The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 29

Sports The Indianapolis Star SATURDAY, MAY 27, 1989 B-5 id rr Can shed ario is slowing down' curse? ano By BILL BENNER STAR STAFF WRITER The joke going around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the last couple of years has been this: What are the four most famous words associated with the Indianapolis 500? No, not "Gentlemen, start your engines," but. "Mario is slowing down." But 20 years after the one, and only, time he had Indy's ultimate last laugh the one winners enjoy in Victory Lane Mario Andretti ly. Not ever. In the overall scheme of things, Indy has been only a little hitch in a giddy-up that has been as fast and successful as any of his peers. There's no doubt he still has the Right Stuff in his right foot.

"The way he's kept his drive and motivation all these years still amazes me," comments Michael, the other half of Indy's A-Team. "He's giving it that same effort as when he started out." Says Mario: "I've always said the important thing is this race but I never lose focus of the overall season. What's kept me well with no problem is the fact that if I've not been as lucky here for whatever reason. I get my licks in. and that's enough to satisfy me and give me the rewards I need to keep going." Maybe.

Sunday, he'll keep going for 200 laps. Maybe he'll finally get there first. Maybe when Mario is slowing down, it will be to pull into Victory Lane and. once again, enjoy the winner's last laugh. the middle of Row 2.

only the 16th time he's started among Indy's first six. Only problem is, equipment-wise, Andretti knows more drivers than ever share the same optimism. "The only difference (this year) Is the competition," says Andretti. "You have more people starting this event that have an equal chance on Sunday." Which means, Andretti adds, there will be no coast-and-collect the checkered flag and blue ribbon. "One of these cars in the hands of these people who can win this race will last by going flat out, guaranteed." Andretti guarantees.

"If you're content to just be placing, then you can truck along and hope everybody else falls out in front of you. "But If you're interested in winning, then you have to be aggressive from the start, not unreasonably so. but aggressive. You just don't win this race anymore by laying back and relaxing. "Anyway, it's never been my style." Mario is slowing down? No, not hard pole, led the race for 1 70 laps and was from here to Terre Haute ahead when his engine pitched.

Mario Is slowing down. "When it's your day. it's your day." shrugs Andretti, who rightly states that, because of the immense focus on Indy. his otherwise brilliant driving record 51 Indy Car victories, four season championships, one Grand Prix title is sometimes overlooked. "There's nothing you can do about that.

You can't dwell on it. as I've said many times," says the 49-year-old charger from Nazareth, Pa. "The thing Is to know you have the team that it takes to do the job when you go at it again and the chance is now to give it another try. My confidence is justified by the fact that the team that's behind me is capable of providing me with a winning combination. I feel I have as good a chance as ever equipment-wise to win the race." The equipment is the Newman-Haas Racing Team's No.

5 martHavoline LolaChevy, which Andretti qualified in if xz IT Dick Simon Racing wins champ car design award, Page 3 All Rahal wants is second Indy win, Page 3 Motor Speedway, and Andretti joins a field of 32 others Including son and teammate Michael in pursuit of auto racing's biggest prize. "Not in a million years." Andretti replies when asked if he thought it would take a score of them to score here again. "It's not to say we haven't been close. Since the victory I've led quite a few laps (460) so it shows we were definitely in the hunt many times. It just wasn't the right laps." And rarely No.

200. In 17 of 23 races. Mario has been sent to the sidelines before the final buzzer. The guy invariably fouls out. Once, when Kevin Cogan kayoed him In 1982.

he was stopped before he started. On other occasions, he has had the field, as he says, "covered," none so much as in 1987, when he sat on the Andretti says he harbors no bitterness over past frustrations, only an eager anticipation of another shot at the prize which has eluded him since. That will, of course, arrive at 1 1 a.m. Sunday, when the green flag waves over the black asphalt of the Indianapolis fogler wins ill breeze in Hulman Classic 'a '-l A. 1'.

1... ,1... iV 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II II II I 1 1 ll 1 1 I I 1 1 111)1 11 I 1 nil 111 II 11 STAR STAFF PHOTOS JOHANNA KOK '500" Festival Mini-Marathon champion Don Johns sprints away from Robert Stolz in the straightaway Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Johns, Bogenschutz win Mini-Marathon Kick pushes Johns by Stolz; Bogenschutz outclasses women Stolz surged into the lead three runners Johns. Stolz and Noel Harvey. The trio was tightly bunched when it went through the eight-mile point in 41:12.

A steep uphill at about 8V2 miles pulled Harvey out of the lead pack and Johns and Stolz began their duel. They ran beside each other as the race wandered south on Cold Springs Road to 16th St. Johns leaned hard into the turn onto 16th and took about a two-second lead at the 10-mile mark in 51:33. A stiff wind was blowing in the runners' faces, so Stolz surged to pull right behind Johns to catch a draft. Stolz was so close his left foot was landing just behind Johns' right.

The 1 1th mile went by in 56:48. Stolz stayed right on Johns' tail as they turned onto the IMS track and trotted down the back-stretch. The two were running so close together they bumped and' stutter-stepped at 12 miles Rita Uebelhor of Jasper was a distant second in 1:22:01 and Bloomington's Stephanie Bassett was third in 1:22:34. "I've run 13 miles in training, but the longest I've ever raced was nine miles." said Bogenschutz. "I was hoping I wasn't going to get to nine miles and drop." While Bogenschutz had little competition during her race.

Johns was pushed all the way to the finish line. He and Stolz ran stride for stride the last five miles of the race, before Johns kicked away with about 200 meters left. "The last two miles on the track (at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway) seem like forever," Johns said. "You try to tell yourself it's two miles, but you keep thinking it's a quarter-mile track and want to start kicking." Johns' patience paid off throughout the entire race. He waited calmly in the lead pack early, responding to surges that eventually pared the pack to coming out of Turn 4, but Johns let no space open up.

Both runners got up on their toes and they Clicked off the 13th mile in Stolz fell a half-stride behind as Johns kicked into overdrive. Johns broke Stolz with about 200 meters left and widened his lead all the way to the line. "You try to think about what the other runner has left, but you never know," Johns said. "I've got pretty good miler speed (4:08 PR), but you never know what the other guy has left." Bogenschutz had plenty left, although she did not need it. She crossed the mark in about 34 minutes and used the male runners in the race as her competition the rest of the way.

Carmel's Chuck Koeppen won the masters division and Butch Martin won the wheelchair race. Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh also participated in the race, finishing in 1 :46. By JIM UEBELHOER STAR STAFF WRITER Rookie competitors Don Johns and Judy Bogenschutz were learning on the fly during the 1989 "500" Festival Mini-Marathon. It was the rest of the 8.900- More photos, Page B26 runner field that learned a lesson.

Johns. Ypsilanti, racing for the first time at 13.1 miles, used a strong kick In the last 200 meters to win a spirited duel from Robert Stolz of Eugene. Ore. Johns won the overall title in 1 hour, 7 minutes, 31 seconds. Stolz was second just eight seconds back, and four-time Mini-Marathon champ Gary Ro-messer, of Greenwood, was third in 1:09:28.

"I got a PR (personal-record) and won the race, that's not too bad." Johns said. By CURT CAVIN STAR STAFF WRITER "Rapid" Rich Vogler is on an incredible roll. And there's still a full weekend of racing left in May. The Indianapolis driver, who will start 33rd in the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, blitzed a field of 30 cars in the Valvolin-eUSAC Silver Crown Hulman Classic Friday night at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. An estimated 8.000 fans watched the 60-lap feature.

Vogler's five-second victory over Johnny Parsons on the one-mile dirt-track oval was just a small measure of his dominance. "We tried to keep Rich honest for a while." said Parsons, "but once he got hooked up, there was no catching him. He ran great." Indeed, he did. The irony, however, is that Vogler almost took himself out of the main event. Racing along in the second of two 15-lap heat events, the 38-year-old Vogler smashed the right side of his No.

16 machine into the Turn 3 wall. "We bent the front axle and knocked the rear end loose, but the Wilke Team was. able to fix it." Vogler said. "The left rear end was really wobbling around and (the car) was getting out of alignment so we had to back off a bit." Back off, but not back out. Vogler was able to keep the car running after colliding with the wall and.

by USAC rules, was able to return to his second-place spot when the race restarted. He patiently watched Jack Hewitt and George Snider run away with the heat, saving the car for the feature. It was the main event that he literally controlled. Despite starting In the sixth spot. Vogler quickly moved up to the early lead.

In just 10 laps, however, the race had to be red flagged twice for two accidents involving five cars. No driver was injured in the mishaps. When the racing resumed over an hour later, it was a four-car show. Vogler and Parsons, were 1-2 the last 50 laps, but Snider and Chuck Gurney charged from the rear to take the third and fourth positions, respectively. Snider, the Bakersfield, driver who was piloting the A.J.

Foyt-owned machine, started the feature in last place because his engine wouldn't start at the beginning of the race. It ended up blowing on Lap 20. taking the former "500" driver out of the event. Gurney. the two-time Hoosier Hundred champion from Liver-more.

started 15th in the feature and was clearly the fastest car on the track between. Laps 11-20. His car. however, bowed out on Lap 22 when i was black flagged. From there, it was all Vogler and Parsons.

No other car. including third-place finisher Andy Hillenburg of Greenwood, was within sight, let alone catching distance. "We were kind of hoping for a yellow because we thought we could catch Parsons." said Hillenburg. who failed in his attempt to secure an Indy-car ride See VOGLER Page 7 then takes a satisfying dousing of water. Bogenschutz, Oldenburg, had never run a race longer than nine miles, but that was hardly evident.

She zoomed to the lead from the gun and led the entire race, winning handily in an unofficial race record of 1:17:59. SCORES Lakers edge Suns to grab 3-0 lead Mmh NBA PLAYOFFS LA Lakers 110 Phoenix 107 AMERICAN LEAGUE Oakland 4 New York 0 California 5 Boston 0 Baltimore 5 Cleveland 2 Toronto 11 Chicago 3 Texas 5 Minnesota 3 Seattle 7 Milwaukee 2 Kansas City 6 Detroit 3 NATIONAL LEAGUE Cincinnati 10 Chicago 8 Houston 4 Pittsburgh 2 St. Louis 3 Atlanta 0 Montreal 5 San Diego 0 New York 8 Los Angeles 2 San Francisco 6 Philadelphia 1 AAA ALLIANCE Indians 5 Rochester 3 win another title, and we're moving closer to it. But we're not necessarily dwelling on it. either." The Lakers now are 10-0 in the playoffs this season, breaking the league record of nine consecutive wins they set in 1982.

They also have won 14 consecutive playoff games dating back to last year, and have won 1 5 games in a row. counting the regular season. "This is a special group of guys. It's simply a great team." said Lakers coach Pat Riley as his club tries for its sixth NBA title this decade. "They're addicted to winning.

They know if we can get one more Sunday, we can move on." The Suns have lost all five of their previous playoff series with See LAKERS Page 8 By WALTER BERRY AP SPORTSWRITER Phoenix The Los Angeles Lakers seem bent on winning a third consecutive NBA championship. Just don't remind them of it. James Worthy scored 14 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter and the Lakers hit eight free throws in the final 64 seconds to defeat the Phoenix Suns 110-107 Friday night and take a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference final series. Los Angeles can wrap up the series in Game 4 Sunday at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. No NBA team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a seven-game playoff series.

"We're aware of that, but we're just not dwelling on Worthy said. "We all want to ASSOCIATED PRESS Phoenix guard Kevin Johnson drives on Mychal of the Los Angeles Lakers. -r i- A i km ft a jj.