The Indianapolis News from Indianapolis, Indiana • 21

Moy 29, 1978 THE INDIANAPOLIS NEWS Pog. 21 'Just Another Failure' For Mario Andretti 0 9 but turned to add, The unwarranted rest cost Andretti dearly. Seven minutes and six laps. And combined they ended his dream of a miracle. "You just wanted to get out and kill something in the engine," Andretti moaned.

"It was a sick engine at the end. It was all right for a while, but then it started missing more and more. Later, we were in again and I don't know what the hell they (his crew) did then. All I could do was just keep puttering around." It was not always slowly puttering around, though. One report said Andretti's No.

7 averaged 191.4 m.p.h. on laps 145-147. But that speed was only a whisper of the charge Andretti mounted on the race's first lap. He roared by four cars before reaching the first turn. By the conclusion of the lap, he had passed 10 rivals.

"But there was no drama involved," said Andretti, the 1969 champion who was knocked out of last year's race after 26 laps because of exhaust header troubles. "We went at everything fairly conservative. "I knew everybody was looking at me, making sure I would keep it clean. But I just wanted to keep my nose in there and be able to have a little fight at the end. I wasn't going to be the one who caused an For the first 20 laps, Andretti thought he might have been driving a winner.

"The car was working well," he said. But then the trouble in the engine erupted. Could he have become the first Indianapolis driver to start last, but finish first if not for his mechanical misfortunes? "We'll never know, will we?" Andretti said. "But I might have had a chance." A slim one, though. By RAY COMPTON It was a longshot chance.

A very chance. Mario Andretti was going to try and Twin his second 500-Mile Race yesterday. But not from the pole position. Or the first row. Or the tenth one.

He would I "have to pass 32 other cars in order to gulp down his victory milk. held the 33rd starting posi-" tjon in a field of 33 cars. Mechanical lingo will point out that Andretti's downfall in yesterday's race was a coil wire. That caused an ignition failure. And that led to the death of a cylinder, causing Andretti's eight-; cylinder Penske-Cosworth to sound more like a wounded Iawnmower than the machine that turned a practice lap in excess of 203 miles an hour at the Brickyard earlier in the month.

But even Andretti admitted his race probably ended two weeks ago. That wa when rain washed out the first weekend of qualifications, forcing him to give up a qualification attempt so he could compete in the Belgium Grand Prix. His car was qualified by Mike Hiss, but Andretti was forced to the 33rd spot instead of in Hiss' third row assignment. Yesterday, he tried gallantly, but never challenged seriously in the 62nd 500-Mile Race. Mario Andretti finished 12th.

"It was another failure," confessed the dapper Italian-American while swigging down a beer in his garage. "The coil wire created all the problems. From then on, it was all over for me." The coil wire problem forced Andretti into the pits on his 20th lap. Before pitting, Andretti had rapidly advanced to the 23rd spot. But the collapse of the coil wire could not be ignored.

"We had to put in a new one," Andretti said. Countdown Fans rush to help A. J. Foyt after he ran out of gas at the end of yesterday's 500-Mile Race. UPI.

Car Was All Over Track, Says A J. He started to hurry away, "I'm His car was last on the line yesterday. During the race he appeared to run out of fuel on A. J. Foyt wrestled with his car for 191 laps and then accepted seventh place in his 21st 500-Mile Race yesterday.

"The car wasn't handling worth a gol darn," said A.J. as he emerged from his garage freshly dressed and heading for his suite on the southeast turn. "The car was all over the race track. The engine was running all right, but the shocks got hot or something. That's about it." jusi giaa noooay got nun.

It was a brief press conference composed of two writers as compared to year before when he faced writers from all over the world after winning the 500 for the fourth time. Foyt had engine trouble in carburetion tests Thursday. It had to be hustled to the Foyt garages in Houston for a hurried rebuilding job. A.J. missed Saturday's parade because he was busy installing it.

the track twice. Once he came coasting down the pits and his crew rushed toward him. He vigorously pointed toward them, indicating he had enough power to reach the refueling post. Foyt's team driver, George Snider, placed ninth in the sister car for only his second top 10 finish in 14 races. D.M.

The Ror Tq ge OF RACE Trouble, Laps Broken Turbocharger, 157 Broken Gearbox, 147 Broken Turbocharger, 145 Worn Wheel Bearing, 139 Blown Engine, 133 Connecting Rod, 107 Oil Pressure Failure, 105 Blown Engine, 104 Broken Header, 92 Clutch Failure, 81 Half Time Gear, 47 Oil Leak, 25 Clutch, 24 Crash, 23 Oil Pressure, 22 Transmission, 18 Oil Pressure, 15 Broken Oil Line, 4 CARS OUT Pos. No. 16 98 Driver Gary Bettenehausen Mike Mosley Danny Ongais Dick Simon Jim McElreath Tom Bigelow Larry Dickson Rick Mears Duane Carter Roger McCluskey John Mahler Tom Bagley Salt Walther Spike Gelhausen Phil Threshie Jerry Sneva Sheldon Kinser Cliff Hucul 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 78 25 17 26 43 80 71 8 11 39 22 77 19 47 30 24 29 To Victory As By BOB RENNER Can you imagine a nerve jangling chase to the end of the Speedway rainbow if little quirks in some small bits of machinery had functioned properly? The run to the bank could have been between Al Unser, Tom Sneva, Danny Ongais, A. J. Foyt, Johnny Rutherford, Gordon Johncock and Steve Krisiloff.

But, it wasn't to be, of course, although Al Unser and Sneva put on a classic duel right to the finish. Ongais probably had the best shot at all the marbles all day before a turbo-charger rotor went kaboom in a puff of smoke in his black No. 25 on lap 145. Trying to be the first in history to come from last place to win wasn't to be for Mighty Mario. His trouble came early and bad.

A bad coil wire failed on his No. 7 Penske racer and it cost him a hopeless 7-minute, 6-second pit stop on only his 20th lap. His car sounded like it was powered by a popcorn machine instead of a $30,000 engine. 7 LOVED Harry Levinson since 1905 Rookies Find They Like Inds 500 Spring Suit Sale 20 OFF Thnt Another pit stop (on Lap 161) for 4:48 gave him a total time in the pits of 14:14. And he still finished in 12th place only 15 laps back of Al.

Rutherford was running well all day although never really challenging for the lead. Then a long pit stop 13 minutes, 55 seconds on Lap 152 to replace a broken header smothered his chances terribly as he dropped from sixth out of the top 10. And another mishap when he ran through the pits without stopping and had to come back next time around didn't help either as he settled back in the pack then for 13th place, finishing 180 laps. There were other problems, from Gary Bettenhausen's drive into pit lane on the pace lap to bleed the brakes to Salt Walther. He went a total of 24 laps in approximately three hours.

He finally got back running after his mechanics practically took the whole rear end of his machine apart (to replace a broken clutch) and put it back together and finished 28th. race on the 104th lap with what he believed was a valve problem. "I felt it in the car, came in and decided to go back out and try it, but it only got worse, so I parked it," referring to his ride in the grass in the first turn. But, aside from those problems, "I loved it. I'm ready to come back.

There was more room out there than I figured on. The longer I raced, the more pumped up I got. I did find out one thing, I enjoy running with some of those guys," he grinned. Bagley, starting 14th, spent "eight to nine minutes on one pit stop because of overheating." Overall, he said, "It looked pretty good to me." The 38-year old Pennsylvania native moved up fast in the early going and was 13th on the 13th lap he thought reviewing his scoring chart in the pits. "I lost track of where I was after the first yellow.

I got confused. I wasn't used to the radios. I found out there was a little more to do than usual out there. I just wanted to hold a position if I could and finish," he added. Saldana, who didn't show the strain of the 100 plus track heat after the race, started 24th and commented in his garage afterward, "I liked it, even though I lost 20 laps when we had to change a header in the pits." "Little Joe" said, "I did what I wanted to do.

Get some time and laps in on the car, and I did. We had the boost turned back." He said having veteran drivers on the track with nim was a great help because he coula "get an idea where to run." Saldana, a veteran USAC sprint car driver, said he felt his working as a bricklayer in extreme heat was a plus in his favor. He then went on to relay his religious feelings about the Sunday race, commenting, "I feel God has been good to me this month." Threshie, who started in the middle of the 10th row, was not as pleased with his performance, nor with his machinery. He had moved from his 29th spot to 26th and was running 190 miles per hour when matters went sour. "The car wasn't working well.

I couldn't drive it. It was pushing so bad I had to take my hands off the wheel and turn it to get through the turns. "I feel I haven't done anything yet," he concluded after becoming the 30th place By ART HARRIS Larry Rice and Rick Mears are the favorites to take rookie of the year honors tonight at the 500 Victory Banquet at the Expo Center following theif finishes in the 62nd annual Indianapolis 500-Mile Race yesterday. Rice, a former schoolteacher, finished 11th after being penalized a lap for pulling into turn one too soon, and Mears, who sat on the outside of the front row as the fastest rookie, finished 23rd. "Little Joe" Saldana, a bricklayer, and Rice were the only other rookies runnning at the end.

Saldana posted a respectable 15th. Tom Bagley, driving for A. J. Watson (No. 22), went to the pits for the race on Lap 25 with an overheating problem, and Phil Threshie left the race on Lap 22 with oil pressure difficulties.

Walking back to his garage following the race, Rice said, "I'm pooped. The longest I've ever run is 150 miles," when he was told he completed 465 miles. "My last two fingers went to sleep about 115 laps to go and I didn't have any feeling in that side of my hand," he said rubbing his left hand. He said the temporary paralysis in his fingers developed from a wrinkle in his driving glove he was unable to smooth out. was pretty conservative.

The only guys I raced with were the ones I was running with through the race. There's no sense in trying to keep up to guys like Mario Andretti," he said. Rice, started 30th after being bumped into the 10th row by Andretti, moved up to 21st on the 90th lap and was running 11th when the race was ended. When the possibilty of rookie honors for him was mentioned. Rice, who taught school in Crawfordsville, said, "Mears did a good job.

He'll probably get it," as he signed an autograph for one of his former students, Michelle Mellady, now a junior at West Montgomery High School. Mears, who started third after a 200-plus qualifying time, explained his drop from third to sixth on the second lap, and then to 10th after the first yellow. Mears, driving for Roger Penske, said he had transmission problems during thlf early going. He went out of the Save on Spring and Summer weight suits. All plaid, pinstripes and patterned suits are 20 off.

Polyester or polyester and inen vested styles. Originally $85.00 to $1 50.00 NOW SALE PRICED At $68.00 to $120.00 Sizes 36-46 Reg. 38-46 Long Prep Sizes also sale priced No Charge for Alterations Castleton Sq. Greenwood A member of Al Unser's pit crew kept his driver informed os yesterday's race drew to a close. Unser backed off as he neared his victory.

Runnerup Tom Sneva was cutting into Unser's margin, but not fast enough as the race neared the end, The NtWS Photos, Joe Young. Glendale Downtown Lafayette Sq. Washington Sq..