The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 35

I. i i mm MONDAY, MAY 26, 1980 THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR PAGE 35 rn A lJirnfaini lift i BROKEN CAR, BROKEN LEG Bill Whining- wall. Dick Simon, driving No. 8, narrowly avoids ton's No. 94 coasts to a stop (left photo) in the contact with Whittington's helpless racer.

In right infield Sunday ofter he grazed the second turn photo, members of the crash crew assist Whitting- ton out of the car after cutting away parts of the racer to get at him. The rookie driver suffered a fracture in his lower right leg and was to be hospitalized overnight. The mishap occurred only nine lops into the race and caused the first of 13 caution lights in the event. (Star Photos) 7 SUIVK BY RUTIIERFORD'S YELLOW SUBMARINE 71 i l' t-i 3 JVot Good Day For Penske PA, 1 By KURT FREUDENTHAL With a 3 to 1 advantage over Johnny Rutherford, Roger Penske figured his beautiful machines had a great shot at winning the 64th Indianapolis 500 Sunday. All three, driven by former winners Bobby Unser, Mario Andretti and Rick Mears, last year's champ, led a total of 45 laps.

But it was Rutherford in his "Yellow Submarine" who took home top honors for the third time and only Mears from the Penske stable was running at the finish. He had to settle for fifth spot. A cut tire near the end of the race cost him a higher finish possibly second place. ANDRETTI, THE Indy winner in 1969, exited after 71 laps with an engine problem. Unser, shooting for his third Speedway triumph, went out after 126 laps.

Only Mears in his Gould Charge Penske PC-9 was running as Rutherford got the checkered flag as the victor. The two other Penske cars were also PC 9s. Mears, who led 10 laps, took his final lead after 172 laps, when Rutherford made his final pit stop of 17.5 seconds. But six laps later Mears stopped for fuel under one of the many yellow caution lights that slowed the pace of the field to an average of 142 mph. That dropped Mears to third spot behind Rutherford and the surprising Tom Sneva, who started last in the field of 33 only to finish second.

And when Mears was forced to make an unscheduled stop because his left rear tire was cut and was losing air gradually, the Penske bid for a higher finish went down the drain. Mears, who won last year's race in only his second Speedway try, radioed to his crew in the pits, advising them of his predicament. Thus, he was forced to stop twice in five laps. This time the crew changed all but the left front tire and he dropped to fifth. "The tire cost us," said Penske, "but Rutherford did a great job.

The tire was cut. I knew we were working better and quicker than Tom (Sneva). I'm sure we could have caught him." ALL THREE Penske machines, powered by British front running for 25 laps, but magneto problems ended his holiday ride. "Ail of a sudden, the engine just started missing," he said. "We were running beautifully all day.

I could easily run with Rutherford, but I don't know if I could have handled him." "I think I was keeping up with the leaders pretty good last year and this year. Last year he led more laps than any other driver. 89, but mechanical problems late in the race cost him possible victory and he finished fifth). "I feel sorry for the crew. They never won here.

I really was confident this year. The car was handling awfully well. I really had a super race going. I had no problems, really." The unofficial finish listed Unser 18th, Andretti 20th. Teamwork Victory By ASSOCIATED MESS Johnny Rutherford's third Indianapolis 500 victory reflected the epitome of teamwork, said the chief mechanic for the yellow.

No. 4 Pennzoil Chaparral "We put the car together and keep it together. The driver drives it," said 30-year-old Steve Robey. "The car was perfect." Robey said there were no major problems all day. "I broke a wrench on an early pit stop and someone tripped over a hose." Despite the crew's minor miscues.

Robey said the car performed as expected Robey said his only major concern during Sunday's race came when Rutherford announced over his two-way radio that the car was "under-steering toward the right." But the crew fixed the problem during Rutherford's next pit stop. Rutherford's 15 crew members, responsible for refueling the car and changing tires during pit stops that were measured in fractions of seconds, ranged from veterans such as Robey to newcomer 19-year-old John Tzouanakis, who was bagging groceries at a Greencastle, supermarkert when the 1979 Indy 500 was held. 8cylinder Cosworth engines, started in the first two rows Andretti and Unser next to pole-sitter Rutherford in the front row and Mears on the outside of the second. And for a time, all three were running among the top five in the race. Then mechanical problems and Mears' tire problem dashed Penske's hopes for a third Indy triumph.

Mears won for him last year and the late Mark Donohue succeeded in 1972 in a McLaren, setting a race record of just under 163 mph that still stands. The personable Mears, smiling despite being disappointed he didn't finish higher, wasn't satisfied with his car's handling. "We never really had the chassis dialed in right. It was worse at the start. We made wing and tire changes during pit stops, but what really hurt us was the (cut) tire.

"If you're not running perfect, you can't run quick. I figured it would be a slow race because of the boost (reduction)," Mears added. Last year's winner said he had at least one close call when Spike Gehlhausen went low to avoid hitting a slower car. "That was a move I didn't care for. I had to hit the brakes.

I was afraid somebody was going to run into me." But Mears was not surprised that Rutherford picked up his third Speedway triumph. "HE WAS RUNNING best all day. I knew he would be tough. I just hoped one of us (three) would keep going," he said. Andretti, who also led 10 laps, was running third when he slowed down in the No.

1 turn. He was finished for the day. "I think we had a problem with the engine, because the car was running beautifully," he said. "The car had everything. We had a real good setup.

I had planned to pace myself the first 300 miles and everything was going according to plans." "The way the team was operating, everything was up to snuff the way we were hoping. No mistakes were made up to the time the engine quit," Andretti added. The 1978 Grand Prix world champion who resumes Formula One competition in Spain next weekend, was philosophical about his hard luck. "You got to roll with the punches. That's the way it is.

The car is as good as any I've had here at the Speedway Unser, the Speedway champ in 1968 and 1975, was IB i. i. i DEJECTED MARIO Mario Andretti leans against a fuel tank after being forced out of Sunday's Indy 500. Andretti held the lead for 10 laps, but his car suddenly lost power on lap 71. (AP Photo) Nothing New With Rutherford's Year-Old Victory Lane Beauty Hurry tire you've seen on TV for 7 C-7 2J107 only! for wire t.i.s Saturdav! by Roger Rager, Mike Mosley or Jerry Karl.

ALTHOUGH NONE of the four rocker arm jobs finished, their demise was not caused by failure in the engine itself. Mike Mosley with Dan Gurney's all aluminum rocker arm V-8 came closest to this when the gasket which seals the rocker arm cover to its head seat kept blowing out. There is some source creating pressure which ruptures the gasket. "We don't know what is causing it," Mosley said. "But they'll find it.

Other than that, the engine ran fine. It feels strong and I passed three guys at the start. Karl's end came via the clutch giving up, and a fire with Haywood's turbo V-6 Chevy burned off the ignition wires. "The engine still runs," said builder Ryan Falconer. Rager was eliminated due to a crash which damaged the front suspension and got the tub (chassis) a bit.

Rager says the tub isn't too bad and can be straightened. He also has to find a local fabricator who can make a one of a kind nose piece for the car. Among the more seriously wounded was Larry Cannon whose Offy pitched the No. 3 connecting rod, cracking the left side of the crankcase and side plate as well as galling the throw on the crank. TOM BAGLEY had the drive shaft of his fuel pump break, while teammate Gordon Smiley caught fire via spilled fuel in the bottom of the tub swishing back when he took off from the pits.

Bobby Unser was right up there among them when the ignition began acting up, saying, "It first started to miss and then just quit." And suspected piston faiture eliminated Al Unser and Johnny Parsons, Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt and Geoge Snider suffered, according to engine man Howard Gilbert, from engines which, "Just expired." to a venturi effect between the bottom of the chassis and the pavement. The venturi creates a pressure differential which sucks the chassis down onto the track. This isn't the whole story, of course. There is a matter of aerodynamics, that factor of flying through the air with the greatest of ease.

And in this department the yellow submarine does an excellent job. Then there is the matter of the engine, and in this department a man named Mike Fanning does an excellent job. FANNING IS Hall's engine man, having joined the operation last November after having been with Patrick Racing's chief mechanic George Bignotti. Farming's record to date is a little hard to beat, reading Chaparral 2, opposition 0. Rutherford was on the pole and won the Ontario Motor Speedway Datsun Twin-200 in April, and then John pulled the same act at the Speedway.

"We had the fastest straightaway speed here," Fanning said. "The quickest of all was 213 miles an hour), so I'd like to think we're getting more power than anyone else. But the car is better on aerodynamics than anyone else." Mike wasn't especially happy with the rules requiring him to run but 48 inches of mercury manifold pressure in the Cosworth, preferring more on the order of 70 inches of boost. He says that it's more economical. "You get an engine from Cosworth that's set up for 70 inches and then you got to make a lot of exotic pieces to cut back to 48.

It costs you about $18,000." Fanning also isn't much in favor of the rocker arm powerplants, feeling if he were going to go that route he would turbocharge a V-8 rather than the V-6 driven by Hurley Haywood or the normally aspirated 355s used 1 By GEORGE MOORE The 64th running of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race went pretty much according to the script. The extic Cosworth V-8 won. The stock blocks mde a valiant effort but fell Short. And the Offy isn't completely dead, considering one of them at the hands of Gary Bettenhausen finished third. That's 30 times better than the rest of the starting field, a major portion of which was made up of the highly sophisticated double overhead cam powerplant from England.

Johnny Rutherford's victory in the Penn-zoil Chaparral didn't suprise too many people. It was a matter of a first class driver, a first class automobile and a first class organization working under an exacting taskmaster named Jim Hall. Hall's "Yellow Submarine" is becoming one of the best-known machines in the sport of auto racing, and there is every indication you haven't seen anything yet. Actually, it's an old new car. A more accurate assessment is it's a new car with year-old ideas.

THE MACHINE probably would have won last year had it rot experienced transmission troubles while AJ Unser was leading the race. The 1979 season was not a rousing success, but rather more of a learning period and it's obvious that the Hall group has learned its lessons well. "There's nothing completely new," owner Hall said. "It's been a matter of updating what we learned from last year." In May of '79, Hall stated that if he were to start over again that there was one thing he would do differently. This has been incorporated into the machine as demonstrated by Rutherford's seeming ease of being able to move away from the field almost at will.

Hall has been a pbneer in ground effects design, that form where the air flowing beneath portions of tht chassis are subjected Plus 89 to V3 1 1 Fegerii Eias per Ure depending on size Transmission Service Oil Lube $795 ot Cart Complete chassis tobn ration arrj cmI change Price includes up to 5 qts ot mi We atso checfc transmission wl Alignment $1395 Hot) Cars he precision align caster camber ard toe-in Complete front-end analysis included Pure covers air conditioned cars Engine Tune-Up Muffler Repack ft Wheel jfj Bearings 12 -ye- soot Replace Vour worn -out noisy muMter with The Out One a ruooed heavy-duty corroson resntant muffler Repack front wheel bear ings install new froni ease see' imo uuu disc b'aftes 1 Rager Angry At Veterans, McElreath Air Conditioning Brakes Special DELUXE Heavy Duty Shocks $1095 Fron fci tr Moat Cars mSTAUATlCMI CT-l coo'ia svs'em L. C'-" Ce. com-sW rrssT' tits aed vd pressure componenis $iJ80 the grass or kill him and maybe me too, so I went down below the race track into the grass and then into the fence." McElreath had a different version of the collision. "I lost radio contact with my pit crew and missed my tire change," he said. "The car began to run loose and it got away from me as I ran through turn one." PRIOR TO THE race there had been considerable talk concerning the 10 rookies creating problems on the track for the veteran drivers.

Rager had an answer Sunday for the critics. "Some of the rookies should have been in there and some shouldn't," he said. "There were a couple of rookies I was afraid of. The Whittington brothers Don and Bill I run a few road races, coast and collect and they are permitted on the track. I had to beg and plead to get a license.

They told me I had to run three championship races and a 500 before I could get a license." Rager said some of the veterans gave him problems during the time he was on the track. "I was getting snipped off quite often even though I would pull over and let the aster cars go by." Rager led the race for two laps 16 and 17) when the front runners pitted for the first time. It was worth a few dollars to the 31-year-old native of Mound. Minn. "I knew at the time I was in first, but it didn't impress me." he said "The only reason I was in front was because everyone else was in the pits." By GARY ROStNBERGER Rookie Roger Rager a throwback to the drivers who talked the same way they raced hard.

The first-year driver nws not a happy man as he sat in his garage following Sunday's 64th running of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. 1 Rager was eliminate from competition when ms Chevrolet-poweiM racing machine tangled with a car drivj by veteran Jim McElreath in the south Ihort chute just a little more than 50 laps the race. "The oldest veteran it the race stuffed me." asserted Rager of hit crash with the 53-year-old McElreath "I dm't know if he lost his brakes or his brains. ut it was head for WAYS TO CHARCI Use Kelly's Convenient Credit Terms NO FINANCf CHARGE UP TO 90 DAYS TO PAY WIFM APHOVIO CatCMI NORTHWEST WEST SOUTH NORTH EAST 1U 4145 5401 MOO LAFAYCT1 10. WASHINGTON SOOTH 5 31 NOTM KITSIONt I.

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