NASCAR Cup Series

Brickyard 400 is a race for champions

Published Dec. 13, 2008 6:44 p.m. ET

Darrell Waltrip

Folks, there is no doubt in my mind how special Indianapolis Motor Speedway is.

As a young kid growing up in Owensboro, Ky. — which is on the southside of the Ohio River and then you have Indianapolis not too far away on the north side of the Ohio River — it was always a passion and dream of mine to always go there and drive a race car.

I was something like 12 or 15 years old and at the time I always thought I would drive an Indy car. I had driven a sprint car a little bit. All my heroes were open wheel drivers. I would go to all the big dirt track races up in Indiana.