THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 27, 1994 TAG: 9407270546
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
The tradition and grandeur of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have lured racers of all kinds from the world over. But before this year, and the inauguration of the Brickyard 400, the only way a stock-car driver could race there was to become an Indy-car driver, even if only for a month.
And many legendary drivers did. In all, 19 NASCAR race winners have also competed in the Indy 500.
Crossing over from stock cars to Indy cars is rare today because of NASCAR's emphasis on the Winston Cup championship, which puts a premium on racing in every race. But crossovers were more common in the 1960s and 1970s.
Three-time Winston Cup champion Cale Yarborough has four Indy 500 starts on his resume. Bobby Allison raced twice at Indianapolis. Lee Roy Yarbrough was in three 500s. Both Junior Johnson and Curtis Turner went there in 1963, although neither made the race.
But of all the regular stock-car boys, the most successful at Indy was Donnie Allison, whose remarkable performance in May 1970 is one of the great little-known racing feats of the era.
On May 24 of that year, Allison was behind the wheel of his 1969 Ford in the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He won the race, with relief help from Lee Roy Yarbrough.
Six days later, he started 23rd in the Indy 500 and motored home to fourth-place finish. He was the rookie of the year.
``It was really great for me to go there and run fourth and race at Charlotte and win the World 600,'' Allison said last week. ``I was runnin' a full schedule in NASCAR, but the biggest difference from today, I think, was the fact that I wanted to run Indy cars.
``At that time, in 1970, I drove a car for A.J. Foyt. I didn't get any salary, only a portion of the purse. But it wasn't a money thing. I did it because I wanted to do it. They don't do that anymore.''
John Andretti would dispute that, of course, having become the first driver to run in both races on the same day this May. He received a ton of publicity for the feat. But Allison's performance is largely forgotten.
``It wasn't that big a deal then,'' he said. ``I never tooted my own horn. But you know, there's one interesting note. Last year, Nigel Mansell became the first rookie driver to complete the full 500 miles since I did it in 1970.''
Donnie's brother, Bobby, who will be at the Aug. 6 Brickyard 400 as a car owner, finished 32nd in 1973 and 25th in 1975, driving both years for Roger Penske. He led the 24th lap in 1975, ``which was a tremendous accomplishment.''
``I would have definitely loved to run a stock car around Indy any time,'' Bobby Allison said. His chance to do that is gone, but it ``definitely is something that would have been high on my list of wants.''
``I went there in 1963 for a fella named John Chalik,'' recalled Junior Johnson, who will have a pair of Fords in the 400. ``He had two cars. I had one and Bobby Unser was driving the other. But neither one of us could get up to speed. So I decided, well, I probably got the best car there are at Charlotte and I got the worst car there are at Indy, so I probably ought to go back to Charlotte.''
He did, and won the pole for the 600 with his 1963 Chevy. He finished second to Fred Lorenzen after blowing a tire while leading with four laps to go.
``I would have liked to run at Indy if I had a good car,'' Johnson said.
Cale Yarborough, who will also have a car in the 400, raced in four Indy 500s. In his rookie race in 1966, he was involved in a frontstretch pileup at the green flag and did not complete a lap. He was 17th in 1967, 16th in 1971 and 10th in 1972.
``In the beginning - the first two years - I wasn't running the whole NASCAR circuit, so I had time to do it,'' Yarborough said. ``Then, when Ford pulled out of racing in 1970, I felt like I didn't have a ride (in NASCAR), really. So Gene White gave me the opportunity to sign a two-year contract to run the Indy cars.
``It was something different, and I enjoyed it. I always liked the open-cockpit cars. I liked the wind in my face. But after the two-year contract with Gene White was up, I felt like the future was in NASCAR.''
RULE CHANGE: Beginning with the Brickyard 400 and for all future Winston Cup races, the lineup for second-round qualifying will be reversed from the first-round order, NASCAR has announced.
The rule change comes amid growing concern among Winston Cup regulars that they may miss the historic Indy race if stuck with a low number and an early run in the first round of 400 qualifying. Drivers have suggested that late qualifiers may enjoy an advantage of as much as a second per lap because they will be on a cooler track.
The change will mean that those who ran early in the first round will get the late runs in the second.
Some 80 cars are expected to try to qualify in the first round, which begins at 3 p.m. Aug. 4, and as many as 60 may run in the second round, to begin at 3 the next day.
``In the past, we never had an order for the second round,'' NASCAR spokesman Andy Hall said. ``You'd just get through inspection, get out there and go. From now on there's going to be an order, and it will be the reverse of what the first round was.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
PAST WINNERS
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB