A Familiar Look Up Front at Indianapolis : Auto racing: Last year’s winner, Jeff Gordon, is on the pole and No. 43 is alongside for Saturday’s NASCAR Brickyard 400.

Richard Petty retired before he could race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but his familiar No. 43 red-and-blue Pontiac will be on the front row for the second annual Brickyard 400 on Saturday.

Bobby Hamilton, who became car owner Petty’s driver at the start of this season, surprised early qualifiers Thursday with a lap of 172.222 m.p.h. around the low-banked 2 1/2-mile rectangular oval where stock cars weren’t allowed before last year.

When the 38-year-old journeyman driver from Tennessee pulled No. 43 into the pits, with Petty waiting in his trademark wraparound dark glasses and cowboy hat, the crowd of about 100,000 erupted into a cheer that might have carried all the way back to his native North Carolina.

For an hour, Hamilton held the pole position for the race that pays NASCAR’s richest prize as many of the big names--Rusty Wallace, Geoff Bodine, Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott and Sterling Marlin--took their best shots at one fast lap.

Then came racing’s Wonder Boy, who one day could be the “next Richard Petty.”

Jeff Gordon, giving himself a day-early 24th-birthday present, muscled his No. 24 rainbow-hued Chevrolet Monte Carlo across the finish stripe a fraction of a second quicker than Hamilton. Gordon, who won the inaugural Brickyard 400 last year, will start on the pole with a record speed of 172.536 m.p.h.

The cheer for Gordon, who used to live a few miles from here in Pittsboro, started with a gasp and then became a roar as the scoreboards displayed the hometown hero’s speed.

It took a desperate broadslide--reminiscent of Gordon’s early career as a sprint car and midget driver--through Indianapolis’ treacherous fourth turn to pull it off. The old record of 172.414 was set last year by Rick Mast.

“I was just about looking sideways,” Gordon said with his impish grin. “I thought it was going to spin right down pit road before I caught it. The first thing that went through my mind was that 100,000 people are watching, plus everyone on TV. All those folks are cheering for me, and I was on the edge of screwing it up.

“The car shouldn’t have come back around and straightened out, but it did. I wanted to keep my foot down, but I had to ease up a tiny bit to keep from coming all the way around.”

Petty, who retired after the final race of 1992, was impressed by Gordon’s speed, but not the execution.

“If Bobby [Hamilton] had done that [broadslide through Turn 4], he’d have got a lecture from me,” Petty said. “The cat [Gordon] turned too sharp. He had two more car lengths before the wall. If it’d been me, I’d have run up closer to the wall.”

Hamilton listened to his boss, then added: “When he points that big old finger at you to make a point, it looks like a Colt .45. It flat gets your attention.”

By winning his eighth pole in 19 races this season, Gordon collected the $40,000 Busch Pole award, and car owner Rick Hendrick got $10,000 and a $35,000 van.

The first 20 cars were qualified for Saturday’s 400-mile race, with the remainder of the field trying today. Among those who didn’t make the first 20 are Morgan Shepherd, Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd and 60-year-old A.J. Foyt, who is trying to qualify for the first time since last year’s Brickyard race.

Foyt managed only 166.193 m.p.h. in his purple Ford, 47th of 48 who tried to qualify.

Petty, 58, said watching Foyt “playing around” didn’t urge him to drive again.

“I won my last race in ‘84,” he said. “I drove three-four more years when I thought I could win, then I drove three-four more when I knew I couldn’t win. I have no desire to get back in one of those cotton-picking things again.

“I’m just glad fans still associate me with that car Bobby’s driving.”