They’re Embraced in Heartland

INDIANAPOLIS — The excitement that was missing last May has returned to Indianapolis in August.

The crowds have been large and enthusiastic for practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the traffic on 16th Street is bumper-to-bumper, the campgrounds are jammed with revelers, hotels are filled and restaurants have hourlong waiting lists.

The Brickyard 400, in its fourth year as stock car racing’s richest event, seems to have replaced the Indianapolis 500 in the racing fans’ favor.

Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett and Dale Earnhardt, winners of the first three Brickyard 400s, and fellow drivers such as Mark Martin, Sterling Marlin and Rusty Wallace have taken over the town once owned by the likes of Al Unser Jr., Michael Andretti and Bobby Rahal--who no longer race here.

Last May, when the Indy Racing League held its second Indy 500, but its first under new engine and chassis rules, the atmosphere was subdued.

Today, when the big stock cars of NASCAR’s Winston Cup series charge around the 2 1/2-mile rectangular oval once held sacred to open-wheel cars, there will be more than 300,000 fans in attendance.

The race is full of contradictions.

Ernie Irvan, who lost his job three weeks ago, will start on the pole in a lame-duck appearance for car owner Robert Yates, who fired him effective at the end of the season. Irvan ran a track-record 177.736 mph on Thursday to get the pole.

“I’m on the unemployment line, so winning the pole will give me something good for my resume,” Irvan said. “There are lots of opportunities out there for me. I want to get in a position like I’m in now, where I can keep winning races. This team I’m with, they’re dedicated to winning. That’s what Ernie Irvan wants too.”

Gordon, the Winston Cup points leader and winner of seven of 18 races, qualified 24th in his No. 24 Chevrolet at 175.056 mph and will start from the 12th row.

“When you qualify poorly, you always say you are going to have a good race,” Gordon said. “I think that sums up our situation. We’ll be OK if we can get in our race rhythm.”

Darrell Waltrip, winless in his last 149 starts, is on the second row alongside defending Brickyard 400 champion Jarrett after a surprising 176.866 run.

“I love this place; I’ve been watching races from Indy all my life,” Waltrip said. “I always wanted to run here, but I was never brave enough to go in an Indy car. So, doing this in a stock car is the best of both worlds.

“I get a lot more excited about this than Daytona. I get chills, literally cold chills, when I walk through the garage area here.”