Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 1, 1993 TAG: 9308010155
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH. LENGTH: Medium
Andretti, 53, took the pole position for the 500-mile race with a blazing lap of 234.275 mph on a virtually perfect day at Michigan International Speedway.
Andretti's effort knocked Newman-Haas Racing teammate Nigel Mansell's 233.462 out of the top spot and was considerably quicker than the 232.618 lap by Roberto Guerrero in 1992 at Indianapolis that had stood as the fastest official qualifying lap until Saturday.
The record lap on the bumpy two-mile, high-banked oval was not quite as quick as the hand-timed unofficial Indy-car closed-course record of 234.5 set by Jeff Andretti, the younger of Mario's two racing sons, during a test session Feb. 23 at Texas World Speedway.
"I was a little worried about how things were dragging today," Mario Andretti said. "Things weren't going off on time and I was afraid the track conditions would deteriorate if we waited too much longer. But it seemed like everyone was running a little faster than this morning [in practice], so I just held my breath and went for it.
"The track was great," he added. "The only thing that would have made it better is if it had been overcast."
Mansell already had qualified on the warm, calm and sunny afternoon, surpassing Andretti's old track qualifying mark of 230.150, set in 1992. So Andretti, who increased his Indy-car career record to 66 poles, knew he had his work cut out for him.
The first of Andretti's two warmup laps in his Ford-Cosworth-powered Lola was 229.432. He followed that with a warmup of 232.551, took the green flag and ran 233.875 and then topped that on his last hot lap.
"I attacked the track from the word go," the four-time series champion said. "We needed to build momentum and reach the speed. I was on the red line [on the tachometer] all the way. I didn't think I could reach that 233-234 because we hadn't done it in practice. But it all came together in qualifying."
Mansell, the 1992 Formula One champion and a sensational Indy-car rookie, had complained bitterly after practice Friday about the bumps scattered around the rough Michigan oval that get the 1,550-pound cars airborne.
Saturday, however, Mansell said, "My biggest problem here is that I'm not used to the place. I didn't know what to expect and I've had a big shock out on the circuit. It's the fastest track in the world I've driven on."
Arie Luyendyk, the Indianapolis 500 pole-winner in May, was a solid third at 229.885, followed by Raul Boesel (229.562) and Paul Tracy (227.468), the winner of the last two Indy-car races, and 1992 race winner Scott Goodyear (227.408).
Andretti, who became the seventh pole winner in 10 events this season, said he expects the pace in today's race to be slower, but not much.
"On a track like this, even a slight condition change can make a big difference," he said. "But, with more good weather, conceivably, you'll see laps over 220 consistently in the race."
Mansell, who had not seen the Michigan track before Friday, said, "It should be very competitive. After all, there are 13 drivers within 1 1/2 seconds at the front of the grid."
Twenty-four drivers qualified for the race, but the car put into the lineup by rookie Adrian Fernandez was withdrawn by team owner Rick Galles, who said he never intended to have the inexperienced driver compete in this event.
Fernandez was pressed into service after Danny Sullivan, a former Indy-car series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, became ill. It was first believed that Sullivan had the flu, but he was diagnosed with a possible bacterial infection. He flew to his home in Aspen, Colo., on Saturday.
Fernandez, who has driven an Indy-car on one other oval - the Milwaukee Mile - had qualified 20th at 214.354.
by CNB