The Indianapolis News from Indianapolis, Indiana • 9

Saturday, May 28, 1983 SPRTS THE I I A A I NEWS Pag 9 24. TALK Art 'Relieved' Baltimore Colts backup quarterback ART SCHLICHTER, describing himself as "on a path to total self-destruction," says he has accepted his gambling problem and is ready to turn his life around. Schlichter, in his first public comments since the Federal government and the National Football League launched investigations into his gambling activities, also said he has been a compulsive gambler and his gambling has made him into "a compulsive liar." Schlichter's comments were published yesterday by the Dayton Journal-Herald. "I've been a living lie, with lies compounding lies. Thank God, this part of it is in the open now and I can stop being a living lie," the 23-year-old Bloomingburg, Ohio, native said.

Schlichter said no one knew how deeply obsessed he was becoming with gambling before he left Ohio State in 1982. "People at school considered me a loner, and I got to be that I couldn't let anyone get close to Car Preparation To 500 Victory I -r tytu0k 1 ifffltiTiitii rr iTfnWfVffTi iir ihmmi inftin tmni 1T1 miutr nr- One veteran driver spent the day away from the track with friends, but his sponsor, Jim Gilmore, talked about A.J. Foyt and what the loss of his father, Tony Foyt who was buried Tuesday in Houston, meant to him and the crew. "I hate to say anything for A.J.," said Gilmore. "But I imagine in the back of his mind he'd love to win this race for his daddy.

That's what he called his father. "I've tried to visualize this race and I can see some drivers trying to prove something by going out fast "I would rather get in the lead if I could, but if I can't I'll just fall in behind. Our success this month has encouraged me and the crew. It gets you on a roll." Fabi A Pro Andretti, who will start to the right of Johncock after qualifying his Budweiser Lola-Cosworth at 199.404 mph, said of Fabi, like Mario a native of Italy (Milan): "He went fast and faster, and he showed a lot of professionalism. After the drivers meeting yesterday (Thursday), he came to me and asked a couple of direct questions.

I sort of gave him the standard answers only I told him in Italian." Andretti probably has been muttering to himself in Italian because of the problems the Newman-Haas team has been having finding speed. "Yeah, the car's better, but not enough better," he said. The team tested at 200 mph, but arrived here in May with a problem and "we weren't able to recapture it all," said Andretti. "We worked on the suspension area to readjust it to the tire profile change that caught us as a bit of a surprise. The first week we worked around the problem.

"I don't think we have a barnburner, unfortunately, but I think we should be in contention. "Everybody has a game plan, but you've gotta be able to shift and play the situation as called for in the race. In a race of this length, you have to be prepared 100 percent. A mistake will haunt you sooner or later. "Last year I had as good a shot at winning this race as ever, and look what happened (he was taken out before ever crossing the starting line when his car collided with a spinning Kevin Cogan).

When a job is done well, everybody has to do it well, from the driver on down." Giving Some Tips -Mario Andretti cars haven't been performing as smoothly as anticipated. When asked if his STP car, which he qualified at 199.748 for 10th starting position, was as good as the one he drove to victory last year for Patrick, Johncock replied bluntly, "I don't think so. It doesn't give you a good feeling. When the track is green, that's when you have problems. But I really feel that as the race goes on and the track gets slicker, we'll be more competitive.

"I don't think the Penske cars are running that well, either. I think Rick is driving a lot harder than he was last year." Mike Mosley, who will start to the right of pole sitter Teo Fabi, and Mario Andretti, another former winner who admits his car is not handling as well as he would like, agreed that Fabi's rookie status did not cause them any concern about the start of the "Teo is a heady driver and I'm sure he'll handle the start well," said Mosley, who will be driving the Kraco Car Stereo March-Cosworth he qualified at 205.372 mph. "I'm sure his lack of racing experience here will be a factor, but I don't know what percentage it might be. I believe there are so many more good teams here that I think it will be one of the most wide-open races ever. Nixes Race lay kill, Keys By DICK DENNY Preparation and experience, not speed, were the words most prominent in comments by four veteran drivers yesterday in talking about the 67th running tomorrow of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race.

"By qualifying speeds, the race seems like it should be more wide open than usual," said Rick Mears, 1979 winner of the 500 and runnerup last year to Gordon Johncock. "You can qualify 33 cars at the same speed, but it's still going to boil down to who's best prepared, and that's what we're hoping for." Mears will be driving a new Penske-Cosworth, the No. 2 Pennzoil machine he qualified at 204.301 miles per hour to earn the outside position of the first row, and he feels his teammate, three-time champion Al Unser Sr. (starting inside the third row), might be "my stiffest competition." "He'll be running the same equipment and he'll be very tough," Mears added. Johncock, who'll be driving for the other team giant in racing, Patrick, says Mears and the senior Unser will be his most formidable opposition in going for a second successive title and third overall.

"I feel I have the same guys to beat as last year," said Johncock, who admits his new Wildcat-Cos-worth isn't as race-ready as his machine was in 1982, when he beat Mears to the checkered flag by .16 of a second. "If I have to beat any two guys, it's Rick Mears and Al Unser. Just because a guy runs 200 or 205, there's a lot more to it than that. There are a lot of pit stops and those pits are narrow." One thing is certain, that even though the Penske and Patrick teams should enter the race as well prepared as any in the field, their Cloutier Second By DICK MITTMAN Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Joe Cloutier said today the reason the track is maintaining a one-race-a-year program is that "people don't want to see a small event." Cloutier was addressing the annual American Automobile Race Writers and Broadcasters Association breakfast at the Speedway Motel. "I am asked many times why we don't have another event," said Clou-x tier, who is serving his second term as track president.

"We can't have a small event here, it (500-Mile Race) is too large. It (any additional event) has to be larger than any of our qualifying days or we're out in the cold. "If the people want to come and see a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, they have to do it one day a year." A couple of years ago when John Cooper was president it appeared the track and NASCAR were close to agreement on a stock car race late in the summer. Also appearing at today's breakfast was defending champion Gordon Johncock, who received his All-America plaque and the American Red Ball Eddie Sachs Award, and 1979 winner Rick Mears. "I think this is going to be one of the closest races in history," predicted Mears, who finished .16 seconds behind Johncock last year.

The AARWBA also announced its Hall of Fame awards. Named were Duke Nalon, former 500 competitor who will drive the Buick pace car tomorrow, and two-time Indianapolis winner Rodger Ward along with NASCAR competitors Junior Johnson and Glenn "Fireball" Roberts. Non-driver Fred Offenhauser also was cited. The AARWBA announced it has come to arc greement in principle to- of in car I 1 JD I L-l me. man feel I could talk to anyone in the whole world about gambling and what it was doing to me," he said.

Big Upset Seventeen-year-old Kathy Hor-vath of the United States scored a stunning upset in the French Open Tennis Championships in Paris today, beating defending woman's champion Martina Nav-ratilova 6-4, 06, 6 3 in a fourth-round match. The upset the biggest so far in the clay court tournament took place before a crowd of 12,000 on the center court of Roland Garros stadium. Prior to facing the unseeded Horvath, the left-handed Navrati-lova had not lost a match this year. The stunning upset came after officials had announced fines totalling $3,000 against John McEnroe of the United States for his behavior during the championships. No Nelson DON NELSON says he's going to stay as coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, even though the team of his playing days, the Boston Celtics, is searching for a leader.

"I haven't changed," Nelson replied when asked if he was interested in replacing Celtics coach BILL FITCH, who yesterday from the National Basketball Association team. Nelson played 11 years with the Celtics and the club has retired his number. Former Celtics K.C. JONES and TOM HEINSHON already have been mentioned as candidates, while Fitch has been added to the list of possibles for the vacant San Diego job. Sycamores Lose Indiana State's Missouri Valley Conference baseball champions faced an uphill fight today in their quest to win the NCAA Mideast Regional at Ann Arbor, Mich.

Mid-American Conference champ Miami (36-13) scored a 7-4 victory over the Sycamores in yesterday's opening round of the double-elimination tournament The Sycamores were scheduled to meet Morehead State today, while Miami faced host Michigan (46-7) in the winners bracket after the Big Ten champions came from behind to beat Morehead State, 4-3, yesterday. Elsewhere, a sterling season for Indiana's women's softball team ended yesterday when LORI STOLL hurled a two-hitter for Texas A in a 1-0 blanking of the Hoosiers. The Texas A victory came in the losers bracket of the Women's College World Series at Omaha, Neb. and moved the Aggies into today's semifinals. Where The Action Is TONIGHT 7 All-Star Circuit of Champion, Paragon Speedway.

7:30 Indianapolis Indians at Omaha (WNON-FM). 8 USAC Midgets and Pro-Ford doubleheader, Indianapolis Raceway Park. 8 Figure-8 100-lap championship, Indianapolis Spee-drome. 8 Sprints, limited late models and thunder cars, Lincoln Park Speedway, Putnamville. TOMORROW 11 a.m.

67th Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 2 p.m. Indianapolis Indians at Omaha (WNON-FM). But this race is 500 miles. If A.J.

can keep that car in and not get hit I think he has a very good chance of winning (it would be a fifth victory). "It's not going to depend on luck. It's going to boil down to skill, and A.J. has it." RING TIME FOR WINNER The winner of tomorrow's 500-Mile Race will receive his championship ring a little sooner than in the past. Previously, a winner's ring was presented by jeweler Thornton Bardach at the Monday night 500 Victory Dinner.

This year, Bar-, dach's ring presentation will be made at a special Championship Drivers Association luncheon Monday at the Indianapolis Athletic Club. At the Victory Dinner, two new rings with cash awards of $5,000 each will be presented. The first is a Herff Jones "champion of champions" ring, a 14-carat yellow gold creation with diamonds. Valued at $5,000, it totals 1 Vi carats. Also, Goodyear will present a specially designed, ring to the owner of the winning car.

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This was after Soto blanked the Pirates, 9-0, on five singles last night while striking out eight and walking two in hurling, his fourth straight complete game and second shutout to lower his earned run average to 2.06. "He's a great pitcher, that's all," added Tanner after a seven-run Reds' explosion in the fifth inning that helped snap a three-game Cincinnati losing streak. "I wish we could round up three or four more like him," said Russ Nixon, manager of the Reds. "But so does everyone else, I guess. We knew he had the arm and two big pitches at first" he added.

"He had the 95 miles per hour fastball and that great changeup that he throws with the same motion. And now he's added a slider that makes him even tougher." The chilly night didn't start too well for Soto, who stands 7-2 even though he has missed three starts with a blister on his pitching hand. "I wasn't feeling too good when the game began," he revealed. "It was hard for me to breathe and hard to get loose while I was warming up. I thought maybe I'd go five or six innings but when they gave me that 9-0 lead I had to stick in there." How about his two base hits? "I think I was more happy about the hits," he admitted.

"The second hit really cheered me up, because I don't get two in one game very often. Maybe I'm getting to be a better hitter." In 1973 Cincinnati signed Soto although scout George Zuraw thought he was too light at 160 pounds and too small. "I received $1,000 and was very happy to get it" recalled Soto. Today, after winning his preseason arbitration case, he is being paid $625,000 by the Reds. Soto was locked in a scoreless duel with Pittsburgh lefty John Can-delaria in the last of the fifth.

But after 11 Reds had strolled to the plate the score suddenly was 7-0 after Candelaria and rookie Cecilio Guante had been bombed for seven hits. Big blows were two-run doubles by Eddie Milner and Kelly Paris and a two-run single by Dave With ZS AMD GET BIG CASH DISCOUNTS, TOO! place its Hall of Fame in the new facility at the Talladega, International Speedway. Johnny Rutherford, three-time winner who crashed twice during the month and wound up in Methodist Hospital with a broken left ankle and broken right foot was named winner of the annual Jigger Sirois Award. Racing Tonight There's plenty of racing action scheduled for tonight i Central Indiana if the weatherman cooperates. Indianapolis Raceway Park has a "Night Before The 500" doubleheader planned at 8 p.m.

with its inaugural event in the new pro-Ford series. Jeff Andretti, son of Mario, is among the entrants. Five-time USAC midget champion Mel Kenyon heads the second half the show as he seeks his fifth wta the pre-500 midget race. Also in the field is 1983 points leader Tom Bigelow. A 100-lap championship Figure-8 feature is on tap at 8 p.m.

at the Indianapolis Speedrome, while the 35th Little 500 is set for 8:30 p.m. at Anderson Speedway. Wayne Arnold took the 25-lap figure-8 feature last night at the Speedrome, finishing ahead of Billy Tunny Jr. and Danny Turner. Tunny captured the 25-lap oval feature, while the 25-stock oval stock feature went to Nick Weaver.

Chuck Gurney captured the Hul-man 100 Silver Crown dirt car race last night at the State Fairgrounds. Sheldon Kinser placed second, 20 car lengths behind. A winning time was not announced because much of the running was under the yellow flag. Gurney, who started fifth, took the lead from Billy Vukovich on the sixth lap and held it the rest of the way. Whether you wont to mow an acre or a hundred dig a posthole or sewer trench grade a driveway, plow a field or load a truck we've got a Ford 1000 Series tractor for the job! These new compacts come with a combination of features you can't get anywhere else.

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