Brickyard 400 Live Report by Dick Scott

I have wanted to go to a Winston Cup race for as long as I can remember but for one reason or another I never did. Last year I asked a friend of mine at work if he would be interested in going to the Brickyard 400. When he said yes I started making plans. We ordered the tickets a year in advance as well as the motel reservations. We got both and were anxious for the big day.

We left Minneapolis on Tues. July 29th at 6:00 AM. On the way down we used Bruce's laptop computer with Delorme Street Atlas map program with a GPS transducer. It worked great and showed exactly where you were on the map and how fast you were going. We plugged in the motel address and it showed us exactly where it was and where we were in relation to it. No getting lost here. We arrived at the motel at 4:00 PM without incident in ten hours. We got checked into the room and unfortunately it was not one of the better motels. The door jam was broken and the room was filthy. They fixed the door jam right after we got to the room. We asked the maintenance guy what happened and he just said "Oh this happens all the time." This did not give us a very warm and fuzzy feeling. We were determined to have a good time so we did not let it get us down.

We walked to the track from the motel (about a mile and a half). We could not believe all the souvenir trailers and all the local stands. We counted four trailers for Earnhardt alone. Unfortunately none of the trailers were open. The whole scene reminded me of a huge State Fair. It took a while to find the SKITTLES® trailer. It was tucked way back in a corner. We could not get into the track but it sure was impressive from the outside. Not much else left to do so we went back to the motel.

On Wed. we got up early, got breakfast and headed for the track to watch practice. It cost $10.00 to watch practice but you could sit most anywhere. There were a few sections closed but for the most part the front stretch was open. We got some good seats across from the pits. Ernie Irvin and Dale Jarrett were both the fastest for the day. Derrike seemed to be struggling for speed all day. I was a little disappointed in how little the drivers and crew talked on their radios.

After practice we visited the Indy Museum in the infield. That was worth the trip alone. We tried to get near the pits and garage area in hopes of some pictures but no luck.

On Thursday we went back to the track to watch practice and first round qualifying. We got real good seats this time and I think this was the best part of the whole trip. They announced that they had the biggest crowd ever for qualifying. Old DW came out 17th (appropriate) to qualify and set a new track record. The entire crowd went absolutely nuts. Unfortunately it was short lived because Dale Jarrett came out 20th and broke DW's record. Then Ernie came out 26th and set another record. Derrike was 32nd to qualify and turned in a respectable time of 174.287 but it just was only good enough for 32nd.

After qualifying was over we went to Indianapolis Raceway Park which was about 6 miles from the Speedway. The Craftsman Trucks were running and 1st round qualifying for the Busch cars. The race didn't get over until about midnight.

We went back to the motel and guess what, we could not unlock the door to the room. We went down to the front desk and they gave us some other keys to try but no luck. They gave us another room and told us to check with them in the morning. In the morning we went back to the front desk and the manager had the maintenance man try some other keys and she told him if he could not get it open to go ahead and kick it in. I guess we know why the door jamb was broken earlier. He could not get it unlocked either so he did kick it in. We got our things and moved to the room that we slept in.

After getting cleaned up and some breakfast, back to the track we went to watch practice and second round qualifying. Derrike and his crew must have made the right changes because he was much faster and was looking really good. If he had turned that speed during first round qualifying he would have made the top 15 easily. In the afternoon we went back to Raceway Park to watch the Busch cars.

On Saturday we got up early to get to the track and have breakfast. We had plenty of time before the race so we did a lot of looking around in the gift shops and trailers. It was really disheartening to see the SKITTLES® trailer with no one there. All the other trailers had so many people at them you could not get within 20 feet of them.

We finally went to see where our seats were and I have never been so disappointed in all my life. We were between turns 3 and 4 and only about 6 rows back. I thought we would be able to see the cars coming down the back stretch through 3 and 4 and halfway down the front. When the drivers came by in the convertibles I thought I would be able to get some pictures with my telephoto lens since we were so close to the track. What a surprise we got when we saw the cars entering turn 3 and not seeing them again until they were leaving turn 4. The wall was so high that unless the cars stayed on the inside near the infield you could not see them. If it was not for the scanner I would not have had any idea what was going on during the race.

I sure was glad that my wife taped the race on TV for us so we could see what went on. I know that there was an incident in the first couple of laps and Derrike sustained some damage in the front. It was not very bad but according to the radio he was starting to overheat. On lap 13 Derrike went into the pits to fix the overheating. On the way out of the pits he lost it in turn 1 and went up across the track in front of the whole field. It seems as though he might have got some water on the tires from overheating but I am just guessing. This ended Derrike's day early. With Derrike out and not being able to see any of the race I was getting pretty depressed. I'm afraid I don't have much else to report on the race. I apologize to everyone for not getting more information on the race. It just wasn't to be.

I know I will never let a Speedway decide where I am going to sit without me knowing where it is. This was my first trip to a race and even with all the things that went wrong I would still do it again. The Busch and Truck races were great and just being there was wonderful. There are just some things I would do a little different next time.