The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 8

PACE tS THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR MONDAY, MAY 27.1385 J500L Disappointing finish doesn't ruin Mears' return "I was apprehensive in traffic on the first lap," he said. "I lost a few positions, but then I got going and it felt like coming home. It felt like old times." While the feet were no problem, Mears did have troubles throughout the day. He had to make three unscheduled pit stops, one because the fuel line wouldn't engage properly and two others due to a problem with his face shield. Early in the race, Mears' shield fell off when he lost the screw on the left side of his helmet "I tried to run without it but I couldn't continue because there was no way I could get close to anyone, there was too much debris." He came in to get a new screw put in his helmet but that one, too, came loose a few laps later.

That forced Mears to come in By DAVE CARUCK SIAA STAFF WftiTtR The finish was disappointing, but the smile was genuine. I Rick Mean is back. At first glance, it would seem odd for Mears to be grinning from ear to ear after the Indianapolis "500." After all. the defending champion's afternoon ended on Lap 123 because of gear linkage failure, placing Mears in 21st place. And to make the breakdown even more painful, it had been a competitive afternoon for Mears until its conclusion.

He had climbed to as high as fifth place on Lap 62 after starting 10th. But Mears was smiling minutes after teammate Danny Sullivan won the 69th running of the "500." because "it felt good Back, that is. in a race, because Sunday was the first time Mears had participated in a championship event since Sept 9 when he crashed at Montreal, breaking both feet. Before Sunday's start Mears felt a bit like a football player coming off knee surgery. He knew the injury did not hinder his performance in practice, but he was eager to push the pedals under game conditions.

"I never felt my feet at all in the car. I didn't even know they were down there," he reported in his garage. "Before the race. I wanted to get in the car and get going, but once we started. I never thought about it It would have been no problem to go all 500 miles." Mears started the race cautiously, letting cars past him on the start until he could get the feel of the race.

"I believe everything happens for a reason." he said. "If I hadnl broken. I could have been involved in an accident there." He got going again for a second during the yellow after the spin, but had problems again, and was pulling on the apron just ahead of the Tom Sneva Rich Vogler Howdy Holmes mishap. While the Speedway crew was cleaning up that mess, Mears also was cleaning up. He spent the remaineder of the race in the Simpson Helmet hospitality room, relaxing and watching teammate Sullivan win the race and another Penske driver, Al Unser finish fourth.

"It's nice to keep it in the Penske family." said Mears, smiling again. "It would have been nice for all three of us to have been there." in place for the rest of his day. "We dont know why it happened," said the native of Bakersfield. Calif. "It wasn't something that would have cost us the race if we would have run all day, but it was annoying because I'd fall way back and have to pass my way back to where I was." Then came the final problem of the day.

"I could run 205 in clean air." Mears said. "I was in shape to give them a battle. But as soon as it happened I knew it was the gear box linkage. I had trouble shifting. I couldnt get it from one gear to the next" Still, Mears wasnt too unhappy.

In fact the timing for his breakdown couldnt have been better. He was running near Sullivan when the problem developed, slowed, and pulled into the pits. On the next lap, his teammate spun, didnt touch anything and went on to win the race. again for a piece of tape that kept the shield wing oacK in mere. Jury out on worth of Buicks Guerrero accepts third-place finish Second-year Indy entrant Roberto Guerrero was hoping to change his finishing position by one spot this year.

eft pmm -fry 4 it ttdffftini imm He got his wish, sort of. Guerrero arrived at Indianapolis from his native Columbia in 1984 to take second place and win co-Rookie of the Year honors with Michael Andretti. Naturally, Guerrero had it in his mind to move up a spot Instead, he had to settle for third. "It would have been nice to move up one spot instead of down one," Guerrero said. "But we are happy with the race.

It is always a challenge to drive here and any time you get third place at Indianapolis you can't be sad. "Still," he sighed standing in the pits, casting an eye toward Danny Sullivan in Victory Lane, "It would have been nice to finish first" Guerrero weathered few problems in 1985, a departure from his initial venture when he did a full spin at mid-race, missed the wall, and continued on to take second. "We had our ups and downs early in the race today," he said. "With the full load of fuel, the car was understecring like crazy. On my own, the car handled well, but I was never alone for very long.

When I got behind anybody the car was difficult to handle because of the turbulence." Turbulence wasn't the only difficulty the talented Columbian survived. Guerrero made three pit stops with no clutch, jamming the gearshift into position to continue racing. "We lost the clutch about the middle of the race." he said. "Coming into the pits I had to put it into neutral and coast in. Then the crew had to push me out and I just prayed I wouldn't kill the engine.

Luckily, on the track, you don't have to shift gears much." Still, Guerrero had nothing but praise for his Master MechanicEmerson Electric MarchCosworth. "Everything was very smooth, over all," he said. "We did have a few minor problems, but it was a good day." Despite what he considered a mediocre 1985 starting spot Guerrero had the chance to prove his 1984 success was no fluke. By the 20th lap Sunday he was into the top 10 and stayed there the rest of the day. After 50 laps he was in fourth place, was running as high as second with 30 laps left and avoided Bill Whit-tington's spin into the third turn wall on Lap 193 to hang on to take third place.

That particular incident stood out in Guerrero's mind as his closest call of the day. "I was right behind him," Guerrero said. "He was up high on the track and I was hoping he would stay along the wall. If he had come down on the track I don't think I could have missed him." Having been solidly in the top three for some 25 laps, Guerrero knew what Whittington's spin could have meant. "I'm just glad I got to finish the race." Regarding his chase for leaders Sullivan and Mario Andretti in the late going.

Guerrero said simply, "I was going as fast as I could." Aside from the choppy air coming off the other racers, Guerrero felt Sunday's race conditions were nearly perfect "It wasn't that hot in the car and there would so many yellow lights, it gave us (drivers) kind of a break. The race wasn't that hard at all." Back in the pits, he stood for a quiet moment Again, he surveyed the goings-on in Victory Lane. Guerrero may yet make a visit of his own to that cherished bit of real estate. Anyone who finishes second and third in his first two Indianapolis is doing more than wishing. By BOB WALTERS STAR STAFF WRITER STAR PHOTOJACK SCOTT A dejected Scott Brayton (wearing helmet on right) walks away from his Buick-powered March 85C after it started smoking on Lap 19 and forced him out of the race.

Correct tire combination leads Sullivan to victory A verdict on the cause of the expiration of Scott Brayton's Buick engine must await an autopsy. The youthful driver who started on Indy's first row and ended in the last row of finishers had little ihfor-mation. "I don't know exactly what went wrong." said Brayton. "I did lose turbo pressure and I saw the smoke. I remember thinking.

'This is a bad In the pits. Brayton's father. Lee, a. former USAC championship driver, hung his head as his son's car halted in the fourth turn. "This is a tough break," he said.

Back at the garage, one of the mechanics expressed disappointment "We were runnin' with the big boys." he said, shaking his head. The issue for Indy car observers, of course, was not Brayton's disappointment. Attention focused instead on the Buick engine which dominated qualifying for the race two weeks ago and which appeared to fail Sunday. "It is a coincidence that both (Brayton and Pancho Carter's cars) went out so quick," said Brayton chief mechanic Jim Wright "At first I thought it could have had to do with the hotter weather. But I checked the pistons and valves, and they looked good." Wright, seen consulting with Buick officials shortly after the car had been returned to the garage, said his team would persist in loyal" ty to the American-made engine.

"We don't have to run the Buick engine, but we're going to. We have four Cosworth engines in the garage, but we'll run the Buick at Milwaukee." said Wright. Part of Wright's analysis must await the autopsy the same kind of thorough analysis expected for Carter's engine as well. cursory examination by an expert netted no clues about the car's demise. "There's nothing visual wrong with the engine," said Wright.

"He lost boost and saw some smoke. "I tended to think it was a turbocharger problem or an exhaust valve. But all the exhaust values were still in, so it's hard to tell," Wright added. Until Brayton's aspirations disappeared in that 19th lap puff of smoke, his car had performed admirably. "The car just performed excellently," he said during a hurried briefing.

"My car was not handling as well at the end of the straightaways, but I thought it was handling as well or better than Mario's (An-dretti) or Bobby's (Rahal). "I was picking up a little ground on them," said the 26 year-old Cold-water, native. Brayton, who finished 18th at Indy a year ago after completing 150 laps, still is committed to Indy racing and Buick engines. "Having the single lap record at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a big thrill. I'll continue to work with the Buick engine and I hope I can come back with an American engine and win," he said.

By CRAIG McKEE STAR STAFF WHITER 48E SERTA TWIN 69 MEDIC FULL '99 By GEORGE MOORE STAR STAFF WRITER Danny Sullivan put the Irish and his Miller AmericanMarch-Cos-worth on Broadway at the Speedway Sunday. His Penske Racing Team crew found the right tire combination about half way through the race, and enabled the personable young driver from Louisville, to do a straw hat and cane routine on the competition in Sunday's 500-Mile Race. In the early going Sullivan was working hard to keep the March in the 190 miles-an hour bracket but the selection of rubber with just the right amount of stagger enabled Danny to say 'Adios' to second place finisher Mario Andretti, and walk away with his first "500" victory. "About half way through we got just the right set" said Penske Racing General Manager Derrick Walker. "With the right combination, he could turn up the boost and run as consistent as he needed to stay ahead.

It was a matter of sizing them up, as he had a little push before we got the right amount of The stagger which Sullivan's crew was seeking was the amount of 'tilt" that the tires impart to the chassis. It's achieved by using sets of tires which have different circumferences as measured around their outside surface, and with the larger rubber being mounted on the right side of the car it provides tilt or stagger which affects the way the chassis handles in the turns. In Sullivan's case, it meant going from an also-ran to the leader. Andretti, whose Lola had more push than a maintenance man with a broom, really had no chance of handling young Danny once Sullivan found the right size on all four wheels. His car ran like it was on rails after that "We just kept selecting tires until we got what we wanted," Walker said.

"It let him go from the 190s into the 200s once we hit the right balance. After that he adjusted his track speed to the race." The combination jumped Sullivan from sixth at 225 miles to second at 275, and into the lead at 350 miles. "We had no predetermined plan in mind other than to get the car to handle best and let Danny do the rest" Walker said. The potential problem with the CV (constant velocity) universal joints in the rear drive shafts never materialized for Penske Racing or anybody else. Prior to the race there was some concern that the U-joints might fail due to stress loads created by running at a severe angle.

But Walker said, "Everybody was aware they had a problem so everybody did the same thing to try and correct it To my knowledge, nobody had any trouble." Originally, consideration was given to raising the ride heighth of the "March upwards in order to lessen the angle at which the CV joints operated, but that would tend to lessen the downforce on the car. Tests during the last weekend of qualifications indicated that might not be necessary, with Walker saying, "We had been nursing them along all month, and we were going to raise the car. But we looked at them over the weekend and on carburetion day and they looked good. "We matched the CVs and got the right combination of grease and made sure the balls, the cage and the inner matched so there wasn't any binding. We decided to take a chance, but until we ran 500 miles we really weren't sure." One thing that is for sure is the stock blocks are as yet not quite ready for Indianapolis.

Three turbo-charged V-6s started, two Buicks and a Chevy. And by the 20th lap, all three were gone with mechanical failure. Preliminary indications of the Buick failure indicated lubrication failure, but Scott Brayton's chief mechanic Jim Wright stated that he actually wouldn't know until he took it apart Brayton in the Hardees March-Buick was running in third position at 10 laps, and actually led the 15th lap. But a huge puff of smoke ended the Buick charge, as well as any hopes for a stock block showing in the year's "500." Pole sitter Pancho Carter's Val-voline March-Buick never got the first call at the start, with Buick Motor Division engineer Ron Kociba saying the engine filled with oil. Racing engines run what is known as a "dry sump" system in which the engine's oil is carried in a separate reservoir tank rather than in oil pan itself.

If a sump pump fails, then oil is pumped into the pan but not out of it "I'm a little down," Kociba said, "but we'll keep working on it I believe it was about three years before a Cosworth won a race, and if it wasn't for the control on the boost they wouldn't be finishing now." George Snider's experimental Chevy followed Carter to the sidelines after 13 laps without ever really giving any indication it was going to be a competitive threat. BUNK BED yti M32 BUNK BED 3tf M99 BRASS PLATED HEAD BOARDS FLOOR SAMPLES: FULL 34 QUEEN l39 NITE TABLE BRASS 0 '49 FRAMES-TWIN MO SIT SPRING 3M78 WATERBED QUEEN 445 sir H3 call SNBQZEVQgys) 545-8888 4435 N. KEYSTONE AVE. M-F 10-6 SAT. 10-5 EsEHc Use These Valuable Coupons And Save! Engine problems force Rahal's early exit OFF 12 exp.

Color Print Film $2oo OFF 24 exp. Color Print Film Developing Expires: 61085 $300 off 36 exp. Color Print Film Developing Expires: 61085 Developing Expires: 61085 By BOB WALTERS STAR STAFF WRITER Bobby Rahal was the last of the ill fated 1985 front row to leave the 69th running of the Indianapolis "500" just about 102 laps before he had planned. Engine problems forced the 32-year-old Ohio-an from the field on Lap 98. He lost the boost in his engine when he was passed by winner Danny Sullivan and couldn't regain power.

"The car had been running just fine," Rahal said shortly after climbing out of his car. "I think something must have happened in the wastegate area." It was later discovered, however, that Rahal's problem was a burned piston. "It happened all of a sudden," he went on. "I got out of the gas when Sullivan passed me and when I got back on the throttle, the boost was gone. "I was coming out of the first turn and I realized I was down on revs.

I checked the oil pressure and it was OK, then I saw we didn't have any boost 'We lost three laps," Rahal said. "There is no way short of a fluke to make up that many laps in this race." Other problems, namely losing balance of the car, also developed, but Rahal didn't blame that difficulty with the turbulence created by other cars. "The air wasn't that bad," he said. "I know they talked about it a lot this week, but I think more was made out of it than was really necessary." Neither did the day's 85-degree temperatures cause a problem. "There are vents in these cars so the ride isn't particularly hot" Standing just inside the entrance to Gasoline Alley after leaving the race, Rahal looked up at the scoring tower.

"It's quite a race out there," he said as Emerson Fittipaldi battled Mario Andretti for the lead. For his 14 laps leading the race Rahal will receive $6,400 in lap prize money. He was credited with an unofficial finish of 27th. "I'm disappointed, but I'm not going to go slit my wrists or anything," he added with a smile. "We ran pretty well while we were in there, I'm just sorry we couldn't finish." Rahal may find some consolation in having won the battle of the front row, beating pole-sitter Panco Carter and Scott Brayton into the first turn to start the race.

Both went out early with engine failure. "It was pretty easy to lead at the start," Rahal said. "I knew I had the jump on Brayton and I could see Carter out of the corner of my eye. All of a sudden, he (Carter) disappeared so I said, 'What the heck, let's go for it "I was driving conservatively, though. I didn't want to punish the front tires." After leading the first 14 laps, Rahal's car began having problems and on Lap 51 went into the pits for nearly a minute and a half.

"The throttle was sticking early on," Rahal said. "I could pull it back with my foot but this is too long a race to do that all day. It wasn't going to improve so I came in to get that fixed. I NORTH 625 E. Carmel Drive 8447468 EAST Washington Square Mall 8971166 WEST Lalayette Square Mall 299 8662 SOUTH NEW Stop 11 800 E.

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