The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 9

MONDAY, MAY i'J63- 1 UK IMslANAPULl Stl'AK- 00 EZTfm IIDY STATISTICS -Drome finisher Low-budget Km J. If i i.y fir STAR PHOTOS GREG RAINBOLT fans of his "shoestring" operation gave him an ovation. crew member Alison Halon take 'Sir Jr Alt' MULTIPLE WINNERS Four A.J. Foyt (1961, 1964, 1967, 1977); Al Unser (1970, 1971, 1978, 1987) Three: Louis Meyer 1928, 1933, 1936); Wilbur Shaw (1937, 1939, 1940); x-Mauri Rose (1941, 1947, 1948); Bobby Unser (1968, 1975, 1981); Johnny Rutherford (1974, 1976, 1980); Rick Mears (1979, 1984, 1988) Two: Tommy Milton (1921, 19Z3); Bill Vukovich (1953, 1954); Rodger Ward (1959, 1962); Gordon Johncock (1973, 1982). x-Maun Rose won 1941 indy 500 as co-driver with Floyd Davis.

WINNERS' STARTING POSTTTIOM The frequency of winners from each starting position (There have been no winners from farther back than 28th): ROW 1 1st (13) Jimmv Murnhv. 1922: Tommy Milton, 1923; Billy Arnold. 1930; Floyd Roberts, 193U; bill vuko vich, 1953; Pat Flaherty, 1956; Parnelli Jones, 1963; Al Unser, 1970; Johnny Rutherford, 1976; Rick Mears, 1979; Johnny Rutherford, 1980; Bobby Un ser, 1981; Rick Mears, 19B8. 2nd (10) Ralph DePalma, 1915; Howdy Wilcox, 1919; Pete DePaolo, 1925; Wilbur Shaw, 193; Wilbur snaw, 1940; Lee Wallard, 1951; Jim Rath-mann, 1960; Rodger Ward, 1962; Jimmy Clark, 1965; Mario Andretti, 1969. 3rd Wilbur snaw, 1939; Maun Rose, 1947; Mauri Rose, 1948; Bobby Unser, 1968; Mark Donohue, 1972; Bobby Unser, 1975; Rick Mears, 1984.

ROW 2 4th (5) Dario Resta, 1916; Bill Holland, 1949; A.J. Foyt, 1967; A.J. Foyt, 1977; Tom Sneva, 1983; Bobby Ranai, 198b. 5th (5) Johnnie Parsons, 1950; A.J. Foyt, 1964; Al Unser, 1971; Al Unser, 1978; Gordon Johncock, 1982.

6th (4) Gaston Chevrolet, 1920; Ray Keech, 1929; Louis Meyer, 1933; Rodger Ward, 1959. ROW 3 7th (5) Joe Dawson, 1912; Jules Goux, 1913; Troy Ruttman, 1952; Jimmy Bryan, 1958; A.J. Foyt, 1961. 8th (1) Danny Sullivan, 1985. 9th (0) ROW 4 10th (1) Bill Cummings, 1934.

11th (1) Gordon Johncock, 1973. 12th (0) ROW 5 13th (3) Louis Meyer, 1928; Louis Schneider, 1931; Sam Hanks, 1957. 14th (1) Bob Sweikert, 1955. 15th (3) Rene Thomas, 1914; George Robson, 1946; Graham Hill, 1966. ROW 6 16th (0) 17th (1) Floyd Davis and Mauri Rose, 1941.

18th (0) ROW 7 19th (1) Bill Vukovich, 1954. 20th (3) Tommy Milton, 1921; Frank Lockhart, 1926; Al Unser, 1987. 21st (1) L.L.Corum and Joe Boyer, 1924. ROW 8 22nd (2) George Souders, 1927; Kelly Petillo. 1935.

23rd (0) 24th (0) ROW 9 25th (1) Johnny Rutherford, 1974. 26th (0) 27th (1) Fred Frame, 1932. ROW 10 28th (2) Ray Harroun, 1911; Louis Meyer, 1936. PENSKE WINNERS 1972 Mark Donohue; 1979 Rick Mears; 1981 Bobby Unser; 1984 Rick Mears; 1985 Danny Sullivan; 1987 Al Unser; 1988 Rick Mears. Is by no means easy.

It's one of those things that it's either your day or it's not." And Sunday, while it didn't start out that way. it definitely concluded as Mears' day. Still, the individual was quick to give credit to the cumulative effort. "The key is the team." Mears said. "You can't get around here without a good horse and Roger's supplied the good horses.

The guys work so well together. The reliability, the dedication, the time, that's what makes it happen." And now, for Rick Mears. it's happened three times. "Everyone tends to think the first one's the best," he said. "But the second one was better than the first and now the third one is even better than that.

I don't think it can get any better than this." At least not until No. 4 comes along. 2-year-old car finishes in 8th pla ce By HAROLD WILEY STAR STAFF WRITER Phil Krueger's eighth-place finish Sunday at the Indiana-' polls Motor Speedway was a victory for the Cutters. Those white decals on the neon-pink sidepods of Car 97 had been a closely guarded secret, not revealed until race day. Each decal was one word: "Cutters." As In the movie Breaking Away.

As in underdogs. The town kids, stonecutters' sons who raced with their hearts in RUNNIN' ON A Shoestring One of a series of stories chart ing the progress of Baker Racing, an Indy 500 team with high hopes and a low budget. the Little 500 bicycle race at Indiana University. The decals were the brainchild of Kent Baker, IU alumnus and owner of the car. He's estimated his budget for this year's race to be about a 10th of what many teams spend.

Krueger, troubled by a lack of horsepower on the straightaways and" hampered by a stumbling engine on a couple of pit stops, was pleased with his finish and so were the "little-guy" fans who gave him a standing ovation when he stepped from the car and waved to them after the race. The strategy for the race was an extension of the way this shoestring team has operated since R. Kent Baker Racing Inc. was founded in January: a notch at a time. Steve Smith, one of the Baker mechanics, said the plan was "to stay away from the guys who get into trouble lay back and see how things develop." Then, at about the 300th mile, maybe Krueger would be able to move up.

Krueger said the race went pretty much as planned. "But we had a problem where the car wouldn't pull rpm down the straightaways. I'm not sure what it was. The motor was 4 great. For some reason.

I just couldn get by guys. I could take Emmo Continued from Page 1 ing down the main straightaway. Let Vogler take it from there: "In the driver's meeting, they told us you blend in and the blend is the end of the front straightaway wall going into Turn 1. I was going a lot faster because he was accelerating out of the pits. "I'm supposed to see who's alongside me coming out of the pits and if I beat the guy to that point (the blend line).

I ahead of him. If he's ahead of me. which he was, then he's ahead of me when we get to the back straightaway. "When we got to the exit for the back straightaway. I just waved him by.

I was eight or 10 laps down. Emerson was running fast, so I waved him by. "Binford said you can wave people by here if your car is lame or isn't running right or something. They claimed he passed on the yellow, which I don't think he did at all." So Vogler. who hit the wall Victory ir Continued from Page 1 Sullivan and eventually dropped to as low as 10th place as handling problems developed in his racer.

"The car Just went loose and I couldn't run fast enough to keep up." Mears said, describing the problem known to racers as "understeer" in which the rear end of the race car keeps acting as if it wants to play tag with the concrete walls. "I was getting a little frustrated Just because of the difference between the way it had been working and the way it was to- I day," Mears continued. "But 1 knew what it was, that it was the (track) conditions. And I'd 4 i MjS.W Phil Krueger flashes a smile to a good run at them off the turns, but I Just kind of ended up lame at the end of the straightaways. "That hurt us, and then I stalled it on a pit stop, and that cost us a place or two.

But we wanted to run in the Top 10. And we did that, so we're real pleased." At Lap 88, Krueger's father, Phil D. Krueger, who fueled the car while Krueger's younger brother Jeff ran the Jack and tended the vent, said, "He's running about where he wants to. The car's apparently handling well." Bob Jordan, the 75-year-old garage manager for the team, put it this way: "If old Betsy just holds together, we're in great shape." "Old Betsy" was was Car 97, a 2-year-old March with an even older Cosworth engine. The team has qualified and raced with only two engines a practice engine and another one that has been rebuilt since Krueger qualified the car with it.

The engine was reinstalled in the car by about 3 a.m. Thursday in time for a little Carbu- retion Day practice. But the engine developed piston-ring problems, and it had to be pulled again for repairs. That work was finished about 5 p.m. Saturday.

Smith said. "But it sounds sweet today." coming out of Turn 3 on Lap 174. heard of the penalty and went to USAC after the race to explain what happened. "I think it's definitely unjust." Vogler said. "The person who called the penalty is the observer in Turn 3.

How can the observer In Turn 3 see what the 1 think with all of my racing experience, it would be stupid of myself to pass on the yellow." Emerson Fittipaldi hell happens in Turn 1 or Turn "The observer in Turn 3 called it in that Emerson Fittipaldi passed Rich Vogler on the yellow and he was penalized two laps. Well, he didn't have the whole story. So with the typical USAC official mentality, they went ahead and took the state had it happen before. We all have. "I knew it was just a matter of taking time.

I didn't like getting a lap down but I couldn't do anything about it. That's the way it went. I Just knew we'd have to keep making changes until we found what it needed." Aided by the numerous yellow lights that led to frequent pit stops. Mears and Penske communicating by radio brainstormed ways to bring the car's handling under control. They toyed with the rear wing, they changed tires and they changed wheels.

Finally, they put the wrenches to work on the front wing. Voila! The problem was solved. "That really brought the car around and from then on. it felt good all day," Mears related. the crowd after the race and At the halfway mark in the race, Krueger's wife, Cindy, from the bench of the Baker scoring stand, said her husband was driving "real conservatively.

The Idea is to not get in anybody's way and let attrition take its course." And plenty of cars went the way of attrition 10 cars were involved in eight accidents. Krueger stayed clean. But he put plenty of fans on the edges of their seats. "Go, go. go, go, go" they chanted during an almost eternal pitstop of 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

The engine stalled, and the crew tried to push-start the car twice before the engine caught and held on. Krueger's eighth-place finish was unofficial until 8 a.m. today. Baker said he planned to file a protest: "They put us behind the pace car when (Ludwig) Heimrath spun. We should have been in front." In any event.

Krueger's wife said she felt wonderful. She had only a few seconds to talk to him after the race. "He said the car was unbalanced, so he couldn't really compete but it was great wheel-to-wheel racing. He feels great. I'm very proud.

"The whole team kept their cool so well when the car stalled. Nobody panicked. They Just did their jobs. Great teamwork." ment from one official that didn't see the whole story. Added Vogler, "That's why I wanted to make sure USAC knew.

If Emerson had passed me on the yellow and it wasn't Just, I would have said it. He didn't pass me on the yellow." Said Fittipaldi. "When I was at the pit exit, Vogler passed me. He waved me by back to my position. I think with all of my racing experience, it would be stupid of myself to pass on the yellow." Adding to the confusion was uncertainty about the penalty.

"They told us they were going to penalize us one lap, then came back and said they had decided not to penalize us," said Patrick. "They then came back again and had penalized us two laps." Afterward, Fittipaldi was visibly upset and refused to comment until the USAC review was complete. He did take time to stop by Vogler's garage and offer a thank you for his testimony. "I think it was very sportsmanlike for him to say what was the truth," said Fittipaldi later. "It was great to see that happen." Finally, about 5:45 p.m., Fit "That brought the car back to life." Still, there was lost ground to make up.

Mears managed to pass Sullivan and get back on the same lap as the leader. Moments after he did, the yellow light re-appeared and Mears was able to move up behind Sullivan for the restart. He then caught Sullivan, who by this time was having his own handling problems which eventually would lead to a crash in Turn One. And while the 400.000 spectators didn't realize it at the time, the race wasn't on it was over. "We don't like to get behind even our own cars," Penske said.

"And when we got in that lead we made a pact that this was the last time we were going to let anyone get ahead of us." 1 4 Wife Cindy Krueger and special interest in the race. tipaldi got the good news. "Tom Binford found in review of the passing incident of the No. 20 car of Emerson Fittipaldi that the incident fell within the rules of racing and the penalty has been rescinded," said USAC spokesman Dick Jordan. Thus, Fittipaldi was second his highest finish In five tries at Indianapolis and the post-race anger had been replaced with a worthy smile.

"You get what you deserve and I would have been very disappointed (if his seventh place held up)," said Fittipaldi. "As long as they recognize the truth. I'm happy. I'm very pleased to finish second here. It was a very hard second place.

For myself it's a good achievement. I hope next year we can finish in a better position." Patrick also was pleased justice was done, but disappointed his team didn't get the instant recognition for their accomplishment. "They didn't get the credit," he said. "All we wanted was what was entitled to us and the recognition for finishing second. We were racing as hard as we could.

We wanted second place for the points and we earned it." "What he said was, 'The first half (of the race) was theirs, and the second half is ours' Mears said. And so It was. Quick Rick began turning laps consistently between 206 to 207 miles per hour and the competition faded away like the setting sun. And while the final margin of victory under the yellow light was Just a tad over seven seconds it wasn't, in reality, that close. Penske agreed that Mears' expertise in recognizing the car's handling problems and knowing how to deal with them was the key.

"Rick knows exactly what he wants," Penske said. "There's no question today's race driver has to understand what the car needs to get it right because no car can be set up on Carburetlon Day and then be brought out here to run perfect all (race) day." STAR PHOTO MARY SANGEMINO Emerson Fittipaldi is displeased when he hears he has a two-lap penalty. The penalty later was rescinded. "Rick communicated with me all day long. We worked it.

And at about 250 miles, when we finally got the thing in the lead, I said now we're going to go after it and that's what we did. Mears said his winning drive wasn't uneventful but there were no major events. "As far as the accidents. I was away from most of those," he said. "But I had close calls with traffic, guys slipping and sliding, trying to get around each other.

1 had a couple of close calls coming Into the pits and one close call in Turn Two, when it got a little tight. But that was really about it." But it wasn't easy. It never is at Indy no matter how many times you finish in Victory Lane. "This is a tough race." Mears said. "With the right people and equipment, it makes it (winning) happen a little more often but it.