DATE: Saturday, August 2, 1997              TAG: 9708020712

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS                      LENGTH:   83 lines

NASCAR'S INVASION OF INDY IS LEAVING THE 500 IN THE DUST

Four years ago, when the date was set for the first Brickyard 400, Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials were confident they could sell 100,000 seats, but they certainly weren't predicting a sellout.

That sentiment seems naive now, especially after tickets to the first race, in August 1994, disappeared as quickly as the speedway's computer system could accept the orders. And every race since, including today's Brickyard 400, has been a sellout.

The race has grown so large, in fact, that it has become a legitimate topic of debate to suggest that Brickyard 400 now overshadows the Indianapolis 500, ``The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.''

Robin Miller, the motorsports columnist for The Indianapolis Star, wrote after last year's race that the 400, has, indeed, taken the spotlight from the 500 in Indianapolis.

Miller has never been shy about expressing contrary opinions, and perhaps it was no coincidence that the speedway booted the Star staff from the special room it had used since the media center was built here in 1970. (The speedway says it needed additional space for its staff).

``I don't think there's any doubt the Brickyard 400 is the main event,'' Miller said Friday. ``Look at the crowds. Look at the enthusiasm. Look at the ticket brokers. Look at the qualifying crowd (Thursday). There were 40,000 people out there.

``The first year, on pole day for the Brickyard 400, the crowd was nothing, but it's grown,'' he said. ``Last May, for the 500, the pole-day crowd was 25,000.''

``You can't get tickets for the race now. The brokers are selling them for two, three, four times face value. For the 500, they couldn't even sell them. My two buddies, who are ticket brokers didn't even buy Indianapolis 500 this year because they got burned so bad in 1996.

``It's funny because this isn't one of NASCAR's better venues to put on a show. But the fans come here to watch a race. They bring their hats, programs and radios and keep score,'' he said.

``The Indianapolis 500 is still a sellout and probably is always going to be a sellout because it's a social event - it's the place to be in May. It's just something that's been passed down through the generations.''

So we waded out among the masses to check the pulse of the fans.

Tim and Angie Patterson were standing in the shade on the concourse behind the Tower Terrace grandstands. Tim was decked out in a Jeff Gordon hat and shirt. They're from Indianapolis. But they have never been to the 500.

And they had never been NASCAR fans - ``not until this started,'' Tim Patterson said. It was Jeff Gordon, a former Indiana resident, who piqued their interest.

``I just kinda liked him, Tim Patterson said.

Standing nearby, Jim Bourke of Indianapolis said he was one of the many natives devoted to the tradition of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For that reason, the 500 still holds sway.

``We grew up here,'' he said. ``I work for the speedway in May. There's no other place like this.''

But Bourke has become a NASCAR fan who goes to races at Atlanta and Talladega in addition to the 400.

``I'd go to any NASCAR race before a CART or Indy Racing League race except the Indianapolis 500.''

Larry Ballard of nearby Brownsburg, another of Gordon's many fans here, comes to practice and qualifying for the 500, but not the race. But he hasn't missed a 400.

``The reason I come to the NASCAR race is because the cars go a little slower and they race a lot closer together,'' he said. ``I think it's a little more exciting.''

Ballard has avidly followed NASCAR ``since Jeff Gordon started,'' but he doesn't think the 400 will overshadow the 500.

``I think it will always be the 500,'' he said. ``Always has been.''

In the garage, four-time Indy 500 winner A.J. Foyt, a winner of the Daytona 500 as well and a devotee of both forms of racing, said he thinks the 400 ``ranks right up there at the top'' with the 500.

But it's a different animal and the fans are different, he said.

``I've got friends in Houston and Austin who come here to see this race,'' he said. ``When we used to race both stocks and champ cars at the state fair at Milwaukee, we had the stock-car races during the week and 80 percent of the fans were stock-car fans and 20 percent were Indy-car fans. Then on Sunday, we'd run the Indy car race and you wouldn't see a lot of stock car fans.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ernie Irvan's No. 28 will lead the charge today. Next year, the car

will be driven by Kenny Irwin, currently a NASCAR truck series

driver. Story/C3.

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