The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 65

a it i 1 JTilii 11 IAIN Di Ait Financial bee. 5 SUNDAY, MAY 11), SdDflD (JPuamEMicBirs Johncock's Oct impouncie MUST now A. J. FOVT 14 Gilmore Racing COYOTB FOYT-T WALLY DALLENBACH 40-STP Oil Treatment EAOLEOFFV-T MIKE HISS 68-Norton Spirit McLaren opfy Cleared In Blower Tests 1 TIME SPEED TIME SPEED TIME SPEED 192.555 192.226 191.489 190.275 :46.74 :lli.82 47.00 47.30 187.422 187.891 187.227 187.422 48.02 47.90 :48.07 48.02 :47.19 47.35 47.66 :47.59 190.718 190.074 188.838 189.115 Totals 3:07.86 191.632 Totals 3:12.01 187.490 Totals 3:09.79 189.683 By GEORGE MOORE Scientists who often wondered about the hypothetical situation of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object should be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this year. Chief mechanic George Big-notti and the United States Auto Club almost represent these conditions, as round two of the big turbocharger controversy moved into the limelight when USAC's technical supervisor Frank Del Roy impounded Gordon Johncock's No.

20 Eagle following John-cock's qualification run. IT WASN'T the speed of 186.287 miles an hour which bothered USAC, but rather a lowly number having the count of 38. This wasn't low enough, and to make things worse it was posted on a "tell-tale" pressure recording gauge which was mounted on Johncock's car. USAC wasn't accusing Bignotti of exceeding the mandatory 80 inches of mercury which is the maximum amount of boost allowed on a qualification run, but due to the gauge of the front row at 189.683' niph. But Johncock said he was satisfied considering the small amount of time they had to get up to speed.

Some neutral engineering observers at the track were of the opinion that USAC was going to be surprised at the readings they were going to get when simulated dynamometer runs were made in an investigation as to whether the car broke the rules. SKCOM) KOW MARIO ANDRETTI 5 Viceroy EAGLE OFFY GORDON JOHNCOCK 20-STP Double Oil Filter AOLi-OFFY-T MIKE MOSLEY 98 Lodestar EAGLE-OFFY-T lwn TIME SPEED TIME SPEED TIME SPEED erita created a considerable jump in pressure. USAC, after impounding the car, announced it was conducting independent dynamometer tests last night on the dyno located in the Louis Meyer, shops on the city's west side. The tests were run by neutral engineers with both USAC and the STP crew observing. It was revealed by the tests that the engine was operated with proper pressure readings and that Bignotti will be permitted to race the engine in the same form in which Johncock qualified it.

Turn To Page 4, Column 3 48.46 48.60 :48.56 48.64 185.720 185.185 185.338 185.033 :48.24 48.26 48.30 :48.4S 186.567 186.490 186.335 185.759 48.22 48.29 :48.48 48.53 186.645 186.374 185.614 185.452 i The Mem Totals 3:14.26 185.319 Totals 3:13.25 186.287 Totals 3:13.52 186.027 reading it's the club's stand this was a possibility. Bignotti, however, took the position that his big blower did not exceed 80 inches of boost, and that he tried to tell USAC that they were not going to get a true reading on their gauge. Cited was the fact that the big blower put out a high amount of air flow, and when the flow was suddenly interrupted by the butterflies being closed the high moment of in- THIRD ROW TOM SNEVA 21 King KINGFISH-OFFY DAVID HOBBS 73 Carling Black Label McLAREN-OFFY BOBBY UNSER 48 Olsonlte EAGLE-OFFY TIME SPEED TIME SPEED TIME SPEED The Topic 48.79 48.63 48.63 :48.72 184.464 185.071 185.071 184.729 186.220 185.759 185.071 183.671 48.33 :48.45 48.63 :49.0O 48.33 :48.41 48.70 19.00 186.220 185.912 184.805 183.673 Totals 3:14.77 184.833 Totals 3:14.41 185.176 Totals 14.44 185.149 FOURTH ROW GARY BETTENHAUSEN 8 Score McLARENOFFY DICK SIMON 44 Travelodge JIMMY CARUTHERS 21 Cobre Firestone EAGLE-OFFY EAGLE FOYTT TIME SPEED TIME SPEED :48.74 48.57 :48.97 49.32 184.653 185.300 183.786 182.482 185.109 185.147 184.200 183.524 48.62 :48.61 :48.86 :49.04 Bignotti says that when Johncock closes the butterfly valves which are the throttle plates in the fuel injection system which let air and fuel into the engine, it raises the pressure on the gauge. "YOU HAVE AIR going 600 miles an hour," he said, "and when you snap the butterflies shut it backs up and you get an instant pressure jump. "You have 80 inches on the front straightaway and then it jumps to 100." Del Roy wasn't convinced this was the case, saying, "You get a certain amount of surge, but nothing that great.

It shouldn't amount to more than a couple of inches, and we would have allowed that." An obviously irked Johncock sided with Bignotti, stating that he felt USAC didn't know what it was doing. "It seems USAC feels they have to nit-pick," Johncock said, "and I'm pretty damn mad that they had to choose my car to nit-pick on." JOHNCOCK'S SPEED a below that of teammate Wally Dallenbach's No. 40 STP ma-v chine which is in the middle TIME SPEED 49.24 182.778 48.84 184.275 48.42 185.874 :48.62 185.109 Totals 3:15.12 184.502 Totals 3:15.60 184.049 Totals 3:15.13 184.492 "7 WITH ROW SALT WALTHER 77-Dayton-Walther McLAREN OFFY STEVE KRISILOFF 60-STP Gas Treatment EAGLE-OFFY GEORGE SNIDER 82 J. II. Greer ATLANTA-FOYT TIME SPEED TIME SPEED stiff Li $SMSili: 1 11 Js Vfl! 777 'J I era 49.26 :49.27 49.39 49.32 182.701 182.667 182.223 182.482 186.335 183.899 183.262 182.519 48.30 :48.94 :49.11 :49.31 Driver Gordon Johncock (left) and George Bignotti, chief mechanic for the No.

20 STP Special, were the principals involved in the controversy over the use of an oversized blower on Johncock's car during his 186.287 mile-an-hour qualifications run yesterday at the Speedway. The car was impounded by the United States Auto Club Technical Committee to determine if the blower exceeded the mandatory maximum of boost on the machine's Offenhauser engine. The turbocharger was "cleared" late yesterday. (AP Photo) TIME SPEED :48.99 1 83.711 48.88 184.124 :48.87 184.162 :48.99 183.711 Totals 3:15.73 183.927 Here's the oversized blower that caused the hassle over Gordon Johncock's qualifications run yesterday. The special turbocharger on the No.

20 Eagle Offy overpowers, a mandatory pressure regulator (popoff valve) which is Intended to limit the horsepower of th engine (UPI Photo) Totals 3:17.24 182.519 Totals 15.66 183.993 SIXTH ROW JERRY GRANT 55 Cobre Firestone EAGLE-OFFY fails in fkkaknkss BILL VUKOVICH 4 Sugaripe Prune EAGLE-OFFY LLOYD RUBY 9 Unlimited Racing EAGLE-OFFY TIME SPEED TIME SPEED TIME SPEED Little Current Flows To Easy Victory :49.42 182.113 aw" 182.704 180.941 181.708 181.781 :49.26 :49.74 :49.53 19.51 181.525 183.07S 183.262 182.149 19.58 :49.16 :49.11 49.41 49.38 :49.71 :49.62 182.260 181.050 181.378 Totals 3:18.13 181.699 Totals 17.26 182.500 Totals 3:18.04 181.781 4' ''iv1 Great's owner and trainer, for permission to take Rivera as their first-call rider. Rivera, who rode Little Current to a fourth-place finish in the Blue Grass, also credited his good friend Angel Cordero with playing a part in getting the chance to win the Preakness. SEVENTH ROW BILL SIMPSON 18 All-American Kids EAGLE-OFFY JERRY KARL 42 Lindsey Hopkins PANCHO CARTER 11 Cobre Firestone EAGLE-OFFY EAGLE OFFY A TIME SPEED TIME SPEED TIME SPEED ner Cannonade. At the finish he was seven lengths in front of longshot Neopolitan Wary with Cannonade another length back. "Winning the Preakness was the one thing I really wanted," said owner John Galbreath, who added that Little Current definitely will run in the Belmont Stakes.

He and trainer Rondinello also wanted Rivera to ride Little Current, who had finished fifth in the Derby with a big stretch run under Bobby Ussery. Rondinello said he and Galbreath had asked Sig-mond and Frank (Pancho) Martin, Rube The Baltimore (AP) His trainer calls him a one-run horse. And that one run made Little Current a runaway winner ye sterday in the $209,000 Preakness. "This is a one-run horse," trainer Lou Rondinello told jockey Miguel Rivera. "Wait, wait, wait." Rivera waited cooly, even when Little Current couldn't get through with five-sixteenths of a mile left.

The patience paid off. Little Current stormed through on the rail and ran away from the field which included Kentucky Derby win :49.71 :49.67 :50.04 :49.91 181.050 181.196 179.856 180.325 182.519 181.452 180.072 180.144 182.593 182.113 181.269 179.856 49.31 :49.60 49.98 :49.96 49.29 49.42 49.65 :50.04 who had ridden in the Derby and had ridden Little in his first nine Cordero, Cannonade Preakness, Current Totals Totals 3:19.33 180.605 third ahead of Jolly John, who was another longshot. For a tima in the upper stretch it appeared Cannonade might keep alive his chances for the Triple Crown, but those chances evaporated in the final eighth of a mile as Little Current simply ran away. Buck's Bid's hopes for the Preakness vanished when he stumbled coming out of the gate and threw rider Don MacBeth. MacBeth apparently was unhurt.

Little Current, who had finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby after making a big stretch run, beat Neopolitan Way to the finish by a widening seven lengths. Neopolitan Way finished a length in front of Cannonade, who was three quarters of a length better than Jolly John. The time of 1:54 3-5 for the 1 3-16 miles tied the clocking of Nashua in 1955 and made the 99th Preakness the third fastest. Totals 18.40 181.452 3:18.85 181.041 was timed in 1:54 2-5 last year. Little Current returned $28.20, $15.40 and $7.80 to his backers in a crowd of 54,911 on a sunny day.

Neopolitan Way, owned by Elizabeth F. Thomas, paid $22 and $10, and John M. Olic's Cannonade paid $4 to show. The victory for Rivera was sweet, coming on the heels of his lOth-place Derby ride on Rube The Great, and the Puerto Riean earned the victory with a beautiful ride on the chestnut son of Sea Bird. It was the first Preakness victory for Galbreath, who had seen his Darby Dan silks carried to triumph by Cha-teaugay and Proud Clarion in th 1963 and 1967 Derbies.

Little Current's win was worth $156,500. Both the gross purse and the winner's share were Preakness records. In spoiling Cannonade's shot at the Triple Crown, Little Current, who had been ridden by Bobby Ussery in the Derby, won his second race in Turn To Page 4, Column 5 races. Outsider Neopolitan Way was second and Derby winner Cannonade was EIGHTH ROW TOM BIGELOW 27-Brvant Heat. Cool.

VOLLST DT OFF JOHN MARTIN 89 Sea Snack Shrimp RICK MUTHER 61 Eisenhour COYOTE-FOYT-T McLAREN OFFY TIME SPEED TIME SPEED TIME SPEED Front Row Seat New Wrinkle For Mike Hiss 179.176 180.868 180.397 179.533 :50.23 49.76 19.89 :50.13 181.452 179.856 179.784 179.497 181.855 180.361 180.000 179.426 :49.60 :50.04 50.06 :50.14 :49.49 19.90 50.00 50.16 Totals 3:20.01 179.991 Totals 3:19.81 180.141 Totals 3:19.55 180.406 NINTH ROW AL UNSER 15 Viceroy EAGLE OFFY ROGER McCLUSKEY 1 English Leather Cannoncro flat in 1971 II won in 1:54 and Secretarial JOHNNY RUTHERFORD 3 Team McLaren McLaren offy RILEY OFFY-T TIME SPEED TIME SPEED TIME SPEED :48.81 184.275 19.85 :49.62 :49.73 :49.69 180.542 181,378 180.977 181.123 191.123 191.042 190.517 189.115 AIM :47.11 47.24 11.59 :49.20 182.927 f4r tunnel Totals 18.89 181.005 Totals 3:09.03 190.446 3:15.77 183.889 I'm not going to risk an accident to prove a point." Though he had entertained firs t-row aspirations from Day 1 in Roger Penskes Norton Spirit McLaren, Hiss still seemed a little unsettled at his new-won prominence. "It's going to be quite a thing," laughed the 1972 rookie of the year. At that, he wasn't too satisfied with his speed. "We ran with the pojioff valve last Saturday and had a 190. We even had 187 In the wind last Sunday.

"We had 80 inches of boost then, but when we went out tliis morning we were only getting 76 inches. We turned in the popoff value to (technical committee chairman) Frank Del Roy, who said he'd get it fixed. But when he brought it back, it still gave us only 76 inches. "I don't want to make a big thing of it, though. A lot of other guys say they're only getting 76 inches, too." THE MISSING four inches By DAVE OVERPECK "It's a responsibility," said Mike Hiss as he settled into the unconventional for him, at least position of a front row starter for next Sunday's 500-Mile Race.

His 187.490 miles an hour average places him in the first rank of a championship race for the first time in his three-year career. But just because the Hurst Oldsmobilc pace car is the only piece of equipment he'll start behind, Hiss isn't entertaining any dreams of glory when the green flag drops a week from today on the 58th running of the International Sweepstakes. "I'M NOT GOING to concern myself with the first turn," he said. "My responsibility is to win the race, not to be the first into the turn. It's a long race.

"If I get the jump on them (pole sitter A.J. Foyt and middle man Wally Dallcn-bach), okay. I'm not going to concede the lead to them, but fj if it -s. ''lPV- 1 "M-vTi I fl of turbocharger boost was the only thing Hiss had to complain about on his four laps against the clock. "The car was virtually flawless," he said.

"We had a little understcer condition (the car wanted to push out toward the wall) in the third turn that we might have been able to correct with a little more time. But it really was so insignificant that it's not worth mentioning." The only thing that concerned Hiss about the slump from his practice times to his qualification run was that It might let Mario A 1 1 i move past him into the front row. "With the run we had, I really thought Mario might be able to catch us," he said. "We had been running faster than him all the time, but with the dropoff we had with only 76 Inches, we were afraid that he might catch us." As it turned out, Andretti, who has been struggling all Turn To Page 4, Column 1 TENTH ROW JOHNNY PARSONS 94 Vatls FINLEY OFFY JIM HURTUBISE 56-Miller High Life JIM McELREATH 45-Thermo-King IAOLI-OFFY-T McLAREN OFFY TIME SPEED TIME SPEED TIME SPEED 50.67 177.620 :50.64 177.725 50.89 176.852 :50.87 176.922 49.82 :49.79 :50.19 :49.92 180.650 180.759 179.319 180.288 182.667 181.781 178.501 178.288 49.27 :49.51 :50.42 50.48 -tf" '1 Totals 1 im Totals :23.07 177.279 Totals 19.68 180.288 rl 3:19.72 180.252 I 1 imiinnww ELEVENTH ROW JAN OPPERMAN 51 Viceroy FARNELLI OFFY LARRY CANNON 59 Hoffman Auto Racing EAGLE OFFY BOB HARKEY 79 Peru Clrciis KINYON FOYT TIME SPEED TIME SPEED TIME SPEED :50.93 176.713 50.98 176.510 50.77 177.270 i I :5I.7I :51.74 51.70 :5I.76 173.917 173.917 174.081 173.879 176.614 176.125 175.881 176.091 ssn.os :51.10 :51.17 :51.11 Index To Sports I.U. TRACK CHAMP-lndiona overwhelmed the Big 10 track field with five firsts Page 3 Big Fish Contest 15 Hoosier Golf Scene .15 Scoutin' The Outdoors 12 Lines And Shots .,,.11 :5l.07 1'liiHHilivil Ads SI art On 10, Section 2 A LITTLE MUDDY-Jockey Miguel Rivera and Preakness Stakes winner Little Current looked as if they'd been following a fast tractor-trailer in a freshly plowed wet field here after winning the 99th running of the thoroughbred horse racing classic yesterday at Pimlico.

(AP Wirephoto) An Totals 3:24.33 176.186 Totals 3:26.91 173.963 lotnls 3:23.75 176.687.