Rudd Makes Record Run but Waltrip Steals Show

Even the pole-sitter seemed disappointed that Darrell Waltrip’s stunning qualifying lap Thursday missed putting “Ol’ DW” on the pole for Saturday’s Brickyard 400.

“I kind of hated to do that,” Ricky Rudd said after his stock car record lap of 181.068 mph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway pushed Waltrip to the outside of the front row after the 53-year-old three-time Winston Cup champion had earlier run a record 180.923.

The crowd of about 20,000 responded as if Waltrip had won the race, giving the old-timer a standing ovation when he brought the No. 66 Ford down pit lane after the qualifying lap.

Waltrip, who announced here a year ago today that 2000 would be the final season of his Hall of Fame career, acted the same way. He climbed out the window of his car and did the Ickey Shuffle on the pit wall, just the way he did it when he won the Daytona 500 in 1989.

“It’s been a long time, I didn’t know if I could do the Ickey Shuffle again or not,” he said. “I kind of had forgotten how to celebrate, but it’s a great day for us.”

Waltrip’s performance was as remarkable as his exuberance.

In 16 races this year, he had qualified better than 10th only once, a seventh at the California 500. Only once has he finished better than 20th, an 11th at The Winston in Charlotte, N.C.

Even the last-place finisher in Saturday’s race will earn more than $80,000.

“You know, this is already a great weekend,” Waltrip said. “Eighty grand just to start. You know, if you check I don’t think I’ve won eighty grand in any race this year.”

He did it only once, collecting $89,325 for finishing 32nd at Daytona. Since then, he has not been close.

Waltrip has not won since Sept. 6, 1992--238 races ago, but the euphoria of Thursday’s run has him dreaming of victory lane.

“We can win this race, I know we can,” he exclaimed. “The guys at Robert Yates have given us a great motor to work with, and the guys with Travis Carter have built a great race car. I just know if things go our way, we can win this race.”

A little later, he tempered his feelings.

“I don’t have to win and I don’t have to be on the pole. As long as you can leave here this weekend and say Ol’ DW was up there, that’s all that matters to me.”

On a cool, cloudy day made for speed, 14 drivers broke Jeff Gordon’s year-old record of 179.612 mph.

Rudd, who won the 1997 Brickyard 400, did it in a backup Ford Taurus after wrecking his primary car two weeks ago at Pocono, Pa.

“After the wreck, we had to roll out a car that we weren’t real comfortable with, so I couldn’t be happier with all the hours [crew chief] Michael McSwain and his guys put in,” Rudd said.

Rudd, 43, is the oldest driver to win the Brickyard pole.

One driver not pleased with the day was Gordon, a two-time winner who had started on the pole in three of the six previous Brickyard races. His lap of 178.745 mph put him 27th on the starting grid.