bob jennings' WORLD O' RACING  05/15/99

1998 "Brickyard 400"

Bob Jennings

Sorry. This photo sort of stinks doesn't it? These NASCAR photos are hard to shoot when you don't have credentials for the race. I'm concerned that this May could prove difficult for photographers, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, too. I read that 14 or 15 foot high debris fences and cement walls have been installed inside turns two and four. Those are my favorite photo locations (next to row two in the Grandstand E penthouse at the apex of turn one), but if there is a debris fence in front of the photo area, like there is in turn one, I'm going to have a difficult time during the 1999 "Indianapolis 500."

Anyway, here you have the basic contemporary NASCAR Winston Cup "headliners," running together through turn three, during the 1998 "Brickyard 400." That's Dale Jarrett leading in the 88 Taurus. Jarrett had the fastest car, in last year's race, but he ran it out of gas, and lost his chance to win a second "Brickyard 400." Jeff Gordon follows in car 24. Of course, Gordon became the first two time "Brickyard 400" winner and also took the biggest winner's purse, paid to that time, in the history of racing. His total take, last August, was $1,637,625, although $1 million came from the Winston "No Bull" bonus program. Records are made to broken though, as Gordon won over $2 million, this past February, by winning his second "Daytona 500." He collected $1 million for winning the race, from the Daytona purse, and another $1 million for winning another Winston "No Bull" bonus. Jeff Burton runs behind Gordon. He's the current Winston Cup points leader and, so far, in 1999, seems to have become Gordon's chief competitor, which is what his Roush teammate, Mark Martin, was when this photo was taken. Martin ran a "special edition" silver paint scheme on his Valvoline number 6, last August, at Indianapolis. That's Martin in the fourth car in the photo.