At Indianapolis, the racing takes a backseat to ... History & tradition

The Sprint Cup circuit heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend for the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard,a race that many rank just under the Daytona 500 in NASCAR prestige.

Photos by NASCAR Racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is "a huge event," says Kyle Petty. But that doesn't mean it's always a great race. In fact, it's often the opposite. It's the history and heritage of the track that makes it big.

It's being able to race on the same course that Ray Harroun traversed in his Marmon Wasp to win the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911. It's a chance to be called a winner at the same track where Wilbur Shaw won three times in four years between 1937 and 1940,where Bill Vukovich Sr. won in '53 and '54,then died while leading in '55,and where drivers' names like Foyt,Andr etti and Unser became household words.

"I won't call it a big race, but I'll call it a big event," Kyle Petty said. "We have big races on our circuit ... but Indy has always been a huge event. A lot of prestige because it's Indy,b ut not much of a race unless you get a caution in the last eight or 10 laps. Then it gets to be a really good race."

Tony Stewart climbs the fence after winning at Indy in 2005. Petty said when NASCAR first got to race at Indy in 1994,it was a major moment in the history of what had been,up to that point,primarily a Southern sport.

"At the time that race came along,our sport was looking for something else,a little bit of a boost. TV ratings had kind of leveled off," Petty said. "It needed something, and it got it theer."

Few drivers on the circuit have as much appreciation for the heritage of Indianapolis Motor Speedway than Tony Stewart,w ho grew up in Columbus,Ind.,just 50 miles from the famous track.

A few years ago,Ste wart, who won the 400 in 2005 and 2007,sa t in the trakc's infield with a reporter and described his home track as a sacred,hallowed place.

"The last time I did double duty [driving in both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte on the same day] I was staying in my motor home in the infield," Stewart said. "I got back from an event at 2 o'clock in the morning, and I'm the only one walking around there.

"You're standing there and you swear you can hear people and hear race cars going around there. To me,Indiana polis Motor Speedway is just like a living,br eathing organism."

The track Stewart holds so dear almost didn't survive to become the racing palace it is today.

Designed primarily as a proving ground for the budding automobile industry,it opened for racing on Aug. 19, 1909,with a dirt surface.

Five people - one driver, two riding mechanics and two fans - were killed,and numerous others were seriously injured during the initial three-day event. In the middle of the carnage,the 300-mile main event was stopped after 235 miles and declared no contest.

The dirt racing surface received much of the blame,so the track was paved with the famous layer of 3.2 million bricks,since paved over with asphalt except for a small strip of bricks at the finish line.

Racing at the speedway thrived until the mid-1920s when the original owners, faced with hefty maintenance bills,decided to sell the track.

Eddie Rickenbacker,the World War I flying ace,led a group that paid $750,000 for the track. But then came the Great Depression.

In 1933,five people were killed,tw o in qualifying and three in the race. The purse was cut and there was a brief drivers' strike. In 1942,

racing was suspended for World War II. By 1945,the track had f allen into a dilapidated state.

Businessman Tony Hulman,and Wilbur Shaw, who became speedway president, ste pped in with money and effort to save the storied track from ruin.

Stewart said he and many others are forever indebted to Rickenbacker,Hulman, Shaw and the others who played a role in saving the speedway.

"I've been to tracks that have shut down,and it sends a chill down my spine in a good way from the standpoint of knowing the history and what the tracks have meant to how racing has evolved into what it is today," he said. "The same goes with Indianapolis. It would have been the biggest natural disaster to let a place like that go to ruin."