THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 6, 1995 TAG: 9508060177
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Four months ago, Rick Mast, the driver of Richard Jackson's No. 1 Ford Thunderbird on NASCAR's Winston Cup circuit, took a day off and came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a guest of A.J. Foyt.
``I was here on Thursday before qualifying for the Indianapolis 500,'' the 38-year-old Rockbridge Baths, Va., driver said. ``I came in nonchalantly and just walked through with A.J. and all of a sudden, somebody recognized me and the fans just started mobbing me. They remembered me from winning the pole'' for last year's inaugural Brickyard 400.
``It was pretty special because that was the Indy-car crowd,'' said Mast, who finished eighth in Saturday's rain-delayed race.
``And then we didn't have the right pass to get into this garage here and the guard said, `You've got to park out there.' I showed him my NASCAR pass and he said, `Oh! Rick! OK. You go on in.'
``Honestly, whenever we do autograph sessions, and we do a lot of them, probably a third of everything I sign has something to do with the Brickyard. I betcha I've signed, literally, thousands and thousands of Brickyard things.''
After he won the pole last year, Mast won the hearts of the Indianapolis fans, and stock-car fans in general, with his down-home, aw-shucks, I'm-just-a-country-boy manner.
Those of us in the racing media already knew that Mast was one of the best interviews in the garage - articulate, friendly, funny. And he clearly has driving talent, as evidenced by his hard-charging run at Rockingham last fall, where he finished second to Dale Earnhardt.
If anyone deserves a measure of Winston Cup success, it is Mast, who is in his fifth full season and has yet to win a race.
And so it is the Brickyard pole last year that remains his shining moment, and set the stage for his most crushing disappointment.
``I mean, it was just such a high high to win that pole,'' he said. ``I mean, golly, just total euphoria. As high as you can be. We qualified the fastest. The last practice before the race, when all the guys tried to hook up with me, absolutely nobody could run with me. The car was just absolutely perfect. You get a car like that once every two or three years. Honestly.
``It was just a matter of staying out of trouble - not doing anything stupid at all on the racetrack, everything staying together and being there at the end.
``And we came out of the fourth turn on the second lap and we lost a cylinder. The car was just perfect and you're walking on cloud nine. And in a matter of two laps, you reach just the lowest depths.
``I was really dejected that day, but racers get up the next morning and go on. Now I've had a year to reflect on it, and in my whole racing career, that has stung me worse than anything that has ever happened in my whole racing career. Losing the race the way we did hurt me a lot more than winning the pole helped.''
But Indy smiled on him again Saturday, at least a little bit. For once, his car stayed together, and he was in the top 10 all day long, finally finishing eighth, just behind Sterling Marlin and just ahead of Bobby Labonte. He had a push at the end of the race that stopped further progress.
``We didn't finish quite as well as we'd hoped to or expected to, but after the way our season has been going, I'll take anything I can get,'' he said.
And as he leaves this storied old speedway, that special Indy feeling in him has grown even stronger. This place has put its mark on him, as it has so many Indy drivers before him, drivers such as Ralph DePalma, Eddie Sachs, Lloyd Ruby, A.J. Foyt and the Unser brothers.
``Oh, yeah,'' he said. ``There's something special about this track. I'm starting to feel a special kindred spirit with this place. We've just adapted to it well. We just hit on a good combination and things kind of snowball like that in racing.''
Indy has already blessed Mast with winning the first competition of the first NASCAR race here. And it has stung him.
``We've got a love-hate affair with this place,'' he said. ``I've done decided that's my deal here.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Rick Mast describes his relationship with Indy as ``a love-hate
affair . . . that's my deal here.''
by CNB