The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 69

ONGAIS9 201.974 EDGES AHDRETTI'S 2 01. S3 It It's 0. And Mario; 201 Plus Speedway Top Ten Siprte wiped out in his Texas crash last month, jumped up to 196.850 in Jim Hall's creation. Salt Walther, in his year-old Penske-Cosworth, flashed onto the 196 scene and Bobby Unser tripped 196-plus in his Lightning-Cosworth just before spinning and grazing the wall at mid-day. Car and pilot were fine and Bobby had Dan Gur-ney's new Eagle out later in the The Indianapolis Star-thursday, may 11, 1978 PAGE 69 smile to Lindsey Hopkins' face with a 195.524 reading in his Lightning-Offy.

STEVE KRISILOFF also checked in at 195-plus and Pancho Carter shook his Budwesier Lightning down at 192-plus. And a fellow named Foyt finally showed his face and new Coyote. A.J. took a couple slow warmup laps and then hit 189 the second time by before going back to his garage. Tom Bagley finished his rookie test and then went almost 187 in A.J.

Wat- 101 tN 301 U7.472 m.sis ..17.4 HUM H.t U4.J07 IM.M7 lS 114 1. Danny Onaahv Interscooa Parnelli-Cosworth No. 2S 2. Maria Andralll Gould Charge PanskaXosworth No. 7 3.

Gordon Johncock NAVL Pacesetter WildcaVDGS No. 20 4. Johnny Rutherford 1t Notional City McLaren Coaoorth No. a 5. Wally Dallonoach Sugarioe Prune McLaren-Cosworth No.

4 At Unser Hi NC Chaparral Lola-Cosworth No. 1. Sail Waltfter Devton Walther McLaren-Cosworth No. 77 I. Bobby Unser ARCOgraphite Lightning-Cosworth No.

48 9. Tom Sneva Norton Spirit Penske-Cosworth No. I 10. Johnny Parsons 1st National City Lightning. Offy No.

16 Sneva got his Norton Spirits up to 195.897 and Johnny Parsons brought a son's machine. Dancing Words Concern Racing A By ROBIN MILLER Danny Ongais, a middleweight contender out of Hawaii, and Mario Andretti, a flyweight champion from Pennsylvania, went at it toe-to-toe Wednesday afternoon in a sparring match of speed that stunned the racing world. Ongais recorded a narrow decision and. the fastest lap ever at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by poking his Parnelli-Cosworth down in the corners to the tune of 201.974 miles an hour. That official-unofficial reading was just a bit better than Andretti's 201.838, but Danny O.

got the unanimous nod as pole favorite with seven consecutive laps over the 200-mph plateau. TO REFRESH YOUR memory, defending national champ Tom Sneva holds the one and four-lap records of 200.535 and 198.884 mph. In his breathtaking performance yesterday during the Speedway's "happy hour," Ongais bettered Sneva's single circuit mark on four of those seven rapid rounds at the 2' 2-mile oval. "We were working hard out there," replied a relaxed Ongais following his superlative effort. "Everything feels pretty good with the chassis and there's not any one part of the track I'm faster Danny winner of two of the four races on the United States Auto Club's champ trail and the current point leader, was asked if he could get any more speed out of his sleek, black Interscope Special.

"There's a certain amount you can extract from a car and I don't know if we've reached that point yet," was his reply. "Things seem to be a little easier, but that's probably because I've had a year's experience in this car." His hot laps began about 5:48 and the siege ended right at the 6 o'clock gun. He went out and reeled off circuits of 200.044, 201.432 200.800 and 200.600 before coming into the pits. WHILE HE WAS heading in, Andretti, in street clothes, walked up to Ongais' co-owner Vel Miletich and cracked, "84 inches, Vel?" After a brief consultation with chief Sports Over Lightly la Bob allla. Sport Keillor AAV mechanic Phil Casey and a check of tire stagger from Goodyear's, Stu Grant, Danny O.

stormed back out. The first time by was 200.061, then 201.477 and finally he brought the day to a fantastic finish with his 201.974 lap. Many people along pit row had him over 202 on that last lap and only Al Unser (who reportedly ran 202.4 in tire tests here in April) has ever flirted with those numbers. Andretti, who posted his time around 5 o'clock and then quit for the day, said running 201 in his Penske-Cosworth was easier than when he went 200 last May. But just before Danny's runs, Mario said that he didn't think anyone could put four laps at 201 together.

"I don't think you'll see four straight laps at 201 on qualifying day because you just can't keep the tires cool enough," said the versatile little man. HE MIGHT HAVE felt a little differently at 6:05. Those two definitely stole the show, but there were 12 other drivers over the 190 mph mark led by Gordon Johncock. Gordie, who's managed to win twice in '78 with George Bignotti's 4-cylinder engine, cranked out a 197.672 in his Pacesetter Wildcat to move into third spot on the speed chart. Johnny Rutherford was right on John-cock's wing with a lap of 197.585 in his new McLaren-Cosworth and Wally Dal-lenbach also found 197-plus in Jud Phillips' Lightning-Cosworth.

Al Unser, whose 202-mph Lola was CONVERSATION while dancing: Saw a picture the other day of Bobby Unser autographing the back of a gal's tee shirt. Either it was a posed picture or the Bobby Unser I have come to know and love got confused and signed the wrong side. Little has been made of it so far, but there are three foreign entrants in the 1978 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. We have Mario Andretti from the Grand Prix circuit and Johnny Rutherford and A. J.

Foyt from Texas. Danny Ongais, who is almost as exciting as some of the pictures on Hawaiian postcards, has been so sensational this season he has made the hair stand up on Parnelli Jones' head. And if you think that isn't an accomplishment, next time you see Rufus check his head for hair. I find it hard to believe they will have a race this year without Lloyd Ruby. It is my opinion, based on absolutely no inside information, that somebody will give Ole Rube a ride.

A race without Ruby would be like spaghetti without sauce. I HAVE TO BELIEVE that the new rule closing the track at 8 o'clock each and every evening is the result of some secret technological breakthrough. Somebody has invented a new machine. Al- ways before it was at least 9 before they could sweep all of the drunks out of the infield. First and only tip you'll get from me this month: If you are searching fora winner, my advice is take a look at Andretti or Rutherford.

Why? Simple. I always pick Andretti or Rutherford. No matter who wins or loses, the fellow who will have the most fun this month will be the one and only Jim Hurtubise. Why docs Foyt, the man who has everything, including four 500 victories, keep racing? My guess is that, 1, he still enjoys it, and, 2, one of the everythings he has is race horses. I've seen some of his horses run, bet a few and lost a lot.

I figure he has to be approaching every 500 with a renewed dedication. Like he has to win here no less than once a year to pay his feed bills. DANNY ONGAIS RELAXES BEFORE RAPID RUN 201.974 On Electric Eye Tops Andretti's 201.838 TWO RACE CARS ALIKE? Unser Wants Another Hot Lola Like One He Crashed 2 steel belts Adds strength to resist impact and helps Improve the puncture resistance In critical tread area. mm 1 Spedall Aj polyester plies Provides sidewall strength and flexibility permitting the sidewall to absorb shock. Helps improve handling characteristics.

K- ill By DAVE OVERPECK Six weeks ago Al Unser had the Speedway licked. Three weeks ago you could have asked Al about the Speedway and the 500-Mile Race and he would have asked "What Speedway? What 500-Mile Race?" It wasn't quite that bad. But there is no arguing that the 1970-71 500 winner got his bell rather vigorously rung In a crash at Texas International Speedway April 15 that wiped out the Lola that had carried him to an unofficial 202 4 mile an hour lap according to his crew's watches at the Speedway nine days earlier. The spectacular wipeout didn't exactly put the younger Unser brother and Jim Hall's First National City Chaparral crew back to square one. But.

as Al puts it. "the wreck really put us behind. The crew has worked really hard to get this car ready." "THIS CAR" IS ANOTHER Lola powered by a Cosworth V-8. In theory it is a twin to the car that went 202 4 just before its premature demise. But like fingerprints, there are no two race cars that are eactly the same.

And the second Lola is going through the teething problems that come with most new cars. "It's a Lola," said Unser Wednesday after working the new critter up to 191 9, still more than 10 miles an hour short of what he did in the first week of April and almost that much short of top speed for this month at the Speedway. Late in the afternoon, Al had far more reason to smile after adding almost five mph onto his month's best with a lap at 196.850. Even with that major jump, L'nser's machine still is going through its predictable teething problems. "This one has the new car blues.

It happens with every car when you get into the speed range we're trying to do. It's difficult for the car." So instead of fine tuning a car that had its bugs sorted out, Unser is busy fumigating a new machine. It's aggravating, but a veteran of 12 500s accepts the Inconveniences a little bit better than a newcomer. The measure is progress. "It was better today than it was yesterday," said Unser.

"This wasn't qualifying day so I'm not that concerned. "LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE, I'D LIKE to be running 200 and then I'd be laughin'. But I'm not, so we're working at getting back up there. "We just have to sort this car Out. It's difficult.

"It's got several little problems we're trying to cure. It would take me all day to tell you all of them. It's like I said before, it's got the new car blues." Of course, because the problems are predictable doesn't make the struggle to solve them any easier. "It's difficult." says Unser. "If it was easy, anybody could do it.

We just gotta go out there and work the problems out. "This one isn't sorting out any slower than the other one. It's really not fair to compare them. The other car already was sorted out when I came here to test. I had worked with it at Ontario and at Phoenix.

"Any new car takes a while to work out. Some never do." There still are two days to get the bugs thoroughly sorted out but Unser isn't holding any illusions about being a pole candidate Saturday. Not that it particularly upsets him. "I never think that way," he says. "I'm past the age of caring about that.

"DON'T GET ME WRONG It (the pole) is nice it's good for the team and it's good for the sponsor. But I don't need it for myself anymore. "The important thing for me is to be able to run well in the race. It's important to have the speed whatever the speed is to win the race. "But the race speed is not going to be 200 miles an hour so I don't care that I'm not running that fast.

Just so I can run fast enough to win. "Under the circumstances. I've got to look at it as just get into the race at a good speed. It is important to start up front. "Having to start over like this doen't make you feel the best or the crew feels its best.

But this car had to be sorted out anyway. If this one was like the other, we wouldn't be running as slow as we are." At that Unser isn't terribly concerned. The target still is more than two weeks away and he's got the rest of this week and next to accomplish what has to be done. Says he, "Our deadline is May 28. May 13 doesn't bother me." The Survivor 78 Steel Belted Radial features two steel belts and two polyester cord plies.

Whitewalls only. No trade-in required. if All Tire size Price fed. tax BR78-13 $29 1L99 ER78-14 $42 iMO FR78-14 $42 2 GR78-14 $43 2Jf5 HR78-14 $46 296 GR78-15 $51 283 HR78-15 $52 X03" LR78-15 $53 I 3.44 Vukovich Predicts 204 Lap As Drivers Guess Pole Speed 1 If 7, ft Sh PIT PASS 10.88 t': TF YOU ASK THE average race driver and STP asked 27 of them the pole winner Saturday will average 200.445 miles, an hour for his 10 miles against the clock and will have, a best lap of 202.286. If the average of the poll is correct, Tom Sneva's year-old official Speedway records of 200.535 for one circuit and 198 884 for four are headed for the history books.

The range of guesses for the fastest lap went from Bill Vukovich's 204.113 to Sheldon Kinser'i 199.800. Sneva, with an obvious vested interest, was only a shade less conservative in saying the top lap would be 199999. The four lap guesses ranged from Vukovich's high of 203.161 to Sneva's 198 522. The average predicted speed to make the show was 187 021 (Steve Krisiloff'i 184 691 was slowest a year ago). The range here ran from Dick Simon's 190 .000 to Sneva's 184 444.

Wheel Alignment Professional electronic analysis and alignment to manufacturer's specifications for better tire wear. Most U.S. cars. Add $2 for AC 5 Add $2 for Torsion Bar Suspension the supply of oil going to the supercharger and that did the trick. The two fired up the old Miller Wednesday with Spoerle driving it around their own little test track on the east side of the Speedway's grounds.

There is a delicious shriek to the blower and nary a wisp out of the pipe. A TENNIS TOURNAMENT, the first of its kind, has been added to the numerous festivities in connection with the 500-mile Speedway auto race May 28. A memorial tennis classic, with all proceeds going to the United States Auto Club Benevolent Foundation, will be staged at West Indy Racquet Club May 26. The tourney was organized by Lynda Johncock, wife of Gordon Johncock, following the recent plane crash near Rushville, in which all nine persons aboard a twin-engine charter plane were killed. Eight of them were affiliated with USAC.

The entry deadline for the tennis tourney is May 19. SPEEDWAY PUBLICIST Al Bloemker, a sportswri-ter for The Indianapolis Star when type was-still metal and skirts came below the knees, notes that if history repeats itself for the fourth year in a row, Tom Sneva will be In Victory Lane come May 28. The second-place finishers from 1974 through 1976 moved up one spot the next year. Sneva came up about seconds short of A.J. Foyt a year ago.

11 So. WHILE OTHERS are still digging for the elusive sponsoring money, personable Al Loquasto has gotten the job done. The little Pennsylvanian's No. 86 McLaren henceforth will be known as the American Rustproofing Special. The car was due In Wednesday but got trapped in the Colorado blizzard over the weekend and now won't arrive until today.

JCP(SIT1n)8 Auto center Lafayette Square Washington Square Castleton Square Anderson Crawfordsville Columbus THERE WAS AS much action in the Speedway's antique car garage Wednesday as there was In, the garage area after a report that Louis Meyer's 1928 winning Miller, which will be driven around the track on race day, was having smoke problems out the exhaust. Mechanics Barney Wimmcr and Bill Spoerle got hot on the project and cured 'the trouble by cutting down i9fT JCPennay Co tnc.