Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 4, 1995 TAG: 9508040053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL NEWBERRY ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium
When Rick Mast pulled into the parking lot behind Gasoline Alley, he was halted by a guard. It seems Mast didn't have the proper pass for one of the prime spots at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Mast, though, is still realizing the perks that go along with being the first man to sit on the pole for the Brickyard 400.
``I whipped out my credential, and he said, `Oh, Rick. The pole winner. Come right on in.' And I said, `OK, OK. How long will this last?'''
Mast, who stunned the racing world by outrunning drivers such as Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon for the inaugural Brickyard pole last year, is back in the spotlight this week as the good ol' boys return to Indy for their second spin around the famed 21/2-mile oval on Saturday.
``I am getting a lot of interviews that I don't normally get,'' said Mast, who failed to make it two poles in a row when he qualified ninth on Thursday with a speed of 170.969 mph. ``I stepped out of the trailer [Wednesday] morning, into the heat, and started getting bombarded.''
That was quite a change from last year, when Mast, who lives in Rockbridge Baths, arrived at Indy as a little-known driver who had never won a NASCAR Winston Cup race and had been on the pole only once in his career. Hardly anyone noticed he was here.
``I think I did like two [interviews] before qualifying,'' he said. ``We were one of the fastest cars in practice, so some people noticed, but the interviews were really short.''
Then Mast went out and turned a lap of 172.414 mph in qualifying. The driver who has No.1 on the side of his green and black Ford Thunderbird would be starting from that position in the first stock-car race ever held at the world's most famous track.
``After qualifying, it was a little different,'' he said. ``I would say at minimum I talked to 100 different reporters individually. When I had to practice, if I didn't stay in the race car, I'd be doing an interview. So, when we practiced, I just sat in the race car the whole time in order to get our work done.''
Mast wasn't used to all the attention. When he told a story familiar to Winston Cup observers - how he sold a cow to raise money for his first racing car - everyone hung on his every word. Suddenly, he was a celebrity.
``I'm not sure anybody would have been accustomed to that kind of attention,'' he said. ``A lot of guys get bombarded, but it's just one at a time. This was consistent for two days straight. Every minute.''
Unfortunately, Mast couldn't follow up on his qualifying success. He led the first two laps, but lost a cylinder coming off turn four and had to run on only seven cylinders the rest of the day. He finished one lap down in 22nd place.
``Honestly, that race stung me more than any race or anything else that has ever happened in my career,'' he said. ``This car was just perfect, absolutely running on the rail the whole time we were here - practices, after qualifying, any time I went out. Never, ever could anybody run with me. I'd leave 'em.''
Then the mechanical fates of racing intervened.
``We'd have given Gordon a good run at the end, had we been there,'' Mast said, referring to the winner of that first Brickyard. ``To be taken out so early, that was awful. Even if it had waited 'til halfway. Anything would have been better than what happened.''
Once again, Mast appears to have one of the fastest cars in the field, based on a strong showing in both qualifying and practice. And even though Gordon won the first Brickyard and captured the pole for the second, the driver of car No.1 knows his place in history is secure.
``He'll get the van and the money,'' Mast said, ``but he won't be the first. That's what was so neat about last year's deal: It was the first competition here at the Brickyard. The race was the first race, but the pole was the first competition.''
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB