BUZZ SODEMAN The Buzzman Advertisement

There are many race fans here in the Pahrump Valley who may have never experienced the thrill that this grand racing edifice can produce.

From the hair standing up on your arms to the tingling in the spine, this is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Constructed in 1909, the race course covers 433 acres with the total Speedway area encompassing 559 acres. It is the oldest track in continuous use in the United States.

Emerging from the tunnel that gets spectators into the infield is like stepping out on the playing field of Yankee Stadium or witnessing a hockey game at the old Spectrum in Philadelphia. Pomp and circumstance with roots deep in tradition from Jim Nabors singing "Back Home Again in Indiana" to the releasing of the balloons and the Purdue Marching band.

The Pahrump Valley Times Sports Editor and poker guru, Don McDermott, covered all but a handful of Indianapolis 500s between 1962 and 2001, as well as the first seven Brickyard 400s and the inaugural F-1 U.S. Grand Prix in 2000.

My first and only experience was on May 26, 1991. As a child growing up in Michigan, the Indy 500 was an integral part of the day's festivities over the long weekend. This is what Midwest racing is all about. There was the familiar voice of Tom Carnegie resonating throughout the speedway.

Roaming the grounds is like treading on sacred land where the ghosts of Indy legends still occupy space. The likes of Ray Harroun, Ralph DePalma, Mauri Rose, and Rex Mays are still felt in the pits.

Tony Stewart remembers attending the race with his father. He remembers exactly what I remember. "The cars were so fast. They were a blur. But to see those cars under caution and smell the methanol fumes and everything, it was still pretty cool."

What had been strictly an Indy car "open-wheel" track, was invaded on Aug. 6, 1994 by the full-bodied stock cars of NASCAR. It was only fitting that the first ever winner, Jeff Gordon, lived in Pittsboro, an Indianapolis suburb, and that the 2005 winner was Tony "Hoosier Daddy" Stewart, who still resides in his hometown, Columbus, Ind.

To a man, every winner of the Brickyard has echoed that winning at Indy is the keynote to their resumes. Stewart once said, "that he'd trade his championship for a win at Indy." Gordon, the youngest winner, has gone on to win the "classic" a record four times (1994, 1998, 2001, and 2004).

The late Dale Earnhardt won in 1995. Other winners include Ricky Rudd in 1997, Bobby Labonte in 2000, "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville" Elliott in 2002, and Kevin Harvick in 2003.

Dale Jarrett is the only other driver to claim more than one Indy victory; he won in 1996 and 1999. Four NASCAR drivers have participated in both the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400, Robby Gordon, Stewart, J.J. Yeley and John Andretti.

Perhaps Stewart summed up winning at Indy the best. "You dream about something for so long, you become consumed by it ... I would drive down Georgetown toward 16^th street, parallel with the frontstretch, and wonder what it would be like 300 feet to the left running 200 miles per hour.

"I got a chance to do that, and finally, after years of trying to win, be it in Indy cars or stock cars, I got to know what it feels like, to see that view coming down the front straightaway, seeing that checkered flag and knowing that I was the first driver to cross the stripe ... I had wanted that moment for so long, and I finally got it."

Well, a Rick Hendrick car captured the prestigious Indy trophy Sunday - but it wasn't Jeff Gordon. Jimmie Johnson, who saw his championship evaporate after colliding with the wall last year, collected the hardware and denied his teammate and car co-owner from claiming his fifth Brickyard win, as well as the opportunity to tie Dale Earnhardt's 76 NASCAR wins.

The current Nextel Cup points leader in the "Race for Chase" rebounded from a tire that disintegrated early in the race and then held off a fading Matt Kenseth. Johnson, who won at Daytona, claimed NASCAR's second jewel, making him the one of two drivers who have won both of NASCAR's biggest races; the other driver to do that was Dale Jarrett.

One last thought on Sunday's festivities ...

Those individuals who tossed beer cans at Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet as it took a well-deserved victory lap surely must be very proud of their heritage. I have never quite understood these idiots whose mentality seems to reflect their number of parents and bring disgrace to NASCAR fans throughout the world.

NOTES - In case you may have missed it in Sunday's Las Vegas Review-Journal, onetime NASCAR driver Jeff Purvis was involved in a crash near Cullington, Ala. The 47-year old suffered a broken neck, broke ribs, and was cut and bruised. Also injured in the accident were seven individuals, including Jeff's wife and 15-year old son ... Purvis was on his way to Talladega to compete in a Dirt Late Model series race. Purvis was airlifted to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Vanderbilt was chosen largely because Purvis had sustained head injuries in a racing crash four years ago ... The Pahrump Valley Speedway, after being dark last weekend, returns to action Saturday at 7 p.m., with several stock car classes and the IMCA modifieds on the card.