DATE: Wednesday, July 30, 1997              TAG: 9707300675

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS                      LENGTH:   62 lines

STILL A THRILL: INDY HASN'T LOST LUSTER, DRIVERS SAY THE REPUTATION, THE MONEY AND THE TRACK KEEP THE NASCAR TEAMS COMING BACK.

The temperamental moods of summer weather in the Midwest shifted toward one of the kindest of environments Tuesday as the NASCAR Winston Cup series arrived to practice and qualify for Saturday's Brickyard 400.

A big high-pressure system with cool air moved in from Canada and replaced the languid, steamy conditions so common around here in July and August. Thus, the biggest race of the summer may enjoy its best conditions ever in this fourth running of the NASCAR race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The forecast for race day is for partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the 80s.

And after four years, the race has lost none of its luster.

``I still think its pretty darn exciting,'' Darrell Waltrip said Tuesday. ``I certainly don't think the Daytona 500 has lost any of its luster over the years, and I don't think this race has, either.''

It has, in fact, grown to become a whole weekend of NASCAR racing here, with a NASCAR truck race on Thursday night and a Busch Grand National race on Friday night at nearby Indianapolis Raceway Park.

It also has become a stage for major announcements. Ford Motor Co. has scheduled a major news conference for this evening at the Indiana Convention Center to introduce its new Taurus Winston Cup race car for 1998.

Competing in the Brickyard 400, Waltrip said, has been ``one of the biggest thrills of my career. I've always said the Daytona 500 is heaven. And this is almost heaven.''

Part of the reason Waltrip likes it here is because the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was built in 1909 and they've finished building the place, so they pay a lot of attention to the track.

``They are so track-conscious here,'' he said. ``The superintendent comes around about once every hour and asks you how the track is. They're not painting new grandstands and building more grandstands to get more people in here. They are concerned about us.''

The 2.5-mile, four-turn speedway is, according to Ricky Craven, one of the bigger challenges in the Winston Cup series.

``I think it's one of the more difficult circuits we race on,'' Craven said. ``It's a fast, flat racetrack, in contrast to a fast, high-banked superspeedway,'' he said. ``I think that makes it less forgiving.''

But Craven, too, seems more influenced by the atmosphere than by the mechanics of driving the track.

``Every time I ride through Gasoline Alley and out onto pit road, it's a special deal,'' he said. ``It really is.''

Practice begins at 2 p.m. (EDT) today and lasts four hours. Pole qualifying is Thursday, with second-round qualifying Friday. The race begins at 1:15 p.m. Saturday.

The speedway on Tuesday announced a purse of more than $4.8 million, and the value of other awards likely will push the total prize package past the record $4.85 million set last year, the richest payoff in NASCAR history.

Dale Jarrett earned $564,035 for his victory, although the record prize is $613,000 to Jeff Gordon, the winner of the inaugural Brickyard race in 1994. Dale Earnhardt took home $565,600 for his victory in 1995.

``I'll cherish last year's win the rest of my life,'' said Jarrett, who is trying to become the first repeat winner in the race's brief history.

``Obviously there's great history and great tradition at Indy, but it's also an incredible amount of money,'' he said. ``It's the most money of any race that we run, and that is great motivation. We'd really like to win it again.''

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