Fan's Eye View ~ NASCAR At Indy: Then And Now7/25/2014 |
With this being the twentieth anniversary of the first
NASCAR race at Indianapolis in 1994, I thought we’d take a little walk
backwards in time and see some of the differences ofr
Indy between then and now. I thought
there were some interesting differences, and while something will always
change, some things will always stay the same. Topic Then
(1994) Now
(2014) Race
Title The
Brickyard 400 Crown
Royal Presents the John Wayne Walding 400 Powered
By Big Machine Records Attendance Largest Crowd In
NASCAR History Sparsely attended now,
thinning annually. Network
Coverage ABC/ESPN ESPN,
unfortunately for the last time in the foreseeable future. Cars
Attempting to Qualify 86 (43 Went Home) 46 Pole
Speed 172.414
MPH 187.531
MPH (2013) National
Anthem Jim Nabors Drake White Flagman Doyle
Ford Who
knows…I know before someone had to yell “Boogity Boogity Boogity” at the start
of each race, Bob Jenkins or Larry Nuber would tell
me that Harold Kinder or Doyle Ford was waving the green flag. Now there’s so much extra BS, I guess
there’s never time to mention it. (Actually, an astute reader just told me his name is Rodney Wise. I guess listening is a skill but it's hard to hear with all those Boogities in my ear.) FOX’s
“Digger” Character Never even thought of,
nor should it have ever been. Hopefully perished in
a giant ball of flames when Juan Pablo Montoya ran into the jet dryer a few
years back at Daytona. What
Fans Want To See Stock
Cars at Indy Stock
Cars On The Road Course At Indy Second
Place Finisher Brett Bodine ???? Pace
Car Driver Elmo
Langley Brett
Bodine Crew
Chief For The No. 16 Robin Pemberton Matt Puccia VP
of Competition/Technical Director Gary
Nelson Robin
Pemberton What
Fans Remember Jeff Gordon’s 2nd
Win, This One In His Home State That ridiculous race
in 2008 when the tires turned to dust and the cars were forced to pit every
ten laps. Winning
Celebration Standard
Victory Lane Activity Kissing
The Bricks Championship
Leader Ernie Irvan, by 16
points over Dale Earnhardt Take your pick. Maybe it's Brad Keselowski, or Jimmie
Johnson, or Jeff Gordon. I think the personnel changes are the funniest part to me,
with Brett Bodine and Robin Pemberton, and on the other side of that, the sad
fact that we continue to try to run stock cars in a place that was never meant
to host them, and one of the biggest scars on the sport as far back as six
years ago is what fans choose to remember more than other things. Enjoy the race on Sunday! Until next time, my friends…
Feel free to leave comments below, and be sure to follow me @RaceFansJim on Twitter, because sometimes I give stuff away!