Skip to main content
The largest online newspaper archive
A Publisher Extra® Newspaper

The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 3

Location:
Indianapolis, Indiana
Issue Date:
Page:
3
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

-THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR- PAGE 3S MONDAY, MAY 23, 1987- blessed ride is cursed again Sports Over Lightly Hv HOB COLLINS ij 'i ario's By CRAIG McKEE STAR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Mario Andretti's team delivered a nearly perfect car to its driver Sunday morning. The Hanna Auto Wash machine had even been blessed. An-dretti confessed after the race. But blessing or not, there were only 180 laps in the machine, and Andretti found himself watching victory celebrations from a distance again. Jinxed? Disappointed? Disconsolate? None of those words really describe the 47-year-old veteran's reaction.

"It's not the deepest disappointment," he said, "just the most recent." Curses just aren't his style. your jinxes to yourself," said Andretti, in good nature and seriousness. It's more apt to recognize Andretti's reaction as professional. He had reason, but not the words, to be bitter. He would remember a great race and car, even while recalling the sudden demise of "the best ride I ever had here." First, 175 charmed laps: "After 15 or 20 laps, I knew what the potential of the competition was," Andretti said.

Implied in his trailing voice was that the competition wasn't much. Andretti's car moved so easily through traffic that one observer said the LolaIlmor-Chevy should have been equipped with a horn. Machine, parts, tires, pit stops, yellow lights all of it went Andretti's way. He led 170 laps, including 95 of the first 100. At times, his lead grew to 1 5 or 20 seconds.

"Driving in those circumstances is the easiest thing in the world," Andretti said. "I could feel the measure of my Maybe now Unser will get full-time ride The wheel of fortune spun so hard and fast Sunday it came loose. It hit Mario Andretti a devastating blow, and then bounced off of Roberto Guerrero. And the winner of the 1987 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race was Al Unser Sr. of Albuquerque, N.M.

Someday somebody with money and a race car will decide that Unser who will be 48 this week, still is one of the world's greatest race drivers. Even Roger Penske, who is supposed to have a generous supply of smarts, can't get it in his head. In 1985, Penske hired Unser for a few oval races. But Rick Mears couldn't come back from crippling foot injuries, so Unser got a car for the season. He won the national championship.

This year he arrived in Indianapolis with a pit badge and not not much hope. The high-dollar garages were filled, and he is too wise to try his hand as a kamikaze pilot. It had to be a humiliating month for a man who had won this race three times. But he kept his profile low and his mouth shut. Racing luck, however, is an out-of-control roulette wheel.

It came up zero for Danny Ongais. He lost a discussion with some very unforgiving speedway concrete; so Unser got the ride with Penske just as he was about to go back and paint the New Mexico desert gloomy. A bone was thrown to a man who for more And the bitter diagnosis? "The fuel metering unit pitched," Andretti said, although he was at a loss to define the technical aspects of the failure. "It was just an accessory. It had nothing to do with the basic engine." In the pit.

the car stopped and was restarted. Then, it began pouring raw fuel. The crew stopped that problem and resorted to desperate measures to resuscitate the car. "They changed the computer and electrical boxes, but that was unrelated, really," Andretti said. "At that point, you try anything." Andretti drove a few more laps, but the problem persisted.

The engine would flood because of the metering unit's malfunction. "These engines only give what they ask for in fuel. The amount of fuel simply wasn't regulated any more," he said. With no solution in sight, he had no choice but to retire. The premature finish left him in ninth place, far from the dominant position he had taken earlier in the day.

The aftermath wasn't nearly as bitter as many expected. "It just wasn't my day," Andretti said. "Until the backfire, I had every reason to believe I couldn't lose. "It was the best car I've ever had here. I've never driven a car so perfect.

But you never have more than cautious optimism. I've had other disappointments, but that's what makes the victories sweeter. "Believe me, it doesn't come easy." Perhaps more revealing of the team's feelings came long before Andretti arrived in the garage area. Co-owner Paul Newman, surrounded early in the day by the curious and movie fans, walked through the garage area alone, his head bowed. Maybe Andretti felt that way, too, but he was reflecting on perfect rides and blessings gone awry.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Mario Andretti talks to his pit crew after withdrawing from Sunday's Indianapols 500. competition, and I knew unless some- "A backfire like that is not a good thing drastic happened, we'd be all sign." right." He took one more lap in the limp-But the drastic happened. "There ing car, driving under the yellow line, was a loud backfire," he said. "No attempting to "diagnose the thing a warning. It just went.

little better." than 20 years has been recognized as one of the toughest competitors on any track, in any kind of competition. You name it, and he can beat you. Unser is fast, shrewd and sanitary. No experienced driver fears running side-by-side with him. You beat him or he beats you.

But it will be clean. His patience rewarded him Sunday with his fourth Indianapolis 500 victory. Only A.J. Foyt Hard luck forces Guerrero to settle for 2nd Colombian continues to come close to victory has won as many. And Al needed all the patience he could find.

Andretti wasn't lapping the field, he- was hiding from it. He was threatening to become the onlv winner who listened to the finish ol the race while eating dinner. Then it happend. And he could be excused for asking "why?" once again. When he won here in 1969 he was the hottest thing on tires.

Folks figured it could be the first of maybe a half-dozen. He has won races on several continents in everything a man can drive. But bring him here and he might as well get John Deere for a sponsor. He might consider cutting his throat, but By RICK SHAFFER STAR STAFF WRITER A horde of photographers were surrounding A throng of television, radio and newspaper people were asking him questions. thousands were cheering him as he walked back to the garage area.

But it certainly could not have been what Roberto Guerrero hoped for. He was getting all that attention because he had finished second to Al Unser Sr. at the Indianapolis 500, Starting fifth in the True Va-lueSTP March 87CCosworth, Guerrero was the only driver who had stayed with Mario Andretti all afternoon, taking the lead three times when Andretti made pit stops. But it wasn't a smooth Sunday drive for the 28-year-old Colombian. On the 130th lap, his car struck a wheel that had come off Tony Betten-hausen's car, forcing him to make a stop to repair the damage to the front of his car.

It put him a lap behind Andretti. "He (Bettenhausen) was going very slowly on the apron and all of the sudden in Turn 3. the wheel came off." Guerrero said. "It went under the nose of my car and must have bounced off the monocoque. "It changed the handling a little bit, but it didn't make it worse.

The car handled pretty well the whole race." Despite the incident, Guerrero was able to maintain second place, but he still was a lap down to Andretti. Guerrero, who has finished second, third and fourth in his three ous pit stop, I could tell there would be trouble with the clutch. "The clutch kept going lower and lower for some reason. We had damaged one of the gears, third gear. Once you were in high' gear, it was OK." Guerrero rejoined the race, still "in second, but a lap down to Unser, who had come from 20th starting position and ran in the top five after the 60th lap.

The Colombian driver stalked the race leader for several laps and eventually unlapped himself. A yellow light on the 192nd lap, for a tow-in on Andretti, allowed Guerrero to close up to the pack behind Unser. When the green flag dropped on the 196th lap, there were six cars between first and second positions. Guerrero quickly passed four of the Cars, but time ran out. "I knew with only five laps to go, I had a tough task ahead of me.

I was hoping the guys ahead of me would give me a break," he said. Ironically, one of the drivers between Guerrero and Unser at the restart was Al Unser who had admitted four years earlier he had tried to stay between his father and eventual winner Tom Sneva to help his father win that race. However, history didn't repeat itself. When asked if he had a problem getting by Al Guerrero replied, "Well, he didn't give me a break, but he was very good about it he didn't block me." After winning the previous Indy car race at Phoenix in convincing fashion, Guerrero was considered one of the favorites at the speedway. Even though it appeared to be Andretti's month, Guerrero was often mentioned as being one of the people Andretti would have to beat to win the race.

Despite the heartache of finishing in runner-up position, Guerrero was gracious and philosophical. "Since Miami last year (where he led all but the last larj and ran out of fuel), I learned to only get happy when I see the checker," he said. "I was that way at Phoenix and it was the same here. When I took the lead, I wasn't too happy because I didn't want to get too excited. "Obviously, I am disappointed.

But second is second and I'm lucky to be seated here since that wheel hit the nose of my car and flew over it. "We have a new owner in Vince Granatelli, new mechanics we have a new team. For me to see the results we're getting is very encouraging. I couldn't give STP the race, so maybe I can give them the championship." His car owner added, "Disappointed isn't the word. Roberto ran with them all day.

If we hadn't hit that tire, we would have been a lap ahead of everyone else. If anyone deserves to win this race, it's Roberto." In addition to deserving to win. Guerrero is planning to win. "1 think it will happen soon." he said. When it does, he'll be getting all that attention as the winner of the Indianapolis 500.

DAYS ONLY! with his luck the knife would break. The engineers say it might have been the fuel system or the boost. I can come closer than that. The damned thing quit working. When Andretti turned into a turtle, Guerrero, a young man of whom much is expected, took the lead.

But Guerrero's car stalled twice in the pits. Unser moved in front. Give him a lead and he'll take a race. They tried to make a big deal out of it when there was a yellow light and the cars bunched late in the show. But few will catch Unser when he's sniffing a checkered flag.

Unser is a realist. He knows he inherited this one. So what? So have many others. Said the winner: "Mario had us covered, and let's don't kid each other. He ran off and left us." People who drive race cars for a living are beginning to wonder it there ever will be an end to the Unsers.

Bobby, who has parked his race car and now is pontificating from a television booth, won here three times. Al Sr. now has four. And Al Jr. finished fourth Sunday.

When those genes climb into a racing machine great things happen. The only other family that won more times in any endeavor was the Borgias. But they cheated. Obviously, I am disappointed. But second is second and I'm lucky to be seated here since that wheel hit the nose of my car and flew over it." Roberto Guerrero previous "500s." has developed a reputation for being the hard-luck driver of Indy car racing.

But it started to look like Guerrero's luck took a positive turn when Andretti slowed noticeably after completing the 177th lap and then coasted into the pits. After unlapping him-' self. Guerrero sailed into the lead and to what appeared to be an apparent victory. He was ahead of Unser and one pit stop and 22 laps away from glory. Then the Guerrero racing luck reappeared.

After taking on his last load of fuel, Guerrero's car stalled as he tried to leave the pits on the 182nd lap. "When I got into the pits, 1 couldn't get the car out of gear. I was praying it would be OK." he said. "When this happens, it is very difficult to get it into gear. On my previ after 170 laps, fifth after 180 and fourth shortly thereafter when Mario Andretti.

who led most of the race was forced out with an ignition problem. "This was the best finish I ever had here, but my pit stops were bad," said the racer from Albuquerque, N.M. Tops among them was a fire during his second regularly scheduled stop. He was forced to shut off the engine thereby losing precious seconds while firefighters put out the blaze. "That just knocked us out of any contention." he said.

"All we could do then was try and finish the race. It was amazing in itself that we finished fourth." He said it was a "weird day. We knew it would be that way and It was." The talk then focused on his famous father, whose fourth triumph tied the record set by the legendary A.J. Foyt a decade ago. "If I could have helped my dad (Sunday), I would have," he said.

"I couldn't because 1 couldn't run with the leaders." The problem, he said, was his March right. was through Neil crew wasn't Guerrero, point pretty rather did a awhile chassis." Little about His my bad "I'm was first but I son Penske a good and good deserves him." 3 Little Al would rather discuss dad instead of 4th-place finish BURBERRY POLO SHIRTS 100 cotton in bold stripes and great summer colors for 1987. Classic styling in the British tradition. Reg. $40 29.992 for s55 simply wasn't handling "Mechanically, the car good, but I couldn't go the corners," he said.

Mickelwright. Little Al's chief, said their March quite as fast as that of second-place finisher Roberto "but we arrived at a where the car was running good." "We're pleased with the finish, but obviously, we would have won it." added the Englishman. "The guys (team) tremendous job. It takes to get used to a new By KURT FREUDENTHAL STAR STAFF WRITER Al Unser Jr. was much more comfortable talking about his father's fourth Indianapolis 500 victory than his own fourth-place finish in Sunday's race.

"When he crossed the finish line, that gave me goosebumps." the 25-year-old redhead said. And he recalled how he tried to help' his father win the race four years ago as a rookie when he attempted to hold off eventual winner Tom Sneva. Unser though, finished 11.1 seconds behind the "Gas Man" and had to settle for runner-up honors. Little Al placed 10th In that race. "1983 and '87 were basically the same situations." Al Jr.

said. "The difference was In '83 I could run with the leaders. This time I could do nothing for Dad. I was doing everything Just to stay with it." The younger Unser was credited with 196 laps in his red, white and blue Domino's Pizza "Hot One" '87 MarchCosworth. But he could never challenge for the lead and moved up primarily through attrition.

He was sixth Al? He'd rather talk his dad. victory "brought light to day," he said. happy for my dad. He ready to go home after the weekend of qualifications, hadn't qualified yet." the said. "Then the ride with opened up and that was ride.

"They called him washed up all that, but he ran a very and smart race. He flat It. I really am happy for LSTHAUSS VISA MASTERCARD AMERICAN EXPRESS DINERS CLUB ITRAUSS ClAYPOOL COURT CASTLETON GLENDALE GREENWOOD.

Get access to Newspapers.com

  • The largest online newspaper archive
  • 300+ newspapers from the 1700's - 2000's
  • Millions of additional pages added every month

Publisher Extra® Newspapers

  • Exclusive licensed content from premium publishers like the The Indianapolis Star
  • Archives through last month
  • Continually updated

About The Indianapolis Star Archive

Pages Available:
2,526,397
Years Available:
1862-2024