THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 7, 1994 TAG: 9408080225
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
Back home again in Indiana, a 23-year-old Hoosier named Jeff Gordon gave a packed house at Indianapolis Motor Speedway the kind of heart-pounding show that the inaugural Brickyard 400 deserved.
After battling side-by-side with Rusty Wallace and Ernie Irvan, and then trading the lead with Irvan every few laps late in the race, Gordon finally prevailed by about a half-second over Brett Bodine and promptly went berserk in his Chevrolet Lumina when he roared under the checkered flag.
``My God, you guys are the greatest!'' screamed the driver known as ``The Kid.''
``Oh, my God! I did it! That is the most awesome thing ever!''
And if the first NASCAR stock-car race at Indy wasn't the most awesome thing in recent racing history, it was pretty close.
From the ear-shattering first lap - when V-8 exhaust fumes wafted down the long front straightaway in the wake of a 43-car tornado that literally shook the double-deck front grandstand - to the final battles, this was an inauguration to remember.
And as Gordon steered through his final lap, more than 300,000 fans were on their feet and screaming their lungs out.
For three days, they had given every driver the warmest of ovations, but they had reserved some of their loudest cheers for the young man who was one of their own.
And the former resident of Pittsboro, Ind., about 20 miles west of
the track, came through for the Hoosier state, leading 93 of the 160 laps, including the final five circuits around the 2.5-mile rectangle.
Gordon's share of the $3.21 million purse was $613,000. Both are NASCAR records.
Bill Elliott finished third, followed by Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Ken Schrader, Michael Waltrip, Todd Bodine and Morgan Shepherd. Six other cars finished on the lead lap.
Gordon was born in Vallejo, Calif., but his family moved to Pittsboro to nurture his racing ambitions. And he made a name for himself as a USAC midget-car and sprint car racer, showing his stuff on the short tracks of the Midwest.
USAC is all but synonymous with Indy. It sanctions the Indy 500. And many of the 500 champions of old cut their teeth on USAC short tracks. But in the past two decades, the short-track drivers, Gordon included, have found greener pastures in the South, racing NASCAR stock cars.
``Without tears coming up, I tell ya, this is the greatest thing in the world,'' Gordon said after the history-making race. ``This whole team has done a really excellent job to prepare for this, but I never thought that it would happen.
``To even think about being the winner of this event is far past anything I ever thought of. I'm a kid in a candy store. It's far past any words to describe how I feel right now. This is the Indy 500 of stock-car racing today.''
Just before the race started, Gordon's crew chief, Ray Evernham, sought to settle down his young driver. ``I trust you,'' Evernham told him on the radio. ``Just play it smart and play it tight.''
Although pole winner Rick Mast led the first two laps, Gordon took over on lap three and dominated the first half of the race.
Until the final battles with Irvan and Wallace, Gordon's primary competition was Geoff Bodine. Together they ran away from the field after several restarts.
But Bodine fell victim to a family feud, crashing in front of the pack on lap 100 after getting tapped from behind by brother Brett.
And as the end approached, the cream of the Winston Cup series - Irvan, Wallace, Earnhardt and Elliott - found their way to the front.
``You hardly ever run a race this long without something exciting,'' said Richard Petty. ``This one built up. It wound up being a decent show.''
When the sixth and final caution period (for a crash involving Jimmy Hensley and Geoff Brabham) ended on lap 134, Wallace had the lead on the strength of the fastest pit stop.
But Gordon went right after him, and for parts of two laps they battled side-by-side on a track where such wheel-to-wheel action was a rarity until Saturday. Then Wallace slipped and fell back. And it became a Gordon-Irvan battle.
Back and forth it went. Gordon led four laps. Irvan led five. Gordon led five. Irvan led six.
``You're the man,'' Evernham kept telling Gordon. But Irvan was disputing that with all he had.
On lap 139, with Irvan on his bumper, Gordon told Evernham: ``I'm getting loose! I'm going to have to let him go by. He's going to spin me out.''
And that happened again on lap 150.
As Gordon explained later: ``When I was leading, he could get right up on me, get the air off my spoiler and make me loose. But I could do the same thing to him.
``With five laps to go, I drove as hard as I could in on him to try to get him loose in the (first) corner. I wasn't actually going for the pass. All of a sudden, he started moving up the track. I never touched him or anything.''
Irvan's Ford had suffered a cut tire. His chance to win was over.
``I tell you, what can you say?'' Irvan said. ``We were sitting in the right spot. Either one of us had a good shot at winning it. We'll never know who would have won.
``It's always frustrating when it's something wrong I do, or something breaks. But there's not a lot we could do about this.''
If Irvan, who finished one lap down in 17th, had not cut his tire, ``We could have come across that line side-by-side,'' Gordon said. ``I don't know who would have won, because we were pretty equal.''
So Gordon joins Ray Harroun, the winner of the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911, as the winner of the first NASCAR race at Indy.
``As bad as my memory is, I still remember Ray Harroun's name,'' said Gordon. ``I don't know what it was like back in 1911. I don't know if everyone anticipated that race like they did this one. This one was built up so much and was so highly anticipated. And there isn't anyone who wanted to win worse than us.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS COLOR PHOTOS
Jeff Gordon shares a victory kiss with his fiancee, Brooke Sealey.
Gordon's share of the record $3.21 million purse: $613,000, also a
record.
Geoff Bodine, right, spins out of control after a bumping incident
with his brother Brett, left, which knocked Geoff out of the race.
Brett finished a half-second behind winner Jeff Gordon.
Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jeff Gordon takes the checkered flag, crossing the start-finish
line, the last remnant of what once was 2 1/2 miles of brick.
by CNB