Super Weekend At The Brickyard: Friday Notes

Jeff Gordon practices the #24 Axalta Chevrolet at Indianapolis.  [John Wiedemann Photo]

Jeff Gordon, the winner of the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994, met the media this morning and received a special gift and a proclamation.

‘That first year, in 1994, we knew that something special was happening here and all of the teams and drivers went that extra effort to prepare for the race. It paid off for us then. It’s exciting to be back here in Indianapolis, as always, but when you have a team and a car like we have prepared for this weekend and the type of season we’ve had, it’s even more exciting,” Gordon said.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard presented the four-time 400 winner (1994, ’98, 2001, and’04) with a certificate proclaiming Brickyard 400 race day as “Jeff Gordon Day”.

Following that, Speedway President Doug Boles had a special gift that came from the scoring pylon which was recently replaced with a new Panasonic LED tower.

“The first pylon was built in 1959 and a second-generation model replaced it in 1994; it has been up every race you have run in. So in the first NASCAR race (here), you ended up at the top of the pylon, Boles explained.

“The first race with the new board will be this year; we saved most of it (the previous pylon). We’ve decided that the first thing we wanted to do with the (old) pylon was to present you with the No. 24 from it that was up for all 20 races that you’ve competed in here at IMS.”

“I’ll never forget that moment. This speedway and this (panel) mean a lot to me. My life changed forever when we won this race,” Gordon recounted.

• Seven drivers who competed in this year’s Indianapolis 500 are participating in the Kroger Super Weekend at the Brickyard.

Sage Karam is substituting for the injured Memo Rojas and is teamed with 1989 500 co-rookie of the year Scott Pruett in today’s TUDOR Brickyard Grand Prix. Townsend Bell, James Davison, Jack Hawksworth, and Martin Plowman will join them in the 165-minute road course event, while Kurt Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya will race in the NASCAR Brickyard 400 on Sunday. JPM, who is driving Indy cars for “The Captain” this season, also drove a Penske Ford at Michigan International Speedway in June. “They (Penske Racing) have great cars this year and he gave me the chance to come today and see what we can do. We didn’t try qualifying trim today. Our race pace, looking to compare with (teammate) Brad (Keselowski), looks really, really close, so it seems we’re pretty competitive. At Michigan we ran six laps of practice before qualifying, so at least today we got a lot of running done.” Montoya was 28^th in Sprint Cup practice earlier today.

• In a Thursday morning press conference Busch had many good things to say about his experience here in May while running in the 500 as part of “doing the double” along with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.

“I really enjoyed it all the way through with the two race teams and all the people along the way who helped make the double happen. I’m still writing thank-you notes. Now I have a greater appreciation of the Speedway. It was a sense of personal accomplishment that I didn’t know I’d be able to attain. The people make the Speedway what it is and I’m glad they were rooting me on. When I got back to Charlotte, the crowd was, ‘Hey, our NASCAR boy went up there and did good.’ That was a special feeling.”

And what about doing the 500 again next year? “I don’t know what’s next. It’s been great to drive anything and everything over the years. Right now my focus is on this (No.) 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet and making it as fast as I possibly can.”

• 46 cars are entered for Sunday’s Crown Royal Brickyard 400 and 42 will vie for starting spots in Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250 Nationwide run.
• David Byrne won the J. D. Byrider 100/ Rich Vogler Classic USAC Silver Crown race Thursday at Lucas Oil Raceway. He passed Tanner Swanson on the last lap after Swanson led the first 99. Defending Brickyard 400 champion Ryan Newman finished fourth.
• Ty Dillon was quickest in final Nationwide Series practice today posting a speed of 180.245 mph; the only driver over 180. Brian Scott and Kyle Busch trailed.

Fastest in the Sprint Cup session was Matt Kenseth at 186.285 mph, just ahead of Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski.

Paul Gohde

Paul Gohde heard the sound of race cars early in his life.

Growing up in suburban Milwaukee, just north of Wisconsin State Fair Park in the 1950’s, Paul had no idea what “that noise” was all about that he heard several times a year. Finally, through prodding by friends of his parents, he was taken to several Thursday night modified stock car races on the old quarter-mile dirt track that was in the infield of the one-mile oval -and he was hooked.

The first Milwaukee Mile event that he attended was the 1959 Rex Mays Classic won by Johnny Thomson in the pink Racing Associates lay-down Offy built by the legendary Lujie Lesovsky. After the 100-miler Gohde got the winner’s autograph in the pits, something he couldn’t do when he saw Hank Aaron hit a home run at County Stadium, and, again, he was hooked.

Paul began attending the Indianapolis 500 in 1961, and saw A. J. Foyt’s first Indy win. He began covering races in 1965 for Racing Wheels newspaper in Vancouver, WA as a reporter/photographer and his first credentialed race was Jim Clark’s historic Indy win.Paul has also done reporting, columns and photography for Midwest Racing News since the mid-sixties, with the 1967 Hoosier 100 being his first big race to report for them.

He is a retired middle-grade teacher, an avid collector of vintage racing memorabilia, and a tour guide at Miller Park. Paul loves to explore abandoned race tracks both here and in Europe, with the Brooklands track in Weybridge England being his favorite. Married to Paula, they have three adult children and two cats.

Paul loves the diversity of all types of racing, “a factor that got me hooked in the first place.”

racingnation.com

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