The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 86

SUNDAY, MAY 11, 1986 4D- THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR- Rahal practices quickly, qualifies not so quickly As for the talent of his nearest competition. Rahal had suspicions confirmed on the qualifying line Saturday. "Rick's been stronger than us all week. I had a feeling he was giving It a lot less effort than what we said Rahal. "Roger Penske has a great team and Rick is a great driver.

Nobody Is better on oval tracks." Rahal anticipates a conservative start of the race, noting, as most competitors do. that it's a long race. Seeing the flag from behind Mears Is not a disadvantage to anything but Rahal's pride. "When I saw the speeds at 216 and 217, I thought I could make an honorable effort, that It wouldn't be a total embarrassment. As it was.

It was close to embarrassment." He'll look to right that record over the longer haul on May 25th. Rahal's attention now focuses on race day and enduring the 500 miles. He won a year ago In CART races at Mid Ohio, Michigan and Laguna Seca, boosting him to a third place finish in the CART point standings. His superior qualifying performance a year ago only led to disappointment at Indy, however. After leading 14 laps, Rahal's car failed because of a waste-gate problem.

He was sidelined after only 84 laps and finished 27th. Now his concentration turns to two concerns: setting up his own car and keying on the classy competitors who share the front of the field with him. For Instance, Rahal has discovered in practice laps that the car has not handled well in traffic. "In practice for qualifying, you try to run alone anyway. I can better answer that question In practice next week," he said.

was due to finding himself somewhere other than the first row. And, part of the disappointment even for a second row starter was In setting higher goals for his car. "This morning the car felt tremendous. I guess when you set your sights high, it's easy to get a little disappointed. But the car feels generally good, and now we can devote time and attention to the reason we came here the race," Rahal said.

Having started the race from both vantage points Row One and Row Distant Rahal Is happy to have an Inside position behind Mears when the green flag flies. That's part of the reason Rahal never seriously considered waving off his qualifying run and coming back for another shot. "It's a crap shoot qualifying," he said. "You gotta get in the race. And, 214 and 213 laps are not too shabby." feel we had a shot at the pole, but 1 thought we could make second or third.

Unfortunately, the car just went away a bit and we weren't able to do it," said Rahal. His average speed of 213.550 miles per hour was respectable, but disappointing for a driver who had hoped for speeds more competitive with the Penske stable of Mears and Sullivan. Rahal felt the handling and the tires were at the heart of his "went away" analysis, but the early afternoon wind also played a role. "It wasn't bad in 1, 2, or 4, but in 3 the wind was not good at all, and that's where we lost our time," he said. 1 The 33-year-old Rahal qualified for his fifth Indy start after first coming to the track in 1982.

He has finished as high as seventh place in 1984 and he qualified on the first row a year ago. His disappointment Saturday partly By CRAIG MCKEE STAR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Bobby Rahal's morning aspirations were dashed in the less ideal conditions of afternoon qualifying Saturday. Rahal had been one of Saturday morning's practice pacesetters, recording speeds near 217 miles per hour. That effort made him a pole position aspirant. When he qualified later in the day In the fourth spot inside the second row he had fallen off the pace of Rick Mears and Danny Sullivan.

"This morning. I don't think you could have found more ideal conditions. The car felt real good," said Rahal. He was to discover, however, that conditions had deteriorated by the time he was to qualify. His first lap of 214.684 was the tipoff.

"The difference between 214 and 217 (Mears' pace) is quite a bit. I didn't )in. inm p.iiipp i in. iimiwiijuh. I ii tim wiin ii gywuwai gum imi 111 Michael's Row 1 run moves Mario into second row For once, the shoe was on the other lead foot.

Instead of Michael Andretti being surpassed by his famous racing father, Mario, this time Michael did the number on his dad. Twice early" last week, Michael went out to set what appeared to be the day's fastest practice time, only to see Mario, the former Indianapolis 500 and world driving champion, show the kid a quicker way around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval late in the day. Saturday, however, the price of speed had escalated in value. It was the first day of qualifying for the 1986 Indy 500 and this time, it was Michael who will get to enjoy the last laugh around the dinner table. The son's 214.522 four-lap average in the No.

18 Kraco-STP-Lean Machine March eclipsed the old man's 212.300 in the No. 2 Newman-Haas Lola. At the time, the run put Michael on the outside of the first row for the May 25th 500 and bumped Mario to the inside of Row Two. Mario eventually had to settle for the middle of the second tier. "It's about time I had my chance," said Michael, who Is half the age of his 46-year-old father.

"Dad's been doing it to me all month long. I'd go out and do a good time and he'd go out and better it." Saturday morning, however. Mario knew he wouldn't be bet tering his son, or several others. Despite being one of the favorites to capture his first pole position here since 1966, Mario knew in the morning practice session that his machine wouldn't be up to the challenge. While Danny Sullivan and Rick Mears were posting laps in the 217 range and Michael and Bobby Rahal were touring at 216-plus, Mario couldn't push the Lola past 213.6.

"I just fell short of what I possibly could have done but it still wouldn't have been good enough," said Mario. "I could see that this morning. If you can't get quick in the morning, you can kiss the pole goodbye." Then, during qualifying itself. "The car was getting looser and looser," said Mario. "It's the worst feeling that you'd want to have in a qualifying run.

There was a very good chance you could spin it and that's last thing want to do. I tried hard and really used up the tires on the second lap. It was my quicker lap but after that the rear lost quite a bit. "I couldn't have run much quicker at my best so, based on the conditions, that's about all she had." Hut that didn't ease Mario's disappointment over his failure to pace (he race for the 20th consecutive year. "It kind of ticks me off." he said.

"But I don't know who to take it up with." STAR STAFF PHOTOS Mario Andretti (left) and son Michael Andretti have different reactions to their qualifying runs Saturday. Well, how about the kid, Mario? Michael's first three laps were nearly identical and his fourth just a 10th of a second slower than the first three. It was a smooth, flawless and very fast performance. "The last lap I had to get out of it but up until then, it was flat out all the way around," said Michael. "It started to get slippery and if I could have tightened up the line a little bit, I think I could have gotten closer to Danny (Sullivan)." But on Race Day, you can't get any closer than side-by-side.

and that's where he will be with Rest assured, however, the Sullivan and ahead of that other guys will have their war-other Andretti. ries about M. Andretti on May "Aw, that's media stuff," Mi- 25. Which M. Andretti remains chael said of the talk about a to be seen, of couse.

Who rivalry between him and his dad. knows? Maybe both. "Sure, I'd like to beat him but there are alot of other guys to By BILL BENNER worry about, also." star STAFF writer Mears "The only thing that could make me more pumped up than I am know is for him to get on the front row," said Mears. sitting on the track wall and pointing at Unser. Unser wound up being no threat, but Mears still rode his own hot seat until track closing.

"It wouldn't matter If no one was in (the qualifying) line." Mears said. "I don't let myself get excited until the last car crosses that stripe of bricks down there." Mears knows what winning the pole at Indianapolis means. He won it in 1979 with an average speed of 193.736. He backed up that start by winning the race. "Winning the pole that year might have been more gratifying even than this one," Mears said.

"Mainly because it was the first pole I ever won in Indy cars." Neither Is setting records a novelty. He won the pole again in 1982. setting one- and four-lap qualifying records of 207.612 and 207.004. In 1984 he won his second Indy 500. One of the things winning the pole means Is more than 8100,000 In sponsor prizes.

Another Is prestige. "If there is a pole to win In all of racing, this is it," Mears said. "It's nice for everybody associated with the car. They have two weeks to use it (for sponsorship purposes)." Though winning his first pole was his most memorable, and he has set records before, there Is one subtle, extra gratification he enjoys from his performance Saturday. It the gratification of return.

A year and a half ago. Mears' racing career nearly ended when a crash at Sanalr track In Canada resulted In catastrophic Injuries to his feet. As a result. Mears drove only five races last year and was 10th fastest qualifier at Indy. That subject never came up in a 20-minute session with the press.

If 1985 was a year of getting back on the track. 1986 for Mears is a year of getting back to normal. if Continued From Page 1 going to be in and how it's going to change. Danny did a helluva job with the consistency of his runs, and I knew it wasn't going to be easy taking the pole away from him." In a press conference prior to the pole-winning run, Sullivan noted, "The trick on ovals is to be able to adjust to find the fastest line on the track. Mears is about the best oval-track driver I've ever seen." It wasn't half and hour before Mears proved his teammate correct.

"Finding the line" indeed was what turned the trick for Mears. He went around the track on rails, rock solid through the turns and flat out all the way around the track. Mears wasn't the least bit concerned that his speeds dwindled ever-so-slightly on each succeeding lap. "You could feel it in the tires," Mears said. "They started to buff up but when you lean on them that hard I knew it was coming." Mears' run came during the hot part of the day.

Tire rubber laid down on the track oozes slick in the mid-day sun and speeds often suffer. "We ran real quick this morning but I never thought we could get that kind of speed when we qualified," Mears said. "I had a couple of changes In mind but the car felt so good this morning (in practice) I decided to leave it alone. Just before the qualifying run. Mears did make one small change In plans.

"I told the guy on our radio to forget telling me the speeds." he said. "I figured it was better to Just put them on the board and not worry about it." Even with his seemingly untouchable speeds, Mears wasn't convinced his record would stand up. "(Bobby) Rahal. (Kevin) Cogan and Michael Andretti have all been running strong. I won't relax until 6 o'clock when it's over." he said.

Later, about 5 o'clock. Mears felt a lot more comfortable. Only his third teammate, Al Unser. scerred to have any chance of catching him. 'i I STAR PHOTOVERN ATKINS Danny Sullivan (right) celebrates with his crew after setting his short-lived qualifying records Saturday.

Sullivan third circuit. 215.636. then fell off to 214.413 on the last trip. "It was pretty consistent except for the last," explained Sullivan. "The track was a little slippery so I was sliding toward the end of each corner.

On Lap 3 there was little more slip in (Turn) 3. and I thought, 'you're going to have to watch It." And the next time through there. I got a little out of shape with the back end and scrubbed off about a mile an hour. But it was still a pretty good run." Pretty good, all right. Just not the best.

But if what happened Saturday is the most bitter pill Sullivan ever has to swallow, it's certain he won't succumb to an overdose of misfortune. tires were happy and we got a little bit of a tow (draft) from Emerson Fittipaldi. Our clocks showed 218.1 and they gave us a 217.6. But qualifying Is what counts." And Sullivan made sure that his counted plenty. "I thought I had good laps going." he said of his time trial.

"I purposely told (team manager) Derric Walker to not show me any of. my times unless It's a disaster, that I Just wanted to concentrate on what I had to do. If it was quick enough, so be it." And it was. His first lap set the record. 215.729.

and his second erased the first. 215.755. He was right there again with the year-old native of Louisville. "This isn't a Hollywood set or anything like that. And when you go out to compete, they (the other drivers) don't care about that stuff." What they do care about is going fast and winning.

Sullivan took care of the latter, for all time, last May when he won Indy. And Saturday, Rick Mears notwithstanding, he took care of going fast. In fact, in the morning hot laps. Sullivan unloaded the quickest "unofficial" lap in IMS history a 217.601. "The morning conditions were as ideal as you'll ever find," said Sullivan.

"It was cool. The motor was happy, the Continued From Page 1 can get the most out of each lap. Rick's awful good at that. And, you have to remember, I haven't had 20 oval races yet so I'm still learning." But literally learning fast, as can be expected from a talented hot shoe like Sullivan given the tutelage and the equipment provided by Roger Penske. And.

perhaps lost in his handsome face and bright smile, the spots on Miami Vice and the Hollywood background of some his pals (both male and female) is the fact that Sullivan can drive. "1 try to remember that I am a race car driver," said the 36- I ITnii ff-T I.