'Magical' meeting: 1994 Brickyard starters reunite for 30th anniversary

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Rick Mast remembers just how big a deal the inaugural Brickyard 400 was, and that magnitude hit home the moment he put his No. 1 Ford on the pole position. The pride of Rockbridge Baths, Virginia became the toast of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1994, and he had the clearest view — alongside second-place starter Dale Earnhardt — for that first green flag.

Thirty years later, Mast and 10 other NASCAR Cup Series drivers from that first Indy trip reunited at the start-finish line to mark the anniversary, hours before the start of Sunday’s Brickyard 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, IMS Radio, SiriusXM). Swapping stories and catching up was the order of the day, and Mast had some of the fondest memories to share.

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Mast, 67, recalled that winning a pole elsewhere in those days typically meant a $7,500 bonus. “Here we got a check, I think it was 50 grand, and a $60,000 van,” Mast said, “and from that moment until the race, riding around with a Marion County Deputy with a police escort, visiting what seemed like every place in Indianapolis. I guarantee you that I saw more of Indianapolis than some people that lived here for 50 years that week. It was just the significance of the event.”

Jeff Gordon was front and center for the group photo, alongside the Brickyard trophy that he won a record five times. Other former winners on hand are all NASCAR Hall of Famer or about to be — Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte and newly elected Ricky Rudd. They lined up with fellow 1994 qualifiers Jeff Burton, Bobby Hillin Jr., Ernie Irvan, Morgan Shepherd, Hut Stricklin and Rusty Wallace.

Gordon and Irvan shared a moment on the historic track’s frontstretch, reconnecting 30 years after their battle sealed the outcome of that first race. Gordon was dominant that day, leading 93 of the 160 laps, but Irvan’s Robert Yates Racing No. 28 Ford was in first position as the event drew to a close. Irvan’s blown tire cleared the way for Gordon to lead the final five laps.

“Jeff Gordon was just saying, ‘Yep, I’m with the guy that should have won it, with the guy that won it,\"” Irvan quipped. “So I’m glad he knows that.”

Rudd, who won the 1997 edition in a car he owned, recalled how big a watershed moment the first Brickyard was for motorsports in general. The Speedway had hosted only the Indianapolis 500 each year — save for two world wars — since 1911, and NASCAR’s debut at the 2.5-mile track represented a bit of culture shock. The overlap, he said, was refreshing.

“I have nothing but great memories on it,” Rudd says. “It was a different time then, and I know there were more good things that came out it than negative things. A couple of the Indy guys, they were worried because this is their home, and it is their home. It was always their home. But it was nice that they basically invited us into their home. It went really well. Gosh, probably a third of the IndyCar crowd put a Cup car out there that weekend, so it was neat. It was neat to experience just in a small way what the Indy 500 would be like.”

Sunday’s race-day morning, the group had another Brickyard moment in the sun, reminiscing about how their historic event in 1994 took stock-car racing in a new direction.

“That time period, we had a bunch of things come together in a perfect storm, and it was like this race ignited that powder keg that exploded this sport into the stratosphere all through the ’90s and into the 2000s,” Mast said. “When you look back at it, I’m more and more convinced, historically, that’s what this race meant. … When it happened, it really was. It lived up to the height of everything we built it up to be for two years preceding the event, and then, they have that for so many years. Again, can’t overstate it, and you can’t really come up with words. The only word I can come up with, honestly for this event in that time period, was magical, OK? Just magical.”