The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 25

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR -PAGE 25' 1WOSIER BOB GLIDBEN RULES PRO STOCKS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1979- Top Feel Upset Kin Kelly mm WW1 '(-WpWIW i t.u i r. x. 1 i 7 1 sstitf By GEORGE MOORE The mighty, with one exception, fell at the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park Monday. The National Hot Rod Association's world champion in Top Fuel, Kelly Brown, won the Top Eliminator title by defeating Johnny Abbott in the championship race, as heavy favorites Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney and Richard Tharp watched from the sidelines.

Brown, from Calabasas, got his act together and posted an elapsed time run of 5.889 seconds with a speed of 245.23 miles an hour, to get to the finish line ahead of Abbott, of Denver, who mustered an e.t. of 6.331 seconds and speed of 196.50. IT WAS THE same story in the Funny Car category, as the NHRA's winningest driver, Don Prudhomme, didn't and Canadian Gordie Bonin, from Delta, British Columbia, put down Kosty Ivanof, Brighton, to take the Funny Car title with an e.t. of 6.302 and speed of 238.09 mph. Ivanof became the runner-up when he had to shut off at the starting line with an oil leak.

Only in Pro Stock did the favorite, Bob Glidden from Whiteland, live up to his No. 1 qualifying speed and emerge victorious by coming down the quarter-mile in an elapsed time of 8.614 and speed of 143.54. Glidden, who already has sufficient points to assure him of this year's world championship in Pro Stock, defeated Larry Lombardo, Malvern, for the seventh time in the last two seasons when Lombardo, in Bill Jenkins' '79 Camaro, red-lighted. Brown's victory was something of a story book finish in that he broke an engine Sunday and was out of parts. Ingenuity prevailed, however, and he borrowed a block from Funny Car racer John Lombardo who had not made the program.

"We worked all night putting a new motor he said, "and didn't know how well it would run or whether it would last. "It held together for four runs, and bill. Slir Photo by Greg Grlt(o) KELLY BROWN OF CALABASA, AND OVER THE HILL GANG DRAGSTER ENTRY FIRE OFF THE LINE Hollywood Stuntman Captures 25th Anniversary Edition Top Fuel Crown With 5.889 E.T. And 245.23 MPH JM -V over the weekend and tore down his engine Sunday, finding "a lot of miscellaneous things but nothing major." A few days ago I though we were fifteen hundredths off," he said, "but today I thought we were about five to six hundredths off." That was the story of the winners. The pre-race favored heavyweights had a different tale to tell.

Defending champion Garlits, Seffner, was defeated by Larry Dixon, San Jacinto, when "the car shook so bad I had to get out of it for a moment," he said. That's all Dixon needed and he took the measure of Garlits with a 5.99 e.t. to 6.14. Muldowney, Mt. Clemens, who had equaled the NHRA's national speed record of 250 69 mph last Friday, went that's all we needed.

But we hurt something on that last race." "This is a good shot in the Brown said, "we.ve got back the momentum we need. I was somewhat suprised the way the car ran, but I got a super crew and they had complete confidence that we would win." IN ORDER TO win back-to-back world titles, however, Brown will need a little help. He'll need to have Bruins go out early and he win in the final two major events, Seattle, and Ontario, to garner enough points for the title. Bonin said, "I'll take it any way I can," referring to his victory over Ivanoff, "but I rather would have raced him. "I still went for it (making a quick run) even though he was sitting back there.

I know how disappointed he must have been." Glidden almost was in the same position, although Lombardo came down the strip with him. The foul automatically gave the Hoosier speed king the vie-' tory. The California Top Fuel currently is a little over 1,100 points behind Rob Bruins, Bremerton, in the battle for the world title which will be awarded at the World Finals at the Ontario Motor Speedway next month. "We had the edge on him and he gambled. I still would rather have won the race coming down the track." THE WHITELAND chauffeur had been having some mechanical problems INFURIATED! Don Prudhomme of Granada Hills, explodes after losing in Funny Car elimination competition with Ron Colson of Addison, during Monday's final day of action at Raceway Park.

(Star Photo by Vern Atkins) down to defeat at the hands of Bruins in a squeaker. It was a 6.13 e.t. to a 6.21 and Muldowney discovered after the race she has a crack in the engine's coil wire. Prudhomme, who had led the qualifiers in Funny Car during the entire meet, knows the meaning of blue Monday as it was a day of problems for the Granada Hills, ace. "I got behind in the first round when I dropped a cylinder," he said, "and I hurt the engine Then for a tough race we put in more power and I got too much horsepower at the wrong time.

The front end came up." PRUDHOMME'S wheel stand cost him any chance of repeating his '78 Nationals victory and he shut off through the lights with an e.t. of 12.267 seconds to victor Ron Colson's e.t. of 6.597. In the Sportsmen's categories, the Pro Comp victory went to Billy Williams, Torrance, who had an e.t. of 6.572 and a speed of 209.79 mph.

Competition winner was Bobby Cross, Mesquite. with an e.t. of 7.618 and speed of 176.81. An Indiana driver won the Modified class. The modified Top Eliminator title went to Don Coonce, Cayuga, who wheeled his Cgasser down the strip in an elapsed time of 8 982 seconds at a speed of 152 28 mph.

He defeated Garley Daniels, who fouled. Other sportsmen winners were in Sup-, er Stock, Don Wolff, Clarksville, 11.207 e.t., 105 63 mph speed; Bobby Blankenship, Lafayette, Stock, 1 1 383 e.t., 113.06 mph speed; Terry Vance, Anaheim, 9 191 e.t.. 144 69 mph speed. Top Fuel bike went to Roy Thacker. Arlington, with an e.

t. of 7.847 seconds and a speed of 175.43 mph. In pre-race ceremonies, Wayne Fuson, sports editor of The Indianapolis News, was honored by the NHRA with a plaque for his contribution to drag racing. Dibbs Upsets No, 6 Vilas In U.S. Open IT" ew york (jjpj) Eddie Dibbs, playing his that against Stockton, dropping his service twice in the match from No.

10 seed Jose-Luis Clerc, 7-6, 6-2, 4 5 1 patient baseline game, wore down sixth seed Guiller- second set and going down a break in the third before The fourth-seeded New Yorker next meets i I mo Vilas, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, Monday night to produce the rallying to win the tiebreak, 7-3. African Johan Kriek, who outlasted Arthur match from No. 10 seed Jose-Luis Clerc, 7-6, 6-2, The fourth-seeded New Yorker next meets African Johan Kriek, who outlasted Arthur 6-2. South "I very happy I survived this match, said Borg, day only upset and gain the quarterfinals ot trie U.S. Ashe protege Yannick Noah, 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 1-6, 64, in 32 hours.

This will be the second straight year Kriek is meeting Gerulaitis in the quarterfinals, and he said of last year's experience, "I walked onto center court, and thought 1 was walking into a grave, it was so big. But I'm playing a lot better this year and my overall game has improved a lot." Moving on to the women's quarterfinals were No. 2 Martina Navratilova, No. 4 Virginia Wade, No. 5 Evonne Goolagong Cawley and No 9 Billie Jean King.

THE 35-YEAR-old King easily disposed of Kathy May Teacher, 6-3, 6-0, and then stated she's a better player now than years ago and is playing well enough to win here. whose next opponent could be Roscoe Tanner, the man he beat in the Wimbledon final. "The difference was only a few points. If he wins the tiebreaker, you don't know what's going to happen. "It was a very tough match.

The third set was the most important. After he broke me in the first game I broke him back and that's when I got back in the match. It's the first match I've played against a guy who serves well." Stockton threw a final scare into Borg by breaking him at love in the 10th game of the fourth set, but the top-seeded Swede responded by winning the next eight points to end the match. VITAS GERULAITIS, pointing for a semifinal showdown with Borg, whom he calls the best player ever, had an easier time in winning his fourth round Open Tennis Championships. Earlier, just as he had anticipated would happen somewhere along the line, Bjorn Borg ran into a roadblock before he managed to overcome Dick Stockton, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6, 7-5.

In a true Labor Day production, Dibbs and Vilas exchanged long baseline rallies for 3 hours and 10 minutes before a double fault by Vilas, the 1977 Open champion, gave Dibbs the key break in the second game of the fourth set. THE NINTH-seeded Dibbs broke again in the fourth game and, in sharp contrast to the previous set when there was a total of seven service breaks, he ran out the match. Borg, who contends he can't go through a major tournament without teetering on the brink, did just VITAS GERULAITIS Rookie's FG Gives Steelers OT Nod Foxboro, (UPI) Rookie kicker Matt Bahr booted a 41-yard field goal with 50 left in overtime Monday night to lift the world champion Pittsburgh Steelers to a 16-13 victory over the New England Patriots. The Patriots won the toss for the overtime period but failed to move the ball, and the Steelers took over on their own 31. Pittsburgh ran five straight running plays to net 37 yards, with running backs Franco Harris picking up 19 and Sidney Thornton 18.

QUARTERBACK Terry Bradshaw then hit Thornton with a flair for six the big tight end making a leaping one-handed catch in the end zone. The score marked only the second time in the last 20 games Pittsburgh has surrendered a touchdown in the first period. In the regular season last year the Steelers did not allow a first quarter touchdown, but gave one up to Dallas in the Super Bowl. The attendance of 60.978 helped set an NFL record as 840,430 fans attended league games this past weekend, 13,405 more than the previous weekend mark set Nov. 6-7, 1977.

yards, and after a 2-yard gain by Thornton, Bahr undeterred by an extra timeout kicked the winning field goal. The victory, which spoiled the debut of Patriots Coach Ron Erhardt, gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 record and New England is now 0-1. Pittsburgh sent the game into overtime when Bradshaw connected on a 21-yard scoring toss to Thornton with 09 left in the game. The Steelers, who surrendered the ball deep in New England territory on a fumble moments earlier, regained pos session at the Patriot 34 following a 14-yard shank by punter Eddie Hare. Bradshaw hit John Stallworth for a 13-yard gain then found Thornton wide open in the end zone.

Thornton, a third-year running back subbing for the injured Rocky Bleier, also scored Pittsburgh's other TD on a 2-yard run 1:16 into the second quarter. That touchdown capped a 49-yard drive in 11 plays, but Bahr missed the extra point. THE PATRIOTS took the opening kic-koff and marched 55 yards in 11 plays to take a 7-0 lead on a 4-yard scoring pass from Steve Grogan to Russ Francis, with 1 sit 1 TOO MUCH nUMNlftC, NOT ElVOUflU BOWL TRIUMPHS Bo Wins Big, But Not Enough 'HEN BO SCHEMBECHLER departed Miami of Ohio for the head football coaching job at Michigan a decade ago the monkey was on his back. Once truly the "Champions of the Press Box 1 West," the Wolverines :..4 a were jum uiuuier iuui- ball team prior to Bo's arrival. Ten times Michigan fin- By John Bansch Jk lsnea or Delow me Big Ten from 1953 through 'iZT rf 1 1968.

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E.T. X- 1 less. Woody Hayes and his Ohio state Buckeyes were king of the mountain. Since Schembechler appeared on the scerle in 1969 the conference has danced SCHEMBECHLER Schembechler does not view himself as a loner in his thinking. "This is the last year of the overshifted defense because everybody is attacking it now and they are going to hurt it." If you want a tip, look for movement in the offense this autumn.

"Everyone will be using motion, even putting the tight end in motion," Schembechler said. "What we're doing with the motion is telling the defense you can't overshift because you don't know what formation we're going to be in. "I'm not going to show you (the defense) our formation until just before the snap of the ball so you can't move your people fast enough to get into a new defense. The movement will force a team to play on the ball and then run its secondary after the snap. That won't create problems because we can read the secondary on the run anyway." WHILE SCHEMBECHLER is devising ways of changing his offense other coaches are wondering when Bo is going to retire and permit them to leave stadiums a winner.

Now 50 years old, he has no intentions of staying in the profession as long as Hayes, who departed the scene after 28 years as Ohio State's tutor. "The legends are gone," he asserted. "We'll never have any more legends. The travel, the recruiting have seen to that. It isn't the coaching that's forcing men out.

It isn't the handling of young people. It's a rat race to run everywhere. I don't think anyone can hack it past the age of 60." Before Schembechler departs he has one admitted goal to become the winningest coach in Michigan history. That title now belongs to Fielding H. Yost, who won 165 games in 25 seasons with the Wolverines.

Bo needs 70 triumphs to move into first place on the victory list. "I don't think anybody is going to catch Yost," Schembechler observed when the subject was raised. Pausing for a moment, he then added, "If I went to 60 I might catch him." After a second pause, he said, "Yeah, I'll catch him. Let me go until I'm 60 and I'll catch him. Then they can fire me." championship? It ran with the football, with an awesome running attack that was the finest in the United States of America.

"So, I looked down the road and I said, okay, there's one team we've got to beat and we're going to prepare to beat them. "TO ACCOMPLISH that mission we built a defense to stop Ohio State's running attack. The way we built that defense was by running the football ourselves. I could not test my defense unless I ran an offense similar to what they (the Buckeyes) ran." That portion of Schembechler's coaching career is history. If you don't believe it, listen to Bo.

"All that's gone," he said in a stern voice. "That decade is over. We don't have to defense that kind of rush anymore. Everybody is a little more balanced, or maybe over balanced, so we take a different approach to the game now." That different approach includes passing, so much so that Schembechler intoned, "if you can't pass you can't play quarterback. You might be able to play without running but you aren't going to be able to play without throwing." Why this line of thinking? "IT'S SIMPLE." replied Schembechler.

"The overshifted defenses have produced the change. People have been using what is basically an eight-man front to stop the option game. With eight men up front it means there are holes in the defense where I can throw. Our attack this year is predicated on that thinking." to a different tune. In eight of the last 10 years Michigan has either won or shared the conference title.

The other two autumns the Maize and Blue finished second. Add to those impressive statistics two other facts. First, the Wolverines are the only team to have been rated in the Top 10 in both wire service polls each of the last 10 years. Second, Michigan has posted a 96-15-3 record in that time span, including a 69-8-1 performance against Big Ten opposition. STILL, SCHEMBECHLER comes under heavy fire.

His bowl record of 0-6 is grounds for criticism. Then, there is the charge he places pass in the category of other four-letter words. "How did I get that reputation?" he asked. "It was you guys," he answered, pointing to a group of writers. "You are the only people who can take it away." Why did the scribes tab Schembechler anti-pass? Let him reply to the charge.

"When I came into the Big Ten Conference, who was winning the championship?" he asked. "It was Ohio State. How did Ohio State win the.