Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Brickyard 400 keeps growing in popularity

Friday, July 31, 1998 | 11:37 a.m.

BRIAN HILDERBRAND is a Las Vegas Sun sportswriter. His motor sports column appears Fridays. He can be reached on the Internet at bh@lasvegassun.com. For the latest in the world of auto racing, check out the Sun Racing web site at http://www.lasvegassun.com/sports/ racing/

The Daytona 500 long has been considered the Super Bowl of stock-car racing. In just four short years, however, the Brickyard 400 already has taken its place as one of the most prestigious races on NASCAR's Winston Cup schedule -- surpassing even the Daytona 500 in some drivers' minds.

Saturday's fifth running of the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will pay the same amount of points -- albeit more money -- as every other Winston Cup race. But not one driver is approaching it as just another race.

"You almost throw out the championship for one weekend and say, 'Hey, this is worth this much to throw everything we can at this race to try and win this race,'" Jeff Gordon, winner of the inaugural Brickyard 400, said.

"Winning this race is almost as important as the championship."

Dale Jarrett, winner of the 1996 Brickyard 400 and a two-time Daytona 500 champion, agreed with Gordon.

"It's not just another race, by any means. We realize that points-wise, it pays the same number of points. It pays a lot more money than anything else that we run and certainly having the opportunity with the No Bull 5 (million-dollar bonus) for it to pay a whole lot of money to win this. But that's still not even it.

"It's just the mystique of winning at Indianapolis and for me, now, the challenge is to become the first two-time winner of it."

Ricky Rudd, winner of 19 Winston Cup races, said his career has been defined by his victory in last year's Brickyard 400.

"I've had a lot of big wins along the way but the Brickyard win definitely is at the top of my career," Rudd said. "You get calls from all over the country and you get fan letters from all over the world -- it's still going.

"I hate to be remembered by just winning one race but if you're going to win one race, the Brickyard 400 would definitely be the one to win."

At least one driver, reigning Daytona 500 winner and seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, said the series' season-opening race in Florida still rates as the premier Winston Cup race.

"It was probably one of the biggest wins we've had until we won the Daytona 500 this year," Earnhardt said of his 1995 victory at Indy.

"Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a special place (and) The Brickyard 400 is a special race. There's a lot of history about the place. The Indianapolis 500 is still a big race to me, so running the Brickyard there is just as important."

Jarrett summed up most of the drivers' feelings as they walk through the famed Gasoline Alley and take their first laps around the historic 2.5-mile track.

"It's pretty incredible to think that I've won a race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway," Jarrett said. "There's just a mystique about this place that's hard to describe."

* NASCAR: The top five drivers at last month's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte are eligible for the $1 million Winston No Bull 5 bonus if they can win Saturday's Brickyard 400: Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte and Rusty Wallace. ... Darrell Waltrip will make his debut in the No. 35 Tabasco-sponsored Chevrolet at Indianapolis. Tim Beverly, who bought Waltrip's No. 17 race team earlier this season, purchased an equity interest in ISM Racing, which owned the No. 35 car, earlier this week. ... NASCAR fined Busch Grand National driver Jeff Purvis $5,000, suspended him for four races and placed him on probation for the remainder of the season after an incident on pit road in last weekend's race at South Boston Speedway. After Purvis and Mark Green made contact during the race and when the two cars came into the pits, Purvis rammed Green's car, sparking a brawl between their crews.

* CART: Las Vegas resident Jimmy Vasser will start from the pole in today's International Race of Champions (IROC) race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Vasser 'earned' the pole position for Round 4 of the all-star series as a result of having the fewest points among the 12 drivers after the first three races. Vasser finished 10th at Daytona, ninth at California Speedway and 11th at Michigan Speedway.

* IRL: Henderson's Sam Schmidt finished a disappointing 14th in last weekend's Visionaire 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but the weekend was not an entire loss. Schmidt earned $5,000 for Make-A-Wish beneficiary Matthew Tyler of Waxhall, N.C., a seven-year-old who is suffering from a rare form of cancer. Series sponsor Pep Boys, many race teams and IRL workers donated money for each lap Schmidt ran in the race. "We've always enjoyed meeting the children during hospital visits or having them join us at the race track when they can," Schmidt said. "It's humbling to watch children with life-threatening illnesses cope with such dignity. Particularly now as a new parent, it makes you appreciate your own blessings even more." Schmidt completed 147 of the possible 208 laps in the race despite battling electrical problems which caused a parade-lap fire on board his No. 99 Best Western Blue Crown Dallara/Aurora. ... Davey Hamilton of Las Vegas moved to third in the 1998 Pep Boys Indy Racing League standings following a seventh-place finish at Charlotte. "I survived Charlotte," Hamilton said. "My throttle was stuck open, and I had no brakes. The throttle stuck open the whole race and I burned the brakes up trying to keep the car slowed down on the yellows. I had to shut the motor down and coast for part of the time. When I made pit stops, I'd have to shut the motor off. It was a day of survival. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong." Hamilton's Nienhouse Motorsports team switched from the G-Force to the Dallara chassis prior to the race.

* BACKMARKERS: C.J. Scherkenbach returns to head the Grand American Modified Division Saturday night in NASCAR Winston Racing Series stock car action at the 3/ths-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway paved oval. Also scheduled are Late Model Sportsman, Limited Late Model and Legend divisions. Gates open at 4 p.m., with preliminary events set for 7 p.m. and main events scheduled for 8 p.m. Mike Ray has run to a dozen victories to lead the Late Model Sportsman Division with 696 points. Ray continues to lead the Pacific Coast Region of the NASCAR Winston Racing Series. ... Las Vegas driver Brendan Gaughan turned in a fifth-place finish last Sunday in the Kidde Safety 200 NASCAR Winston West race at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo. The 23-year-old Gaughan also won the Bud Pole Award for the event with a speed of 132.881 mph and finished 33rd in the Tempus Resorts 300k NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series the day before. He was knocked from contention in that race with brake problems. ... Ty Sanders of Las Vegas turned a time of 13.430 seconds to capture the 8-9 year-old division of the fifth National Hot Rod Association Jr. Drag Racing League National Championships July 25 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. ...

Fresh from his second straight win in the 1998 Laughlin SCORE Desert Series, and his second overall victory in the SCORE Fireworks 250, Las Vegas' Troy Herbst has stretched his lead in the unlimited Class 1 driver point standings after four rounds of the six-race series. Round 5 will be the tour's only local area stop this year as the third SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300 desert race will be held Sept. 11-13 in the desert just north of Primm. The team of David Ashley and Dan Smith leads the featured Trophy-Truck division point standings with 187. Troy Herbst's older brothers, Ed and Tim, are tied for second. Henderson's Bekki Freeman is second in Class 1-2/1600 and fifth overall. With two straight class wins, Brian Collins of Las Vegas has moved back in the hunt for the Class 8 championship. Collins is second in Class 8 points, 15 behind leader Dave Westhem. ... With two fifth-place finishes at the last two tour stops in Seaside Heights, N.J. and Chicago, Henderson professional personal watercraft racer Rob Flores has completed the eight-race 1998 International Jet Sports Boating Association Sports Tour in sixth place in the Pro-Ski class. With five victories, Team Kawasaki superstar Victor Sheldon won his fifth IJSBA National Championship. Riders now have nearly three months to prepare for the 17th Annual Skat-Trak World Finals, set for Lake Havasu Oct. 11-18.

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