Brickyard preview 96-07-26

For Immediate Release Countdown to the Brickyard

BRICKYARD 400 OFFERS $4.7 MILLION IN CASH AND PRIZES

INDIANAPOLIS, July 26, 1996 -- With the addition of more than $600,000 in cash, prizes and lap-leader money announced today by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the total prize posting package for the third Brickyard 400 stands at $4,777,721 -- $4,622,721 in cash and $150,000 worth of merchandise.

It is the largest race payoff in NASCAR Winston Cup history, with the winner guaranteed more than $500,000.

The 1996 Speedway awards program is in addition to the $4,168,721 in posted awards on the NASCAR entry blank for the Aug. 3 race. Last year's cash payoff was $4,447,015, with winner Dale Earnhardt collecting $565,600 plus other merchandise.

This year in addition to the $277,825 winner's purse on the entry form, the Brickyard 400 champion receives $200,000 from PPG Industries as part of its Winner's Trophy Award and the Thunderbird Winner's Award of $5,000 plus a Brickyard 400 Formula 271-SR-1 boat valued at $80,000 and a $30,000 1997 30th anniversary Chevrolet Camaro Z28 pace car.

Other winner's awards include the champion's ring plus $10,000 from Herff Jones, the $25,000 EDS Courage to Lead Award for the winning chief mechanic, the $10,000 Kodak Photo Finish Award and the $5,000 NABD/IMI (National Association of Brick Distributors/International Masonry Institute) Best Team on the Bricks Award.

With 38 qualified starters plus up to five provisional spots open in the field, last-place money for this year's Brickyard event is set at a minimum of $49,070 (positions 38-43).

The Busch Pole Award for the Brickyard 400 is $40,000. There is also the Busch Pole car owner's award Chevrolet/Tiara custom van valued at $35,000 plus $5,000 in cash, a $5,000 GTE Front Runner Award and a $5,000 cash award to the winning crew chief from Western Diversified.

Lap-leader awards, funded by the 1996 Citizens' Speedway Committee of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, total $64,000 with $400 going to the leader of each of the 160 laps around the historic 2 1/2-mile oval. Jeff Gordon led 93 laps to take $37,200 from the lap-prize fund in the 1994 inaugural and Earnhardt led 28 laps for $11,200 last year. Gordon has led 128 of the 320 race laps to date.

Gordon, who followed his 1994 inaugural victory with a pole position and a sixth-place finish last year, has collected $912,200 in cash and prizes through the first two editions of the race and will be shooting to become the first driver to exceed $1 million in Brickyard 400 earnings this year. Gordon's total of $613,000 as the inaugural winner's share is both a race and Winston Cup record winner's payoff.

More than 35 companies post awards at each NASCAR Winston Cup event.

...BY96-06...