Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 53

DETROIT FREE PRESSWEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 1978 1D Cut comers! How a barber races at Indy By CHARLIE VINCENT Free Press Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS "Every human being would like to think he can do what he sets out to do But a lot of them don't have the guts to try to do what they want." That's the philosophy Larry (Boom Boom) Cannon lives by. And that explains why, at age 4 1 he's trying to make the 1 978 Indianapolis 500 field in a vehicle called simply "That's My Race Car." Above most of the other garages in Gasoline Alley are signboards identifying the cars inside by the names given them by prestigious, and wealthy, sponsors: Texaco Star Budweiser Lightning CAM2 Motor Oil Special 1st National City Travelers Checks. Cannon's is simply called "That's My Race Car" because that's exactly what it is. A year ago, Cannon who is a Danville, 111., barber when he isn't in a race car didn't even have a ride in the Indy 500. He sat in the stands during qualifying and questioned why he was there while drivers he feels are less capable had rides.

Last August he quit worrying about that, bundled up all the money he could beg and borrow, and went out and bought a slightly used Wildcat, built by George Bignotti and driven by Gordie Johncock in 1976. "It's better than anything I've ever driven before," said Cannon, who is trying to make the field for the 500 for the third time. WITHOUT THE SPONSORSHIP the big teams have, though, his chances of a high finish are almost infinitesimal. "My wife wouldn't let me come here if it Please turn to Page 7D Press Art Director DICK MAYER for $50. Sketch by Free 'That's My Race Car' and that's Indy driver Larry Cannon, selling 'honorary car owner1 memberships v.j.llili I fj zZ jru-v Ceoige -HVi4 Pascas Penske hires Indy stand-in Parrish's home run gives Tigers 4-2 win over Seattle in 16th M0 fc Old "ails: is turning out to honor Father Martin AP Photo Danny Ongais backed his car into a wall in practice at Indy Tuesday at 200 m.p.h.

Above, the car slides along the wall. Below, fire breaks out in the rear of the car. Ongais was not seriously injured. INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Roger Penske announced Tuesday that he has signed Mike Hiss to try to qualify his Indy racer this weekend if Mario Andretti is unable to return from Europe, where he is preparing for Sunday's Belgium Grand Prix. Hiss, 26, has driven in four Indianapolis 500s, but he hasn't piloted a championship car in competition since 1976.

Penske had announced Monday that veteran driver Bobby Allison would be the backup man on the Penske team. But Tuesday, Allison said that he had checked his schedule and would be unable to drive because of other commitments. It has been a tough week for Penske. First, rain washed out Andretti's attempt to qualify last weekend, though in practice he'd had Gasoline Alley buzzing with a lap of 203 m.p.h. Then, after more rain and canceled practices, Please turn to Page 7D By JIM HAWKINS Free Press Sports Writer It took them 16 innings and 4 hours, but the Tigers finally defeated the Seattle-Mariners, 4-2, Wednesday morning in a game that started Tuesday night, thanks to Lance Parrish's home run.

With two out in the bottom of the 16th inning and Jason Thompson on first base, Parrish ended the Tigers' longest game since 1971 by bouncing his third homer of the year off the facing of the upper deck in rightfield. THE POST-MIDNIGHT victory kept the Tigers .033 ahead of the second-place Boston Red Sox in the race to remain first in the American League East. Boston defeated Kansas City, 3-2, Tuesday night. The win, the Tigers' third in a row, went to Steve Foucault, who took over in the 14th inning for John Hiller, who had relieved Milt Wilcox hours earlier in the seventh inning. And it averted the possibility of a suspended game, which would have occurred if the two teams had been unable to reach a decision by 12:59 a.m.

That was less than a half-hour away when Parrish graciously sent everyone home. In fact, although it had long been forgotten by the end of the game, the Tigers flirted with a no-hitter for the second time in four days as Wilcox refused to allow the Mariners a hit until the fifth inning. Also more or less forgotten by the time the red-eye special was completed was the fact that Seattle centerfielder Ruppert Jones had robbed Steve Kemp of two potential game-winning hits en route to matching the major league record by making a dozen putouts during the game. THE TIGERS, who didn't have a single non-pitcher left on the bench at the end of the game, collected 13 base hits while Wilcox, Hiller and Foucault held the Mariners to 10. Wilcox, who shut the Oakland A's out in his last start, held the Mariners hitless for the first 4 innings.

John Hale became the first Seattle batter to reach base when Mark Wagner booted his ground ball to short to open the top half of the third. Please turn to Page 2D Let us begin this day with a visit to church, then on to court, and after that you are free to wander Unless you are an old joker which I'm told is a half-century type there is no reason you should know of the Rev. Father James E. Martin. After all, he has been missing from these streets for nearly 30 years.

I cannot tell you how inspirational he was in the pulpit or how tolerant in the confessional, but there is considerable evidence he created and guided more fine young athletes than anybody, ever, on local playfields. If you accept the notion that athletics tend to keep young guys out of trouble, then you must believe there are fewer bums walking about these days because of the good father. I have testimony from several who claim to have been so saved. Fr Martin will return here briefly Monday evening, and it is a measure of sorts that three bishops, several busloads of his parishoners from Harrow, and more than 700 in all will be waiting in Cobo Hall. He is one of four new enshrinees in the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, the others being more recognizeable names like Al Kaline, Don Canham and the original Henry Ford.

"The remarkable thing," says Hall of Fame director Nick Kerbawy, "is that more than half the crowd will be there specifically to honor a man they haven't even seen since 1 950." From what we can tell at the moment, it will be mostly a reunion of the Catholic Central High School characters from the 1930s and 1940s. Fr. Martin was the school's athletic directorbaseball coach then, the Shamrocks ruling the high school football fields (he helped create the old Goodfellows game and the rivalry with Boys Town) and winning almost everything possible in baseball. produced major leaguers If you think it is not very tough indeed for a kid from old Cooley High to be acknowledging such things about Catholic Central, then you did not know or have forgotten the intensity 1 OUTGOING Mill Mays. 37 1 astounds himself By JIM HAWKINS Free Press Sports Writer Milt May knows he is no .370 hitter.

He knows he is probably not going to hit 30 or 35 home runs this summer, either. As a matter of fact, the Tigers' catcher is at a loss to explain exactly why, after six weeks of the season, he is easily the leading hitter on the team. All May knows for certain is that for the first time in four seasons, he's hitting the ball the way he has always thought he should. A GREAT NEW JACKET TO of high school athletics in those years. "I think we won something like 18 straight Catholic League baseball titles," says Dr.

Jerry Dietz, who was one of Fr. Martin's pitchers. "Nine guys from our 1950 team signed pro contracts. Dozens were in the minor leagues and a lot of 'em made it to the majors guys like Art Houtteman, Ray Herbert, Jerry Shy, Johnny McHale McHale, one-time Tigers first baseman and now general manager at Montreal, will make the induction speech for Fr. Martin, now gray but still devilishly handsome, at the huge annual banquet which traditionally is the GET AROUND 1 tfr IN, FROM Fr.

James Martin 1 LONDON FOG. highlight of the city's sports social scene. If you would join the cheering, tickets are $20, reservable at 568-0333. "I've never gotten off to a start like this in my life," admitted the quiet Tiger, who did not start against Seattle Tuesday night, despite his bulging .377 batting average and six home runs, because lefthanded Rick Honeycutt was the starting pitcher. May did get to bat one time, grounding out to first base in the eighth inning against righthanded reliever Enrique Romo as a pinch-hitter for Steve Dillard.

That dropped his average to .371. "I REALLY don't know why I'm hitting so well all of a sudden," continued May, who has been forced to share his position with rookie Lance Please turn to Page 4D isj if A fm 1 1 1 AY AK i ll Kthzz-- ft A change for the better, for the times when the weather changes on you. London Fog" keeps up the quality tradition while adding inno- vations like zippered chest pockets and double-entry hip pockets below Adjustable side tabs with D-rings, too Detail-stitched polyestercotton poplin gets the Ze-Pel'- rain-and-stain repellent finish for good measure Machine wash Milt May: "One thing that has helped me this year is the fact that I've tried to make myself more aggressive at the plate." Hahs win, 3-2, lake 2-0 lead over Bruins able. $40 in Men's Outerwear Well, now, if the court will come to order, we will proceed to the matter of labor, law and the slickering of one party by another. You saw mention Ed Garvey, beleaguered director of the National Football League Players Association, is back in court, screaming foul and deception in the contract he wiggled from the club owners two years ago.

He had fought long, justifiably so, to rid pro football of the so-called Rozelle Rule and the reserve clause which stymied the free movement of players from one team to another. It took him three years, the owners buckling under with some $16 million in penalty payments, and Garvey announcing triumphantly a new contract bringing stability, peace and justice for all. He was suckered. A few suspected it at the time, and now a lot more are convinced. Maybe Garvey, too.

Players'' victory turns sour The contract the players are hung with not only tends to restrict their movement more surely than the reserve clause ever did, but it also fairly governs their wages. Garvey's has complained to the 8th U.S. District Court in Minneapolis that almost no teams in the NFL bother to bid anymore for free agent players. There were 93 of 'em players who played out their contracts to seek jobs or higher wages elsewhere this spring, but of that collection only six received of fers rom other teams. It is not the way Garvey or the players figured the contract would work; certainly it is not what they had been seeking, and so they appeal now to reopen and renegotiate.

Understand, under the contract, salaries now are set in a pattern for all teams with wages being determined largely by a player's position and amount of experience. The outstanding tackle does not figure to earn significantly more than the journeyman. Unhappy with that situation, a player might determine to peddle himself elsewhere. But a team accepting such a player now must yield draft choices in relation to the salary it agrees to pay. As a for instance.

Lions linebacker Charlie Weaver, figuring he was worth $125,000, went to market but found no one bidding. The reason was not so much the money he is probably worth what he sought but the fact that Garvey's pact with the owners would require a team to yield No. 1 and No. 2 draft choices to the Lions. Weaver is not worth that price, nor are many players, and so they are all stuck A football takes funny bounces; so do corracts.

MONTREAL (AP) Guy Lafleur blasted a 40-foot shot past goalie Gerry Cheev-prs at 13:09 of overtime Tuesday night, ruining a spectacular performance by the Boston goaltender and powering the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-2 victory in the second game of the National Hockey League final playoff series. Lafleur took a pass from defenseman Larry Robindon, wound up at the top of the faceoff circle to Cheevers' left, and fired the shot that nsMl TMM ft in gave the Canadiens a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Cheevers had been overwhelming in facing 15 Montreal shots in the extra period and making a number of outstanding saves. Boston defenseman Rick Smith, whose penalties led to two Montreal power-play goals in the Canadiens' 4-1 opening-game triumph, atoned for his misdeeds with just 4:12 left in the third period, sending a 10-foot shot past Canadiens' goalie Ken Dryden, pulling the Bruins even 2-2. Montreal's Bob Gainey had snapped a 40-foot wrist shot past Cheevers just 3:36 earlier to put the Canadiens in front.

Defenseman Brad Park, who scored the only goal for Boston in the opener, traded second-period goals with Steve Shutt who also scored in the opener for the 1-1 tie broken by Gainey's tally. Park put Boston ahead, as Please turn to Paqe 7D "5 it A Canadiens 3, Bruins 2 Boston 0 1 I 0-2 Montreal 0 1 1 1-3 1st None Penaitses--Roninsnn, Mnn, 4 II Hr ijie Mm, 6 lh Shwxwro Bus, 19. Bos 06, Nvroo Won 18 46, Jrjrfl'nn Bos Vi 31 2d I Boston. Park 7 tO'Pei 'v WrNaBI 3 2, V.c"'reai Snott 8 Rctjiison Cour-nvT), 7 00 Penaioes-fcoD nsnn. Aon, iV, Cournovcr, Mon 15 46, MiiBurv.

Bos, 1 5 4 3d 3 Montrtal, Game IJarvis, Ho pi, VI i Sm.m 1 iCasrmian AcNao, 15 48 Penait.es O'Brien, Bos, 5 37. Lafleor. Won, 6 43 OT-5 Lafleur 9 IRodnsonl 13 09 Pen-aiotf, None SHOTS-Boston 8-1010-4 Montreal 8-5 7 15-35 GOALIES-Boston Cheevers Montreal, Dr voeo A-17.