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I didn’t attend the first Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 4, 1950.

Nor the first Daytona 500 on Feb. 22, 1959.

Nor the first World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on June 19, 1960.

All, or course, were significant events, destined to become classics on the NASCAR schedule in succeeding years.

I was at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Aug. 6, 1994 for the inaugural Brickyard 400, and I can’t imagine the first races at Darlington, Daytona and Charlotte being bigger spectacles.

As the 400 looms once again, memories of what transpired at Indy in August of ’94 come racing back.

I recall astonishment about what me and my media pals who’d never been to the great race track previously saw upon reaching the press box.

The front stretch grandstands on both sides of the straightaway looked like canyon walls filled with people. The sound of their anticipation and excitement was a buzz akin to what might have been emitted by thousands upon thousands of bees.

At the start/finish line NASCAR’s former big-time champions were introduced and then seated in convertibles to be honored with rides around the historic track. Many brought their wives along. I especially recall the beaming pride of Buck and Sue Baker and Tim and Frances Flock. Both Buck and Tim have passed on now….

Finally and appropriately, men who had paved the path for NASCAR to someday take its show to Indy were being recognized in a major way. Allow me to put the recollections in reverse just a bit.

As the drivers in the ’94 field gathered near the flagstand for a photo with the speedway’s Mary Hulman George and NASCAR chief Bill France, Jr., I thought back to June 22, 1992.

That’s when NASCAR had taken nine selected star drivers and their teams to Indy for a test.

So charged up were the Indiana fans that hundreds of them lined the street leading into the track just to watch the teams’ transporters roll in during the middle of the night. The trucks came directly from Michigan International Raceway, where Geoff Bodine had won the Goodwrench 400 the day before.

As fans swarmed to the speedway for the test, some spectators awaiting the action in the infield at turn one began chanting, “We want a race! We want a race!” Never mind that some former Indianapolis 500 champions were against NASCAR intrusion onto what they considered hallowed ground.

As Dale Earnhardt went onto the track for his first lap I stood beside Richard Childress, owner of the famed, black No. 3 Chevrolet driven by “The Intimidator.”

Earnhardt and Childress were communicating by radio.

Suddenly, Childress bent to slap a knee while bellowing with laughter.

I inquired as to what was so funny.

“I asked Dale what he thought when he got up to speed on the backstretch,” replied Childress, his eyes sparkling with delight. “Dale said his (a part of the anatomy) ‘Is as hard as Chinese arithmetic.’”

Earnhardt was very quick that day. And he continued fast when time trials were held for the inaugural Brickyard 400 on Aug. 4, 1994. Like all the other drivers, he held a deep desire to win the pole position for Indy’s first stock car race.That honor, in what widely was regarded as a whopper upset, went to Rick Mast, who clocked 172.414 mph in a Chevrolet fielded by Richard Jackson. Earnhardt qualified second at 171.726.

During a rollicking interview after his pole run, the witty Mast was asked repeatedly to tell stories about his prize-winning cow.

As a teenager in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Mast had traded the animal for his first race car.

His anecdotes were hilarious, and the reports that were published in papers across the country the next day won Mast a legion of new fans. He and Jackson won a lot more shortly after the press conference was completed.

Among the prizes for the pole-winning team was a new van for the car owner. Jackson and Mast crammed as many crew members as possible into the van and took them for a ride around the speedway, the most famous in the world. Amused fans cheered in appreciation.

Finally, the 400 field got the green flag.

Earnhardt was determined to lead the first lap.

He tried too hard.

Exiting the fourth turn the back of his car slipped a bit and hit the wall. The damage took Earnhardt out of contention for the victory, but he persevered to finish fifth.

Mast led the first lap.

As the race rolled on, I remember amazement among the press corps at the strong showing of Geoff Bodine. It appeared he was the driver to beat.

Geoff was getting far better tire wear than his rivals. He was poised to make one less pit stop, a pivotal factor.

Then he and his younger brother, Brett, took turns spinning each other out of the lead. Geoff struck first. A bit later, on the 101st of 160 laps on the 2.5-mile rectangular track, Brett retaliated.

Geoff’s car was so badly damaged that he was knocked out of the race.

Geoff then traced the trouble to “family personal problems.” Brett, who was to finish as the runnerup, fervently denied that.

With Bodine eliminated, Jeff Gordon and Ernie Irvan staged a thrilling duel for the triumph. They swapped the lead five times between laps 136-156.

It seemed they might sweep across the strip of bricks abreast at the finish.

However, a flat right front tire on the 156th lap forced Irvan to pit his Ford. This left Gordon with a lead of 10-car lengths over Brett Bodine, and Jeff maintained the edge to the finish to the roars of a crowd estimated at 300,000, the largest in NASCAR history.

It was a storybook outcome.

Gordon grew up in nearby Pittsboro, Ind., and he’d celebrated his 23rd birthday just 48 hours earlier.

Rather than popping corks to celebrate the terrific triumph, Gordon went to his hotel room to watch replays of the race.

He phoned to order a pizza.

“There was a race in town today,” he was informed. “We’re swamped. Your delivery might take quite a while.”

“What If I told you I was the driver that won the race?” said Gordon.

A piping hot pizza was served up relatively as fast as Jeff had driven.

Some members of the media panned the 400. The NASCAR competitors disagreed.

“I think the people saw a hell of a show,” said four-time Indy 500 winner A.J. Foyt. “I think the crowd went home well satisfied.”

I echoed Foyt’s sentiments then and still do.