THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 6, 1994 TAG: 9408060376
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
One of the most anticipated events in the history of automobile racing - the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway - gets the green flag today at 1:15 p.m.
NASCAR has come to Indy, and so far it has been quite a show.
Unheralded Rick Mast is on the pole in a Ford Thunderbird, but sitting right there beside him, in that ominous black Chevrolet, is Dale Earnhardt, the best of the best in our time.
The weather reportedly will be perfect for this first Winston Cup series event at the world's oldest race track. The forecast is for clear skies and temperatures in the 70s, as if providence has put on its best face for the historic 160-lap show.
``Everybody is going to be pumped up and the adrenaline is going to be flowing,'' said A.J. Foyt, the crusty old legend who came through in the clutch Friday during second-round qualifying to capture the 40th starting spot. ``I think you'll see a lot of sheet metal flying.''
Forty years ago, the idea of a NASCAR race at this racing shrine brought shudders, if not disgust, to the Indy faithful. But times have changed, NASCAR has matured and Indy will have more than one annual race for the first time since 1910, a year before the first Indianapolis 500.
And if you have any doubts whether race fans wanted to see this happen, then you needed to be here Friday afternoon for the first minutes of the final Winston Cup practice, when a long line of stock cars, running bumper-to-bumper, came flying down the front stretch and throttled down to enter the first turn.
As serious as it was, this was still only practice. But fans were screaming and pumping their fists and cheering them on. It almost looked like the real thing itself.
If Daytona International Speedway was the greatest achievement of late Bill France, the founder of NASCAR, then history could judge this new race as the single greatest legacy of his son, NASCAR president Bill France Jr.
``I don't think any race driver in the Winston Cup series at some point wouldn't have liked to run at Indy,'' France said. ``They didn't have a chance. Now they do.''
But the Brickyard 400 wouldn't have happened without the support and encouragement of speedway president Tony George, who carried none of the prejudices of his elders and liked what he saw when he first attended a NASCAR race.
The race was a sellout about 48 hours after tickets went on sale. More than 300,000 people are expected to attend - far more than any previous NASCAR race.
``I didn't know it was going to be this big, but I knew it was going to be big,'' George said. ``No one here in the organization thought it was going to be this big.''
``I think it's probably the most anticipated race in NASCAR history,'' stock car racing historian Greg Fielden said, ``with the possible exception of the (first) Southern 500 at Darlington in 1950 and the 250-mile in Detroit in 1951, which took NASCAR to the doorstep of the automobile industry.
``I think this ranks bigger than the first Daytona 500 in 1959. Daytona was almost too big for racing's britches back then. And the beach races at Daytona before 1959 always held interest.''
Although Mast has never won a Winston Cup race, he set the pace in testing here and continued to be the quickest in practice. It was no different in the final Winston Cup practice, when the best of his 18 laps was 170.165 miles per hour.
But Mast is concerned.
``The fans will see a lot of accidents if a lot of guys don't use their heads getting in the four turns,'' he told Ford's Wayne Estes on Friday.
Mast and 11 other drivers will be using Hoosier tires in the race. The rest of the 43-car field will use Goodyears.
``It looks to me like the tires are about even,'' he said. ``Hopefully the Hoosiers won't give up as much as the Goodyears give up. It might not, but that's what we've been looking at.''
Geoff Bodine, who starts fourth, also on Hoosier tires, was second fastest with a speed of 169.658 mph in 25 circuits around this 2.5-mile speedway. Bodine tapped the wall during the morning practice and had a rough day until the final practice.
One thing the drivers learned in that final practice was how tough it will be to pass.
``It's going to be tough,'' he said. ``It really is. A slower car can hold you up pretty easy. If you're leading and handling halfway decent, you should be able to stay in the lead.''
Jeff Gordon, who starts third, did not make any laps in the final practice, although it could not be immediately determined why.
And Earnhardt only did five laps - the fewest of any who did practice. His best was 166.503 mph.
``I think history will show us as we go down the road that this is the most significant thing that's ever happened to this sport,'' Darrell Waltrip told Chevy's Ray Cooper. ``It's not going to be a small step. It's going to be a great big leap forward for Winston Cup racing.
``I don't know any other way to say it, but this is a big deal.'' by CNB