With a clear track ahead and Brett Bodine in his rearview, Gordon held his position to the checkers, beating Bodine by just over half a second. When Irvan’s tire came apart with four laps to go, Gordon took over the top spot, leading for the seventh time that day. He was coming off a 31st-place run at Talladega Superspeedway after an engine failure, so his third-place qualifying effort was a boost for the No. Gordon celebrated his 23 rd birthday just two days before the first Brickyard 400. His first win came in one of those crown jewel races, the 1994 Coca-Cola 600, a race that at that time had produced very few first-time winners, all of them future champions.
#Wreckfest new tracks driver
Gordon had entered the Cup Series full-time in 1993 at just 21, an age which was extremely young for a Cup driver at that time. Indiana was Jeff Gordon’s adopted home, after his family relocated there in his early teens for better access to racing.
#Wreckfest new tracks drivers
Among the drivers to make the show was Indy legend AJ Foyt.Ģ-Headed Monster: Are Post-Race Disqualifications a Punishment that Fits the Crime?Įrnie Irvan had the lead late in that first race, but a blown tire set up a fairytale ending for one young driver. The speedway might have allowed the stock cars, but it was under the stipulation that the name and distance of the race were different from the May spectacle.Ī whopping 86 Cup teams attempted to qualify for the 43-car field and a piece of its massive purse. 6, 1994, for the inaugural Brickyard 400. The speedway had seats for a whopping quarter of a million fans, and every one of them was filled on Aug. When the 1994 race schedule was released, it included a brand-new 400-mile race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The test made it seem more possible than ever before, and the timing was undeniably on NASCAR’s side as the sport was gaining popularity by the year in the ’90s. The test proved that the cars could run the 2.5-mile oval, but an actual Cup race was not a guarantee. Indy was hallowed ground to most of the drivers. One voice of dissent was Kyle Petty, who said at the time that he didn’t think Indy cars should race at Daytona and stock cars shouldn’t race at Indy, but he was in the minority.
Nine drivers was a large number for a typical tire test, but it certainly was popular with fans and drivers alike, with thousands of fans turning out for the spectacle. In 1992, the winds of change didn’t exactly blow with gale force, but there were breezes, in the form of a Goodyear tire test on the Indy oval.
#Wreckfest new tracks crack
Plenty of drivers also wanted a crack at Indy, but the speedway hosted just one race, the Indianapolis 500, and wasn’t interested in allowing other cars to even test on its surface, let alone race. Until 1994, those were the races every driver wanted to win above any other. That prize was for winning any three of the four top events: The Daytona 500 (the richest and most prestigious), the Coca-Cola 600 (the longest), the Winston 500 (the fastest) and the Southern 500 (the oldest). NASCAR had established a slate of its most prestigious races in the 1980s when Bill Elliott won the Winston Million. The Camping World Truck Series will race across town at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday night, July 29. Last year’s Indy GP was not kind to the Cup cars, but the issues with the track have been repaired, and both NASCAR and the track are certainly hoping for a competitive race on Sunday, July 10. As NASCAR heads back home again to Indiana, 2022 marks the second year that the Cup Series won’t race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, but on the grand prix road course the facility boasts.
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