The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 30

-THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR SUNDAY, MAY 15, 19:71 A FRONT ROW SEEMS TO BE 3IISSIXG PAGE 2 SEC. 2- Wherefore Art Thou Mario, A. the condition of the track. But the Cosworth engine that had been working like a Swiss watch, suddenly began acting like a Mickey Mouse timepiece that had tried to keep time from the groove in the first turn. It would not crank out more than 68-70 inches of manifold pressure.

You are allowed 80. So he aborted his qualifying run 'while averaging a solid 196 good enough, as it turned out, for the outside in the front row. Hindsight, the great crystal ball that makes experts of us all, shows that maneuver to be a mistake. But remember, this is a car and driver capable of traveling the 10 miles In less than three minutes. And Johnny wanted that.

The little man from Nazareth (Pa.) Is no stranger to adversity at this place. In fact there have been times when he seriously wondered if he had invented it. So even before his qualifying run, he gave it a laconic shrug and said, "No way (the pole position) today. About all I can do is try to run up some decent numbers and get it in the field." An-dretti, who three times set records here, did his four laps at 193.353. THE MOST BITTERLY disappointed was Rutherford.

The week had been a piece of cake for J.R. He had been running smooth. He had been running fast. And he was certain he could turn four laps at over 200 mph regardless of out Costello. All three had run over 2O0 mph in practice.

Unless you got your predictions from a witch with a magic broom you would have guessed they were in whatever the order a cinch to fill the front row for the race. But the only predictable form at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is wearing a tank top and sitting in the stands. On the track you place your bets with the nearest blob. If it can't happen it wilL FOYT GOT TWO shots, could average no better than 194.563, told the fine folks who booed him for USAC's mistakes that they were in the wrong pew then headed for wherever Texas mil- pHE SUN was brilliant and the sky looked like it was painted on. It was a great day to watch girls, race cars and your step as you picked your way through the losers on the infield grass.

But to the lords of the Speedway, the script was written by Edgar Allen Poe. And if they could have placed their hands on that raven they gladly would have strangled It. A FRONT ROW in an Indianapolis 500-Mile Race without A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti or Johnny Rutherford is like a loan without interest, or Linda Vaughn without endowments or, perhaps more appropriately yesterday Abbott with Sports Over Lightly bBob Collins, Sports Editor lionaires go to brood. Andretti spent the day wearing the stunned look of a man who had been shot down before the war began and was worried that he wouldn't even make the casualty list His engine picked up a terminal ailment before it got out of the garage.

IIOIIHY V. itETWFJLX 2 V-iis Still 4-Cylinder Engine ders are smaller and the engine has greater volumetric efficiency. The reciprocating parts of the eight are smaller and lighter, which permits a higher prom range. An added advantage is that the V-8 sits lower in the chassis than an upright four and this gives a lower center of gravity, an important factor when zipping through the turns in excess of 190 mph. IN THE development of the Speedway engine from the Formula I version, an interesting side feature developed.

The Formula I version was considerably lighter than the Offy, but the Speedway powerplant as a total package ended up being slightly heavier. Of course, the war still has to be won. Yesterday's action just was the battle. J.R. WAS TRYING to solve the boost problem at 3:45 p.m., when the crews started a mad dash for the qualifying line.

The backup car was line, so an on-the-spot decision was made to go with the No. 12 car. The backup machine showed its appreciation by just flat quitting in' the fourth turn. So, now, the defending champion can start no higher than 17th Said Johnny, "I'm tired. I'm hungry.

I'm disappointed, and I'm mad. But it isn't the end of the world." Then, perhaps remembering that he came from 25th starting position to run away from the field in 1974, he added, "but I'm still going to win the Alive A V-8 has been on the pole for every USAC national championship race- run this season and has won three out of the four events run to date. However, none have been for a distance of 500 miles, still a way to go even in this day and age. IN ONE, THE Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway's 200-miler, A.J. Foyt took home the victory with his Foyt V-8, which really is something of a different design than a Cosworth.

And the Foyt engine has umpteen miles of development on it. It is admitted that the Cosworth still is on a learning curve. And it would be akin to trying to fly by jumping off the roof to say flatly that an eight is going to shut out a four from Victory Circle May 29. But it appears they will before very long. MARIO ANDHETTI: "The car was behaving a little different from the first time (Andreiti turned down his first qualifying shel).

I just wanted to qualified this weekend because I have a grand prix (Monaco) to run next weekend." BOBBY UNSER: "On my first attempt this morning, the radiator was leaking badly. I was lucky that it didn't break all the way and spin me out in my own water." A.J. FOYT (Part 1): "I was pushing the front end so badly in turns 1 and 2 it really killed us. A turtle could have out run me between No. 1 and No.

2." A.J. FOYT (Part 2): (After he was given a second chance because the pres sure relief valve failed on his first at tempt) "It was the decision of the stew ards. They found the trouble with the valve. They gave us the opportunity and we had more to lose than they (The announcement that he would get a second cnance met with a lot of boos from the crowd of around 200,000) But, "They don't know what the hell they're doing." ill 7 4 -I Qualifying Quotes FIELD DAY Mike Mosley safely made the field for the 500-Mile Race yesterday and is congratulated right after his run by his wife, Alice. Mosley qualified the Sugaripe Prune Special No.

5 with a four-lap average of 190.064. (Star Photo) They came, they saw and they conquered thr- Indianapolis Motor Speedway for 10 miles yesterday. Afterward they talked about it. A selection of quotes from the drivers after they finished their qualifying runs: GEORGE SNIDER: "Well, I would like to have done a little better, but I don't have any excuse." AL UNSER: "We have had quite a rough time the last week. We finally got a new engine flown in at 6 a.m.

this morning. I was extending myself a little more than I should have, but that's what qualifying is all about." JOHNNY PARSONS: "I would have liked to have gone a little faster, but I'll take it. I'm glad qualification is over." TOM SNEVA: (On why he dropped down to the 197 bracket after setting track records at better than 200 mph on his first two laps) "The car got a little bit loose. I didn't want to hit the wall again. I got away with that once-I didn't want to try it again." MIKE MOSLEY: "It was a helluva ride." Al To Spend 38th Birthday Chasing Elusive 3d Victory BIGNOTTI, CHIEF mechanic of the Patrick Racing Team, uses Drake Goos-sen-Sparks four-cylinder powerplants which are similar to the Offy but have some minor differences.

The Offy is manufactured by the Drake Engineering Corporation in California and the company has a V-8 in the works. The Cosworth V-8 has been the subject of discussion over its reliability this year and Unser said, "Sure they're having some problems. The people using them still are on a learning curve. But some day there will be so many of them that one of them will finish no matter what happens." The Cosworth represents the latest advancement in the state of the art of championship racing-engine design in the United States. The powerplant fundamentally is a revamped version of the Formula I Ford McLaren engine used in road racing.

IN EUROPE, the road-race boys run a normally aspirated powerplant displacing 3 liters (approximately 183 inches), while at the Speedway 161 inches is the rule. Modification of the Cosworth calls for bringing the displacement down to conform to United States Auto Club regulations. And then one other little item is added the turbocharger. The turbo makes the difference between a 3-liter normally aspirated Cos-worth putting out around 470 horsepower and the Speedway version producing 825 and up. You pick the number, as the people using this V-8 are more secretive tnan the CIA when it comes revealing power figures.

TEAMS USING the four-cylinder Offy and the DGS engines also use turbos, also have double-overhead cam design configurations and four valves per cylinder like the Cosworth, and of recent times have gone to the V-8's shallower valve angle to let the engines breathe better. On an individual combustion chamber-design basis, there is a great deal of similarity between the Offy and the Cosworth. But the V-8 layout is making a difference. With eight cylinders instead of four making up the displacement, the cylin PM SrC MY l- PASSENGER By GEORGE MOORE Show biz folks may sing about the Age of Aquarius, but at the Speedway yesterday they were singing a different tune. This one had to do with the V-8 engine despite the fact that Bobby Unser put a four-cylinder Offy right square in the middle of the front row between Tom Sneva's Cosworth-oowered McLaren and Al Unser's Cosworth-powered Parnelli.

Bobby U's qualifying speed of 197.618 miles an hour isn't all that much slower than Sneva's record-breaking dash of 198.884 and is quite a bit quicker than brother Al's 195.050 mph. But Bobby says, "The engine is dead. It's not competitive with the V-8s." THIS COMES as something of a shock to those four-cylinder die-hards who have been saying, "Don't pat the Offy in the face with a shovel, yet." But the elder Unser says that you might as well. "I'm naturally glad to be sitting in the front row," Bobby said, "but those who think the four-cylinder is competitive are just kidding themselves. "Maybe (George) Bignotti's engines are competitive, but it just is a matter of time.

John Milier (Dan Gurney's en-gineman) worked miracles with mine. But by this time next year Drake will be going out of the four-cylinder engine business." continued Unser. "If I had, I wouldn't be back here. Why come back year after year and put up with all this aggravation if you didn't think you could win?" Unser pointed out that "the Indianapolis 500 is the biggest race" on the United States Auto Club championship circuit. "And for that reason," he said, "you just come and do your best.

If something happens, you can't do anything about it. You have to wait till next year. It just comes once a year." AL, ONE OF THE first to believe in the Cosworth engine, said the gamblin'-man urge prompted him and owners Parnelli Jones and Vel Melitich to try the then-new V-8 power. "An engine is an engine," reasoned Unser. Reserved Tickets: General Admission: Qual.

6 PMRace 8:30 SATURDAY AY 21 SPONSORED BY ARBY'S ROAST BEEF OF CENTRAL INDIANA TVfHjL liS I I STOCK CAR RACE iHfr i i Returns to the INDIANA STATE FAIRGROUNDS ssr ChUdren under 12 By SUSAN LaMAR Al Unser doesn't want much for his birthday. Just a third Indianapolis 500 victory, putting him in the coveted ranks with A.J. Foyt, Louis Meyer, Wilbur Shaw and Mauri Rose. When Al's 38th birthday rolls around May 29, he will be sitting in the middle of the front row of the field for the 61st running of the Speedway classic. But the icing on the cake would be to finish one spot higher than he started.

Yesterday the younger of the Unser duo had a pair of 196-plus laps sandwiched between 195 miles an hour laps. And he enjoyed a brief perch as pole-sitter until Tom Sneva moved him back minutes later. REGARDING HIS short stay at the top of the field, Unser said, "I'm not that disappointed. We're in the race. We're not starting that far back.

I would have liked to have gone quicker. But we're happy bsirg in the race. "We still got some problems with it," said Unser. nodding in the direclion of his No. 21 Parnelli-Cosworth.

"Like, the blower is giving us some trouble. The blower is part of the turbocharger, and that's where your horsepower comes from." Al recorded back-to-back victories in 1970 and 1971 and barely missed a third straight in 1972, finishing second. In the last four Indianapolis 500s, his best finish has been a seventh. BUT AL DOESN'T look at it as a "dry spell. A lot of guys have alibis," he said But guys who make excuses are just kidding themselves.

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