The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 23

SATURDAY. MAY 20. 1978 THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR -PAGE 23 SAE'S SCIIHITZEIt AWARD TO SLOBODYIVSKJ esigner Of Lightning Engine Honored The award was given for his design of the laydown engine Lightning owned by Lindsey Hopkins and driven by Johnny McCord Auto Finley; Geoff Ferris, Gould Penske. This is the first year that the annual award was given in the name of Louis B. Schwitzer, an Indianapolis industrialist, racing driver at the Speedway and a long-time official when the 500 was sanctioned by the American Automobile mounting position lowered the car's center of gravity and permitted improvements in aerodynamics.

The final angle of the engine was determined in a large part by the exhaust header pipes which needed a certain amount of ground clearance. Its positioning also dictated the creation of a new transmission inasmuch as the centerline of the crankshaft is 5 7 inches to the left of the centerline of the chassis. Roman, who worked for eight years in the aerospace industry with North American Rockwell, began designing race cars for Dan Gurney's Ail-American Racers as a part-time effort in 1967. He quit aerospace in 1969 to devote full time to race car designing and was involved with the design of the 72 Eagle. His association with Hopkins began in 1975.

ROMAN'S LAYDOWN Lightning for which he was given the 1978 Schwitzer award features an Offy engine which was laid over 78 degrees from vertical. This By GEORGE MOORE Roman Slobodynskyj, a native of Russia who emigrated in 1949 and became a United States citizen, saw the American Dream come true Friday night. Slobodynskyj was presented the prestigious Louis B. Schwitzer Award for innovation and engineering excellence in the field of race car design by the Indiana Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers at its annua) 500-Mile Race meeting. Parsons.

"It indeed is a great honor and I'm appreciative of the committee's (SAE selection committee) consideration of myself," Roman said. SLOBODYNSKYJ was chosen from a group of five finalists by the SAE. Others were Dick Beith, designer of the American Kids Racer; Jim Hall, Eric Broad-ley, the Chaparall Lola; Bill Finley, Schwiter won the first race staged at the Speedway during its inaugural program in 1909. The event was a five-mile contest, with the victor wheeling a ONLY AFTER GOItDIE, KfllSILOFF QUALIFY Mosley May Drive Bignotti's 3d "THE BASICS ARE for cleaner lines for better aerodynamics coupled with the increased power from the V-8." Roman has been an advocate of small increments of change every year, so a radical move should be of great interest. The design trend in building a more slippery shape to slide through the air with minimum drag leans toward a shallower and narrower tub (body).

However, this concept has limits. "You must determine where you want to carry the fuel load," Roman said, "and still have structural rigidity. If you have a tub which is too shallow, you have fuel all over everywhere, which doesn't contribute to rigidity." Roman says that he feels the trend of the car of the future will be to have the radiators in front of the rear wheels, a facet which is coming to the fore right now, and certainly there will be different engine configurations with which to work. THERE IS A turbocharged double-overhead cam opposed six-cylinder racing engine about to come on the scene and in Europe there are opposed-12 and V-12 powerplants in Formula I which give indication that this concept could well be adapted to Speedway racing. "I'd say that if there was a flat-12 that had all of its features like reliability, power, size, worked out," Roman said, "that was here today it would be on the pole." All this approach with dropping the engine lower in the chassis results in a lower center of gravity which markedly improves the handling of the chassis.

The gearbox is a transverse-shaft type which utilizes bevel gears instead of the conventional ring and pinion system to give the power flow from the engine a 90-degree turn to the driving wheel. To date, however, the transmission has not been without its problems and remains a bit of an unknown quotient. The laydown engine also called for rerouting the coolant flow in the engine to where it flows across the block from bottom to top rather than exiting from ports in the top of the head as is the case with the conventional Offy. IN ADDITION, the design concept required the block to be turned around on the crankcase so that the fuelair flow going into the intake ports didn't run uphill. As the engineering personnel of the SAE are well aware, many times a design in product form already has been made obsolete by something on the drawing board.

Such is the case of the award-winning laydown Offy. Roman already has a V-8 in the works which he says will be better than the four-cylinder Offy, and even this is being built as a transition car. Farther down the road is their car of the future. "We're making some rather radical moves," Roman said. "It's now on the drawing board, but we should have a lot of pieces made by late November.

PIT fitoi Speeifliaij Staff In a banzai effort, and providing nothing more goes wrong, Patrick Racing will put Mike Mosley in a Bignotti Wildcat powered by the new, and so far unraced, Drake V-8 for a qualification attempt sometime this weekend. This will be done, however, only after Gordon Johncock in the North American Van Lines No. 20 and Steve Krisiloff in the Foreman Industries No. 40 are in the starting field. The car probably will carry No.

80, a number used by chief mechanic George Bignotti in the past. Mosley's chances of making the lineup must be considered a bit iffy, considering the problems being encoutered and being eliminated one by one, with the somewhat cantankerous V-8. It has power, but other factors seem to surface just when the engine begins to flex its muscles. The chassis also needs some adjusting to come up to speeds considered necessary to making the starting field. But 'Johncock, who has put some test miles on the V-8, feels it will have a straightaway speed of around 230 miles an hour when everything is worked out.

"In laying over the engine," Roman said, "Parsons tells us that it's much more comfortble to drive, much more stable and will be much better in traffic during a race." YOU CAN HAVE A FULL HEAD of HAIR NEXT WEEK THIS TIME way Golf Course's championship links, pro Rollie Schroder reminds. The annual event, about the only sporting event in the world where successful cheating is more admired than in auto racing, gets underway at 10 a.m. with a shotgun start. Bob Laycock is accepting entries in the Speedway press room. Bill Vukovich, whose driver is almost as good as his foot mashie, is the defending champion in the active driver catag-ory and holder of the Mike Sullivan Memorial Trophy.

RUSS POLAK, the owner of Larry Dickson's Penske-Cosworth, had a couple of reasons to smile Friday. First of all, he reclaimed his wife from the hospital where she'd undergone surgery. So the days of baloney sandwiches finally are over and the dirty dishes are out of the sink. Additionally, the Fishers (Ind.) construction man picked up a partial sponsor for his racing program. Hub States Corporation kicked some money into the kitty to get its new product, Sta-On Car Glaze, a mention at the Speedway.

So the No. 80 machine now is known as the Polak-Sta-On Glaze Special. THE CLIPPER'S Mate Styling Shop-pe, located in the first block of East Ohio Street, is presenting the fastest driver of Hair Bond can replace your missing hair so you will take on the same appearance had you not lost your hair. Designed for those who couldn't or wouldn't wear a wig or toupee. Call or write for additional information.

SWIM, SHAMPOO, OR PLAY SPORTS, Before SLEEP WITH CONFIDENCE OF vVV tJk After UjfiiCiAAtiK PERMANENT HAIR. NON-SURGICAL it TONY GULOTTA, who wrote history at the Speedway 50 years ago by nearly winning the 500 in 1928, arrived at the track in anticipation of attending the annual 500 Oldtimers Club banquet this Monday Gulotta, driving a Miller sponsored by Stutz, led a great deal of the way before fuel line problems dropped him out of the front-running spot in the closing laps. Jimmy Gleason in a Duesenberg took over for about four laps until a broken water jacket eliminated him and Louis Meyer swept past to win THE ANNUAL drivers' golf tournament is scheduled for Monday on Speed- GUARANTEED UNDETECTABLE at Time You Receive Hair or No Charge rni inrvu lliVlliawvrviiaBeii ANXICTS S01 Notional Ave. APOLLO'S SOI Notional Ave. I I MAKING PLANS Penske team drivers Tom Sneva (left) and Rick Mears, with their boss, Roger Penske, discuss plans Friday for today's qualification runs at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Both drivers have logged laps of 200-plus in practice in their Penske-Cosworth machines and will be aiming at the pole position for the 500 Mile Race May 28. (Star Photo By Jerry Clark) (Suite C) I Ind. 46227 I HAIR BOND of Indiana APOLLO'S HAIR BOND CALL COLLECT 317-788-4601 Or Send Coupon for Free Information You'll Be Glad You Did Name Age Name Age Address Phone Address Phone City State Zip City State Zip tances, and others with an insult in mind, has begged off because of the press of business (and a desire to keep certain things private). In his place, Parnelli Jones has agreed to go on the griddle. The swap shouldn't make much difference because most attention is certain to be focused upon the other roastee.

After all, Linda Vaughn is (II younger, (2) a whole lot easier on the eyes than either Ward or Jones. each practice day with a free hair-styling job. Transplants are not included THE FIFTH ANNUAL Art Pollard Memorial Picnic for children from LaRue Carter Hospital will be next Wednesday at the track. It originally was scheduled for last Tuesday, but bad weather forced the postponement. VETERAN MECHANIC Clint Brawner and his American Rustproofing crew on Al Loquasto's No.

86 McLaren-Offy advanced into next Wednesday's Miller Pit Stop II competition with the third best overall time. Pancho Carter's Budweiser Lightning-Cosworth was the only other team from Thursday's second round of preliminary eliminations to make the finals. THE ROSTER OF roastees for next Wednesday's first race driver roast at the Convention Center has undergone a change. Rodger Ward, originally scheduled to undergo the thrusts of friends, acquain Bouton Gets Win Savannah, Ga. (AP) Jim Bouton, the former major league pitcher and bestselling author, made his second comeback in the Southern League Friday night and this time he was successful, scattering six hits to guide the Savannah Braves to a 5-3 victory over Nashville.

Bouton, a 39-year-old knuckleballer who last pitched in the majors in 1970 and then wrote the bestselling "Ball Four," struck out eight and did not walk a batter. But two of the hits were home runs that resulted in all three Nashville runs. if-, 'M iiHj' j'V yTOI 5 "If v.a t' 'I il mwjja-mmmm BsirrjoAHS PAIN IN THE NECK Gary Bertenhousen stretches to relieve some discomfort in his neck as he waits in the sun Friday afternoon to take to the Speedway track for some practice laps in preparation for today's qualifying runs. (Star Photo) mm KNOWN FOR QUALITY WORKMANSHIP GEN. LEATHER SOLES UPPERS SEVERAL STYLES COLORS Yazoo It's like l.lf.l-LJJA Ji cuiung your lawn SHOWN, JUST ONE OF MANY STYLES in naii.

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