Stock Car Racers to Compete at Indianapolis Speedway in ’94

For the first time since 1910, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will conduct a race in 1994 besides the Indianapolis 500.

NASCAR’s Winston Cup stock cars will run the Brickyard 400 on Aug. 6, over the same 2 1/2-mile low banked, rectangular oval where only Indy cars have traditionally raced.

“The announcement that Winston Cup cars will race here is the most important event involving Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1945, when my grandfather (the late Tony Hulman) purchased the track,” said Speedway President Tony George in a joint announcement in Indianapolis with Bill France Jr., NASCAR president. “A race in August will complement our traditional race in May.”

France said: “There is probably not a race car driver in America, whatever he is driving, who doesn’t want to race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track. Some of our cars came here for tire tests last year, and that answered a lot of questions about the feasibility of holding a stock car race here.”

Unlike the Daytona 500, stock car racing’s premier event, and the Indianapolis 500, which are run on Sunday, the Brickyard 400 will run on Saturday. Qualifying will be Thursday and Friday, leaving Sunday as a rain date.

Speculation about such a race has been strong since a two-day tire test last June by leading NASCAR drivers Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Rusty Wallace, Davey Allison, Kyle Petty, Ernie Irvan, Mark Martin, Bill Elliott and Ricky Rudd.

“I know that there’s a lot of tradition surrounding the Indy 500,” Earnhardt said. “It’s the biggest show in racing, but it’ll be a big event for us, too.”

No announcement was made of purse structure or television plans.