Series ride.\n', '

Waltrip\'s stock-car career got off the ground in 1981, when he captured the Mini-Modified division track championship at Kentucky Motor Speedway. A year later, Waltrip entered the Goody\'s Dash Series, where he won the series championship in 1983 and was voted the circuit\'s most popular driver in 1983 and 1984.\n', '

Waltrip made his Cup debut in 1985 in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte driving for Dick Bahre. He finished 28th in that race and finished 57th in the series standings after just 5 starts. His brother Darrell won the race. At the same time, Waltrip got confronted by Earnhardt, who questioned a previous move early in the race in which Waltrip nudged him out of the way and Dale responded by flipping the bird. Despite this incident, Earnhardt and Waltrip agreed to disagree over the move and remained friends.\n', '

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