Earnhardt wins at Indy in '95, but TV viewers left out

Consider the philosophical riddle: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

NASCAR was faced with a similar conundrum in the 1995 Brickyard 400. If you run a race that no one can see live on television, is there really a winner?

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Faced with a dismal weekend weather forecast that had already wiped out second-day qualifying, NASCAR officials did the only prudent thing. They kept the jet dryers on the track, hoping for a break in the clouds. And given the opportunity, series director Gary Nelson seized the chance, even though a national television audience -- and many fans with tickets to the race -- didn't get to see Dale Earnhardt win in the gathering Indiana dusk.

"It was a little wet to start with," Earnhardt said, "but NASCAR worked miracles and got the track dry."

After a rain delay of more than four hours, and as ABC's Paul Page was telling viewers that the race would not be shown live because of prior commitments, the remaining fans that were left on the grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- and those still hanging around their cars in the parking lot -- quickly hustled back to their seats to catch what turned out to be a classic showdown.

It became a four-car duel between Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott and Jeff Gordon, as they took turns in the lead as the race continued without a caution for the first 300 miles. Wallace passed Gordon for first on Lap 109 and appeared to have things under control until the final round of green-flag stops.

Running second, Earnhardt ducked onto the pit lane on Lap 128 and got four tires and fuel. On the next lap, Wallace did the same, but as he was coming out of his pit stall, Rich Bickle ran into the back of Joe Nemechek's car, causing Wallace to hit the brakes to avoid a collision.

That little break in Wallace's momentum turned out to be huge, as the No. 2 Ford was still trying to get back up to speed on the backstretch when Earnhardt's No. 3 Chevrolet flashed by.

"I thought I had it locked up, that it was my race," said Wallace, who started 24th. "Two cars got together ahead of me exiting the pits and I had to slow to get around them. That put me behind, cost me track position and I couldn't get close enough to Dale to pressure him. He's tough when he's out front."

The only caution flag of the day came out four laps later, when Jeff Burton lost control just as he was being lapped by Earnhardt. He touched the outside wall, bobbled, then spun directly in front of Wallace, who was forced to take evasive action.

The leaders stayed out, and when the race restarted, Earnhardt had clean air while the other contenders did not -- one of the first instances of the dreaded "aero-push" which continues to affect the sport even now.

"Rusty never worried me. I knew he had to be the one to make a move," Earnhardt said. "I was going to drive my line. I wasn't going to worry about it. I was better out front than I was behind. It just wouldn't go as good [behind other cars]. Out front was the place I wanted to be."

Gordon, who had won the inaugural Brickyard 400 the previous year, described the feeling.

"If you were out front, you were in command," he said. "If you got behind, your car started pushing real well. For some reason, we lost the handle at the end.

"We couldn't get close to anybody. As soon as we got within four or five car-lengths of another car, it started wanting to turn around. That killed us when we tried to stay on somebody's rear bumper."

Wallace was able to hold off Dale Jarrett for second, while Elliott and Mark Martin rounded out the top five.

In Indy's famous Victory Circle, Earnhardt talked about adding his name to the list of drivers who had won at the Brickyard.

"I felt like to win here and be in the same sort of group with an Indy 500 winner or a Brickyard winner is a pretty impressive and pretty neat situation," he said. "I'm very honored to be there with them.

"Our races are different from the Indy 500. It's started its own tradition or history. It's great to be part of history. Now there's been two Brickyard races and I've won half of them."

Earnhardt took home $565,600 from the race purse of $4.5 million, his biggest payday up to that point. The average speed of 155.206 mph is still the second-fastest of the 14 races held there. Only Bobby Labonte -- in 2000 -- has covered the 400 miles more quickly.

Fans at home did finally get to see the race, although on tape. It was broadcast the following day on ESPN.