The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 15

Section The Indianapolis Star TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1989 LifeStyle 6-8 TVRadio 8, 9 singes speedway with lap of Sports lllllilf mmMmmmmi its 1 'Jo 1 1 s- i HlOw By ROBIN MILLER STAR ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Rick Mears covered 2'2 miles in less than 40 seconds Monday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while his competition tried to cover their eyes. Mears brought the speedway to Its knees and a crowd of ap- Where are they Page 2 Pit Pass, Page 2 proximately 15,000 to their feet with a laser-like lap of 225.733 miles per hour in the Pennzoil PC-18Chevrolet. It was the fastest, unofficial speed ever recorded in Indy's 73-year history and it culminated an afternoon that Wilbur Shaw would have certainly had trouble comprehending. Ten drivers topped 220 mph Monday on another excellent day for horsepower and traction. But the spotlight belonged to Mears and it seemed only appropriate the IMS record-holder became the first driver to crack the 225 mph barrier.

Last year, the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner established the one- and four-lap qualifying marks of 220.463 and 219.198 in capturing his fourth pole position. Monday, halfway through "Happy Hour" at the speedway, Mears moved into another layer of the atmosphere with a lap that only took 39.87 seconds to complete. "I was a little mad, I thought it was 227," said Mears, breaking into a grin. "1 guess two or three watches had us at 226 but we're not complaining. "I'm not really surprised, we knew the car was going to be quick last winter after we ran 218 right off the trailer.

"And there's still some left, but it's going to be a little more difficult to find." Mears cited several reasons TOP 10 SPEEDS 1. Rick Mears 225.733 Pennzoil PC-18Chevy 2. Al Unser 224.831 Marlboro PC-18Chevy 3. Michael Andretti 224.382 mart LolaChevy 4. Emerson Fittipaldi 224.047 Marlboro PC-18Chevy 5.

Danny Sullivan 223.325 Miller High Life PC-18Chevy 6. Al Unser Jr 223.103 Valvoline LolaChevy 7. Mario Andretti 222.606 mart LolaChevy 8. Jim Crawford 221.511 Mac Tools LolaBuick 9. John Andretti 220.588 Granatelli LolaBuick 10.

Bobby Rahal 220.102 Kraco LolaCosworth for his making the speed charts on the IMS grounds obsolete. "The conditions were as good as you could get," he exclaimed. "There was a cloud cover, it was cool and we have the new surface. Everything made a big difference. "Nigel (Bennett.

Roger Penske's designer) has done a tremendous job with the PC-18. He's taken the PC-17 (last year's model) and refined it he took it one step better." The defending champ was asked if he expected the speeds to continue to increase. "I haven't seen a year here yet when it hasn't," he replied. Could Mears have run four laps in a row at 225? "Probably so," he answered. Mears' parttime teammate, Al Unser, was Just a shade slower at 224.831 mph in the Marlboro PC-18 Chevy.

"I thought we'd be running around 220 or so, but not this quick this fast," said the four-time Indy winner. Michael Andretti was the quickest of the '89 LolaChevys as he hoofed the martHavo-line Special around at 224.382 mph. "We're still making changes See MEARS Page 2 MAX TRUBY 225.733. STAR PHOTO soared to a Rick Mears smiles and receives a kiss from wife Chris after turning a lap clocked at 225.507 mph. He later Michael Andretti benefits from 1988 talk with Mario 4 I runaway year for anyone with PenskeChevy, Andretti has said all along that the LolaChevy combination isn't that far off.

"I think they (the Penskes) are probably trying a little harder than they wanted to," said Andretti who has seven career Indy-car wins. "But we have our own things to work on. "I don't think there's much sand-bagging going on this year, especially with the weather forecast. You can't afford to waste the time. I think you're going to see some pretty amazing speeds Saturday if it's cool like this." By RICK SHAFFER STAR STAFF WRITER Contrary to popular belief, Michael Andretti did compete in the 1988 Indianapolis 500.

In fact, he finished fourth. But with his father, Mario, and the Penske trio of Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan and Al Unser Sr. getting most of the headlines last May, it was easy for him to be overlooked. After struggling to get over 212 in the Kraco MarchCos-worth last year, Andretti started 10th with a 210 average and got his best finish in the Indy 500. "I think that 1985 was probably the worst month I ever had here (he started 15th and finished in eighth four laps behind the winner), but last year was one of the worst," Andretti said.

"The only good thing that came out of it was a very good result." However, even if it was not a good month, May of 1988 proved to be significant in Michael An-dretti's career because a chat with his father resulted in a dream ride for this year's race. After recording a lap of 224.382 miles' per hour in the martHavoline LolaChevy Monday, it's safe to say that Andretti won't be overlooked this year. "It all started here last year," year. And one thing led to another. "There was a lot involved.

The first thing was to get sponsorships. We were going to be equal Number Ones so we needed equal equipment and that required backing." mart and Havoline provided the support and when the 1989 CART season opened at Phoenix last month, the Andrettis made history by being the first father-son combination on the same team. The prospect of being a teammate to his father was never considered. "I never thought I'd even be racing against him, yet alone race with him," Andretti quipped. "It's been great.

We work together very honestly. We trade information back and forth and we know we're getting the same information. "The real advantage is that we work together well. But once we're on the track, it's every man for himself." The younger Andretti has accorded himself well in his first two outings for the Newman-Haas team. He nearly had a lap lead on eventual Phoenix winner Mears and finished fourth and then finished second at Long Beach after qualifying second.

That has him in third in the CARTPPG point standings behind Al Unser Jr. and Mears. AMERICAN LEAGUE 13 New York Texas 6 Baltimore Oakland 4 Boston Minnesota 9 Detroit California 10 Seattle Toronto Chicago at Milwaukee, rain NATIONAL LEAGUE 3 New York Cincinnati 4 Houston Montreal Andretti explained. "My father AAA ALLIANCE STAR PHOTO MAX TRUBY an(j I were back at the motel 7 Oklahoma City 5 talking and he said that maybe we ought to get together for next In what was supposed to be a Indians Michael Andretti talks with engineer Ed Nathman after turning a lap of 224.382 Monday. All eyes on Jordan as Bulk, Knicks begin series When Detroit nlavs the Bucks Wednesday Lakers null awav to a 1 13-102 victory over Seattle Wednesday, the Los Angeles Lakers try for a 2-0 lead against Seattle at Inglewood, in the other Western Conference semifinal, and Milwaukee begins its Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Detroit Pistons at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Golden State coach Don Nelson closed practice Monday to put in some new combinations. "I'm sure he's going to throw a lot more stuff at us full-court presses and half-court traps," Suns guard Kevin Johnson said. "They'll probably try to make it harder for us to bring the ball up the floor." Phoenix took a 66-51 halftime lead against Golden State Saturday, then broke open the game in the third period with 41 points for a 107-73 lead. "Their play was almost flawless," Golden State forward Rod Higgins said. "We got hurt on the boards.

We don't rebound well and that's why we got beat. But they played great. You can't take anything away from them." Magic Johnson scored nine points in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to help the night, it will be the first game in eight days for the Pistons. "We haven't been playing basketball," Detroit guard Isiah Thomas said. "We've just been running for the most part." "Milwaukee overcame an eight-point deficit in the third quarter and beat Atlanta 96-92 Sunday for a 3-2 victory in the opening round.

"It was a great series and now we must prepare for Detroit, and, as everyone knows, that's no easy task," Bucks coach Del Harris said: "We hope (Paul) Pressey and (Terry) Cummlngs both will be able to play in that series, but we will play with what we've got." Milwaukee was missing Cummings, its leading scorer, in Game 5 and didn't have Pressey at all in the first round. Cummings strained a tendon in his right ankle in Game 4 against Atlanta and is expected to miss Wednesday's arae. Pressey hasn't played sl'ice dislocating his right shoulder against the Pistons April 9. ASSOCIATED PRESS Gerald Wilkins is assigned to guard Michael Jordan in the second round of the NBA playoffs. Well, Wilkins and four of his teammates.

"Gerald will be guarding him. but Jordan has to be played with five people," New York Knicks coach Rick Pitino said Monday. "You have to try to make him a passer instead of a scorer." Jordan averaged 39.8 points in Chicago's 3-2 first-round victory over Cleveland. His 15-foot last-second Jumper irr Game 5 gave the Bulls a 1 0 1 -1 00 victory Sunday. "This is probably the biggest shot that I've hit in the NBA." Jordan said.

"No one in basketball is better than Michael Jordan with five seconds left," Pitino said. "He's a ballhandler and he can hang in the air so long. He doesn't have a weakness." Chicago begins its best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series at New York tonight. which beat Golden State 130-103Satur-day In Game 1 of a Western Conference semifinal series, plays the Warriors at home again tonight. in a physical game Sunday.

"They never let you drive the lane, they'll always foul you." Johnson said. "I just wish I had some shoulder pads." Seattle committed 31 fouls to 16 for the Lakers, who made 37 of 46 free throws. Seattle was 18-for-25. "We've got to flip the switch from a finesse team to one that's going to be playing in the trenches," Lakers coach Pat Riley said. "They are one of the most aggressive teams in the league.

They fight and compete for Seattle played the Lakers less than 48 hours after beating the Houston Rockets 98-96 on Derrick McKey's last-second layup. "I don't think we were fresh," the Sonics' Michael Cage said. "Give us a couple days to prepare and I think we can play four full quarters. The fourtM quarter we were just standing around. We may have been a little tired.

That's not malWig an excuse, that's the way it is.".