The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 17

plabfe Inquiror SPORTS Dial Score LO 3-2842 For Late Results Section Monday, July 2, 1973 1-C Did AU, Foreman Finish Frazier? Answer Tonight know the only way I'm gonna get Foreman out of his hole and into the ring is to win good against Bugner because if I lose there's no way I can get my title back Joe Frazier LONDON (UPI). consensus here is that the result of tonight's heavyweight fight between Joe Frazier and Joe Bugner seems to hinge on two other boxers across the Atlantic. The spectres of Muhammad Ali, who failed to beat Frazier in March 1971, and George Forem an, who knocked him out in two rounds back in January to take his title4 hani over the 12-roun-der at Earls Court. It was not so long ago that Bugner's manager Andy Smith admitted he would not put his bi blond warrior in the same ring as Frazier "for a million dollars." Now Smith and Bugner confidently predict the 6-foot-4 European champion will jab and move to a points victory over the ex-world champion heavyweight from Philadelphia. $375,000, although the promoters will not confirm the amount.

Frazier's admitted excursions to the nearbp Playboy club "for the music and to do a little gambling," he says sparked the usual pre-fight gossip. The American fighter and his manager Yank Durham said Joe will answer such slurs "in the ring Monday night." The bookies say there has not been a lot of action in the betting market, with Frazier a 1-3 bet and not too many people backing Bugner at 5-2. Another interesting statistic is the offer of 11-2 against Frazier disposing of the Briton inside three rounds and the fact both are 9-2 for a points win. Boxing writers, virtually unanimously, go for Frazier, but there has been a lot of careful hedging. The 29-year-old Frazier, whose de And Smith can claim a certain amount of success in bucking the odds.

"I'm not a betting man, usually, but I cleaned up on Foreman against Frazier," he said. (The bout will be shown on closed-circuit telev'sion at the Arena at 5 P. Bugnsr, big and strong with a good left jab but no previous evidence of punching ability, would not have rated a prayer against Frazier last year. The big question, which won't be answered for sure until tonight, is, did Ali and then Foreman push Frazier over the hill? There is an opinion, albeit a minority one, that Frazier came to Britain for the first time to pick up a last big paycheck. He's said to be getting around feat against Foreman was his first in 30 bouts, says he is still the same "Smokin Joe" once considered unbeatable.

Almost wearily Frazier answered the question he has been asked so many times since visiting the hospital after that 15-rounder against Ali Mar. 8, 1971 in New York. "The fight with Ali did not have any bearing on my loss against Foreman. No sir, Ali don't deserve none of the credit. I should get the credit for his loss against Norton.

"I know the only way I'm gonna get Foreman out of his hole and into the ring is to win good against Bugner because if I lose there's no way I can get my title back." Frazier said Bugner was "the first step" towards his goal. "The fans will speed when explaining his tactics. figured his long left jab will keep Frazier at distance and prevent the i American getting home with the dam-, -r aging hooks to the head and body4 which stopped 24 previous opponents. see a very different Frazier from the one Foreman stopped and when I fight Foreman again I'll be moving that much faster and there will be no mistake." Bugner also put the emphasis on 1 'f WW Record 100 See 000 Foyt McCluskey, Out of Gas, Passed on Last Lap of Pocono 500 WBSgft i 'W-- I- lip 'JsK Al Unser's car (No. 4) bounces off wall at ocono 500 as Jimmy Caruthers veers away Ruthven Blanks Cards on 2-Hitter Phils Beat Gibson on Luzinski's Single in 8th By BILL SIMMONS Of The Inquirer Staff LONG POND, Pa.

Conservative Roger McCluskey took a chance and lost while high-rolling A. J. Foyt played it cool and won Sunday's third annual Schaefer 500-mile race before a record crowd of 100,000 at Pocono International Raceway. McCluskey's crew gambled that the 42-year-old Arizonan could squeeze the final 70 miles out of his last 40-gallon fuel loca. But he managed only about 68 before his Hopkins McLaren Offenhouser slowed between the first and second turns on the final lap of the 2'2-mile trioval, a mile and a half from the finish line.

Foyt, shooting for a sure second-place finish, made an insurance stop for 15 gallons of fuel on the 193d lap and that made him the first man in the history of championship racing to win four 599-mile events. He won the Indianapolis 500 in 1961, '64 and '67. "I know exactly how Roger must feel," said the 38-year-old Foyt who has had his share of bad luck along with the good in a 16-year USAC career. "In 1965, I an out of fuel while leading at Indianapolis. Your heart just ainks.

But the guy in second place is just smiling away like hell." The longer McCluskey kept running, the wider the smile must have grown on Foyt's face. "I just couldn't see how he could finish without coming in for fuel," Foyt said. "We all get the same mileage and I knew the stop before that I'd have to come in again. But I began to have some doubts until I finally caught him." McCluskey, whose lead went from 10 to 42 seconds on Foyt's final pit stop, never did get to the finish line. But he was ahead of Lloyd Ruby and Mike Mosley when the checkered flag waved over Foyt's Gilmore-Coyote-Foyt-Ford.

He was credited with second place, one lap down. Foyt won approximately $90,000 from the $400,000 purse. His average speed of 144.938 MPH was considerably off the 154.781 record set last year by a Joe Leonard. The cause for the pedestrian speed was two-fold USAC's reduced fuel capacity necessitating twice as many pit stops and nine Caution periods triggered by various accidents and mechanical mishaps. One of those Gordon Johncock's blowing a rear tire on the front straight on lap 137 caused one of two anxious moments for Foyt.

"There were pieces all over the track and I picked up some of it and flattened both rear tires," Foyt said. "That's why I made two pit stops under the yellow right away." The other, a serious vibration in his own car that developed after the 180-lap point, kept Foyt from running A. J. Foyt celebrates after victory in Pocono 500 Tank Holds 40 Gallons But McCluskey Mechanic Gambles on 30 son, the first Phillie batter in the game, helped trigger an instant rally by The Batmen. But all that came of it was frustration.

Denny Doyle followed Rob-inson with a single, and Del Unser then reached base an error by second baseman Ted Sizemore. So the bases were loaded with none out when Luzinski stepped to the plate. Gibson sawed the bat off in Luzinski's hands on a ball chopped back to the mouHd. By BRUCE KEIDAN Of The Inquirer Staff ST. LOUIS.

Dick Ruthven is a purist. The 22-year-old rookie destroyed the St. Louis Cardinals with a two-hit shutout Sunday, then hung his head and lamented the fact that he had been forced to resort to a slider to do the job. Ruthven, just one year removed from Fresno State College and without a single inning of minor-league experience, gave up only a second-inning single to Mike Tyson and a fourth-inning single to Ted Simmons, then set down guess I'm the kind of person who's never satisified." "He was reluctant to use the slider, thinking it would destroy his curve ball," said Phillies' pitching coach Ray Rippelmeyer. "But he needed another pitch he could throw for strikes when the curve ball wasn't working.

"It's true that a pitcher's wrist will sometimes get lazy from throwing the slider, because he doesn't have to snap the wrist as much as he does to pop the curve. But we've had him working on the sidelines throwing one curve for each slider. And it hasn't hurt his curve at all." Ruthven used a total of 130 pitches to ground the Cardi-his new pitch for the win. "I proved to myself I can win by keeping the fastball down," he said. A movie about many of Ruthven's games earlier this season would have had to be titled "Deep Count," but this time out the youngster overcame his control problems in the early going.

He walked two batters in the first inning, only one the remainder of the game. A walk by Gibson to Robin-nals, and he refused, to credit The pitcher fielded the hall'; and threw to the plate to '7 don't know what happened I made the decision (not to fill the gas tank). I take the blame' Don Koda, Roger McCluskey's mechanic 5t' Iff ROGER McCLUSKEY finishes second sit Jf m'- if. By JOHN BLOOM Of Th Inquirer Hi iff LONG POND, Pa. Don Koda didn't say a vord.

He looked for several long moments at his clipboard, his eyes moving slowly across the numbers and notes and statistics. He stared somberly at his pit crew, but all heads were turned the other way. His jaw was set, Ids head down. He still said nothing. Koda is Roger McCluskey's chief mechanic.

Sunday afternoon he made a mistake perhaps miscalculation would be more judicious and by whatever name, he probably won't forget it for some time. Koda didn't put enough fuel in the car it was as simple as that. The same McCluskey pit crew that had been jubilant after 173 laps of a 200-lap race, ecstatic after the 199th lap, was going quietly about its business now. McCluskey, leading second-plac'J A. J.

Foyt by a full 40 seconds just a few moments before, was out of fuel two m.les from the finish line. As McCluskey sat helplessly in his McLaren-Oily automobile, stalled on the first turn of Pocono's tri-oval track, Foyt whizzed by, an unwitting victor in an implausible finish. don't know what happened," Koda said, tut he did know what happened. Later he added: "I made the decision. I take the blame." The decision was made on the last 17 Cardinals he faced as he outdueled Bob Gibson.

1-0. It was the rookie's third victory and first complete game in the major leagues. Greg Luzinski, whose conviction for trespassing in the first inning resulted in a run being nullified, made amends in the eighth with a one-out single that scored Bill Robinson from second base with the game's only run. That was all the Phillies required to beat the venerable Gibson (7-8) for the third straight time this season and end their longest losing streak in three weeks at two games. Ruthven (3-5) has spent much of the season struggling to master a curve ball that is one of baseball's best when it is properly tuned.

Finally, in desperation, he agreed to use another breaking pitch the slider. "It was a pitch the Cardinals weren't looking for from me," the rookie said. "I guess I threw about 20 sliders. I threw maybe three or four curve balls none of them for strikes. i yj teK-" r- rJ i X'' 1 force Robinson.

Simmons then wheeled and fired to first baseman Joe Torre but the ball ticked off Luzinski's left5 elbow, and Doyle raced across' 'the plate as Torre and more chased the ball. No sooner did first-base umpire Dick Stello give the "safe" sign at first base, however, than Torre and Size-more both began protesting vigorously. Luzinski, they claimed, had run out of the basepath and must be ruled out for interference. As. they pointed to The Bull's hoofprints 20 feet back down the first-base line.

Stello consulted with plate umpire Billy Williams, then agreed with the Cardinals, fie ruled Luzinski out and sent Doyle back to second base and Unser to first. 1. That ruling set off a storm of protest by Manager Danny Ozark and his coaches, but it stood, and Gibson then got out' of the inning by retiring Tommy Hutton on a line drive to left fielder Bernie Carbo "I had run to the inside; of the line back where they were pointing to my footprints," Luzinski said later. "I always run that way. But by the time I got to first base, I was actually on the outside part, of the bag." It was only the beginning of on Page 4-C, Col.

1 the 172nd lap. McCluskey, among the Schaffer 500 leaders for most of the day, was running strongly with a precarious one-second lead over Foyt. It appeared the race would go to the wire. Then McCluskey was called in for his 10th pit stop. Koda didn't want to waste any time on what was to be the final stop of the race, and he didn't.

The halt took an unofficial 17 seconds by this reporter's watch and the crew also thought it was plenty quick. They whooped and yelled as McCluskey hauled away from the pits with his lead still intact, since Foyt chose to enter the pits on the following lap. "We put 30 gallons of fuel in at the last stop," Koda said. The tank holds 40. "We had been getting almost two miles to the gallon all day," Koda said, "and we thought we could finish with 30 gallons." Needless to say, the calculation was two miles from being a smart one.

It cost Roger McCluskey $28,500. The mathematics of the matter, simply put, were as follows: with 28 laps left in the race, McCluskey had to drive 70 miles to the finish line. According to Koda's calculations, those 30 gallons of fuel would last perhaps 50 to 55 miles. Assuming that there was some fuel left when McCluskey entered the pits well, Koda simply gambled. On the following lap, the 173rd, Foyt came in for his pit stop.

His took about the same time, though he filled his tank. "There's no joy in Foyts-ville," said a poetic observer at the scene after Foyt's car died in the pits and wasted more time. And indeed, it looked as if he was right. McCluskey still had the lead and was beginning to stretch it. From four seconds, he moved ahead by six, seven, eight.

When B'oyt decided Continued in Page 2-C, Col. 1 Continued on Page 2-C, Col. 1 Sports' on the Air TELEVISION BASEBALL I P. M. Baseball World el Jo 6ra- iola, Ch.

1:15 P. M. Los Antalot Dod9r vs. Cincinnati Rods, Ch. 3.

RADIO HORSE RACINO 3:15 P. Faatura rac from Liberty Boll Park, WTMR-MO. p. After The Races, WTMR-MO. BASEBALL 1:15 P.

M. Phillies vs. tf, Louis Cardinals, WCAU-1210. "I still don't think I'm throwing as well as I did in college. I was a two-pitch pitcher then curve ball and fastball.

But I had command of both pitches. I only threw the slider in three games as a sophomore. I don't know I Frank Dolson is on vacation. His will resume when he returns. UPI TelePhoto Mike Tyson completes DP but Ruthven had last laugh r..