Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 27, 1990 TAG: 9005270148
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HARRIS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium
The Indianapolis 500 is all that and more.
The 74th running of the world's oldest and richest race, scheduled to take the green flag today at noon, will be no less.
Add to that a burning, anything-to-win desire.
Just ask defending champion Emerson Fittipaldi, or Al Unser Jr., the man who could have won last May.
Who could forget the 220-mph battle that saw Fittipaldi and Unser darting in and out of traffic, desperately trying to gain an edge as the checkered flag and racing's first $1 million prize beckoned less than two laps away on the history-rich 2 1/2-mile oval?
Certainly not the 400,000 or so spectators on hand at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, nor the millions in an international audience watching on television.
Unser, a second-generation Indy-car star following in the footsteps of father Al, a four-time winner, and uncle Bobby, a three-time champion, got the nose of his missile-like racer just ahead of Fittipaldi as the two dived into turn two.
Fittipaldi, a two-time Formula One champion who took up Indy cars as a second career, was jammed down on the track apron, looking for some way to get around slower traffic ahead.
He nudged up. Unser bore down. Wheels touched. Unser spun hard into the concrete wall. Fittipaldi's car wiggled once, a second time, then steadied and drove on. Victory was 1 1/2 laps away under a yellow light for the Brazilian.
Fittipaldi, now trying to become the first driver since Al Unser in 1970-71 to win back-to-back Indy races, said, "We could not change the way we race in those conditions. You know going into the turn that the one coming out ahead will have an advantage. You want that advantage. You have to have it."
Unser, who climbed from his disabled car and walked to the edge of the track to give his conqueror two thumbs up, said, "That's racing, two guys going into the turn, trying to hold the same territory, and only one comes out. If we have the same chance, we'll go for it again. If you're a racer, you can't back off."
Fittipaldi will start at the front of this year's record-setting 33-car field. His four-lap qualifying average of 225.301 mph was the best in a lineup that averaged 217.437, the fastest ever.
"I think that record of 20 years [without a repeat winner] is old enough," Fittipaldi said. "It is time for someone to do it again."
He will start the 200-lap race as one of the favorites, along with Unser Jr. and Penske Racing teammate Rick Mears, a three-time winner who will start in the middle of the front row. Mears, who last won here in 1988, will be making his 10th front-row start, an Indy record.
Outside on the first of the 11 three-car rows will be Arie Luyendyk, one of 10 drivers in the race to average more than 220 mph in their four-lap, 10-mile qualification runs. Luyendyk, from the Netherlands, has never won an Indy-car race.
Bobby Rahal, the 1986 winner, and Mario Andretti, the 1969 champ, flank 27-year-old Michael Andretti, Mario's son, in row two. Right behind are young Unser, four-time winner A.J. Foyt and 1985 winner Danny Sullivan in the third Penske car.
Foyt, 55, will become the oldest known driver to start the race when he makes his record 33rd consecutive Indy appearance. He has not won an Indy-car race since 1981.
The first nine drivers all have something in common besides a legitimate chance to win: Their cars all have Chevrolet Indy V8 engines like the ones that powered Mears and Fittipaldi the last two years.
Rahal got Chevrolet power for the first time this year and joined Unser Jr. as a teammate when his former team, Kraco, combined with Galles Racing.
"The difference is really amazing," Rahal said. "The power, smoothness and durability are all there and proven. If only one Chevy finishes the race, it will win it. If more of them go the full 500 miles, there's going to be one heck of a battle."
The forecast for today's race: Cloudy in the morning and partly cloudy in the afternoon with high temperatures in the mid-70s. There is less than a 30 percent chance of rain.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB