Photo: Anastasiia Photography
Bubba Wallaceand his wifeAmanda Carterhave known each other since high school, but theNASCARdriver jokes it wasn’t exactly love at first sight.
“I just remember seeing her and I was like, ‘Wow, she’s beautiful,” says Wallace. For Carter, the feeling wasn’t mutual just yet.
“We were in Spanish class in high school, and we sat near each other,” recalls Carter. “I don’t remember first meeting, but he would always try to cheat. We were friends. There was three or four of us that did all of our projects together and he always would try to cheat off my exams because I was much smarter than he was!”
Adds Wallace with a laugh: “I was definitely not good at Spanish and I was trying to do the easy route and she would not budge. She would not.”
Anastasiia Photography
The duo became close, but their relationship didn’t turn romantic until later.
“It never worked out. It never hit or landed in high school,” says Carter. “I even went to his prom with somebody else from his school.”
After graduation, they stayed in touch, talking once or twice a year until 2015 when they reconnected at a football game.
From there, they began spending more time together and Wallace invited her to go to Las Vegas for one of his races when she was a senior in college.
“It was my senior year spring break. And I didn’t have plans at the time. And he was like, ‘Well, I’ll be out in Vegas while you’re on spring break, do you want to come?’ And I said, ‘No,’ " she recalls.
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“And then he asked a few times again, and I eventually said yes. I was like, well, I have to get to know him more if we’re going to be on vacation for a week together. And we started dating when we got out to Vegas, because we had been talking so much. We had really started to really like each other.”
Wallace popped the question in July 2021 after five years as a couple.
“It’s special,” says Carter of their history together. “Even last night when we were at dinner, we were talking about stories from high school, or people from high school and town. We still reminisce or talk about things from the past. We just know so much about each other’s lives from so long ago.”
Now, the newlyweds are excited for their next chapter together.
“Getting married, and starting a new life together, I’m just so excited to have a good one in my corner,” says Wallace. “We have so much fun together.”
Tricia Despres
source: people.com
