The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 2

S-2 -THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR- n'TM' 4 Of) 1AOO 500 A E-JOVJ THEY FINISHED (Unofficial finish) I. HHWHW, f. mm wn.g.. 11. ul -'i 'H B.

'V 7 i' i StartFinish Driver (No.) 1 1 Rick Mears (5) w- fit iff i ijL-ruiirnYmil i mi iiMDlrfW- ll x.W"(""U:'1 lfc. ti LapsReason out 200 Running 200 Running 199 Running 199 Running 199 Running 198 Running 198 Running 196 Running 196 Running 196 Running 195 Running 192 Running 180 Running 179 Running 175 Running 159 Accident 158 Engine 145 Coolant 143 Engine 118 Electrical 114 Engine 107 Crash 191 Crash 73 Crash 59 Crash 54 Crash 32 Crash 30 Crash 18 Gearbox 2 Halfshaft 0 Crash 0 Crash 0 Crash 8 2 3 3 10 4 19 5 18 6 20 7 15 8 16 9 610 1311 3312 513 2314 1115 3216 2817 2118 2519 420 2721 3022 223 2624 3125 2226 1427 1728 929 2930 731 1232 2433 Emerson Fittipaldi (20) Al Unser (1) Michael Andretti (18) Bobby Rahal (4) Jim Crawford (15) Raul Boesel (30) Phil Krueger (97) Dick Simon (22) Arie Luyendyk (7) Kevin Cogan (11) Howdy Holmes (21) Al Unser Jr. (3) Billy Vukovich III (56) Randy Lewis (24) Rich Vogler (29) Rocky Moran (48) Dominic Dobson (92) Tero Palmroth (23) Mario Andretti (6) John Andretti (98) Johnny Rutherford (17) Danny Sullivan (9) Steve Chassey (35) Ludwig Heimrath Jr. (71) A. J.

Foyt (14) Tom Sneva (81) Teo Fabi (8) Derek Daly (10) Stan Fox (84) Scott Brayton (91) Roberto Guerrero (2) Tony Bettenhausen (16) STAR PHOTO KEITH PRITCHARD Danny Sullivan crashes at Turn 1, dashing hopes of finishing the race. "It's gonna take a long time to get over this," he said. Disappointment concludes Sullivan's run 1 Disappointment was more painful than a bruised left knee for Danny Sullivan on Sunday afternoon. "It takes a long time when you're at a place like the speedway 3'A weeks all the buildup, the car's running good, and then Sullivan shook his head in disbelief while recounting the crash that ended his front-running day at Indianapolis 100 laps before the finish. "It's gonna take a long time to get over this." he said.

Sullivan's day started in front, diving into the lead from the middle of the first row and leading the race's first 30 laps. He resumed the lead at Lap 34 and continued until the 94th lap. When he crashed at Lap 101, Jim Crawford had temporarily taken over the lead. Handling problems had alerted Sullivan to trouble. "We had a problem with the wing adjuster for the front wings.

I had been losing ground because of too much push. Then, I went Into Turn 1 and the front gave out, and I went Into the wall," said Sullivan. Sullivan's crashed vehicle slid through the short chute at the south end of the track and rested against the second turn wall when It stopped. Sullivan, relatively unscathed, had ended the day. The wing problems were of particular frustration for Sullivan who otherwise praised his ride.

"Other than the wing, the car was magic all day," he said. Unlike other drivers, Sullivan found the track to his liking, especially because most of his day was spent In front of the pack. "I thought the track was great not too hot or too greasy," he said. Sullivan had turned 210 mph laps during those rare occasions when he had a green light. "The car was great.

I ran a bunch of laps at 210 on full tanks quite easily. I've got no complaints." The former Indy winner had dominated the field until his crash, even while "traffic was all over the place," said Sullivan. But like many leaders at the middle of the race, the car turned the wrong way at a bad moment. "I hit the wall hard enough," said Sullivan, shaking his head at the suddenness of his shift from first to 23rd place. By CRAIG McKEE STAR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT THE LEADERS 50 miles (20 laps) 300 miles (120 laps) Even rabbit's foot can't help Unser Four-time ivinner still manages 3rd-place finish "He (Al Jr.) was running fiood.

1 Danny Sullivan 1 Rick Mears 2 Rick Mears 2 Al Unser 3 Al Unser 3 Jim Crawford 4 Al Unser Jr. 4 Emerson Fittipaldi 5 Mario Andretti 5 Bobby Rahal 6 Arie Luyendyk 6 Michael Andretti 7 Emerson Fittipaldi 7 Raul Boesel 8 Derek Daly 8 Phil Krueger 9 Tom Sneva 9 Dominic Dobson 10 Michael Andretti 10 Kevin Cogan Unfortunately for Unser, the pace car picked him up and the reduced pace put him in the pits a lot later than he wanted to be. Mears, in the meantime, was able to get out of the pits and got the lap on Unser. "We Just pitted at the wrong time," Unser said. And from that point on, there seemed to be a dispute over where Unser actually was.

"I sure didn't know what place I was In. I was confused, too," Unser said. coincide with the resurgence of Mears. When the eventual race winner shot past Unser on Lap 113, it basically was all she wrote. That's because In addition to his wing woes, Unser also had the misfortune of losing a lap to Mears.

When the yellow came out on Lap 1 17 for Johnny Rutherford's accident, Mears dashed Into the pits and Unser, whose pit was directly behind that of Mears, stayed out for an extra lap. He didn't do anything wrong. When Sullivan made his first pit stop on Lap 30. Unser inherited the lead and stayed in front for the next three laps. By leading in the race, Unser became the all-time lap leader and passed Ralph DePalma with whom he had shared the lead going into Sunday's race.

Unser also led laps 105-112 and Lap 122 to set the record with 625 laps. Unser's problem seemed to 100 miles (40 laps) 350 miles (140 laps) 1 Rick Mears 2AI Unser 3 Jim Crawford 4 Emerson Fittipaldi 5 Michael Andretti 6 Bobby Rahal 7 Raul Boesel 8 Phil Krueger 9 Kevin Cogan 10 Dominic Dobson 1 Danny Sullivan 2 Arie Luyendyk 3 Al Unser Jr. 4 Al Unser 5 Emerson Fittipaldi 6 Michael Andretti 7 Jim Crawford 8 Rick Mears 9 Raul Boesel 10 Howdy Holmes Mears Fittipaldi Unser Sr. Michael Andretti Rahal Crawford Boesel Krueger Simon Luyendyk v. it ye 7 150 miles (60 laps) 400 miles (160 laps) 1 1 Danny Sullivan 2 Al Unser Jr.

3 Rick Mears 4 Al Unser 5 Kevin Cogan 6 Arie Luyendyk 7 Michael Andretti 8 Jim Crawford 9 Raul Boesel 10 Bobby Rahal 1 Rick Mears 2 Al Unser 3 Emerson Fittipaldi 4 Bobby Rahal 5 Michael Andretti 6 Jim Crawford 7 Raul Boesel 8 Arie Luyendyk 9 Phil Krueger 10 Kevin Cogan DECK FENCE POOLS AS LOW AS $249500 Ev By RICK SHAFFER STAR STAFF WRITER Al Unser needed a little bit of good luck when he won the 1987 Indianapolis 500. On Sunday, he literally may have passed a rabbit's foot back to Rick Mears, who ended up succeeding him In Victory Lane. And he may need one of his own today because there's a chance he could be runner-up Instead of third. Unser was originally listed as third behind Mears and Jim Crawford and then upgraded to second. But following a review by chief steward Tom Binford, Emerson Fittipaldi had his two-lap penalty dropped and was moved ahead of Unser.

Upon being Informed that Unser was third Instead of second, a spokesman for the Penske organization said a decision on whether they would protest will be forthcoming. Concerning that rabbit's foot, the Albuquerque, N.M., resident, who celebrated his 49th birthday Sunday, was slightly ahead of Mears on the race track when both exited Turn 2 on Lap 109. Suddenly, a rabbit darted in front of his Hertz Penske-spon-sored PenskeChevrolet. As one of the track announcers put it. Unser "stretched the rabbit" and his car kicked back the remains at Mears.

However, Unser never saw it. "I Just felt It," he said with his characteristic chuckle. "I didn't see It because I was racing at the time. "People tell me It was a rabbit, but I didn't see any ears. It must have been a rabbit's foot that Rick hit." The man who won here In 1970.

71. 78 and '87 had more important things to contend with anyway like Mears, early race leader Danny Sullivan and a malfunctioning front wing adjuster which resulted in lengthier pit stops. "We had a problem and the car wasn't working as well as a result," Unser explained. "Once we taped it. I had to work with the rear of the car.

I didn't like it it throws the balance of the car off." The rabbit incident had nothing to do with altering the car's handling characteristics, but Unser's dice with Mears came to a halt when the problem surfaced and he became a follower from that point on. "Sometime after Rick and I started going at it is when the wing started unwinding. I don't remember exactly when, but it was doing it," he pointed out. Unser, who started on Row 1 with Mears and Sullivan, assumed his third spot when the race got under way. But when Mears experienced handling problems, he ran second and was one of the few strong enough to stay on the lead lap with Sullivan.

One of the others was Al's son, who had a dice with his father in a battle for second place in the early stages of the race, including a wild pass coming out of the second turn. "I remember it." Unser said. POOLS $7QQ00 AS LOW AS i II 200 miles (80 laps) 1 Danny Sullivan 2 Al Unser Jr. 3 Jim Crawford 4 Al Unser 5 Rick Mears 6 Emerson Fittipaldi 7 Michael Andretti 8 Raul Boesel 9 Bobby Rahal 10 John Andretti 450 miles (180 laps) 1 Rick Mears 2 Emerson Fittipaldi 3 Jim Crawford 4 Al Unser 5 Michael Andretti 6 Bobby Rahal 7 Raul Boesel 8 Phil Krueger 9 Arie Luyendyk 10 Kevin Cogan 1 250 miles (100 laps) 1 Jim Crawford 2 Rick Mears 3 Danny Sullivan 4 Al Unser 5 Raul Boesel 6 Emerson Fittipaldi 7 Michael Andretti 8 Bobby Rahal 9 John Andretti 10 Kevin Cogan 500 miles (200 laps) 1 Rick Mears 2 Emerson Fittipaldi 3 Al Unser 4 Michael Andretti 5 Bobby Rahal 6 Jim Crawford 7 Raul Boesel 8 Phil Krueger 9 Dick Simon 10 Arie Luyendyk aamiDfccn dams LEISURE-TIME FUN: SAVE THRU MAY 31ST ON POOL EQUIPMENT TO MAKE YOUR POOL TIME MORE ENJOYABLE! -ej ttLL OULMR VVCKO 2)7, Jft Time: 3 hours, 27 minutes, 10.2 seconds Average speed: 144.809 mph Margin of victory: 7.076 seconds Lap leaders: 1-30, Sullivan; 31-33, Al Unser; 34-94, Sullivan; 95-101, Crawford; 102-103, Mears; 104, Crawford; 105-112, Al Unser; 113-121, Mears; 122, Al Unser; 123-200, Mears. Yellow lights: Laps 1-5 Guerrero, Brayton, Bettenhausen crash in second turn; 34-39 Sneva crashes in pit lane; 58-63 Foyt crashes in second turn; 64-70 Heimrath crashes in fourth turn; 82-88 Chassey crashes in fourth turn; 93-95 Debris on track; 102-108 Sullivan crashes in second turn; 109-111 Rabbit on track; 117-120 Rutherford crashes in second turn; 140-145 Mario Andretti tow-in; 160-163 Palmroth tow-in; 167-170 Moran tow-in; 175-179 Vogler crashes in third turn; 198-200 Debris on track.

Lap prize money: Danny Sullivan Rick Mears Al Unser Jim Crawford $3,600. I 1 S7 SOLAR ROLLERS 14'-16' WIDE SALE $199.00 18'-20' WIDE sale $249.00 IN-POOL PLASTIC LADDER sale $39.95 LEAF SWEEP $19.95 FLOATING LOUNGE CHAIR sale $59.95 "FOREVER FLOAT" sale $75.00.