The Rock Island Argus from Moline, Illinois • 15

THE ARGUS Rock Island 111 Friday May 28 1982 15 Sports $peedway remain a Robert Palmer an economic researcher for the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce said the city realizes between $20 million and $45 million from race visitors no way to keep a tab on it" Palmer said Most of the money is spent at motels restaurants and retail establishments There also is a fair amount spent on entertainment beverages and the catch-all miscellaneous Those totals do not include any money spent at the Speedway Palmer said Nor does it include the standard "rollover" attributed to tourist dollars in the economy which could push the total to more than $100 million THERE ARE HUNDREDS of conventions in Indianapolis dozens of baskeball games meetings and regular tourists all of whom spend money in the city The 500 though is in a class by itself in terms of money "Nothing compares with it" Palmer said attend on race day will pay from $10 to $65 A small soft drink is 75 cents Plus there are souvenirs to be purchased parking to pay for and the drive to the track Money is at the middle of the whole thing The amount of money the track takes in and the amount that is disbursed is not the same' The Speedway is a privately owned corporation and is reluctant to discuss what it makes TO SAY it is not a not-for-profit says Joseph Cloutier Speedway president and treasurer The other folks who spread the wealth are equally reluctant to talk in dollars and cents They fall into a couple of general categories First and foremost there are the sponsors of the race cars For the most part they foot the bill for campaigning the car not only at Indy but around the entire championship car circuit The cost of such an undertaking predictably is not generally discussed Then there are the subsidiary sponsors businesses such as Goodyear Tires and Valvoline Oil Goodyear for example provides tires for all cars at Indy whether they make the final starting grid or not Even if you wanted to you couldn't go out and buy one of those tires If you could it would cost just under $200 According to Dave Harrison a company spokesman about 1800 of those tires were shipped to Indy this year IS SERIOUS business for us" Harrison said Valvoline provides lubricants and fuel to 25 of the 33 racers That too is free Sort of What do these companies get in return? Harrison notes the publicity which comes when national television cameras fosus on the Goodyear logo plastered on cars bodies hats and virtually everything else around the track animate and inanimate Valvoline like Goodyear will begin an advertising campaign featuring the 500 almost immediately after the race ends Sunday The advertising actually begins during the race itself John Barr a Valvoline spokesman said the company once authorized a study of how many "impressions" (advertising talk for how many times something can be seen) the product receives during the race "There were something like a Barr said It is difficult to put a price on such exposure he notes AT THE BOTTOM of the list are the contingency sponsors For a fee racing teams will slap a decal on the car wear a hat or use a product According to Deke Houlgate a public relations specialist who has worked auto racing for many years contingency sponsors can get a piece of the action without having to fork over large sums of money But it is By Mark Chellgren Associated Press Writer a INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Money is seldom discussed around the Indianapolis Motor $peedway at least among the people who have it Sure the total purse of the 66th Indy 500 is expected to approach $2 million spread among the winner lap leaders and what have you But there money to be made at the Speedway and in Indianapolis without even finishing the race Last year for example Mike Mosley lasted just 16 laps but still came away with $3139223 THE SOURCE OF that money is as mysterious as the amounts The track gets its money from the hundreds of thousands of people who crowd onto the grounds for two weekends of qualifying and race day from concessions television and entry fees A day watching qualifying costs at least $5 The 350000 or so people who still not cheap "The only way you get on our car is to pay" said Houlgate who is working this year for Pennzoil sponsor of Johnny Rutherford's car It is not he says a small sum Contingency sponsors come out of a real mixed bag There are beer companies motel chains insurance companies junk food manufacturers camera manufacturers bread makers and soft drink companies There are also companies manufacturing virtually everything that goes on a car from piston rings to batteries to shock absorbers The exposure afforded those companies often could not be purchased through an ad on the broadcast of the race THE MONEY just flow during the roughly three hours it will take some driver to turn left around the track oval Sunday as many as 200 times The really big money is spent during the entire week of festivities preceding the event Talk racing 1979 Indy 500 winner Rick Mears right talks over race strategy with three-time winner Bobby Unser left and 1969 winner Mario Andretti center at the conclusion of practice yesterday Unser won last year with Andretti second in a hassle involving passing cars under the cautiun light Unser be driving Monday when the 1982 race will be run Lakers chew up 76ers in opener of final series By Bob Ryan Field News Service PHILADELPHIA true it's true it's all true Every word of praise the Lakers have received since these playoffs began is deserved Their fast break is nothing less than an Instant Deuce Their relentless offensive pressure has teams with leads worried that no advantage is big enough Their enormous self-confidence enables them to perform team feats heretofore only dreamed of They really might not lose again WHAT A CROWD of 18364 at the Spectrum plus a national television audience saw Thursday night was frightening They saw a Laker team that had been outplayed for 2 Vi quarters spit at a 15-point third-period deficit by outscoring the dazed Philadelphia 76ers 40-9 in the next 10:21 to set the stage for a convincing 124-117 triumph in the opening game of the NBA finals How much torment can the 76er fans take? Buoyed by last Sunday's surprising victory over the Celtics the Sixers controlled the first half rolling up a 61-50 lead The first six minutes of the second half saw them expand the margin to 15 on four occasions the last at 83-68 on a power-inside move by Bobby Jones There was ab-soultely no omen no hint whatsoever that the Sixer world was about to crumble once again Fittingly Jamaal Wilkes en route to a classically quiet 16-point period began the La Comeback with a nice up-fake layup Thus began the blitzkrieg an astonishing Laker run that included but two jump shots a Norm Nixon drifter from the dotted line (85-81 Philly) and a Bob McAdoo 12-foot baseline follow-up jumper emanating from his own ferocious rebound rip away from Bobby Jones THE OTHER 36 LAKER points in the dramatic run were scored on fast-break layups or free throws assorted inside shots and one Kareem Abdul-Jabbar baby hook always easy to pick on the Sixers but again they reacted poorly to stress For example wait until Billy Cunningham sees the videotape and asks why Andrew Toney passed up an unmolested 13-foot baseline jumper at 83-74 in order to pitch the ball back to Julius Erving a step in front of the three-point arc And wait until Cunningham sees the missed layups and turnovers in the beginning of the fourth period when the Lakers then playing without Abdul-Jabbar hit the Sixers with a 17-3 period-opening blast to change their 91-89 third period advantage into an impregnable 108-92 lead an If there was one play that symbolized the horrifying change of fortune in this game it came at 97-90 LA when Kurt Rambis switched out to block a Toney jumper at the top of the circle sending the ball in the direction of Michael Cooper who batted it ahead for the bespectacled power forward The now-rambling Rambis then drove the length of the court for a layup THE 76ERS HAD played excellent basketball in order to build the lead They got excellent first-half Krformances out of Erving Bobby Jones and Darryl awkins inside and they were doing the requisite job on 'the glass When trouble came it materialized in the guise of a one-shot offense and a sudden inability to cope with the vaunted LA transition game To Pat way of thinking runs such as the 40-9 spurt are part of the LA team charter a team of he explained been that way right through the season and in the playoffs I believe the game breaks down into skirmishes and whoever wins the most skirmishes will win the This was a game the 76ers could have and should have won LA played in 12 days The Sixers were on a high as were their fans They played superb ball for 30 minutes Now all anybody can remember is the sight of those purple uniforms streaking downcourt with the absolute fastest break in the history of the sport Murray making up for lost time By Ken Rappoport AP sports writer Baltimore's Eddie Murray missed nine games with tendinitis in his left hand and he's making up for it in a hurry Rebounding from his recent hand injury with a vengeance Murray has picked up right where he left off In his second game back in action Thursday night he lashed four hits including a home run and drove in three runs as the Orioles stopped the Texas Rangers 6-0 "I FEEL like I can hit well with my left hand right now" said Murray who did his damage Thursday night with virtually one hand feels bad just trying to use my left hand as a guide hand I'm not swinging with it at all "It's only hitting swinging the bat that bothers it" he added "I can play the field fine now" In addition to his sixth homer of the season Murray clouted two singles and a double His performance backed the five-hit pitching of Sammy Stewart who got his first complete game of the year his first career victory over the Rangers and his first career shutout in the majors TWO-RUN homer in the first inning produced all the runs Stewart 5-3 actually needed The Baltimore starter struck out two and walked one In the only other AL games Milwaukee edged California 4-3 and Seattle outscored Boston 10-6 There were no National League games Thursday night Brewers 4 Angels 3 Paul Molitor homered on the third pitch to put Milwaukee ahead to stay and Cecil Cooper unloaded a two-run blast in the third inning to lead the Brewers over California Molitor belted his fifth homer of the season leading off against loser Ken Forsch 4-4 blow his fourth gave the Brewers a 4-0 lead and they hung on to cool off the streaking Angels who had won nine of their last 11 games "We've been said Cooper of the Brewers' 500 record so far know we re a better team than we've shown recently I'm hopeful tonight will get us going" Mariners 10 Red Sox 6 Gary Gray belted a three-run homer and Todd Cruz and Rick Sweet added solo shots to power Seattle past Boston Winner Gene Nelson 3-6 scattered 12 hits before needing last-out relief help from Ed VandeBerg When Sweet homered off loser Mike Torrez 3-3 in the first inning he extended his consecutive hit streak to six matching a Seattle club record Lincoln Leo defending titles CHARLESTON 111 (AP) -East St Louis Lincoln and Chicago Leo will defend their titles this weekend at the Illinois High School Track and Field Championships East St Louis was the 1981 winner in Class AA while Leo took the Class A title last year In Class AA 876 athletes from 205 high schools will compete in Friday's qualifying events The finals will be held Saturday Rock Island sends three relay teams and six individuals to the AA finals Class A will include 665 athletes from 209 schools If East St Louis repeats its 1981 performance it will be the first time in the eight-year history of the two-class meet that a school has won both the boys and girls titles The Tigerettes won the girls' meet last weekend The 88th annual boys meet will be held at O'Brien Stadium at Eastern Illinois University Rocky field event specialists Keith Fisher Mike Kelly and Mark Hart are set for prelims today Fisher was first in the district shot put with a toss of 53-4 Vi Kelly was first in the long jump at 21-7Vi while Hart led the district in the triple jump leaping 45-8V2 Kevin Soeken was third in the 800 meters and goes to state as does Ed Branigan who was second in the 400-meter dash Tony VanDeWalle was third in the 1600 and made a state berth while joining Soeken Tom Sellers and Tim Carlson for a district win and state trip in the 3200-meter relay The Rocky 400 and 800 meter quartets also qualified finishing third in the district Mears crew wins pit competition Roger Penske whose operation including crew chief Peter Parrott has already claimed the pole position for Sunday 500-mile classic in record time John Woodard a veteran crew member who changed the right-front tire during the competition said the winning is nice and the $20000 is even nicer BUT THE REAL race is Sunday "A pit stop during the race is nothing like this Woodard said "Sunday is what we're here for But putting up the money so why not take advantage of Ironically the complicated electronic timing mechanism set up to record the event misfired during first run On the second try the crew members completed their tasks in 1494 seconds highest among the qualifiers Mears who is shooting for his second Indy title appeared to be the most serious among the eight drivers He roared into the work area on each of his three tries and roared out again screeching rubber and smoking tires "They do this day in and day Mears said of his backup team just shows what kind of crew got This is the way they get their recognition" INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Rick Mears and his Gould Charge Penske-Ford crew proved Thursday that they are not only fast on the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway they can move pretty well in the pits too In the sixth Annual Miller High Life Pit Stop competition crew changed both right-side tires and simulated filling the 40-gallon fuel tank in 1393 seconds never find that kind of service at your neighborhood gas station SHOWS what they do all through the a happy Mears exclaimed after his team beat the crew of AJ Foyt get the recognition they deserve during the The crews of the four top qualifying cars are automatically entered in the competition The remaining four entries are chosen from time trials the crews themselves have to undergo Included in this competition were pit teams from Mears Foyt Mario Andretti Gordon Johncock Tom Sneva Bill Alsup (who did not even qualify for the race) Bobby Rahal and Bob Frey The teams split $43750 with the winning team receiving $20000 Valvoline-Gilmore March-Cosworth crew won $10000 for 1805 work "They want to win everything said car owner No passing rule INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The no-passing rule that almost cost Bobby Unser his victory in the 1981 Indianapolis 500 remains intact The only difference says Chief Steward Tom Binford is that the enforcement of the rule will be beefed up in order to avoid if possible confusion and controversy There was no doubt Unser committed the violation He freely admitted that he passed a line of cars as he left the pits during a yellow caution period on the 150th lap But he contended it was not illegal A US Auto Club panel last summer disagreed but they voted 2-1 to overturn a one-lap penalty against Unser because it was assessed a day after the race Instead Unser was fined $40000 and Mario Andretti who had been declared the winner was dropped to second place will be enforced "It could happen Binford said Thursday The rule of blending in (with race traffic coming out of the pits) has not been changed at all But the enforcement procedures have He said three special observers have been added to look for yellow flag and that they will be placed in around the track Binford also said the penalty for illegal passing which previously read "one or more has been changed to two laps Binford went over the rule with the drivers Thursday morning during a meeting before the final practice period for race He emphasized that the same situation could happen and it not likely that any panel or body would overturn it again nine consecutive playoff wins for the Lakers beamed owner Jerry Buss walking the magic path If this were Vegas put the dice in a shrine.