Courier-Post du lieu suivant : Camden, New Jersey • Page 73

COURIER-POST, Sunday, August 7, 1988 odine takes Al Unser Jr. knows 500 miles at Michigan is hard to execute OC lead into Glen ns BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -Geoff Bodine said what he was looking for going into yesterday's third round of the International Race of Champions was points. The NASCAR stock car star got 26 of them, winning the race and vaulting into first place in the $739,600 series with only next Saturday's race at Watkins Glen, N.Y., standing between him and his second straight IROC title. "Last year, I won two races and the championship and they automatically invited me back," Bodine said.

"This year, I really wasn't doing very much and I really want to be back next year. "This is such a great series and I enjoy being a part of it. I knew I had to do something here to get back in the hunt." What Bodine did was lead 46 of 50 laps on the two-mile, high-banked oval at Michigan International Speedway, giving the 1985 Daytona 500 winner his third career IROC victory. Last year's IROC triumphs came on the high banks at Daytona and on the road circuit at Watkins Glen International. atki 15E In 1986, seven of 26 drivers were around at the end, and in '85 the count was 10 of 28.

No less an expert than Mario Andretti, who starts third in his Lola Chevy has finished only three 500-mile races in his 24-year career. A.J. Foyt, who leads the list with nine career 500 finishes, was forced to withdraw from this race with stomach and intestinal problems. He was replaced by Johnny Rutherford, who starts 13th in a Lola Cosworth. Foyt checked out of Houston's Memorial City Hospital yesterday with the diagnosis of a bruised kidney.

Michael Andretti, who has struggled with his car this season and has switched from a March chassis to a Lola, said he'll count on endurance to help him defend his title. "I've been going fiat out all the way around, but we just don't have the horsepower," said Andretti, whose car is powered by Cosworth. "The Lola feels really good but can't make up for the lack of horsepower. It's a long race, and we'll hope he reliability will do the job for us." Pat Patrick, Emerson Fitti-paldi's team owner, said while their Lola Chevy is running perfectly, he expects the race to be one of the toughest battles of his life. "At Indy we had 1 1 pit stops, two flat tires, debris knocked off our right front wing and a bird hit Emerson's helmet," he said.

"It was the hardest race of my life. "Emerson can always win a race and there will probably be a higher attrition rate here than at Indy, but I just hope this one isn't harder." By BETH TUSCHAK Gannett News Service BROOKLYN, Mich. Al Unser Jr. has said all week'that the key to winning today's Marlboro 500 is sticking around for the finish. Sounds simple, but hard to execute.

Unser who learned his craft from no less an authority than his father, four-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser, knows what he's talking about. Starting from the pole position at Indy is fabulous for the sponsor and prestigious for the driver, and being first on a road course is the best seat in the house. But at Michigan International Speedway, where the attrition rate the past three years has knocked out more than half the field, running the entire 500 miles is an accomplishment in itself. "At Michigan, if you can save the equipment so you're positioned to make a run at the end, you've done your job," said Unser who enters the race two points ahead of Danny Sullivan in the drivers' standings. "We're not going to have the fastest car, but we'll be faster then anybody sitting back in the pits." The fastest driver is pole-sitter Rick Mears, who qualified his Chevy-powered PC-17 at 218.427 mph short of his 1986 record-setting effort of 223.401 mph but more than respectable with the hot temperatures and reduced turbo boost.

Mears has started from the pole at MIS for four 500-mile races two earned (in '86 and this year)' and two inherited (when the pole winners crashed and had to start PROUD SPONSOR OF THE 1988 PICI H6I0IU msioii U7JIU H9S7JII4 H0S7SI15 HIS7SI1S 77S7SII1 H1S7SI1! 11370114 lAI Mohawk I MjnUCUVMff 5 1 -fane Crisscross lliT Smooth Ride, 41. 7 200 mph test run for Bodine EVERYDAY LOW TIRE PRICES! limned head weoiout warranty. oetoHi in stoi Included No troie-in Required Auto Racing Stock car drivers now have won 24 of the 48 IROC races, with 14 victories going to Indy-car drivers and the other 10 to road racers. Bodine started third in one of the 11 identically prepared IROC-Z Chevrolet Camaros, but moved to second moments after the start. He then passed pole-starter Roberto Guerrero, an Indy-car racer from Colombia, for the lead on lap five of the 50-lap, 100-mile event.

Dale Earnhardt, the two-time defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion, was sixth at the start, but worked hjs way to second on lap 11. That's the way it stayed the rest of the way, with Earnhardt able to move up close to Bodine's rear bumper several times, but never able to mount a serious challenge. "I saw that blue car (Earnhardt) back there dogging me and trying to get up to me," Bodine said. "I knew if he got by me I'd be in trouble. "In the last five or six laps, I Bodine said he needed pads and towels to fit in the seat that was designed for the stocky Simon, the oldest active Indy-car driver at 54.

"One of the towels blew out in the first corner and the helmet wanted to come off as I went faster, so I had to come in," Bodine said. "My last lap was pretty respectable," he added. "The engine was smoother than expected and I was surprised not to have such a burst of power A stock car at 170 (here) actually feels faster." Asked if he would like to try racing an Indy-car, Bodine said, "I'd like to consider it, but I know my family wouldn't like to hear me say that and my (NASCAR) car owner wouldn't like to hear me say that." After hearing about Bodine's Indy-car experiment, fellow NASCAR star Bill Elliott, also here for the IROC race, said, "Hey, I'd like to do that, too." home from NASCAR stock car and IMSA sports car series' this year, as well as attempting to run the entire 15-race Indy-car series for the first time since 1978. He drove in a 500-mile stock car race last Sunday at Talladega, finishing 12th and on the lead lap on a steamy afternoon. "The doctors said I must have twisted myself getting in and out of my stock car at Talladega and it broke a blood vessel in the bottom of my kidney," Foyt said in a telephone call from his home in Houston.

"I was wearing a cool suit and I Richie Pratt took the win. The two consolations were won by Rick Elliott and Elvin Felty. In the 40-lap main event, Scott Kania was the early race leader with Tobias taking the lead on the eleventh lap. Richie Pratt took the lead on lap 15 with Pauch taking the top spot on lap 30. Pauch ran unchallenged to the victory with Pratt second, Slocum third, Jimmy Horton of Hammon-ton fourth and Elvin Felty of Lebanon, Pa.

fifth. Making up the top 10 were Smokey Warren, Scott Kania, Billy Schinkel, Pete Visconti and Gary Bruckler. In the 10-lap modern stock feature event, Jimmy Martin of Trenton won his first career feature event with Joe Edwards of Del-mont finishing second. Making up the top five were Mick MacNeir, Gary Buzby and Bear Kelly. DIMENSION IV BROOKLYN, Mich.

(AP) Geoff Bodine, the 1986 Daytona 500 winner and a regular on the NASCAR stock car circuit, test drove an Indy-car yesterday at more than 200 mph. Bodine, who was at Michigan International Speedway yesterday to take part in the third round of the Budweiser International Race of Champions series, climbed into the Cosworth-powered Lola backup car of team owner Dick Simon for a four-lap adventure around the two-mile, high-banked oval. After a warmup lap, the first hot lap by the 39-year-old driver was Caught at 184.002 mph. Bodine, alone on the track, jumped to 197.504, moved up to 199.236, then turned a lap of 200.781 before heading back to the pits. "The car is a lot stiffer (than a stock car), but a lot of fun," the grinning Bodine said.

"I drove a rear engine car in 1972, but I was a lot younger then." Foyt headed Associated Press BROOKLYN, Mich. A.J. Foyt was released from a Houston, Texas hospital yesterday after tests determined the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner was suffering from a bruised kidney. The announcement was made by a team spokesman at Michigan International Speedway, where Foyt, 53, had been scheduled to drive in today's Marlboro 500 before his hospitalization on Thursday after suffering severe stomach pains. Foyt has been racing in the IlMDGESTOnE S402 7 P155 80R13 Warranty Traction Rating sur rtta M.7 J7.7 4A7 S3.T7 rmiti I ft I Mohawk nummoanun PERFORMANCE 5R 1000 Speed Rated Superior WetDry Traction 37-9 ft RICK MEARS fastest driver from the back of the pack).

Mears, Sullivan and Unser have extra incentive for wanting to win this race because team and track owner Roger Penske has never won a500-mileratMIS. Mears said he's always glad to start up front, but the competit ion is so tight and the track so certain to be slick that the challenge will be to outlast his foes. The master of survival this season has been Bobby Rahal, the only driver in the field to have completed every race. "It used to be where you approach this race like an endurance race, and you still have to. to a large extent," said Rahal, who starts fourth in his Lola Judd.

"This will be run hard from the word go and the strong will succeed." Last year, only 12 of 30 drivers were still running when Michael Andretti took the checkered flag in the fastest (171.493 mph) 500-miler at MIS. A OLYMPIC TEAM PI 55 80R13 Warranty Tread, Excellent Traction Sure Handling 11 Mohawk CUSTOM AS Warranty Ail-surface Traction I HSimu 2H.97 40.97 ms lot 1 3T 31 .91 7 si 4Z97 I 34.97 1 44.97 fUSfWH Jj.t i I 36.77 46.97 I n57sii4 34.97 With Exchange. Motorvator 50 battery for many import cars and light trucks TT ES3 gffiniii iiknn Installed Pr. Monroe Super Struts for OmniHorizon. Additional parts, services are extra AUG.

8 THRU AUG. to 1 1 1 1 A I 98.94 Mounting GEOFF BODINE holds off Earnhardt stretched it out just a little to get a little safety margin." Earnhardt said, "I made a couple of runs at Bodine, but my car was pushing. I kept trying to get him, but my tires got too hot and I'd cool them and try again." Bodine crossed the finish line 0.783-seconds ahead of Earnhardt, while third-place finisher Al Unser the 1986 series champion and current CART-PPG Indy-car point leader, was just over three seconds behind in third. NASCAR star Terry Labonte finished fourth, followed by four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser, three-time LeMans champion Al Holbert and two-time Daytona 500 winner Bill Elliott. Then came two-time defending Indy-car champion Bobby Rahal, defending SCCA Trans-Am champion Scott Pruett, Guerrero and IMS A Camel GT star Chip Robinson.

Chris Cord, the 12th all-star driver in the 12th IROC series, missed the race while recuperating from abdominal surgery. Cord is expected to race at Watkins Glen. Bodine began yesterday's race ninth in the points, with Elliott and Pruett, winners of the first two races at Daytona and Riverside, respectively, tied for the lead. Heading into Watkins Glen, Bodine now leads in the chase for the $200,000 first prize. But 10 of the 12 entries in the IROC series still hold a mathematical chance to take the title.

Bodine has 42 points, followed by Unser Jr. with 40, Elliott 39, Labonte 38, Earnhardt and Pruett 37 apiece, Robinson 30; Unser Sr. 28, Holbert 27 and Rahal 19. The only drivers eliminated from championship contention are Cord with 17 points and Guerrero with 15. The only caution flag in the 37-minute, 38.01 -second event came at the start when several cars began racing too soon.

The grid was reformed and the second start was flawless. Bodine, who won $9,500 yesterday, averaged 159.432 mph. hospital know I had to twist a lot hard, but I didn't feel anything at the time. In fact, after the race I was joking with everyone about these other guys complaining about the heat. The doctors say that it takes a while to show up.

"I have to take it easy for 10 to 14 days to let it heal," he added. "I can't do any heavy lifting or straining during that time." Foyt said he would watch today's race on television and would attempt to get back to racing in two weeks at the Quaker State 500 in Long Pond, Pa. "I'm going to try to be there," he said. "I need to get some points." Foyt currently is 10th in the CART standings. His Lola is being driven this weekend by three-time Indy winner Johnny Rutherford, who will start 13th in today's 28-car field.

Brazil's Senna on pole BUDAPEST, Hungary Ayr-ton Senna of Brazil yesterday captured the pole position for today's Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix race in his McLaren Honda. Britain's Nigel Mansell, despite suffering from chicken pox, grabbed the other front-row position with the second fastest qualifying time in his Williams-Judd. He led a surprisingly good showing of cars with normally aspirated engines, which clinched the next five places after Senna. Pruett wins Escort Trams-Am LIME ROCK, Conn. Scott Pruett led from start to finish to win his first Escort Trans-Am race of the.

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For Pauch, it was his fifth win of the season and his 15th career victory at Bridgeport Speedway. Pauch also collected $3,000 for the win in the 40-lap modified feature event. Chip Slocum of Trenton was the sportsman feature winner and earned a guaranteed starting position in the National Auto Supply Championship to be held in October in Syracuse, N.Y. A field of 56 modifieds took part in the program with qualifying event victories going to Gary Bruckler of McKee City; Toby Tobias Jr. of Lebanon, Pa.

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