The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 25

TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 1976- THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR PAGE 25 USAC COLLECTS 82,000 IN FIXES Rutherford's Plan, Keep On Mucin cars would be down on the No. 4 turn apron under the yellow line whenever they were coming into the pits. John-cock came through the turn and dove off the banking to make his entrance into the pits. "When I did it I immediately real- ized I had made a mistake" he said. "But I couldn't get back up without losing it." NEXT OF THE "tap parade" was second-place finisher A.

J. Foyt who has to cough up $350 for two fines. One was for $250 for carrying a long extension wrench used for the wing adjustment out on the track following infractions of the wheel lock rule, a requirement which demands that a safety clip be inserted into the wheel hub after the nut is tightened following a wheel change. Rutherford's McLaren No. 2 was assessed $200 for two infractions of the wheel-lock rule.

TOPPING THE list of those handing over the money was the No. 3 finisher, Gordon Johncock, who was fined $500 for crossing the yellow line in the No. 4 turn while coming into the pits. In the driver's meeting prior to the race, it was agreed that all pitting a pit stop. One hundred dollars was for a wheel-lock infraction.

1 Johnny Parsons' team was fined $250 for losing a wheel with do wheel-lock. George Snider's tdam was fined $100 for the failure of a crewman to wear gloves during a pit stop. Other $100 fines for wheel-lock infractions were levied against cars driven by Al Unser, Billy Scott, Wally Dallenbach and Kinser. John-cock's machine was assessed $200 for two wheel-lock infractions. The car driven by Jan Opperman was penalized one lap for having more than six men over the wall during a pit stop.

This gave Opperman credit 'for 97 laps instead of 98, but didn't change his 16th finishing position. By GEORGE MOORE It's going to be an exciting season in national championship automobile racing, as Johnny Rutherford is going to be a racing 500-Mile Race winner. Rutherford, besieged by well-wishers at the Speedway yesterday over his 500 victory on Sunday, expounded a very basic plan for the remainder of -the 1976 national championship season. IT FUNDAMENTALLY amounts to climb in and stand on the throttle all the way. "We're going to run all the championship races," he said, "and maybe go to a V-8 providing we have time to develop it.

"That sometimes gets hard to do during the season because you're racing so much." THE McLAREN team, which owns Rutherfords different machines which he will run on the big speedways and the flat mile tracks, has the Cosworth V-8 underdevelopment. "We didn't reolly consider it for here," John said. "If We can do some work on it, we might try it at Ontario." The Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway holds its annual California 500 Labor Day weekend. The track is patterned after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. RUTHERFORD repeated again that he wished he could have raced the full distance for his victory, and that if he was starting all over as he was Sunday morning, he wouldn't do anything different.

"We had a little problem at first," he said. "We were pushing. But we fixed that by changing the wing and we changed tires." Rutherford would like to increase his racing activities this season with a stock car ride, but he's mainly interested in the major Grand National events. HE' ACTUALLY would be restricted to those races which carry an FIA sanction, as the Grand National races are sanctioned by NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), a body which is in competition with the United States Auto Club. The Federation I national d' Automobile is i as the world sanctioning organization, and an FIA event permits an interchange of drivers from various clubs.

Rutherford said, "I really don't, however, have anything lined up." HE AND EIGHT of his competitors lined up at the USAC office to pay off $2,000 in fines levied for 13 different rules violations during Sunday's race. The majority of the fines were for Simon Handed Safety Award Tribe Scores 3-2 Victory As Wichita Battery Fails Veteran driver Dick Simon has been named 1976 winner of the Renner's Express-Speedway Chief Steward Award for "his selfless contributions to safety" in connection with the 60th Indianapolis 500. The award and a check in the amount of $1,000 was presented to Simon at the Victory Banquet at the Indianapolis Convention-Exposition Center last night. IN ANNOUNCLNG THE award, Chief Steward Tom Binford thanked Simon for the many hours spent helping all rookie drivers to work through their tests, his availability to offer counsel and to serve as an observer through the final phases of their rookie test." Bin-ford added, "Simon did all of this voluntarily at significant cost to himself and to his own preparation for this race." Simon finished 32d in the race after his car lost a rod. Previous winners have been "The Starting Field" in 1974 and Gary Betten-hausen in 1975.

The Indians didn't make particularly good use of their eight hits as four came after two batters had been retired. But Dave Revering had one stolen which would have kept the seventh inning alive when his opposite number first baseman Jerry Tabb turned in the game's outstanding defensive maneuver. Tabb backhanded Revering's smoking liner and doubled Schneck off second after the Tribe rightfielder had By MAX STULTZ The Indianapolis Indians got a 3-2 jump on Wichita in the opener of their four-game Bush Stadium series last night when the Aeros' battery went dead. Losing pitcher Jim Kremmel and catcher Steve Clancy permitted two Tribe runs with misplays minutes after the visitors nicked Tom Hume for their pair of markers in the fifth inning. Then operating from a 2-2 knot in the sixth, the Indians obtained the winning counter after rightfielder Jim Tyrone bobbled Ray Knight's hard single mto a two-base error.

SAFELY AT THE far coiner, Knight trotted home when Dave Schneck produced the game-winning hit. The series continues with a single game at 7:30 tonight, Tom Carroll (1-5) ROOKIE OF THE YEAR-Australian Vern Schuppan (left) was named Stark Wetzel "Rookie of the Year" at the 500-Mile Race Victory Dinner last night at the Convention Center. With him si Dan Gurney, owner of the No. 9' Eagle-Offy which Schuppan drove to 18th place in Sunday's 500. (Star Photo) going for the Indians against Wichita's Geoff Zahn (2-2).

Official 500 Finish Weather Man Out To Lunch bounced a hit right past the drawn infield and ran it out for a double the Tribe's only extra-base blow. Before that, the Indians nullified Chris Ward's booming two-run double when Kremmel suddenly lost the plate after spacing three hits over four innings. Keith Marshall's single started the fifth which continued as Junior Kennedy drew Kremmel's first walk of the night. Hume went up to bunt but the strategy became unnecessary when Kremmel, trying to pick Marshall off second, bounced a heave off the Tribe leftfield-er's helmet. Naturally, both he and Kennedy advanced.

Hume fanned, but new shortstop Ted Martinez, playing his game here, walked and the fun began. WORKING AGAINST Tom Spencer, Kremmel wild pitched Marshall home and Kennedy followed when one of the southpaw's flutter serves eluded Clancy for a passed ball. The inning ended more quickly than it began. On the pitch following Kennedy's tally, Spencer bunted through a suicide squeeze, erasing the onrushing Martinez, then whiffed on the next offering. Hume, going seven innings on a five-hitter for his third victory against four losses, got excellent support from Rich Hinton.

The lefthander hurled hit-less ball in the eighth and ninth to register his fifth save. In notching his second triumph over the Aeros, Hume checked them successfully except in the fifth after he walked Kremmel in his second straight appearance. HUME GOT AWAY with it in the third but not a second time as second baseman Julio Gonzalez looped a two-out single and Ward pounded a 2-0 pitch far over Spencer's head in center. By JERRY GARRETT AP Motorsports Writer "The Indianapolis 500 race day forecast calls for partly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 70s." That forecast, with little variation, has been the official National Weather Service statement on race day weather since at least 1973. But in that time, it has managed to rain somehow every race day.

THAT WAS THE FORECAST for Sunday rain- washed, shortest-ever 500-Mile Race, won by Johnny Rutherford, right up until 30 minutes before the race, when most of the estimated 350.000 persons were already inside the Speedway. Fin. St. Driver Car Name Laps Time Speed COE 1 1 Johnny Rutherford Hy-GainGoodyear McLaren No. 2 102 1:42:52.48 148.725 1 2 5 A.

J. Foyt Gilmore Racing Coyote No. 14 102 1:43:07.84 148.355 1 3 2 Gordon Johncock Sinmast-Goodyear Wildcat No. 20 102 1:44:37.43 146.238 1 4 7 Wally Dallenbach Sinmast-Goodyear Wildcat No. 40 101 1:42:57.13 147.156 1 5 Pancho Carter Jorgensen Eagle No.

48 101 1:42:58.06 M7.134 1 6 3 TomSneva Norton Spirit McLaren No. 68 101 1:43:10.84 146.830 1 7 4 Al Unser American Raqing Wheels Parnelli No. 21 101 1:44:04.08 145.578 1 8 19 Mario Andrctti CAM2 Motor Oil McLaren No. 6 101 1:44:44.01 144.652 1 9 22 SaltWalthcr Davton-Walther McLaren No. 77 100 1:43:48.73 144.492 1 10 12 Bobby Unser Cobre Tire Eagle No.

3' 100 1:43:59.80 144.235 1 .11 30 LloydRuby Fairco Drug Eagle No. 51 100 1:44:18.81 ,143.797 1 12 14 Johnny Parsons Ayr-WayWIRE Eagle No. 93 98 1: 52:53.94 142.859 1 13 27 George Snider Hublcr Chevrolet Co. Eagle No. 23 98 1:43:05.99 142.580 1 14 32 Tom Bigclow Leader Card Easle No.

24 98 1:43:42.42 141.745 1 15 11 Mike Mosley Sugaripe Prune Eagle No. 12 98 1:44:35.46 148.547 1 16 33 Jan Opperman Rotith Meat Packing Eagle No. 8 97 1:42:39.05 141.743 1 17 10 Larry Cannon American. Financial Eagle No. 69 97 1:44:01.89 139.861 1 18 17 VernSchunpan Jorgensen Eagle No.

9 97 1:44:03.11 139.834 1 19 29 Sheldon Kinser THEBOTTOMHALF Dragon No. 97 97 1:44:26.35 139.316 1 20 28 BobHarkey Dave Mclntire Centers Kingfish No. 96 97 1:44:30.44 139.225 1 21 15 John Martin Genesee Beer Dragon No. 98 96 1:43:23.02 139.287 1 22 18 Bill Puterbaugh McNamera Eagle No. 83 96 1:43:39.03 138.928 1 23 21 Billy Scott Spirit of Public Enterprise Eagle No.

28 96 1:44:28.20 137.839 1 24 23 Steve Krisiloff 1st Natl. Citv Travelers Eagle No. 92 95 1:43:10.14 137.457 1 25 24 AlLoquasto Frostie Root" Beer McLaren No. 86 95 1:43:43.79 137.376 1 26 26 Larry McCoy Sburfine Foods Rascar No. 63 91 1:43:00.41 132.515 1 27 20 Jerry Grant California-Oklahoma Eagle No.

73 91 1:43:09.44 132.322 1 28 8 Gary Bettenhausen Thermo-King Eagle No. 45 52 53:30.49 145.772 2 29 31 David Hobbs Dayton-Walther McLaren No. 33 10 30:57.12 48.462 3 30 13 Roger McCluskey Hopkins No. 7 9:13.80 130.011 4 31 9 Bill Vukovieh Alex Foods Eagle No. 5 2 2:09 93 138.536 5 32 16 Dick Simon Bryant Heating Cooling Vollstedt No.

17 1 1:00.65 148.392 5 33 25 Spike Gehihausen Spirit of Indiana McLaren No. 19 0 00.00 00.000 A.J. Foyt, unsuccessfully seeking his fourth Indy victory for the ninth consecutive year, finished second, Two Local Golf Sectionals Today Two local sites will host Indiana High School Athletic Association golf sectionals today starting the rundown to sift out a champion for 1976. York-town won the title last year. South Grove will host the northern Marion County" and nearby areas Under the direction of Lawrence Central.

City champ a a 1 and county champion Warren Central are included in the field playing at South Grove. SARAH SHANK will be the scene of activity for the southern half of Marion County and nearby areas. Wood High School will direct action at the South Keystone links. Play will start at South Grove at 10: 15 a.m. while action at Sarah Shank begins at 8:30 a.m.

Winners in both local sectionals will advance to the regional at Richmond next Tuesday. In each sectional the three top teams and three low medalists will advance. The state finals will be played at Old Oakland Golf Club on East 75th Street Monday, June 14 when a 36-hole show will determine this year's 15 seconds behind Rutherford and 1:30 in front of Gordon Johncock. What is becoming known as the "Chamber of Commerce Weather Forecast" was defended yesterday by the weather service as a legitimate forecast gone sour for the fourth year in a row. INOIANAPOLIS ab bi ab It si MM "WE CHANGED THE FORECAST about 10:30 a.m.

yesterday (Sunday) to a 60 per cent chance of rain," said a weather service spokesman, who agreed to discuss the forecast yesterday only after being assured Histr.cf Ward.lf Dunn.3b Tyront.rf Sperrina.ss Clancy Krammat.B Crosby, TotlU Martinei.lS Sptnctr.cf Knight, 3D Sovtrn.c DaFrtitn.rf Rtvtrinq.lb ManhalMf Kannady.lb Hwna.p Maoli.pb Hinton.p Tolall the conversation would not be tape recorded. "It was just one of those things," he said. "There was a lot of thunderstorm activity in Missouri and Mill Illinois when I came on duty yesterday (Sunday) at 7 Wichita M0 0M OOOl INDIANAPOLIS 000 Oil 00 a.m. The activity hadn't shown any westward movement at all, but about that time, an extensive batch of Krammal Tyront. DP Wichita 1.

LOU Wichita indianapolii 4. IB Ward, Schitack. SB-Martinti, Schnack. it started moving eastward. IP Ml BB SO Krammtl (L, 1-1) 1 I 1 i Croiby 1 1 0 0 3 Huma (W, 1-4) 7 1 1 3 4 Car No.

8 penalized one lap for too many men over the wall on a pit stop. CAUSE OF ELIMINATION CODE: 1 Running at finish; 2 Turbocharger failure; 3 Water leak; 4 Crashed; 5 Broken connecting rod; 6 Lost oil pressure. LAP LEADERS: 1-3-Rutherford; 4-13 Foyt; 14-16-Carter; 17-19-Dalienbach; 20-37-Johncock; 38-Sncva; 39-60 Ruthf-rlord; 61-79 Foyt; 80-102-Rutherford. TOTALS: Rutherford 48, Foyt 29, Johflcock 18, Carter 3, Dallenbach 3, Sneva 1. FASTEST LEADING LAP; No.

96, bv Rutherford, :48.86, 184.200. FASTEST LAP IN RACE: No. 2, by Foyt, :48.38, 186.027. Hinton 1 0 0 0 0 I Saa Hinton (5). PB Clancy 1.

WP-Krammal. a ooi. 13 "That's about when we changed the forecast. THE SPOKESMAN ALSO SAID he was in constant contact with officials at the Speedway and warned them of the front. "I kept telling them this first batch was gonna come in and then we would have just about two hours before the next batch of fairly heavy activity would come through," the spokesman said.

However, after the initial short shower that stopped the race after 255 miles, it was announced over the public address system that "Clear skies are on the way. We expect to be racing again shortly." A PRESS BOX BULLETIN from the track advised, "Rain is reported as having stopped as near as Brownsburg, 20 miles to the west. Radar shows nothing farther west, according to the weather bureau at 1:20 p.m." That, of course, was completely different than what the weather bureau claims it said. When the race was finally called after a second, heavier shower hit at 3:05 p.m., just after the field of cars had been ordered assembled for a restart, it was announced on the public address system, "There is heavy rain all over the area, and we have been advised there is no way to continue the race today. Therefore your 1976 Indianapolis 500 champion is Johnny Rutherford." JIM GILMORE, SPONSOR of Foyt's car, said he felt officials were dallying in restarting the race, perhaps waiting on another batch of bad weather they knew was coming.

"My personal opinion is that they could have started sooner. I thought it was a much longer delay than necessary. The track seemed dry and everything appeared ready to go. Our team felt an obligation to the fans, and I'd say the same thing if we had been in fifth place or 10th place," Gilmore said, "It's unfair to say we would have caught Johnny, but we would have tried our damndest." There was widespread opinion that at least 45 minutes of racing could have been squeezed in another 50 laps or so before the second rainstorm hit. SKEPTICISM OVER race-day forecasts, and any influence the track might have on them, became widespread after the 1973 race, which took three days to run and was finally rained out after 332 miles.

Each of those three days the weather forecast offered little hint of rain. The final two days, the forecast conceded, "A 30 per cent chance of widely scattered late-afternoon showers." eh '-tv OS -jX WW IB 4X33 yep mm mmti see? ocd llStonptn I 8IH mm "BATTING THE BREEZE" Tom Berry, president of Teaberry Electronics and Manager Jim Snyder of the Indianapolis Indians hold a dugout discussion ever the merits of the lumber being used by Tribe batsmen against opposing pitchers. Teaberry is sponsoring Friday night's American Association series opener with Denver managed by Vern Rapp, who piloted the Indians seven years through 1975. (Star Photo by Charles A. Berry).