The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 9

MONDAY, MAY 25, 1987- -THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR- fcn M-lilwdi arbazza and crew did some celebrating, too mnn ir By DAVID BENNER STAR STAFF WRITER The walk down pit row was filled with cheers and shouts. The garage was filled with congratulations and champagne. All of this with Al Unser Sr. and Roger Penske nowhere in sight. It was for Fabrizio Barbazza.

At Indianapolis, the winner doesn't get all the bravado and bubbly. Sunday afternoon's 71st 500 was no different. "The main thing at Indianapolis Is finish the race, but to finish third, it is like victory for me," said Barbazza as champagne dripped from his curly brown hair. Especially when you consider what kind of day Barbazza faced. Which, to say the least, was interesting.

First of all, he entered the race a rookie, the label which Is always suspect but even more so this month when ill-handling cars often met up with non-handling concrete. Then, with his 208.038 qualifying speed, he was smack dab In the middle of the Race Day mayhem In position No. 17. Finally, how about a spin with less than 40 laps to go to make the day complete? Was Barbazza fazed? Nah. His name may be a mouthful, but a race car in his grasp Isn't a handful.

"We were very lucky, but we-had a good race," said the 24-year-old native of Monza, Italy. "Miad a feeling before the race that I could have a good race. All month. I had a good feeling. I was feeling good things that I could make this a good race.

I took It easy, easy, easy for the whole race. I tried for no accidents with other drivers. It was Just a good race." Correct. You don't finish third at Indy by having a bad race. What Barbazza did was stay out of trouble and slowly move up the No.

12 Arclero Racing '87 MarchCos worth. At the 200-mile mark he was ninth, at 300 miles he was seventh at 400 miles, he was fifth. Call the engravers and carefully spell that name for the Rookie-of-the-Year trophy. But on lap 162, Barbazza's dream day at the speedway nearly got ugly coming out of Turn 4. "The car was great all day, going into the turn the car was perfect and on the exit it spun," said Barbazza.

i "I got scared," said car owner Frank Arciero. "What happened was the heat of the exhaust ended up burning the carbon fiber on the wing," said chief mechanic Paul Diatlovich. "It finally gave up when it was loaded the most and spun him out." So Barbazza was confronted with a true test of driving skill as tens of thousands along the main straightaway and millions on television world-wide, including his father Johnny In Monza, watched to see if he would pass. But first he had to open his eyes. "When I spin, I close my eyes then I said, 'No, no, open the eyes' because if I see the straightaway I push the gas," said Barbazza.

"I started to spin, opened my saw the straightaway, pushed, the gas pedal and went b-b-b-rooooom." A lovely sound. A lovely sight. No -ugly cement siding for the red racer. "This race, you don't know what will happen to said Barbazza. "Fortunately, he didn't hit anything.

I felt encouraged and thought we were pretty much home free," said Diatlovich. Basically, Barbazza was. He kept the car straight and picked up two more positions when Danny Sullivan and Mario Andrettl departed with problems. "This is an Incredible race," said Barbazza. "I start In the middle of the field and I finish third.

Everything Is possible in this race." The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 2'2-mile asphalt land of opportunity, especially since a year ago Barbazza watched the race, and fell asleep, from the first turnr "I slept in Turn 1 for half the race." he related. "I said, 'I don't like this, too slow, too But it's a great, great race in the car. I didn't fall asleep today." Neither did Arclero. who like his driver rejoiced in the third-place finish afterward. For Arciero.

it marked his 1 ft STAR PHOTO HAYS HOWARD Fabrizio Barbazza throws his arms up in jubilation as he leaves the cockpit of his car highest finish since coming here for the first time in 1957. "I wouldn't have come here if it wouldn't have been worthwhile," Arciero said. "I felt confidence in him (Barbazza). I knew he could bring it Jn In one piece." But it takes owner, driver, crew and car to make it all go together. "That's the most important thing," Barbazza said.

"My car was tough." "From the mechanical aspects of the car. we're working with some of the most talented people In the business," Diatlovich said. "We're an Independent team, we don't have a real major sponsor to speak of, we have a good owner and we wanted the best job we could get. "We had a good driver and ihe end result was we had the utmost confidence. We've proven we can field a car, we've proven we can go 500 miles and it felt good.

As far as a rookie driver goes, he's as experienced as you can want and is great to work with." Which is why more than one driver and crew experienced rewards of winning Sunday. Fans had comfort of living room in track infield Broken oil seal ends Foyt's bid for No. 5 6 It used to be beautiful, and we converted it. Clay Blackburn Others from the department also were on duty in the infield by the first turn, said Capt Jim .1 Cnmotlmoc rhoir life lt STAR STAFF PHOTO KIM TRAVIS Clay Blackburn and Mike Bischoff, both of Fort Wayne, relax in their portable living room. help injured drivers.

Sometimes, they help Injured spectators. And sometimes, it gets a little wilder than that. "People in the Snakepit have been known to set cars on fire." Johnson said. "We've had to go in there, dodging cans and bot-ties. A few years ago.

we had to quit fighting the fire and hose the crowd down to protect policemen." In the annals of fan devotion, perhaps there's a place for Joane and Bill Nordstrom, who fly in from Hawaii every year. Bill's been coming since Joane, for nine years. The trip takes 111. hn.iwc Carter's luck didn't improve after first-lap wreck with Garza By JOHN R. O'NEILL, STAR STAFF WRITER More than a few, fans and drivers may think of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a second home.

But not all of them bring their furniture when they go to the race. Clay Blackburn. Mike Bischoff and Sue Voors drove from Fort Wayne, parked their pale green Ford van on the infield golf course Sunday morning and promptly set up housekeeping. The three unloaded two easy chairs, carpeting, an end table, a candelabra and a parking meter. "We were going to bring a floor lamp one year, but it was too nice." Voors said.

She said they'd been coming to the race together for three or four years and have brought furniture every time. "The first time we did it. it was spontaneous," Bischoff said. "We just had this big empty van." Blackburn called the vehicle a "conversion van." "It used to be beautiful, and we converted it," he said, after putting some more change In the meter. Many In the crowd estimated at 400,000 were waiting on streets leading to the track long before the gates opened Sunday morning.

Some came late Saturday night and slept In the street. But once they were In the track, they generally behaved themselves, according to Indiana State Police. By the end of the race. 44 arrests had been made, said Lt. Clark Mercer.

Nearly all of them were for public intoxication, he added. One man was arrested early in the morning and charged with possession of narcotics and a sawed-off rifle, said Lt. Jim R. White. Otherwise, he said, things went smoothly.

"Maybe it's just me. but it doesn't seem to be filling up as fast, and the crowd seems friendlier." he said. It also was friendlier outside the track, said Ron Benslay, a chaplain for the Lawrence Fire 1 Department. He was on duty, along with others from the department, behind the Southwest Vista. Things were peaceful Sunday, but they aren't always.

"Last year, we had a domestic disturbance. The husband decided he'd see if his wife's head would fit through the grill of this truck," he said, patting the hood of the 1953 Maxim that the department bought brand new. auuui 14. uuui 3, uui lilt, didn't always travel that far. By JERRY GARAU STAR STAFF WRITER A.J.

Foyt started his 30th Indianapolis 500 Sunday with a legitimate shot at his fifth title. He ended It fending off renewed questions about his retirement. As the legend himself said: "If it's your day it's your day and if It ain't, it ain't." Sunday wasn't A.J.'s day. A broken oil seal knocked him out of the race on Lap 116 and he finished in 19th place. Then Al Unser Sr.

won the race to knock Foyt out of sole possession of the record for most "500" wins (he and Unser have four each). If it ain't, it ain't. Foyt started the race from the inside of the second row. his best spot on the grid since 1982. However, he had yet to have an opportunity to shakedown his car, which had been rebuilt following his crash Thursday during a Carburetion Day practice session.

"We completely rebuilt the car within USAC rules, but we weren't able to take it out and test it properly," said Jim Gil-more, Foyt's co-owner. "But we had some yellows to start the race so we had our own legal test session at the start of the race, which we never anticipated." The laps under the yellow helped, but not enough. "Everything went smooth with us all month." Foyt said. "Everything went pretty good today considering you take a car that's wrecked and never had a lap on it. We was probably lucky it ran as long as it did.

The car was performing quite well. 1 couldn't holler." And if he could have, the leaders probably wouldn't have heard him. "Our total strategy was not to push too much and maybe wait until the last 40 or 50 laps and then turn the heat Gilmore said. "I think that strategy may have worked fairly well, but then when we dropped back three laps I guess we can say that was kind of a shock." "I was being cautious." Foyt said. "I didn't know what the car could do.

"I was just trying to keep my nose clean, trying to stay out of trouble and work my way back up." But the car died before Foyt could make up any ground. And the questions about Foyt's retirement dale, which had been dormant since his qualifying effort, were revived. Foyt had no "Believe it or not, we came one year from Guam," Bill That's 9.000 miles. They did miss last year's rain-delayed race but then got up at 4 a.m. to watch it on tplpiiclnn On one of the fairways of the infield golf course, a father and 1 41 son piayea caicn.

ine raw uuzz of the race cars was merely a faint whine to them. "We're having a great time. What a beautiful day." said Keith Detamore. from Marnmh. 1 Ohio.

Detamore. in a was wheeling around to pick up the sometimes-errant throws of his 9-year-old son, Matt. your position until you cross the finish line. I don't know if that was the cause or not." Garza, however, said the first-lap problems were his fault. "I Just lost it, the car jumped out from under me," said Garza, who did get up to 17th after starting 25th.

"I was planning a real cool start and I got a real good one. I thought I was playing it safe, but I guess I wasn't. "I feel like a rookie who makes a big terrible mistake only I can't figure out how I did it. I'm just amazed nobody else touched me. When Pancho tapped me.

I thought there was going to be about 10 more. I thought it was over and done with." THE MEDIA center at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was dedicated Saturday in honor of Albert W. Bloemker. nioemker retired last October after more than 42 years in charge of publicity for the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. He was a vice president of the organization.

He recently had heart surgery and was unable to be present. The award was accepted by his son, Dr. Fritz Bloemker. FROM STAR STAFF REPORTS Pancho Carter's afternoon ended on the 45th lap when his engine lost a valve, but the Brownsburg native knew it was going to be a difficult day at the start of Sunday's Indianapolis 500-Mile Race when he was involved in a minor wreck with Josele Garza. "I tried to go under him, but he just bounced off the fence instead of staying on the wall." said Carter, who started 29th and finished 27th.

"I knew I didn't hit him very hard. I was able to keep it going and get back the pits." Still. Carter had to make a pit stop to get a link on his suspension repaired. "Without the incident at the start. I felt we could have finished in the top five if we would have run all day." Carter said.

"The car was handling very well." Carter wasn't sure if Garza just lost control going around the first turn, or if perhaps rookies Davy Jones or Stan Fox caused the spin. i Carter and Garza were able to continue alter the wreck. "I'm not going to say who it was, look at the tape, you'll see "He Pets a little wild." neta- more said. His wife, Cheryl, was by their truck, keeping tabs on the race. The three had slept on Craw- fordsville Road Sunday morning, r.

a in til I 1 cuiiviug cil n.uu a.m., wviu- more said. "We've been coming since' 1971, and very few times have we missed one," he said. Sun-day's crowd, he added, was a nrettv easveoinC bunch. Pancho Carter got off to rough start. it." Carter said.

"Some a rookie in an orange car tried to jump through about three rows at the start." said Carter. "You're not supposed to improve "People get in their own little groups, they get drunk and they pass out." he said. "They don't bother anybody.".