Indy's inaugural near-misses: The history of the 1994 Brickyard 400's DNQs

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Drivers in the field for the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 reconvened at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this Sunday for a group photo, celebrating the stock-car history that was made 30 years ago. That moment will be rekindled with the current crop of NASCAR Cup Series stars, who return to the Indy oval after three years on the track’s road-course configuration.

Trying to get in that photo was an intense experience by itself, with the entry list swelling to 80-plus cars bidding for 43 spots. Longtime NASCAR official Morris Metcalfe conducted the qualifying draw with a bingo-ball hopper, with the many eyes of the Cup Series garage fixed on how the order would shape up. When Metcalfe pulled King Richard Petty’s pill and told him that he’d go out 84th in the qualifying line, Petty cracked, “That’s sometime tomorrow, right?”

Rick Mast wound up as the darling of qualifying, putting his No. 1 Ford on the pole position. Fittingly, his crew bought souvenir banners and scrubbed the “B” off them to make them read, “Rickyard 400.”

RELATED: Sunday’s starting lineup | At-track photos: Indy

IndyCar and sports-car drivers found their way into the picture, with IMSA champ Geoff Brabham and former Indy 500 winner Danny Sullivan slotting in midpack for their NASCAR debuts. The last qualifier on the basis of speed was Indy legend A.J. Foyt, who grabbed the 40th starting spot for what would be his final Cup Series race. “I was nervous as hell,” Foyt told the morning papers. “… I just didn’t want to be bumped out of this thing. It’s just an honor to be in this race.”

Nearly a full field of drivers ended up on the bump side, and it’s an intriguing list of competitors who missed the cut. The DNQs included drivers from the former Winston West Series (now ARCA Menards Series West) there for the combined event, a host of stock-car journeymen and would-be IndyCar invaders, plus three of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers.

They won’t be in Sunday’s pre-race picture, but let’s remember some guys and pay tribute to the staggeringly long list of drivers who did their best but made the early trip home from Indy.

Failed to qualify

44. Joe Ruttman, No. 39 Chevrolet: The California veteran made 225 career Cup Series starts, and the Brickyard 400 was set to be among the last of them. He ended up just 0.003 seconds short of the final qualifying berth, which was snagged by Foyt. Ruttman reinvented himself the next year as a full-time competitor in the inaugural season for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, where he won 13 times in his 50s. Ruttman’s brother Troy was the 1952 Indy 500 winner.

45. Dick Trickle, No. 32 Chevrolet: The Wisconsin short-track ace couldn’t quite muster the needed speed in the Dean Myers-owned Chevy, one of six DNQs he’d have in the 1994 campaign. He had four more Cup Series seasons after this one, landing with Hall of Famer Bud Moore the next year.

46. Randy LaJoie, No. 20 Ford: The longtime Xfinity Series competitor made just 44 Cup starts in his career — and Indy was his only miss of the ’94 season in Dick Moroso’s Ford. His car was sponsored by the Fina oil company, which would also be his main backer for his two Xfinity Series championship seasons (1996-97) with Bill Baumgardner’s BACE Motorsports operation.

47. Jim Sauter, No. 59 Ford: The veteran Midwesterner was the driver of choice for IndyCar team owner Dick Simon’s first NASCAR venture in the Brickyard inaugural. Two years earlier, he was one of three drivers to test stock cars for the International Race of Champions (IROC) Series, along with Trickle and Dave Marcis.

48. Steve Grissom, No. 29 Chevrolet: The Rookie of the Year candidate missed three races in the 1994 season, and two were biggies — the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard. Grissom drove for car owner Gary Bechtel for two and a half seasons, reaching the Cup Series full-time after claiming the Xfinity title in ’93.

49. Davy Jones, No. 88 Ford: Sports cars and IndyCars were Jones’ claim to fame, but while his U.S. Motorsports teammate Greg Sacks made the field, the No. 88 ended up just short on the stopwatch. Jones made seven Cup Series starts the following year, but his big prize came in 1996 with an overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the Joest No. 7 Porsche.

50. Rick Carelli, No. 61 Chevrolet: The High Plains Drifter was the reigning Winston West Series champion at the time of the first Brickyard, and he was the top competitor from that tour among the DNQs. The next year, Carelli became a full-time driver in the Craftsman Truck Series, where he won four times in its first six seasons. He’s currently the spotter for Erik Jones and the No. 43 team in the Cup Series.

51. John Krebs, No. 92 Chevrolet: Another longtime West campaigner, Krebs made his last attempt at Cup Series qualifying in the Brickyard 400. His last Cup race came just under three months earlier, ending in a wild tumble with Derrike Cope at Sonoma Raceway.

52. Bob Brevak, No. 34 Ford: The 1990 ARCA Series champion put his chances at 50-50 to make the field. “A couple of times, I’ve stopped to think about what a madhouse it’s going to be, and it made me wonder if it’s worth my while to go down,” Brevak told the (Appleton, Wis.) Post-Crescent. “But this is a historic race. It’s something, if you’re a stock-car race, you’ve just got to try.” He later found a home in the pioneer years of the Craftsman Truck Series.

53. Gary Bettenhausen, No. 60 Chevrolet: The homegrown Hoosier drove in 21 editions of the Indianapolis 500 with a best finish of third in 1980. His attempt at the Brickyard 400 represented a bid for his first NASCAR start in 20 years, with Dick Simon connecting him with Phil Barkdoll for a ride. “This is a whole new ballgame,” Bettenhausen said about the difference between IndyCars and stock cars.

54. Brad Teague, No. 52 Ford: Jimmy Means made his last Cup Series race in 1993, then turned the keys over to Teague, the eastern Tennessee driver who made eight starts in the No. 52 the next year. Indy was one of several DNQs that year for Teague, who had a long career in the Xfinity tour — he netted one win (Martinsville in 1987) in 241 starts over 29 years.

55. Mike Wallace, No. 90 Ford: Wallace — then a Cup Series rookie — gave Junie Donlavey’s Ford a ride, but slid out of the groove in Turn 1 while pressing during his second-round attempt. The weekend wasn’t a total loss; he prevailed in Friday’s Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

56. Robert Pressley, No. 54 Chevrolet: Pressley, who went out fourth for qualifying in a Leo Jackson-owned entry, made just a handful of races ahead of a full rookie campaign the next year. The Asheville, North Carolina, native missed Indy but made 205 Cup Series starts and collected 10 Xfinity Series wins.

57. Jeff Davis, No. 81 Ford: The California driver grew up in Indianapolis and had nearly a full season of Indy Lights competition on his portfolio when he went Winston West racing in 1992. The 1994 season was Davis’ best in the West with a fourth-place result in the final standings, but his Thom Bell-owned entry was short on speed for the Indy field. “If I do that, I’d be on top of the world,” Davis told The Indianapolis News a week before qualifying. “There’ll be 60 other teams with the same goal.”

58. Jerry O’Neil, No. 65 Chevrolet: Coming up through the ARCA Menards Series and other regional series from Supermodified competition, O’Neil made 16 Cup Series starts from 1989-93. The Indianapolis race was his final attempt to qualify in NASCAR’s premier series, and he holds the distinction as the last driver to fly car No. 65 — the least-used number in Cup Series history.

59. Bob Schacht, No. 57 Ford: The 17-time ARCA Menards Series winner was an Illinois native who called South Carolina home at the time of his Brickyard attempt. “I had a better run in practice,” Schacht said. “I leaned on the motor too much during this run, and I think that it actually slowed down. We’ll come back next year.” He returned to Indy in 1998, but was replaced in the No. 95 Sadler Brothers ride by Randy MacDonald, who also failed to qualify that year.

60. Ron Hornaday Jr., No. 76 Chevrolet: His Craftsman Truck Series domination wouldn’t come until that series debuted the following year, but Hornaday was in the midst of his strongest Winston West season when the first Brickyard arrived. The Wayne Spears-owned Lumina was just short of the Brickyard field, but went on to be runner-up in the West Series that year. He later won 51 times in Truck Series competition and was honored in the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2018.

61. Scott Gaylord, No. 00 Ford: The Colorado native was the first West competitor to make a qualifying attempt, going out third. The early draw was no help. Gaylord went full-time the following season and competed in nearly every West Series event for the next 12 years. His son, Tripp, followed in his footsteps with his ARCA Menards Series West debut in 2022 at Bakersfield.

62. Ken Bouchard, No. 67 Ford: The former Modified standout had just one full season in the Cup Series, but it resulted in the 1988 Rookie of the Year Award over a fledgling Ernie Irvan. The inaugural Brickyard was Bouchard’s only qualifying attempt at Indy, in a Clayton Cunningham-owned machine. His final Cup start came in the ’94 season finale at Atlanta.

63. Billy Standridge, No. 47 Ford: Standridge made a career-high eight Cup Series starts in 1994, but he also missed the qualifying cut 12 times for car owner Berendt Johnson, including the Brickyard. Standridge was a four-time winner in the former NASCAR Goody’s Dash Series, and he made his last NASCAR national-series start in 1998.

64. Tim Steele, No. 12 Ford: Driving for Hall of Famer Bobby Allison, Steele’s only five Cup Series starts came in the ’94 circuit, and Indy would have made it a half-dozen. Steele was the reigning ARCA Menards Series champion at the time, and he added two more ARCA titles (1996-97) in dominant fashion with 23 wins in just two years’ time.

65. Rich Woodland Jr., No. 36 Chevrolet: The Winston West driver returned from a vicious crash during qualifying at Sonoma just two months earlier, but missed the show again at Indy — at least not in dramatic fashion. “You see the place and you feel a sense of history,” he told the San Luis Obispo (Calif.) Tribune. His only West tour victory came four years later, when he marched from 21st place in the 32-car field to win a 150-miler at Phoenix.

66. Hershel McGriff, No. 04 Ford: The ageless wonder was 66 years old at the time, and the 1994 Brickyard marked his final attempt at a Cup Series field. “I don’t have any ambition to be the champion at Talladega or Daytona,” McGriff told The Indianapolis Star. “I don’t have anything to prove to anybody. I’m just doing this because I’d like to do it.” He joked that he wasn’t seeking a Geritol sponsorship, and that his routine included running four miles a day: “If we had a foot race around here, I’d probably come in the first five.” He made his last regional NASCAR start in 2018 at age 90.

67. Jerry Hill, No. 56 Chevrolet: The Maryland native made eight Cup Series starts in the early ’90s, and the first Brickyard was his last Cup qualifying attempt. He transitioned to the Craftsman Truck Series several years later with 58 starts from 2001-04. His son is current NASCAR driver Timmy Hill, who carries the same No. 56 that his father did in the Truck Series.

68. Andy Belmont, No. 59 Ford: The Pennsylvania resident was a three-time winner in the Goody’s Dash Series who later made a dozen Cup starts and spent seven full-time seasons in ARCA competition. He jumped at the opportunity to make the Brickyard on a shoestring. “I’m not afraid of living on a budget. I’ve done it most of my racing life,” Belmont told the Gannett News Service. “I can eat bologna while the other guys with sponsorships eat steak and go to cocktail parties. The thing is, if you’re a racer, you have to race. I can’t let an opportunity like this go by. This is a chance to make a career. This is a chance to live a dream.”

69. H.B. Bailey, No. 36 Pontiac: The Houston resident is the answer to the trivia question: Who was the first NASCAR Cup Series driver to qualify at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Bailey drew the No. 1 pill in the draw, and was serenaded by legendary IMS announcer Tom Carnegie, who proclaimed, “Annnd, he’s away!” as the unsponsored No. 36 Grand Prix that he also owned hit the track to cheers from the crowd. Herring Burl Bailey was 57 years old at the time of the first Brickyard, and he died nine years later of heart failure.

70. Norm Benning, No. 84 Oldsmobile: The longtime independent on the Truck Series circuit (246 starts) and the ARCA Menards Series (281) could not get his Olds Cutlass up to speed for the first Brickyard, and his qualifying miss was part of a streak of 25 consecutive DNQs to end his Cup career. His car number had some special synergy with his sponsor, 84 Lumber.

71. Wayne Jacks, No. 58 Pontiac: The Las Vegas native was a West Series visitor to Indy in 1994, and the lap wasn’t there for him to make his second Cup Series grid. He ended up as a part-time competitor in the earliest years of the Craftsman Truck Series, and may hold the distinction of being the tour’s first driver to flip. His No. 58 Chevy tipped up onto its side in a skid to the infield during the Truck event at half-mile Portland (Ore.) Speedway.

72. Doug French, No. 79 Chevrolet: The New Jersey product with both ARCA and Modified roots didn’t make a Thursday qualifying lap, but did get into Friday’s time trials as an underdog entrant. “We completed construction of the car a week before we got there and we ran a respectful, clean qualifying lap,” French told the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press. “We realized that it was a long shot, but we wanted to go because it was such a prestigious event. We wanted to be a part of it. It was an electric atmosphere.”

73. James Hylton, No. 48 Pontiac: Like McGriff, Hylton was among the 50-and-older crowd bidding for a spot in the first Brickyard. The South Carolina veteran was a top-five finisher in the Cup Series standings six times in a seven-year stretch from 1969-76, and a two-time race winner. He wasn’t done trying to make the field for crown-jewel races, bidding twice for a Daytona 500 berth in his 70s.

74. Steve Sellers, No. 41 Ford: Californian Sellers made just 11 Winston West Series starts, with four top 10s among the results, and the 1994 Brickyard attempt was his only Cup Series effort. A soft-drink businessman, Sellers made sure his No. 41 Thunderbird carried sponsorship from Sacramento Coca-Cola.

75. Robert Sprague, No. 91 Ford: Sprague’s spin and crash into the Turn 1 retaining wall ended his Indy hopes. He was held overnight in a hospital for treatment of a concussion. Before his Brickyard bid, Sprague had recorded 10 top-five finishes in 33 West Series races.

76. Lance Wade, No. 95 Ford: Wade Motorsports held a fund-raising banquet at $200 a plate to rally the Victoria, British Columbia community behind the 25-year-old Canadian’s Brickyard effort. At the end, the qualifying report read, “no speed; spin.” It marked his only Cup Series try. Wade landed the only Winston West pole of his career a month later at Tri-City Raceway in West Richland, Washington.

77. Stan Fox, No. 09 Chevrolet: Fox was only an occasional NASCAR competitor, and his Roulos Brothers/Hemelgarn entry — which carried sponsorship from the bowling industry — wasn’t up to speed. “I’m just hoping some old IndyCar driver will be able to make it,” Fox said the week before the race. Less than a year later, his racing career ended with a severe first-lap crash in the 1995 Indianapolis 500 that left his legs dangling from the broken front of the car. He was killed in a car accident on a New Zealand highway in 2000.

78. Loy Allen Jr., No. 19 Ford: The rookie burst onto the scene with three pole positions early in the 1994 season, but his qualifying fate was sealed when he was one of the five drivers involved in single-car incidents during Friday’s sessions. It was the highest-profile of Allen’s 12 DNQs that year.

79. Jack Sellers, No. 48 Chevrolet: Sellers was already a 10-year veteran of Winston West when he made his last bid for a Cup Series field at Indy. He was the last driver who unsuccessfully tried to bump A.J. Foyt out of the field. Sellers spent 32 seasons in the West Series, and died six days after competing in the season finale in 2016.

Bonus: Several drivers were on the early entry list, but didn’t make the “failed to qualify” list in the morning papers the next day. Among them: “Chargin\"” Charlie Glotzbach and P.J. Jones, whose entry was a late withdrawal. Perhaps foremost among the hard-luck drivers was the No. 0 Ford campaigner, Delma Cowart, who blew the team’s last engine before final-round qualifying. “Sometimes the feeling is bad. Real bad, like today,” Cowart told The Baltimore Sun. “But if you can’t come here and just enjoy being here, being part of something like this, then you’re not a real racer and have no business being here at all.”