"DWTS": Michael Waltrip hopes to impress with his sexy tango
Michael Waltrip has been getting some of the lowest scores on the current season of "Dancing with the Stars," but the professional race car driver has still managed to stay in the competition week after week.
He tells CBS News his goal is to continue to improve and refine his skills as he heads into Monday night's episode with professional partner Emma Slater.
"This week's dance is very important to me because it's important for us to do good for the judges but also I want to people at home to enjoy what we do," he told CBS News. "We're doing the Argentine tango and it's kind of a sexy dance. It's a romantic dance and I want to do it well for Emma."
His favorite dance so far was last month's waltz routine to Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do I Do It For You." Their rendition impressed the judging panels and had judge Carrie Ann Inaba telling Waltrip that he did a "great job."
"In doing that I wanted to say thank you to her [Emma] for teaching me to dance," Waltrip, 51, said. "And a wonderful thing happened, my daughter turned 17 on that Monday and she got up in Charlotte, North Carolina, and flew all the way to LA just to be there for the show on her 17th birthday and turned around the next morning [to go home]. With her in the audience, I wanted her to be proud of her daddy as well."
Waltrip has been enjoying dabbling into the Hollywood way of life for a couple of months, calling his stint on season 19 "interesting."
"I'm a professional race car driver. I like to show people how to race cars and Emma really loves showing me how to dance," he said. "And I really love learning."
"I really have never tried to dance in any structured way my whole life so the last two months have been really challenging to learn how how to put all that choreography together," he continued. "The experience has been amazing -- being able to be part of such a wonderful show. The cast is so fun. Everybody has such a great time being there."
Waltrip says he's using the criticism he receives from the judges for inspiration.
"Any time that someone tells me I can't do something, I like to show them that I can," he said. "The judges' comments have been so negative and it just makes me want to work hard and give it all I got and do my best to show people that I can dance. And the main thing is I like to think of my journey on 'Dancing with the Stars' as just like the guy next door -- maybe he's not best dancer, but maybe he enjoys getting up and squiring his woman around the room and showing her how much appreciates her and loves her by dancing with her."
Going into the "DWTS," Waltrip has had two goals. First -- he wanted to survive the first round of eliminations. Secondly, he hoped to make it to Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama to race this past Sunday.
He managed to do both.
The race was a special one for the pro driver, who unveiled a new paint scheme on his No. 66 Toyota Camry race car this past weekend, featuring thousands of photos uploaded throughout September in support of National AFib Awareness Month and the MyAFibStory.com initiative. People's stories centered around having atrial fibrillation, or AFib, a quivering or irregular heartbeat that can lead to stroke and other heart-related complications.
"My mother 25 years ago had AFib, and her atrial fibrillation led to her having a stroke," said Waltrip, who's raising awareness for AFib. "And Mom today is in a wheelchair because of a stroke. We wanted to tell her story...in hopes of preventing other people from having a stroke. We're encouraging people to see their physician and ask about treatments that are right for them."
Waltrip, meanwhile, will certainly have his hands full when he wraps up the "DWTS" competition and re-immerses into the racing world.. He'll spend time helping run his race team and working as part of Fox's NASCAR television broadcasting team.
"That's my real job," he said, adding that "2014 has been off year. Our cars haven't performed and we don't have the results that we've hoped for. Despite being in Los Angeles some, I'm at the races most every weekend and helping to try to organize and be better prepared for a strong run in 2015...I love NASCAR. Our race team and I look forward to seeing our cars improve and run better next year."
But first up -- he has to tackle that tango on Monday night.
"I just hope that America is voting for us," he said. "That would mean a lot. And I hope that folks love our tango this week so that we can get some good scores and impress the judges. More important to me is what America thinks. Are they having fun? Are they enjoying watching us dance? I have a feeling they are."
