The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 27

FRIDAY, MAY 22, 1987 THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR PAGE 27 i i At 82, Mey er in fast lane of retirement By JAN SHAFFER STAR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT The first three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 has many pleasant memories over 61 years Ndianapolis i nt i C-y Mm.K Tkfa Hanford, San Jose and Sacramento. "I used to sit in the car and steer it while he towed it with a pull rope, sometimes for hundreds of miles to a race," he said. In all, Meyer competed in 12 races at the speedway, winning again in 1933 and 1936. He also finished second once and fourth on two occasions, before his Indy career ended in 1939. Today, he has two homes, a 100-acre farm in Kirklin, and a winter residence in Searchlight, Nev.

"Retired and going day-today," he says with a smile. "I play golf, go fishing. We had a motorhome and put 93,000 miles on it." Normally, he takes off in the fall for Searchlight, but he's planning to return to Nevada in June this year. The big reason is that he purchased and refurbished a Sea Ray boat. "I'm anxious to get back and put the boat in the water," he said.

"I'm on Lake Mojave up there and the lake is 65 miles long." And we just bought a well-preserved 1963 Mercury. He readily shows pictures of both to friends. For the Phoenix race a month ago, he took a camper to Phoenix International Raceway, camped out for three days and watched drivers perform who were born 25 years after he won his first Indianapolis 500. "(Roberto) Guerrero goes from the back of the pack to win and it was the best race we've seen in this sport for a long time," he said. 1V1UIU1 OJJCCU- way, but one stands out.

"You could win it six times but the first time always stands out," said Louie Meyer. "The first time you win Indianapolis is it." Meyer At age 82, he is back at the 'Speedway for the month of May. he's missed only once since he first stepped on the igrounds in 1926. The first victory came in 1928, after he'd driven a stint in relief for Wilbur Shaw while crewing on the car the previous "In 1928, Duesenberg was in receivership, but still had a race he said. "I was supposed to for them, but the guy wanted Ira Hall to drive it.

He )was a well-known sprint-car driver from Terre Haute. "Pete DePaolo had two cars, a drive and a rear drive. He us the rear drive, and we won the race with it. I felt pretty bad losing the Duesenberg ride, but Meyer started his racing career when his brother was racing in the early 1920's, on the dirt at California tracks like 4 tal 1 1 UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Full service stop Crew members work on Mario An-dretti's car during the llth annual Miller Indy Pit Stop Championship competition Thursday on Carburetion Day at the speedway. Andretti's crew edged Bobby Rahal's team for the title.

Hundred' at Fairgrounds tonight Mario's crew takes Pit Stop competition 4Hulman Championship dirt cars will return to the Indiana State Fairgrounds tonight for the seventh annual USAC "Hulman Hundred." Heading the entry list of more than 40 drivers are Gary Betten-hausen, George Snider and Rich Vogler. All have qualified for Sunday's Indianapolis 500. The race is part of the Valvo-lineUSAC Silver Crown Championship and current series points leader Larry Rice will seek his second straight victory after capturing the season opener at Tampa, in February. Included in the entry are former series champions Rick Hood Valvoline Robert Bosch Super Vees. Former winners Mel Kenyon, Steve Lotshaw, Nick Fornoro and defending champ San Isen-hower head the midget entry list along with John Andretti.

Jeff Andretti, Mario's youngest son, will be shooting for his second straight victory at IRP in the Super Vee segment of the program. The IRP gates open at 2 p.m., with practice at 5, qualifying at 6 and racing at 7. THE 39TH annual Little 500 Pit IIsP Pass Purdue, Indiana State drop openers in NCAA out at Anderson Speedway runs Saturday night, with sprint-car veteran Larry Rice making his Initial appearance in the 500-lap grind around the quarter-mile oval. Time trials are today and the race is set to start at 8 p.m. on Saturday USAC is also hosting the Tony Hulman Classic II Crestliner Vans sprint show at Terre Haute Saturday afternoon.

Kokomo's Steve Butler, who set the Action Track -lap record earlier this month, will be trying to make up ground on point leader Rich Vogler, who can't compete because he's in Sunday's Indianapolis 500. REPOS 'UTr. '86 FORD MUSTANG GT 1 1 A AA White, AT '85 TOYOTA CORROLLA CAA 4 AT, AC '86 FORD TEMPO 0 AAA Silver '86 1UICK SOMERSET eAA Block I I3UU '85 PLY. MINI VAN 0 a 5 Spd AC OOUU '86 PlY. TURISMO tm eAA Silver Coup 43UU '84 OLDS OMEGA tm eAA Red, 4 Dr jW '86 DODGE DAYTON A 1ftA TURBO 1UIUU '86 DODGE VAN SI 4 AAA Customiied, 3,000 miles 1 '85 OLDS DELTA ROYAL 4Dr OVAI '85 CHEV.

NOVA Blue, 4 Dr '85 FORD F150 SHORT BED 4x4 '87 PONTIAC TRANS AM 1 A AA Mop, 6,000 miles '86 NISSAN STANZA jn J-Possenger Wogon 86 CHEV. $11 CAA Red. 5,000 Miles 'I '85 MERC. LYNX tm AA Red, AT, AC '84 GMC TRUCK 6.2 Diesel, 4x4 '86 PONTIAC FIREBIRD a Red '86 SEA NYMPH BOAT pa 15 70 HP Johnson JjUVJ MANY OTHER CARS TO CHOOSE FROM FINANCING AVAILABLE State hJirumunds (1985) and Jack Hewitt (1986). and former "Hulman Hundred" winners Chuck Gurney and Sheldon Kinser.

Also entered are Tom Bige-low. Warren Mockler, Steve Butler, Nick Fornoro Keith Kauffman and Greg Staab. Gates open at 5 p.m., followed by practice at 6. The first of two 15-lap qualifying races begins at 8 p.m. There will also be a 15-lap semi-feature, followed by the 60-lap main event.

INDIANAPOLIS Raceway Park is hosting a doubleheader Saturday night the Jolly Rancher USAC midgets and the posted a 10-5 win over Indiana State in the opening game of the NCAA Central Regional baseball tournament in Austin, Tex. After falling behind 2-0 in the Houston (38-22) struck back in the bottom of the Inning when Walker hit a home run to put the Cougars up, 3-2. Brian Huddleston picked up the Cougars' first hit of the game to open the inning, followed by Gaspard's single before Walker smacked the first pitch over the left field fence. IUPUI 8, WILMINGTON 0 Debbie Liddell pitched a four-hitter as IUPUl's fifth-seeded women's softball team defeated Wilmington, 8-0. in the opening round of the NAIA championships at Kearney, Neb.

IUPUI will play No. 4 seed Missouri today. RENT ME Storage Trailers Day-Week-Month ADD-Leasing, Inc. 317.247.4976 2335 W. Raymond St.

May 22 on FROM STAR WIRE SERVICES Scott Livingstone and Chuck Knoblauch combined for six RBIs to power Texas past Purdue, 13-3, in the opening round of the NCAA Mideast Regional Baseball Tournament Thursday at Starkville, Miss. Knoblauch doubled in the first two runs of the game and added a sacrifice fly as the Aggies broke the game open in a six-run second inning. Livingstone went 3-for-5 with an RBI single, two-run homer and double. He smacked his 1 9th homer of the year in the fourth inning, followed by designated hitter John Byington's I6th homer of the season. HOUSTON 10, INDIANA STATE 5 Lonnie Walker blasted his 13th home run of the year as the Houston Cougars GAR STEREOS 40 MODELS yELECTRONICS Co SsN; 253-4455 pOLESlTTER MARIO An- dretti added another prize in a month a lot of folks feel may belong to him.

Andretti and his Hanna Car WashNewman-Haas team won the 11th annual Miller Indy Pit Stop Championship Thursday by defeating Bobby Rahal and his BudweiserTrueSports team in the final. Andretti recorded a time of 18.05 to 23.27 for Rahal. Earlier, Andretti Co. had defeated Roberto Guerrero and the Grana-telliTrue ValueSTP team in the semis while Rahal ousted A.J. Foyt and the CopenhagenGil-more crew.

The winning crew consisted of chief mechanic Colin Duff, Carl Dean, Graham Fuller, Don Hoevel, John Tzonanakis and Johnny Capels Jr. and first prize was worth $25,000. The run-ners-up received $15,000 while each semifinalist won $5,000. FORMER 500 mechanic Clint Brawner has had an award named after him on the 50th anniversary of his involvement with the race. The Clint Brawner Mechanical Excellence Award has been launched by a foundation composed of racing figures Thomas Binford.

the 500 chief steward; car owner Jim Gilmore; and Phoenix businessman Charles C. Hahn III. The award, worth $5,000, is to go to a person who exemplifies mechanical and scientific creativity, ingenuity, perseverance, dedication, enthusiasm and expertise of Brawner. who was chief mechanic on winning cars in 51 championship races, including the 1969 Indy 500. In addition, a permanent tro-'phy designed by speedway artist Ron Burton, will be housed in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum with the names of the honorees Inscribed each year.

The recipient will also receive a personal plaque. HARDEE'S FOOD Systems. which sponsors the Machinists Union March of Pancho Carter has offered a reward should Carter come home first on race day. If Carter wins. Hardee's has pledged $100,000 to this year's International Special Olympics to be held in South Bend.

3 he company made a similar ge if the Hardee's-sponsored car driven by Cale Yarborough wins the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. N.C.. Sunday. THE HORTON Company, which provides the Horton Team at all Indy-car races, has signed a letter of intent with Flxible Corp. to purchase the assets of Horton.

Horton. the leading manufacturer of ambulances and emergency vehicles, has provided the 'speedway with a pair of bright yellow MR-10 Mobile Rescue Units for the last few years. The Horton Safety Team, which is not included in the transaction with Flxible, will continue to provide their safety service at all of the races. ROBERTO MORENO, a CART regular in 1986 who is back racing in Europe, was walking through the pits Thursday. "Sorry you're not still driving here at Indy," said a fan to the Brazilian driver.

"I'm not," replied Moreno. MAKING AN appearance at the speedway this month has been AMMG, which stands for Andretti Motorsports Marketing Group. The AMMG logo bears the Andretti signature which has been seen on the sides of some golf carts and motorbikes this month as well as the shirts worn by Andretti family manager Don Henderson, publicist Michael Knight, and Jerry DuBois of Chandler, DuBois Holt. AMMG is an umbrella organization that provides a variety of services for racing clients such as teams and sponsors, for example, Arciero Racing is an AMMG client. Peach Bowl moves date; boosts team payments ASSOCIATED PRESS Atlanta The Peach Bowl, aiming for top-five status by 1991, will increase its team payments by a third and play this winter's game on Saturday.

Jan. 2, the day after college football's traditional big four bowls. Peach Bowl organizers announced Thursday they plan to pay each team in this winter's game $800,000, up from the $600,000 which was presented officially Thursday to last year's teams, Virginia Tech and North Carolina State. The decision to play on Jan. 2 was a point of disagreement among Peach Bowl officials, said Lee Ayers, the bowl's executive director.

Peach Bowl officials believe strongly that to sell tickets to Atlantans, the game should not be played on a workday. Dec. 31 last year's date falls on a Thursday this year, and thus was ruled out. Christmas Day was discarded because of fan opposition, and New Year's Day Ayers' original suggestion remains the province of the major bowls. But the success of last winter's Fiesta Bowl, matching the nation's top two teams on Jan.

2, prompted a look at that date, according to Peach Bowl Chairman Ira Hefter. why Drive Out o7Town)y STOCKED WEEKLY II MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND CONTEST Starts 6 A.M. Fri May 22 Ends 9:00 P.M. PRIZES GIVEN! All Day Fishing $5.00 All Nght (Weekends); rp MAYWOOD LAKE BAIT-TACKLE-BOAT RENTAL-PICNICING 2771 Kentucky Awe. 247-9811 I TUNE UP I From 524.88 I I I HANDEE'S i 8031 E.

38th 897-7433 I I 2809 E. 38th 542-1246 I the Tickets: Indiana HULMAN 100 ValvolineUS AC Silver Crown Series Champ Dirt Cars Friday, Practice 6 PM Qualifications 7 PM Racing 8 PM Dirt Mile Oval at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Grandstand And Reserved Bleacher Seats $12 Infield Sold Day Of Race Onlv Adults S10 Children $8(12 yrs. under) For tickets and information, call Box Office: Ticket Oll'ia- 1202 East 38th Street Indianapolis, IN 46205-2809 All Tkkctmastcr lout-ions and Clurgv-bv-Phonc (317) 927-1482 297-5151 or l-800-548-4()()(i MasterCard and VISA Accepted.