"DAN PARDUS' BRICKYARD DREAM
LIVES IN INDY'S BACK ALLEY"

Published in the Johnson County (Ind.) Daily Journal, July 30, 1998 ©

         In the darkening shadows of the late afternoon, the handful of garages on the backside of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway look a lot like some boulevard of dim Brickyard 400 dreams.

         With garages assigned according to Winston Cup points standings, the teams with marquee names like Earnhardt, Labonte, Jeff Gordon or Wallace behind the wheels, labor in the sunlight of the front rows of garage buildings.

         Meanwhile, back in garages B17-23, the drivers and teams with little or no standing labor with as much energy -- but a lot less daylight.

         A few familiar names show up along this back boulevard -- like Robby Gordon and Buckshot Jones -- because they don't normally run NASCAR's premier series.

         But mostly the back alley is inhabited by guys who have brought their dreams, rather than big bucks and their own Web pages.

         Guys like Dan Pardus, the former cable television systems builder from Daytona Beach, Fla. Or other self-described "little guys" like Bob Schacht or Lance Hooper.

         "Yeah, we're kind of the renegades of the deal," Pardus says, his red-white-and-blue driving suit peeled down to his waist after his final practice run Wednesday afternoon.

         "There ain't many of us left," he adds, after gulping down some of the red Gatorade from his frosty, half-empty bottle. "In this day and age, it's awful tough for a little guy to make it, because of the big money and big business."

         Even without the thin film of sweat that covers his clean-shaven, sharply defined face, Dan Pardus does not present a profile that is readily recognized.

         He's never raced in a Winston Cup event, though he has tried, and he's a few years, at least, from showing up on a Wheaties box.

         He could easily be mistaken for, well, a yuppie cable-business operator -- if it weren't for the driving suit and the sweat.

         But the 35-year-old Pardus has his dream, and he has shucked his cable business this year to go stock car racing full-time. After 15 years of stock car racing -- and five years off to build his cable business -- he is tackling the "A"-movie crowds of Winston Cup.

         "At the beginning of the year, we decided we'd do a limited Winston Cup schedule and build our team, buy some cars, hire some good people and learn the Winston Cup way," he says, cooling off in front of garage B20.

         "We went to three races and didn't make any of 'em."

         Pardus laughs in spite of himself at his lack of success earlier this year at Daytona, Talladega and Charlotte.

         "We had some decent runs and came close, though," he is quick to note.

         Short on money, cars, engines and crewmen, Pardus proves to be long on enthusiasm and optimism about his chances for making Saturday's fifth running of the Brickyard 400 at Indy.

         In Wednesday's practice, his speed of 173.007 mph is the 31st fastest. That explains his optimism, since the 36 quickest qualifiers today and Friday will make the lineup for the 400, a prospect that lights up his face like a new sunrise.

         "To make this race would be like winning this thing for anybody else," he says. "It would be a big power boost and momentum boost for our team, to come back and show 'em, and show our fans, that we have the ability to do it.

         "It would be an absolute miracle for all of us. I'd probably just break down and cry."

         Pardus, who has raced regularly in the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) stock car events the past two seasons, sees at least a glimmer of hope that he can even crack the top 25 qualifiers today, which would lock him into the starting field for Saturday.

         "We ran our practice motor today," he explains. "We're going to put our good motor in in the morning, and hopefully we can pick up another half a second. That'll put us well into the field, and I'll be able to sleep well Thursday night, that's for sure."

         Still, Pardus knows that possibility is as much dream as it is racing reality. But he believes -- as dreamers always do -- that he and his car, the red No. 07 MidWest Transit Chevrolet Monte Carlo that sports a brick-like motif especially for this event, can make it happen.

         "It would mean so much to me and to my career," he goes on, the frosted Gatorade bottle at the ready. "Dan Pardus would make a name for himself.

         "They'll say, 'Dan who?' and they they'll say, 'Dan Pardus. He made the Brickyard 400 -- he must be a decent driver."

         Either way, outside the shadows of the back row of garages of Indy, they will know Dan Pardus is one of the most decent of Brickyard dreamers.

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 Copyright 1998 by Jerry Miller ©

 Color photo courtesy of NASCAR

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