The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 1

TODAY'S CHUCKLE Sometimes you wonder fcow great the metric system really is, seeing how little it has done for the British pound. The Indianapolis "Where the Spirit of the Lord is. there is Liberty" Cor. 3:17 VOLUMR 74, NO. 359 CARRIER DELIVERED 5C PER WK.

Smi.lt MOTOR DELIVERED 90C PER VK. CiM yfif MONDAY, MAY 30, 1977 CJdjOr, FOYTS VICTORY MAKES HISTORY oeerTex '500' Wiener 4th Time WEATHER TODAY Chance Of Showers High. 88; Low, 65 Yesterday High, 30; Low, 65 Star Some Win By ROBIN MILLER A. J. Foyt, the king of the road for nearly two decades, added the crown jewel to his colossal collection yesterday by winn'ng his fourth Indianapolis 500-Mile Race.

Foyt, who's first triumph came in a roadster 16 years ago, harnessed history by becoming the only driver in the Indianarolis Motor Speedway's 61 races to visit victory lane for a fourth time. The 42-vear-old legend from Houston. took his record checkered flag 27.2 seconds ahead of pole-sitter Tom Sneva. The muggy mass of 350,000 people saluted his effort after throe hours and five minutes of excellent racing. The Weather vlYi 14 Yicloiv lane ft.

Crowd Alols A. J. lot I Afler '3IY BIGCEST THHILL': HULMAN Victory Was Popular One Foyt's By DAVE OVER PECK He owns the place, so Tony Hulman is supposed to be impartial. But (here was no question where the proprietor's prejud.ces lay as he cime bounding Into Victory Lane while A. J.

foyt was on the last of his L'1Ki His ltli Win In The is almost a son to him. That takes in a lot of room and 32 "500s." When Foyt finally drove into the enclosure beneath the Control Tower, it was Hulman who got to him first. THE GILMORE Broadcasting hadn't rolled to a complete stop before Tony was bestowing his first-ever kiss on a 500-Mile Race winner. It hit A.J. someplace on the front of his helmet.

He'd not had the chance to remove it yet. But Tony wasn't taking any chances. He was wise not to. This was the most chaotic, overcrowded Victory Lane in the memory of Speedway publicist Al Bloemker, who has been on duty for the 32 years of the Hulman regime. In fact, as he neared the approach to the honor platform, Foyt hesitated, almost as if he took a look at the crowd and decided that he was better off to head back to the track.

How They (Star Photo By Jerrv Clrk) Mile llut-e BUT THEN HE came in, up the narrow wheel ramps to the platform. And you could see the smile through tiie narrow eye slot of the full-face helmet. And once the armor was off. it was still there in the eyes: across the gleaming, white teeth all over the still-youthful face of the 42-year-old grandfather. He kissed a lot of people: his sponsor, Jim Gilmore; his father.

Tony; his engine man. Howard Gilbert; his chassis man, Jack Starnes; and two or three others. Still unkissed is "500" Festival Queen Kathryn Hegg. Tex posed with her. He put an arm around her.

But he didn't kiss her. NOR DID HE kiss his wife, Lucy, He hugged her when she finally made it to auto racing's most charmed circle, but if he kisred her, it wasn't in See THRILL, Page 8 Finished Foyt had to call on his talent, his crew and his witch doctor to hang up an accomplishment that may never be matched and had Gordon Johncock not been hit by some bad luck late in the going, I. might still be looking for No. 4. Johncock.

who led for 125 laps, was holding the top spot when his engine expired coming down to complete the 185th circuit. Besides ending a brilliant drive for Johncock. it also knocked out the chance for a fantastic finish. THE LITTLE leadfoot from Phoenix. who won the rain-delayed "500'' in 1973, had a race-long duel with Foyt and it was about to get really interesting when his STP-Wildcat crawled to a halt in the first-turn grass.

Johncock and Foyt had just made their final pit stops Johncock on lap 180 and Foyt on 183 and the stage was set tor a sprint-car windup. Instead. Johncock got out of No. 20. jumped in the creek to cool off and watchetl the tough Texan case his Coyote through the last laps.

'i thought we had it in the hag." said a physically drained Johncock afterward. "The last two laps I ran were the fastest we'd gone since early in the race and I don't think A.J. could have got by me." Foyt, the six-time United States Auto Club national champion who assumed the '77 point lead with his latest victory was of another opinion. "I was savin' everything I had for one last banzai and I don't think he (Johncock) could have stopped mo." retorted Foyt. who was running consistently at 191 miles an hour the last third of the race.

"But I'm not saying that it wouldn't have been close." IRONICALLY, Gordie's failure was the only one of the three-car Pat Patrick stabl-' looked after by George Big-noiij the man who was chief mechanic for Foyt's initial Speedway triumph in '61. "Why is it that my only car thai didn't finish was the one that had to be leading?" asked Bignotti, whose other two racers driven by Wally Dallenbach and Johnny Parsons came home fourth and fifth. But there weren't too many finishers. 12 cars were still moving at the end on the hot, humid day that had only one serious yellow light. Foyt and Sneva were the only ones to make 200 laps, while early-leader Al Unser, who wound up third, and Dallenbach completed 199.

Parsons, after running out of fuel, stormed back to gain fifth and was six laps behind the win-er. TOM BIGELOW brought A.J. Watson's creation home in sixth, while Lee if 9 Cordon Joluu-ock Walks To Tit i Joe Crow Says: It's No. 4 For Finallv! Fovt Indianapolis Partly cloudy, warm and humid today through tomorrow, and humid today through tomorrow, with chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms. High today, 88; low tonight.

65; high tomorrow. 88. Indiana Partly cloudy, warm and humid today through tomorrow, with chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms. Highs toda yand tomorrow, 85-90; lows tonight 62-67. More Stores And Pictures On Pages 8,9, 10, II And 12 Kunzman, in a 3-year-old Eagle, came up with a well-deserved seventh.

Roger Steve Krisiloff and rookie Jerry Sneva rounded out the top ten. Defending champ Johnny Rutherford was the first casualty, as his McLaren leaped out of gear and tagged all the valves in his Cosworth engine on the go-around. who started 17th. had blitzed his way to ninth before losing power. Janet Guthrie, the first woman ever to take the green flag at Indianapolis, only mads 27 laps in the two hours and 17 minutes she was in her Vollstedt-Lightning.

A series of problems plagued Miss Guthrie and she was in and out of the pits before inally climbing out of No. 27 in 27th position. ANOTHER rookie. Clay Regazzoni. was Kood by a fuel leak after only 25 circuits and the Grand Prix standout had charged from 29 to 13 in that time.

Mario Andretti, the '09 Indy winner who's challenging for the Formula One title in Europe, was dismissed by a broken hcaner on the 47th lap after getting up to third place. The race opened with Al Unser's Parnelli-Cosworth beating Sneva's Mc-Laren-Cosworth into the first corner. Al. who started on the outside of the front row next to brother Bobby, paced the first 17 circuits before Johncock stormed past him. Johncock led the next three go-a-rounds before pitting and giving Foyt command.

A.J. stayed ahead for two and then he pitted giving George Snider two laps of authority. Foyt remained in front from laps 26 See SUPER TEX, Page Some Lose -1 i (SHr Photo By Greo Grf) Alter His Kngino ets Him Down TOLL MAY TOP 400 Firemen Find 159 Bodies Fused, Stacked In Club By NORM CLARKE Associated Press Writer Southgate Ky. Bodies fused together by flames and "stacked three feet high" were removed with the help of a giant crane yesterday from beneath the fallen roof of a supper club complex where up to 200 laps to the highest plateau of immortality yesterday. Tony was bouncing and smiling like a man half his 75 years.

You'd have thought he was winning HIS fourth 500-Mile Race. "Yes, this is my biggest thrill," he said as he waited for the Texan who nres in u.o. msiuij More stories and pictures on Pages 4, 5 and 64. out Saturday night, apparently in the basement. Early yesterday, officials estimated that between 50 and 250 other bodies still were trapped under the collapsed steel girders that had supported the roof.

Later in the day, however, they refused to give any estimates on the number of bodies still in the rubble. As the large construction crane peeled away layers of debris, more and more bodies were discovered. CAMPBELL COUNTY Coroner Fred See FIRE, Page 5 Today's Prayer On this Memorial Day, let us honor those who have served In the armed forces. And let us also remember those who have struggled and sacrificed to raise their families and to keep our country forging ahead. Amen.

Want Ad Counter Is Cloned Today In observance of Memorial Day, The Star Want Ad and Public Service Counter is closed today. Want Ads may be placed by phone (633-1212) from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m., and from Noon to 3:00 p.m. Death notices may be placed by phone from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., and from Noon to 6:00 p.m. Fin.

St. Running No. Pos. Pos. Driver Car name Laps Reason out 14 1 4 A.

J. Foyt, Gilmore Racing 21)0 Running 8 2 1 Tom Sneva, Norton Spirit 200 Running 21 3 3 AI Unser, Amer. Rat ing 199 Running 40 4 10 Wally Dallenbach, STP Oil Treatment 199 Running 60 5 11 Johnny Parson, STP Goodyear 194 Running 24 6 22 Tom Bigelow, Thermo-King 192 Running 65 7 24 Lee Kuniman, Citv Of Syracuse 191 Running 11 8 18 Roger McCluskey, First Natl. City 191 Running 92 9 25 Steve Krislloff, Mclnfirc Chevrolet 191 Running 36 10 16 Jerry Sneva, 21st Amendment 187 Running 20 11 5 Gordon Johncock, STP Double Oil 184 Engine blew 16 12 28 Bill Puterbaugh, Dayton-WaltherForeman Oil Leak 58 13 32 Eldon Rasmussen, Rent-A-Racer Inc. 169 Running 48 14 8 Pancho Carter, Jorgensen Eagle 156 Engine 42 1 5 31 John' MahlerLarry Cannon, Meigard 20th Century 155 Running 98 1 6 21 Gary Bcttenhausen, Agajanian EvelKnlevel 138 Stalled 84 17 23 Bill Vukovich, Gilmore Racing 110 Broken Rod 6 18 2 Bobby Unser, CobreClayton 94 Oil Line 5 19 9 Mike Mosiey, Sugarlpe Prune 91 Engine 25 20 7 Danny Ongais, Interscapc Racing 90 Lost power 72 21 33 Bubby Jones, Bruce Cogle Ford 78 Valve 29 22 27 Cliff Hucul, Team Canada 72 Rear End 73 23 20 Jim McElreath, Carillo Rod 70 Waste Gate 18 24 13 George Snider, Mel SimonGreenwood Center "65 Valve 78 25 14 Bobby Ollvero, Alex Foods 57 Blower Pressure 9 26 6 Mario Andretti, CAM2 Motor Oil 47 Broken Header 10 27 19 Lloyd Ruby, First National City Travelers Checks 34 Hit Wall 86 28 15 Al Loquasto, Frostie Root Beer 28 Magneto 27 29 26 Janet Gulhrie, Bryant Heating Cooling 27 Engine 38 30 29 Clay Regazzonl, Theodore Racing Fuel leak 17 31 30 Dick Simon, Bryant Heating Cooling 24 Engine Seized 97 32 12 Sheldon Kinser.

Genesee Beer 14 Engine 2 33 17 Johnny Rutherford, First National City Travelers Cheeks 12 Gear box 400 persons died in one ot tne worst Fire Chief Dick Riesenberg stopped the search as dusk approached yesterday and an unexpected thundershower poured rain on the ruins. Operations were to resume at 7 a.m. today. Riesenberg said firemen were exhausted and had been catching naps on fhe ground. He left a crew to weti the smoldering embers of the once-plush nightspot.

He said he hoped to complete the body search today. BY LATE YESTERDAY afternoon, 159 bodies had been brought out of the ruins of the three-story, brick-walled Beverly Hills Supper Club, which was crowded with thousands of holiday weekend merrymakers when fire broke Inside Today's Slur News Summary On Page 2 Amusement Pages 26, 27 Billy Graham 44 Bridge 44 Comics -12 Crossword 41 Editorials 28 finance 43 Gossip 30 Obituaries 43 Sports 33-40 TV-Radio 31 Uncle Ray 44 Weather 63 Want Ads 48-63 Women 18-20 Lap leaders: 1-17, Al Unser; 18-21, Gordon Johncock; 22-23. A. J. Foyt; 24-25, George Snider; 26-51, A.

J. Foyt; 52-68. Johncock; 69-70, Bobby Unser; 71-92, Johncock; 93-96, Tom Sneva; 97-179, Johncock; 180-182. Foyt; 183-185, Johncock; 186-200, Foyt. Yellow lights: Laps 36-44, Ruby crash; 49-51, Tow-in, Rasmussen; 69-72, low-in, Snider: 159-160, tow-in, Parsons; 163-166, Carter, blown engine.

Time of race: 3:05.57.70. Winner's average speed: 161.331 miles an hour. Slar Telephone Numbers Circulation 633-9211 Main Office 633-1240 Want Ads 633-1212 Scores After 4:30 p.m. 633-1 200.