The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 1

THE KNDIANAPOLI Star TODAY'S CHUCKLE Does education pay? Of course It docs. If you can write your mime, you don't have to cash. WEATHER' TODAY Partly Sunny illlih, 73; Low, 511 Yi'Nterduy High, Low, SO "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty" Cor. 3:1 7 MAY 31, 1973 VOL. 70, NO.

30 THURSDAY, Johecock Wins Troubled tfc 'A' its LI" avase Hurt In Flaming Crash Car Explodes On Impact With Inside SWEDE SAVAGE'S NO. 40 EAGLE TURBO-OFFY EXPLODES AS IT HITS INSIDE WALL; ENGINE IS IN MOTO DPUVfcHED 70c Pi K. CARRIER DELIVERED 5c PER WK. 10c Mace; Shortest '500' Goes 133 Laps By RAY MARQUETTE Gordon Johncock, who filed bankruptcy proceedings recently, picked off the biggest plum of his racing career yesterday afternoon by winning the shortest 500-Mile Piace. The 36-year-old driver from Franklin, went into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway victory circle at 5:38 p.m.

with only 332V2 miles completed in the world's richest auto race as Chief Steward Harlan Fengler pronounced the race over as a steady rain began falling over the track. Only 133 of the scheduled 200 laps had been completed. ALTHOUGH Johncock had the happiest day of his life in the winner's circle, he was as saddened as the crowd of more than 125,000 over the tragic death of a pit crewman and a flaming crash that sent driver Swede Savage in critical condition to Methodist Hospital. It was a frustrating and sad day that reflected the entire month of May that finally wound up with the race being run two days later than scheduled and getting off to a start at 2:10 p.m. in a surprise maneuver that brought a late-arriving crowd surging onto the muddy grounds.

AND IT ENDED with only John-cock's STP Eagle and Billy Vuko-vich's Sugaripe Eagle on the same lap with approximately a 20-second differ between them. Roger Mc-Cluskey was third in his Eagle and teammate Mel Kenyon next with both cars two laps behind as Johncock averaged 159.020 miles an hour as completed the race in 2:05:27.36. "This is the greatest thing that ever happened to me," said Johncock. "I'd have liked to have run 500 miles. But inning is the main thing." He completed the distance with only but had planned on making another within 10 laps, just before the rain be- gan and brought out the yellow light for the final five laps of the race.

"WE WERE SET up to run 500 miles," said Gordie. "We could have run faster if we'd wanted, but we in- tended to finish. The only trouble I had was four or five laps before the final Turn To Page 19 Column 1 Mor I'ielHiM Ami Slori On Pages A. 15. Hi.

17, UK? tHi Ami In Sporl Sm-IIui lAP Wirphoto by Hob Jordan) I NTE( iKAT" 1 CAU 3 CALIFORMAN McRAE'S CREW Emergency Truck Kills Mechanic In Pits Wall (AP Wirephoto by Bob Jordan) LEFT FOREGROUND that fast the wrong way through the pits." BILL YEAGER of the Vers Parnelli team also was near the scene when the accident happened. "I was standing on the grass and saw the truck coming," he said. "I yelled at the kid and tried to grab him but couldn't. It happened so fast I'm not sure exactly what happened." Teran was brought to the infield hospital at the Speedway, where he was ministered to for 30 minutes. When doctors detected a heartbeat, he was rushed to Methodist Hospital in a mobile cardiac unit.

He was pronounced dead on arrival at Methodist at 4:23 p.m. 5 IN TUB TUB CSEXT) OL' 1 pratice May. 12 prior to the start of qualifications. Teran was single and a truck driver. This was his second year working for STP in the pits.

Vince Granatelli, STP team manager, was standing with Teran moments before the accident. Describing what happened he said: "WE WERE LOOKING down the track together and he asked if he should go down to the fourth turn to help bring our car to the pits. I said, 'yeah, might as then I turned around and stepped toward the wall. "As I did, I heard the horn for the first time, turned around, and the truck wiped him out. It threw him in the air Driver Is Trapped In Wreckage Stampeding Race Fans Bring Auto Traffic To Halt It; was "like an invasion of a small army" when word went out yesterday afternoon that the twice-delayed 500-Mile Race finally would start about 2 p.m., police said.

"When people learned the race would be. run, they came to the track from all parts of the city," said Deputy Chief Raymond J. Strattan, head of the traffic division. He estimated yesterday's crowd at 125,000 to 130,000. "WE NEED better co-operation between the Speedway and the police department," Indianapolis Police Chief Winston L.

Churchill said. "We also will discuss the problem of Speedway guards. This is a must. The Speedway does not maintain a sufficient number of guards, and we must have some type of a change." During the morning yesterday, Strattan said, traffic moved smoothly. The biggest problem was created not by cars but by pedestrians who parked their cars a considerable distance from the Speedway and then walked to the track, swarming across 16th and 30th streets and Lafayette and Georgetown roads.

THE PEDESTRIANS brought vehi cular traffic on the four main thoroughfares into the track almost to a standstill. Police Maj. Henry J. Wolff said that when he arrived at the track about 2:15 p.m., pedestrians "were behaving like maniacs." "They were running between cars, carrying their coolers and picnic baskets, some dragging kids right along behind them." Wolff said. Strattan said people still were enter-Turn To Page 19, Column 3 The Wcalher Joe Crow Says: We're sure the 500-Mlle Race drivers have had their fill of red and yellow colors.

and hit him again and then ran over him. "Here's a kid who is dead because of sheer ignorance," he said, referring to the truck driver. You never look back down the track, you always check north to see if something's coming. That truck had no business going Today's Prayer We wonder why some persons have to suffer incurable illnesses of body and mind. Help us, Lord, to understand their problems and to attempt to make their suffering less acute.

Amen. AND 1IRD CN BB SEEN I 1 1 I II III Armando Teran, a 23-year-old member of Graham McRae's crew, was injured fatally yesterday afternoon during the 57th running of the 500-Mile Race when he was struck by an emergency truck speeding north on the concrete apron of the pits which is restricted to one-way-south traffic. Teran, from Culver City, had just run onto the pit apron from the pit wall and was looking north toward Swede Savage's accident in the fourth turn when he was hit by a truck driven by Jerry Flake of Indianapolis. It was the first fatality at the Speedway involving someone other than a driver since 1961, when John Masariu of Indianapolis was killed when run over by a fire truck follow-in a fourth-turn accident. FLAKE WAS HEADING north on the pit apron to assist in the flaming Savage accident when the mishap occurred.

The impact was so severe the emergency vehicle eventually had to be towed from the scene. Teran's death was the second at the Speedway this month. The first was that of driver Art Pollard, killed in timid Today' Star News Summary On Page 2 Amusement Pages 54, 55 Area News 74 Billy Graham 18 Bridge 71 Comics 70 Finance 65-67 Food 26 Obituaries 52 Sports 58-64 TV-Radio 39 Want Ads 75-87 Weather 87 Werner 32 Women 24-28 Crossword 31 Editorial Page 32 Court News And Statistics 87 Slur Telephone Nnnilers Main Office 633-1240 Circulation 633-9211 Want Ads 633-1212 Scores After 4:30 p.m. C1UMK ALEUT ICmerfvni'ii Only Fire Rescue First Aid) 634-1313 Emergency Ambulance 630-7111 i Indianapolis Partly sunny today: mostly fair tonight; partly sunny again tomorrow with a high near 7B. Indiana Partly sunny and wanner today with highs 'between 71-74; mostly fair tonight with lows of 50-55.

DIKT-Dl'ST COUNT-flJ micrograms of dust per ruble meter of ulr. i IJJMlllMMMtlMrilWinll'llliMl' imMM Mr. (. SAVAGE'S UXT AMI 5 5.