What ever happened to ... DNQs of the '94 Brickyard?

Much has been written about the inaugural Brickyard 400: Rick Mast the improbable pole-winner, the incident involving the Bodine brothers, the stirring battle between eventual winner Jeff Gordon and Ernie Irvan, who subsequently had tire issues. But what about the drivers who failed to qualify?

It may be hard to believe now, but in 1994, NASCAR officials were somewhat unsure what kind of a car count they might have for a stock car race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In order to ensure a full field, they added the Brickyard 400 to the Winston West schedule. They needn't have worried, as an amazing 86 cars were entered.

Indianapolis 500 winners A.J. Foyt and Danny Sullivan made the show, along with Geoff Brabham, son of the man who kicked off the rear-engine revolution at Indy in 1960. And Winston West regular Mike Chase was able to race his way into the field. But the list of those drivers who didn't make it is perhaps more fascinating than those who did.

Here's a rundown, in order of their 1994 qualifying speeds:

Joe Ruttman

Joe Ruttman
The younger brother of 1950 Indy 500 winner Troy Ruttman made his NASCAR debut at 18, running the Riverside road course. He never won a Cup race in 225 starts over 20 years, but finished 12th in the 1983 standings and made his last Cup start at 59. Showing that life does begin at 50, Ruttman moved to the fledgling Truck Series in 1995 and was runner-up to champion Mike Skinner. He went on to win 13 times and record three third-place finishes in the standings, still racing up until 2007.

Dick Trickle
A Wisconsin short-track legend and Cup rookie at 47, Trickle was 52 when he attempted to make the Indianapolis field. Trickle returned and made the field three of the next four races, scoring finishes of 18th in both 1995 and 1998. He was still running full time until 1998 and made his last Cup start in 2002 at the age of 60. Unofficially listed as having won more than 1,000 feature races, Trickle still races occasionally in his home state.

Randy LaJoie
The New Englander ran only a limited Cup schedule over a 12-year span, but won the 1996 and 1997 Busch Series championships, recording a total of 15 wins. He retired from full-time racing in 2006 and started his own business, manufacturing custom-made racing seats for other drivers. The Joie of Seating builds seats for everything from NASCAR's three national series down to local bullrings and youth go-karts.

Jim Sauter
Sauter was another veteran driver who made the leap from Wisconsin short tracks to NASCAR in the early '80s, running mainly a part-time schedule from the time he made his Cup debut in 1980 at age 37. His best Cup finishes were a pair of ninths, accomplished in the 1987 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and equaled two years later at Watkins Glen. Sauter is perhaps best known for helping prepare setups for the International Race of Champions series. His sons -- Tim, Jay and Johnny -- all made it to NASCAR's highest level.

Steve Grissom
Alabama's Grissom, the 1993 Busch Series champion, was stepping up full time to the Cup Series in 1994, finishing second to Jeff Burton for rookie of the year honors. Grissom returned to Indianapolis the following season and finished 30th. He also wound up 26th in 1997 and 23rd in 1998. He made his final Cup start in 2002, but continues to be active as a driver, having made one Nationwide Series start in each of the last three seasons. With Grissom acting as spotter, son Kyle scored his first late model victory at Hickory Motor Speedway in 2007.

Davy Jones
The Chicago native made five career Indianapolis 500 starts, including finishing second to Buddy Lazier in 1996. He tried to make the transition to stock cars in 1995, running seven races with D.K. Ulrich but failed to qualify four times and posted a best finish of 20th at Darlington. He suffered serious neck injuries in a practice crash at Walt Disney World Speedway in 1997 and briefly retired from racing. He has since participated in some sports car events.

Rick Carelli
Colorado's Carelli, "The High Plains Drifter," parlayed seven victories into the 1993 Winston West championship. He made a total of nine Cup starts over a three-year period, all in Chevrolets owned by Marshall Chesrown, and mainly on the West Coast. His best finishes were a pair of 21st, at Sonoma and Phoenix. He won four times in trucks, beginning in 1996, but was seriously injured in an accident at Memphis in 1999. However, he returned the following year to post another victory at Richmond. He's currently the team manager for Kevin Harvick Inc.

John Krebs
Son of a Pacific Coast Late Model driver, Krebs was 16 when he passed his rookie test at Riverside Raceway. All 19 of his Cup starts were companion events with Winston West, where he was a regular. The Roseville, Calif., native won three times on that circuit, including 1992 victories at Texas World Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway. He finished third in the 1994 Winston West points, then retired as a full-time driver. His last start came at Madera in 2003. As of 2008, Krebs was crew chief for teenager Johnathan Hale in Chevrolets owned by Jack Sellers.

Bob Brevak
Another Wisconsonite, Brevak won the 1990 ARCA championship and competed full time in the first two seasons of the Truck Series, finishing 15th in the 1996 season standings at age 49. After retiring from driving, Brevak continued to enter trucks up through the 2008 season. Kevin Cywinski scored half of the team's career 14 top-10 finishes in the 1999 season, running fourth at Martinsville and third at Bristol.

Gary Bettenhausen
Bettenhausen came within 24 laps of winning the 1972 Indianapolis 500 -- and fulfilling his father's dreams -- before an ignition failure knocked his car out of the race while he was leading. The two-time USAC sprint car and Silver Crown dirt track champion made a total of 21 Indy 500 starts, with a best finish of third in the 1980 race, after starting in the 11th and last row. He made a total of eight Cup starts, three in 1967 and five more for Roger Penske in 1974, finishing fourth at Michigan in his final race. He retired as a driver after participating in CART's 1996 U.S. 500 at Michigan.

Brad Teague
Teague's last Cup start came in 1994 but he has continued to race at the Nationwide Series level ever since. His lone victory came at Martinsville in 1987, the season he finished seventh in the points. After celebrating his 60th birthday, Teague ran 15 races for Jimmy Means in 2008, with a best finish of 22nd at Darlington.

Mike Wallace
Middle brother of the three racing Wallaces from Missouri, Mike made his Cup debut in 1991 and was in the middle of his first full-time season in 1994. He would go on to finish fifth in that season's finale at Atlanta. He had a spirited side-by-side battle with eventual winner Jeff Burton at Phoenix in 2001 and a surprising fourth-place finish in the 2007 Daytona 500. A four-time winner in the Nationwide Series, Wallace was eighth in the 2008 point standings but found himself without a full-time ride at the beginning of 2009. Daughter Chrissy ran six races in the Truck Series in 2008, with a best finish of 18th at Martinsville.

Robert Pressley

Robert Pressley
Pressley had won nine Busch Series races over a three-year period before getting the call to the Cup Series in 1994. He scored five top-five finishes in 205 career starts, with his last coming in the 2002 Daytona 500. He won a pair of Truck Series races in 2002, and retired from driving after the 2005 season. As of 2008, Pressley was working as a driver development coach for JTG Racing, with son Coleman in the cockpit.

Jeff Davis
Davis, of Anaheim Hills, Calif., was a rookie on the Winston West circuit although he already had two Cup starts. On the strength of five top-five finishes, he finished fourth in the 1994 point standings and was still running full time as recently as 2003. Davis' final Cup start -- at Sonoma in 1997 -- was somewhat odd. Financially strapped Melling Racing couldn't afford to make the cross-country trip to California, so they allowed Davis to use their No. 9 in order to earn owners' points. He wound up crashing after 60 laps and was credited with 37th.

Bob Schacht
Schacht made only 23 Cup starts over a seven-year span, but he is remembered more for his ARCA career, winning a total of 18 races, including six times at Pocono, one of which came when he beat a young Davey Allison to the checkered flag in 1983. In addition, Schacht is responsible for a suit cooler used by several top-level series and was part of the design and construction team of the cars used in the movie "Days of Thunder." He currently owns and operates Bob Schacht Motorsports.

Ron Hornaday
Hornaday was coming into his own in 1994, winning four Winston West races and finishing second in the standings. That earned him a shot in the fledgling Truck Series the following year, and he made the most of the opportunity, running third that season, then winning the 1996 series championship. Hornaday added titles in 1998 and 2007, and is currently leading the Camping World Truck points. In between, he made full-time forays into the Busch Series in 2003 and 2004, and ran a full Cup schedule in 2001, finishing 34th at Indianapolis.

Jerry O'Neil
The Upstate New Yorker ventured out of the ARCA ranks on occasion to run Cup races for owner Alan Aroneck. Between 1989 and 1993, he competed in 16 races, mainly at Pocono and Charlotte, with a career-best finish of 21st.

Scott Gaylord
Colorado's Gaylord was another Winston West regular who made the pilgrimage to Indy. He recorded 37 top-five finishes, including four seconds, but never was able to visit Victory Lane. In four Cup starts, his best finish was a 29th at Watkins Glen in 1993, driving for Jimmy Means. Gaylord, now 50, continues to race sporadically on the Nationwide Series circuit. He finished 32nd at Fontana with engine problems and blew a tire at Las Vegas, winding up 36th. Sons Ryan and Tripp are following in the family tradition.

Ken Bouchard
Bouchard, of Fitchburg, Mass., followed his older brother Ron into NASCAR's premier series and had similar success, winning rookie of the year honors in 1988. But four races into the 1989 season, Bouchard was replaced by Derrike Cope, and he made only four more Cup starts, the last one coming in the 1994 season-finale at Atlanta. He ran a handful of Truck races between 1996 and 1998 before retiring from the national spotlight. He currently operates a driving school at Thompson International Speedway in Connecticut.

Billy Standridge
Standridge was a 40-year-old Cup rookie in 1994, having made his debut earlier that season at Rockingham. His career-best was a 14th-place finish at Darlington the following year, and his Cup career ended with a 43rd-place effort in the wildfire-postponed October race at Daytona in 1998. He missed the field again at Indy in 1995.

Tim Steele
It's no wonder why three-time ARCA champ Steele was selected by Bobby Allison to drive his No. 12 Ford at Indy. The Michigan native had made the previous five Cup races in 1994, including a 33rd-place finish at Pocono, where he had won nine ARCA races (out of a total of 41 in his career). But Indy would be his last Cup attempt. Steele would go on to run seven Busch Series events in 1997 before a severe head injury sustained in a crash at Atlanta permanently changed his racing career. He came back to run half of the 1999 Truck Series schedule two years later, and won 11 more ARCA races, but aftereffects of that crash forced him to announce his retirement from racing in 2007.

Rich Woodland Jr.
The Californian was hoping to celebrate his 24th birthday by making the Brickyard 400 field in one of Butch Gilliland's team cars. He had finished 10th and 12th in the Winston West standings the two previous seasons, and had made his Cup debut with a 38th-place finish at Phoenix in 1993. His family-owned team was sponsored by the duck farm that his father and uncle owned in the San Gabriel Valley. Woodland's lone West win came at Phoenix in 1998. He drove in four Truck races in 2001 and was still active in ARCA as of 2004.

Hershel McGriff

Hershel McGriff
McGriff was trying to accomplish an unusual double, becoming the only driver to compete the inaugural NASCAR races at Darlington and Indy, 44 years apart. At 65, the long-time resident of Bridal Veil, Ore., made the grid for the 1993 Cup race at Sonoma, which remains to date his last start in NASCAR's premier series. His four previous Cup victories came in 1954. However, the 1986 Winston West champion remains an active participant behind the wheel. This summer, he ended a seven-year absence by finishing 13th in the Camping World West road-course race at Portland and hopes to make the field later at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.

Jerry Hill
Hill, from Brandywine, Md., made eight Cup starts between 1991 and 1993, mainly at Rockingham and Dover. However, he missed making the field all three times he tried in 1994. He returned to NASCAR in 2001, running three full seasons in the Truck Series, but failed to record a top-10 finish in a total of 58 starts. He wound up 17th at Kentucky and Texas in 2001. He made a pair of Busch Series starts in 2004, running 26th at Gateway and 22nd at Daytona.

Andy Belmont
Belmont was a former Goody's Dash champion looking to break into Cup big-time. He made his Cup debut at Dover in 1989, then returned two years later with one of Pat Rissi's Fords. That partnership lasted through much of the 1992 season, as Belmont scored his career-best 28th at Pocono and finished second in rookie of the year balloting. But a full-time ride failed to materialize, and he spent the next two seasons attempting to quality his own car without success. However, Belmont found his niche in ARCA, finishing in the top 10 in points in all but two full seasons. He made two more Cup starts in 2004, then retired as a driver two years later. He currently owns Andy Belmont Racing.

H.B. Bailey
Like another more famous Houstonian who cut his racing teeth at the old Playland Park track, Bailey decided to give it one more shot at Indy. Competing in NASCAR since 1962, Bailey had run only a limited schedule, having never run more than seven races in a season. His last top-five finish came in the 1972 Southern 500, when LeeRoy Yarbrough took over as relief driver. However, Bailey made the field at Michigan and Darlington in 1993 -- at the age of 56 -- and after missing the Brickyard 400 field, brought his Pontiac out four years later in an effort to make the show at Texas Motor Speedway, but he wound up slowest of the 52 cars entered. Bailey died of heart failure in 2003.

Norm Benning
Benning started racing at the same track where his father raced, nearby Heidelberg Raceway. A graduate of Indiana University (Pa.), Benning went on to earn a commercial pilot's license. He made his Cup debut at Dover in 1989, finishing 30th. But since making only one lap at Darlington in 1993, Benning has been the epitome of "try, try again." Since 1993, Benning has attempted to qualify for a Cup race 21 times -- including seven Daytona 500s -- without success. However, Benning has recorded five top-10s in ARCA points and is currently 23rd in the 2009 Camping World Truck Series standings.

Wayne Jacks
The Las Vegas native started his racing career in 1972 and won the sportsman stock-car track title at Las Vegas International in 1988. From there, he moved into Winston West and within two years was fourth in the season standings. His lone Cup start came at Phoenix in 1993, where he finished 41st after losing an engine. He competed in seven Truck races between 1995 and 1997, and made his final West start in 2003. Now 60, he's still listed on the super late model driver roster at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's Bullring.

Doug French
French came up through the ARCA and modified ranks, making his only Cup start at Richmond in 1987, where he finished 28th after a crash. After failing to quality at Indy, the New Jersey native tried to make the field at Dover in 1994 and 1995 without success. He returned to modifieds and was operating his own team at last report.

Steve Sellers
Sellers had what could be considered an extremely short racing career. He made his Winston West debut at Coos Bay in 1993 and finished 13th out of 13 cars after his engine expired. His best finish in 11 total starts was sixth at Mesa Marin in 1994, and Indy was his lone foray into Cup. The younger brother of driver and car owner Jack Sellers, Steve Sellers had a ready-made sponsor -- Sacramento Coca-Cola -- since he and his two brothers owned the bottling company in town.

James Hylton
Hylton was a successful crew chief turned driver. One of 13 children, Hylton began working as a mechanic for Rex White, then as crew chief on Ned Jarrett's 1965 championship team. As a driver, Hylton won rookie of the year honors in 1966 and a pair of Cup races in the early '70s. Advancing age hasn't seemed to slow down Hylton, who attempted to become the oldest man to make the Daytona 500 field in 2007, and at age 74, he continues to compete regularly on the ARCA circuit.

Loy Allen Jr.

Loy Allen Jr.
Allen made a huge splash in his rookie season, winning the pole for the 1994 Daytona 500, then adding two more at Atlanta and Michigan. However, the underfunded and underpowered team failed to make 12 races -- including Indy -- which wrecked his rookie of the year chances. Running only a part-time schedule for Junior Johnson in 1995, Allen scored a top-10 finish at Talladega, and seemed ready for a rebound in 1996. However, he suffered two huge crashes at Daytona and Rockingham, the second one knocking him unconscious and leaving him with a neck injury that ultimately ended his career after only 48 total starts. He returned to Raleigh to start a construction business with his brother and flies the company plane on a regular basis.

Stan Fox
Fox had a star-crossed life. The Wisconsin native won 19 USAC open-wheel features and after crashing in practice for the 1984 Indianapolis 500, Fox made the field three years later and finished seventh. He scored another top-10 finish in the 1991 500, then dabbled in Cup the next season, finishing 36th at Talladega and 37th at Michigan. He also started a pair of Truck events. But a frightening first-lap crash in the 1995 Indy 500 left Fox with severe head injuries which ended his racing career. Sadly, he was killed in 2000 when his van collided head-on with a car on a two-lane highway in New Zealand.

Lance Wade
The Canadian made his Winston West debut at Portland in 1992, finishing fourth. He would go on to record 16 top-10 finishes over the next seven years, including finishing second to Ernie Cope at Portland in 1995. A former late model champion at Western Speedway in British Columbia, Wade stepped in for younger brother Ryan earlier this season and won the 60-lap feature event.

Robert Sprague
Sprague was not related to any of the other Spragues in NASCAR history. The North Bend, Ore., driver had 10 top-five finishes in 33 Winston West career starts, beginning in 1989. And he can also claim to have led a lap in his only Cup start, coming in a joint Cup-West event at Sonoma in 1991. Sprague is still active, running in the sportsman division at nearby Coos Bay Speedway.

Jack Sellers
Co-owner of the Sacramento Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Sellers got the racing bug when he sponsored John Krebs in 1984. One year later, he decided to climb behind the wheel at age 40, and hasn't stopped since. Sellers has made 212 West starts, including six races in 2009, with a total of 32 top-10 finishes. The "Coca-Cola Cowboy" owns a 23-acre racehorse farm in the San Joaquin Valley and is an avid sportsman.

Charlie Glotzbach
"Charging" Charlie was another old-timer lured out of retirement by the idea of racing at the Brickyard. Of course, in his case, he'd already tried it in an open-wheeled car. Glotzbach failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1969 and 1970. A former ARCA rookie of the year and four-time Cup winner, Glotzbach never ran a full schedule and walked away after a 34th-place finish in the 1976 World 600. However, the racing bug bit Glotzbach again in 1981, and another time in 1990. He wound up his career in 1992 by running seven races in Junie Donlavey's Fords. He currently owns a truck dealership in Indiana.

Ben Hess
Hess was an accomplished ARCA driver who won twice at Daytona and once again at Atlanta and Pocono between 1989 and 1992. He made his Cup debut at Rockingham in 1988, finishing 20th in his own car. He seriously considered running the entire 1989 season -- starting nine of the first 10 races -- but apparently finances scuttled that idea. He would make only two more Cup starts, although he attempted a handful of races in 1994 and 1995 without success. His last ARCA appearance came in 2001.

Joe Heath
Heath came up through the ranks at Saugus Speedway and made his Winston West debut in 1992. The Northridge, Calif., native's best season was in 1994, when he recorded eight top-10 finishes on his way to sixth in the season points. He raced six more times in 1995, finishing 17th at the Las Vegas Bullring in his final start.

Delma Cowart
To some, Savannah's Cowart was considered the "clown prince" of NASCAR. One of his slogans was, "I never won a race but I never lost a party." He made his Cup debut at Atlanta in 1981. Over the next 16 years, Cowart spent more time missing than making races, but he did race in the Daytona 500 four times, and finished a surprising 25th in 1992. He owns a construction company in his hometown, building swimming pools and installing septic tanks.

Kerry Teague
Teague's Cup resume is quite checkered. He crashed and finished 37th in his debut, the 1991 fall race at Charlotte. He tangled with Rick Wilson in the 1992 Daytona 500 and wound up 33rd. Driving for Donlavey at Darlington, Teague parked the car after 15 laps. And he made a pair of appearances at Pocono in 1993 for Jim Rosenblum, and wasn't around for the finish either time. He ran 12 races for Rosenblum in the inaugural season of the Truck Series in 1995.

P.J. Jones
The oldest son of two-time Indy 500 winner Parnelli Jones, P.J. went the go-kart/midgets route early in his racing career. He landed a ride with Dan Gurney's Toyota Eagle GTP cars in 1992 and the next season, placed second in the championship standings. He made his Cup debut in McGriff's last race -- at Sonoma in 1993 -- driving for Harry Melling. He wound up making a total of six starts, including an eighth-place finish at Watkins Glen. Since then, Jones has been used mainly as a road-course specialist, finishing fourth for A.J. Foyt at the Glen in 2002. Jones also made a pair of Indy 500 starts and drove a team car for Robby Gordon at Sonoma this spring but finished 43rd after encountering power steering problems.

Butch Gilliland
Gilliland was another Winston West veteran who made the trip east with the hope of a huge paycheck. He had just scored his first series win at Sonoma earlier that season. Gilliland would follow that up with 14 more victories, including five in his 1997 championship run. He made a total of 10 Cup starts, beginning in 1990, all in combination Cup-West races at either Sonoma or Phoenix. Gilliland, father of current Cup driver David Gilliland, was still winning races at Meridian Speedway in Idaho as recently as 2008.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.