The Indianapolis News from Indianapolis, Indiana • 21

Mondoy, May 28, 1979 THE INDIANAPOLIS NEWS Pog. 21 50 Mile Leaders Of The 63rd 500-Mile Race 50 Miles 1. Car 2, Al Unser 2. Car 9, Rick Mears 3. Car 1.

Tom Sneva 4. Car 3, Gordon John-cock 5. Car 4, John Rutherford 6. Car 12, Bobby Unser 7. Car 14, A.J.

Foyt 8. Car (, Wally Dallen-bach 9. Car 25, Danny Onfall 10. Car 11, Tom Bagley 1 Speed 185.767 (new "record). 100 Miles 1.

Car 2, Al Unser 2. Car Rick Mean 3. Car 1, Tom Sneva 4. Car 12, Bobby Unser 5. Car 4, John Rutherford 6.

Car 14, A.J. Foyt 7. Car 3, Gordon John-cock 8. Car (, Wally Dallen-bach 9. Car 25, Danndy Oo-gais 19.

Car 24, Sheldon Kinser Speed 166.854. 200 Miles 1. Car 2, Al Unser 2. Car 12, Bobby Unser 3. Car 4, John Rutherford 4.

Car 9, Rick Mears 5. Car 14, A.J. Foyt 6. Car 1, Tom Sneva 7. Car 25, Danny On-gais 8.

Car 34, Vern Schuppan 9. Car 3, Gordon John-cock 10. Car 36, Mike Mos-leey Speed 164.131 (new record) 250 Miles 1. Car 12, Bobby Unser 2. Car 9, Rick Mears 3.

Car 2, Al Unser 4. Car 1, Tom Sneva 5. Car 14, A.J. Foyt 6. Car 25, Danny On-gais 7.

Car 3, Gordon John-cock 8. Car 38, Mike Mosley 9. Car 46, Howdy Holmes 10. Car 19, Pancbo Carter Speed 300 Miles Car 12, Bobby Unser 2. Car 9, Rick Mears 3.

Car 1, Tom Sneva 4. Car 14, A.J. Foyt 5. Car 25, Danny On-gais 6. Car 36, Mike Mosley 7.

Car 3, Gordon John-cock 8. Car 46, Howdy Holmes 9. Car 10, Pancho Carter It. Car 72, Roger McCluskey Speed 350 Miles 1. Car 12, Bobby Unser 2.

Car 9, Rick Mears 3. Car 14, A.J. Foyt 7. Car 3, Gordon John-cock 8. Car 46, Howdy Holmes 9.

Car 11, Tom Bagley 10. Car 22, Bill Vukovich Speed 450 Miles 1. Car 12, Bobby Unser 2. Car 9, Rick Mears 3. Car 14, A.J.

Foyt 4. Car 25, Danny On-gais 5. Car 1, Tom Sneva 6. Car 36, Mike Mosley 7. Car 3, Gordon John-cock 8.

Car 46, Howdy Holmes 9. Car 11, Tom Bagley 10. Car 22, BUI Vukovich Speed 500 Miles 1. Car 9, Rick Mears 2. Car 14, A.J.

Foyt 3. Car 35, Mike Mosley 4. Car 25, Danny Ongais 5. Car 12, Bobby Unser 6. Car 3, Gordon John-cock 7.

Car 46, Howdy Holmes 8. Car 22, Bill Vukovich 9. Car 11, Tom Bagley 10. Car 19, Spike Gebl-hausen Speed 158.889. 4.

Car 25, Danny On-gais 5. Car 1, Tom Sneva 6. Car 36, Mike Mosley 7. Car 3, Gordon John-cock 8. Car 46, Howdy Holmes 9.

Car 11, Tom Bagley 10. Car 22, Bill Vukovich Speed 161.788. 400 Miles 1. Car 12, Bobby Unser 2. Car 9, Rick Mears 3.

Car 25, Danny On-gais 4. Car 14, A.J. Foyt 5. Car 1, Tom Sneva 6. Car 36, Mike Mosley No Serious Injuries i Bobby Unser Ready To Get Back To Racing Larry Rice slams into the outside wall in front fifth yellow caution light of yesterday's 500-Mile of the Turn 2 suits during the 156th lap.

Rice Race. Photo by Glenn Hall, was not injured in the mishap, which was the After a month of uproar, Bobby Unser is ready to say good riddance. "We're through with these rules now," said Unser. who finished fifth in yesterday's 500-Mile Race after a broken gear knocked him out of an almost-certain third victory. "CART leaves this place.

And now we can go run CART races by rules that are reasonable and sensible." Unser was referring to the continuing battle with the United States Auto Club, the organization from which the dissenting CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) drivers split. He was recalling USAC's attempted ban of six CART car owners from the race which forced a court suit to get them back in. And he was referring to USAC's decision to move the "dial-a-boost" out of the driver's cockpit. The gadget, which allowed the driver to control the amount of boost to the engine's tur-bocharger, was relocated to curtail cheating. "I had trouble getting horsepower early," related Unser, who'll join the rest of his CART members at Trenton, N.J..

June 10. "It's a typical USAC thing. They made us put the dial-a-boost back where drivers couldn't get to it. "I kept calling my guys (on the two-way radio) and telling them I was having trouble passing cars down the straightaway and if they had a little power could they give it to me. They were adjusting it and not getting it exactly right.

It was just a guess. Unser chased his brother Al for 69 laps until Al went in for a pit stop. Bobby led for three laps until he pitted. jSbk, f'tf 'f kr fVj (ti J-- iKxA Is 9 Wally Dallenbach pilots his three-wheeled rear wheel on race car around the track. Dallenbach got his Photo by John crippled car back to the pits after losing the Penske Looking Ahead By ZACH DUNKIN Imitation might be flattering to designer Jim Hall, but Al Unser would rather Roger Penske and anyone else for that matter keep their creative hands off the Chaparral.

After the Penske-prepared cars of Rick Mears and Bobby Unser finished first and fifth respectively at the 500-Mile Race yesterday, Penske revealed that he has his own ground-effects car similar to the Hall-designed Chaparral in the works. "We're already working on it," said Penske, recognized worldwide for his innovative and immaculate race car preparation. "We might have it ready to race this year. We didn't get started on it soon enough to bring it here and it's hard to win here with a brand new machine." Although the car will utilize the basic suction effects as the Chapparal, Penske said his designer, Geoffrey Ferris, will offer his own interpretation. "Sure, I'm flattered," admitted Hall when told of Penske's plans.

"It's definitely the way to go, but I don't want anyone to build one like it," added Al, who looked like he was going to run away with his fourth 500 victory before he was black-flagged for a transmission seal leak on Lap 105, forcing him to relinquish the lead to brother Bobby. Bobby and Mears ran 1-2 for 83 laps before the fourth gear in Unser's car broke on Lap 182, costing him the lead. Unser, driving 15-20 mph slower, finished the race in third gear as Mears roared to Victory Circle. Yesterday's trip to the winner's circle was the second for a Penske-prepared car. Mark Donohue first did it in 1972.

"The first one is always great," stated Penske, "but I've been here for seven years trying to win again, and after this month with all the problems we've had it's a super He was referring to the problems he and the racing organization of which he is a member, Championship Auto Racing Teams, have had with the United States Auto Club. Penske was one of the "CART 6" who went to court to be reinstated into the 500-Mile Race field after USAC had rejected his entry for not being "a member in good standing." "Rick sat down there in that court room every day. He almost thought he wasn't going to be in the race," Penske said. The Penske cars were also designed by Ferris. Unser's was a PC-7 and Mears' was an updated PC-6 (last year's model), both powered by Cos-worth engines.

"We didn't know which one of them would do the best when we brought them here," said Penske. The race strategy for Mears and Unser was simple. "Our plan was that No. 12 (Unser) was going to try to beat every car on the race track and No. 9 (Mears) was trying to beat every car on the race track," explained the car owner, who won the last two national championships with Tom Sneva at the wheel.

"There was no team plan. You can't do it that way. Not here." Although it was every man for himself once the race began, Penske said Unser should get credit for an assist in Mears' victory. "Bobby helped with a lot of stuff we had on Rick's car," related Penske, who called his builder, Derek Walker, in England to tell him the good news. "He was involved in a lot of the testing for us." Penske, was praiseworthy of his crew, but would not take any credit himself.

"I'm just part of the team. Al's Cheating Cries Surprise USAC Boss turn -ww 150 Miles 1. Car 2, Al Unser 2. Car 4, John Rutherford 3. Car 12, Bobby Unser 4.

Car 14, A.J. Foyt 5. Car 1, Tom Sneva (. Car 9, Rick Meara 7. Car 3, Gordon John-cock 8.

Car 25, Danny On-gais 9. Car 34, Vera Schuppan 19. Car 19, Pancho Carter Speed relinquishing the lead to teammate Rick Mears. On Lap 77 Al was again in charge. Bobby took the lead again on Lap 97 on another of his brother's pit stops and kept it until Lap 182 when Mears regained the advantage as the fourth gear on Unser's Norton-sponsored car broke.

"We had everything going that it takes to win a race," said Unser. who was driving the No. 12 Penske-Cosworth. "The car was handling exactly the way I wanted it. The crew was working great.

Everything was going as planned except for the gear break." It was Unser's racing gear, not one of the three gears a driver uses to get up to racing speed. "You can tell when it happens. The car just quits going forward." Fortunately, the whole gear box wasn't destroyed with it, and Unser was able to use his third gear at a cost of 15-20 miles an hour in speed. "I had it up to about 11,000 RPMs (there are no speedometers in race cars, only tachometers which read in engine revolutions per minute) which is way too fast," explained Unser of his finish. "I had the accelerator to the floorboard and it'd go up to 12,000 rpms and just quit and I know that wasn't too good on the engine." Despite the defeat, Unser was happy for Mears.

"I'm glad he won. If I can't win and Al can't win, naturally, I want Rick to win. He did one hell of a job. He ran fast all day. He was certainly one of cars I was looking at to worry about at the end of the race." Z.D.

made during the previous weeks of controversy leading up to the 500. "The cars are going through a complete technical inspection right at this minute at least the top 12 finishers are," said King, who has weathered the defection of most of auto racing's top owners and drivers, including Unser, to the rival Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). "The cars are going through the same procedure they had to go through for qualifying," King said. "If there's anything wrong, we'll know about it." After the first weekend of qualifying, there were widespread charges that some teams were able to circumvent USAC's new rule which lowered engine boost this year by altering the exhaust wastegate. Increased power could be gained by building pressure in the manifold and overwhelming the relief valve which was set at 50 inches for eight-cylinder engines, 58 inches for stock blocks and 60 inches for four-cylinder machines.

Car 45, Janet Guthrie, burned piston, 3 laps. Car 59, George Snider, bent valves, 7 laps. Car 15, John Parsons, burned piston, 16 laps. Car 73, Jerry Sneva, turbochar-ger, 16 laps. Car 89, Lee Kunzman, oil pump, 18 laps.

Car 29, Cliff Hucul, engine trouble, 22 laps. Car 24, Sheldon Kinser, piston, 40 laps. Car 6, Wally Dallenbach, lost rear wheel, 43 laps. Car 17, Dick Simon, clutch, 57 laps. Car 92, John Mahler, fuel pump, 66 laps.

Car 80, Larry Dickson, fuel pump belt, 86 laps. Car 50, Eldon Rasmussen, exhaust header, 89 laps. Car 2, Al Unser, transmission seal, 104 laps. Car 34, Vern Schuppan, broken transmission, 111 laps. Car 10, Pancho Carter, front wheel bearing, 129 laps.

Car 31, Larry Rice, crash southeast curve, 142 laps. Car 1, Tom Sneva, crash northwest curve, 188 laps. NEW RECORDS Four Laps, 188.432, Car 2, Al Unser. 10 Laps, 187.551, Car 2, Al Unser. 20 Laps, 184.767, Car 2, Al Unser.

80 Laps, 164.131, Car 12, Bobby Unser. 90 Laps, 166.162, Car 2, Al Unser. 150 Laps, 163.139, Car 12, Bobby Unser. f- 1 the track on the 43rd lap. Grein.

Almost as good a contest as the one on the track was that between the two Penske pit teams, and much of the credit for Mears' victory in his second year at Indianapolis must go to the squad managed yesterday by Don Cox. The. men over the wall for the winner were Darrell Soppe, John Houp, Jimmy Schofield, Scott Filmore and Peter Par-rett. Just as the Hall ground effects car represents the wave of the future, so does the Cosworth engine, which now has won two straight races at Indianapolis. Of the cars still in motion when Pat Vidan dropped the checkered flag, 12 were powered by the Frank Costin-Keith Duckworth turbocharged V-8 engines.

The first six cars were of British lineage. It was left to rookie Howdy Holmes in a George Bignotti built Wildcat with a Drake-Goosen-Sparks four-cylinder to carry the first tattered banner of Offy across the line. uzJM By STEVE HERMAN AP Sports Writer There is no indication any of the top finishers in yesterday's Indianapolis 500 cheated on the allowable engine boost, United States Auto Cub president Dick King said following the race. The possibility first was mentioned by Al Unser, who dropped out of the race near the midway point after leading for 85 laps. He said he was running within USAC's technical restrictions governing manifold pressure, but that others were not "It's just a shame that the USAC rules forced some drivers to cheat," said Unser, who wound up a disappointing 22nd after winning his third Indy race a year earlier.

sure some of the top six cars in the race cheated," he said. "The cheating had to do with the wastegate, but I'm not going to give names." King seemed stunned by Unser's charge similar to many accusations Tom Sneva was just nine laps away from car slammed into the outside wall, bringing on the finish of the 500 when "something broke" as the race's sixth and final yellow light. Sneva he piloted his car through the fourth turn. The was not injured. UPI.

Mears Pilots Year-Old Car a dogfight to the finish with the eider Unser and four-time winner Foyt, had fate not taken a hand. Mears also had a bit of trouble early on as the right rear tire developed a slow leak. Penske's team manager Jim McGee said they changed three tires on the resulting pit stop. Other than that, McGee said, "It was a Cakewalk." Another two-time winner, Johnny Rutherford, owes his 12th place finish to a broken gear, and the super efforts of his mechanical crew who changed the transmission in the pits in just over 30 minutes. Two teeth were broken off the fourth gear, and there was no way Rutherford could have finsished the race without the gearbox change.

McLaren team manager Tyler Alexander said the job could have been done in less time had they not had to return to the garage for some parts. There were 17 cars still running at the finish from the field of 35, and the tales of woe seemed legion. Sneva, whose litle brother Jerry went out early with a broken turbochar-ger, said he believed either a tire went flat or something broke in the rear suspension before he went into the wall. "I'm a little banged up, and a little sore" he said, "but I'm okay." Jim McElreath, the first driver out of the race, lost a valve cap in the pre-race warmup, and although it was replaced before the start of the race a valve had been bent and the car was unraceable. George Snider, one of those who qualified in the special session Saturday, was the third man out as the car slipped out of gear and bent all the valves.

Pancho Carter, who had driven from 18th starting position into ninth, lost a front wheel Bearing; John Mahler went out with a broken fuel pump and Vern Schuppan, like the leaders, suffered broken gears. The lone stockblock engine, a 350 cubic Inch Chevy, powered Phil Threshie to 19th place, 28 laps behind the winner. Car owner Grant King and sponsor J. C. Agajanian explained that Threshie was able to run about as fast as the leaders down the straights, but the car was oversteering very badly in the corners.

JL vw i 500 RACE FACTS By BILL PITTMAN The fire went out of the glaring yellow Chapparral No. 2 much too soon yesterday, but everyone knew they had seen the future, and it works. Al Unser grabbed the lead in his 14th 500 Mile race on the start and held it for 85 of the first 100 laps. Then, with no explanation, the gear box sprung a leak and the sleek, first of its kind, ground effects machine was black-flagged from the course. Almost as disappointed as Unser, who was seeking his second double and his fourth victory overall, was Jim Hall.

Hall, the tall Texan who masterminded the younger Unser's victory last year in a Lola by Eric Broadley, brought his own thoughts to bear on this year's car which won the Society of Automotive Engineers trophy for design. "I think the car lived up to its expectations. It was disappointing not to finish, but I guess you really can't win them all," Hall said with a wry smile. "I am not sure yet, what really happened, we were losing fluid and a seal broke in the transmission. I knew we were done on the 94th lap.

It has a transmission cooler on it, and having it enclosed should not have caused the problem. "We have learned about this kind of car, and we don't think we have reached its potential yet. Some have called the sleek yellow car a "wing machine" but Hall said the full enclosure with the upswept bottom creates more of a vacuum than the effect of an airfoil. As Rick Mears swept to victory in another ground effects machine, the Penske PC7, a different type, his running mate fell to the same ailment that attacked Al a broken gearbox. Bobby Unser lost his fourth gear on Lap 181 and finished the race in third gear at about 170 mph.

It was just a few laps later that A. J. Foyt's Parnelli-Cosworth lost a valve, almost simultaneously with Tom Sneva's crash in Turn 4. It was the resulting yellow light that saved second place for Foyt, and possibly first place for Mears. Mechanical failures have always played an important part in the 500-Mile Race, and though Mears is a deserving winner, he would have found himself in LAP LEADERS Laps 1-24, Car 2, Al Unser.

Laps 25-27, Car 9, Rick Mears. Lap 28, Car 14, A.J. Foyt. Lap 2949, Car 2, Al Unser. Lap 70-73, Car 12, Bobby Unser.

Lap 74-76, Car 9, Rick Mears. Laps 77-96, Car 2, Al Unser. Laps 97-181, Car 12, Bobby Unser. Laps 182-200, Car 9, Rick Mears. i LAP PRIZE WINNINGS Al Unser, Car 2, led 85 laps and won $17,000.

Bobby Unser, Car 12, led 89 laps and won $17,800. Rick Mears, Car 9, led 25 laps Jand won $5,000. A.J. Foyt, Car 14, led one lap 'and won $4,200. YELLOW LIGHTS Laps 28-31, Cliff Hucul (Car 29) tow in, 6 minutes, 49 seconds.

Laps 43-48, Sheldon Kinser (Car '24) tow in, 8:31. Laps 94-98, Larry Dickson (Car 80) tow in, 8:42. Laps 103-107, Phil Threshle (Car 97) tow In, 6:51. Laps 154-162, Larry Rice (Car 31) hit wall In Turn 2,12:13. Laps 191-195, Tom Sneva (Carl) hit wall in Turn 4, 7:34.

Total yellow light time: 50 min- i utes, 40 seconds. i TIME AND SPEED i Time of the race: 3 hours, minutes, 27.97 seconds. Rick Mears winning speed: 158.899 miles per hour (record is 162.962, by Mark Donohue, 1972). CARS OUT OF THE RACE Car 23, Jim McElreath, bent ivalve, 0 laps. W.

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