Nascar has a long and storied history, but it also has a past littered with “What If?” questions. Join author Mike Mackler as he takes a look back at stock car racing’s 100 most-intriguing hypotheticals in “100 Stock Car Racing ‘What Ifs’”, the book available on Amazon in both Paperback and Kindle formats. Here’s a preview of one of the one hundred “What If” questions asked throughout the book:
46. What if Brett Bodine had won the first Brickyard 400?
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| The OTHER big thing for Brett that day |
Background: In 1994 the unthinkable happened—Nascar came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first-ever running of the Brickyard 400. One of the biggest events in Nascar history saw the sport shed its southern roots as IMS, in turn, finally opened its doors to a second race.
What Actually Happened: Jeff Gordon and Ernie Irvan dueled for the lead for most of the final third of the race, until Irvan ran over a piece of debris, cutting his tire. This allowed Indiana’s own Jeff Gordon, Nascar’s biggest rising star, to hold off journeyman veteran Brett Bodine for the historic win.
What Could Have Been the Turning Point: What if Brett Bodine closed the gap and pulled off the major upset?
What COULD Have Happened: The win would have arguably tarnished the first-ever running of the Brickyard 400. While Brett Bodine was a competent racer, his only other Cup win prior to this was as the result of a scoring error, and he had close to zero national recognition, whereas Gordon was rocketing towards worldwide prominence as the face of stock car racing.
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| The top two that day |
And if THAT Happened…: However, Nascar would have had a juicy followup storyline. Brett Bodine infamously tapped his brother Geoff into the wall, the result of a family feud boiling over onto the track. While the idea of brothers trying to destroy each other might not have been the image Nascar wanted, it would have certainly piqued interest.
What Else Could Have Happened: It wouldn’t have hurt Jeff Gordon’s ascendency any in the long run. He’d already won a “major” in the 600 miler at Charlotte and would add another the following year with his first Southern 500 win.
Why It Had to Turn Out The Way It Did: Jeff Gordon succeeding at the venue where a few years earlier he’d been turned away for not having monetary support was too good to miss, and Rick Hendrick and Ray Evernham gave him a car that could dominate.