Long Beach Grand Prix : Andretti, Brabham Break Qualifying Record

Mario Andretti and Geoff Brabham both broke the qualifying record for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Friday, and Andretti predicted it will fall again today.

Andretti, defending champion in Sunday’s $648,000 Indy car race through the streets of Long Beach, took the provisional pole with a lap at 91.443 m.p.h. around the 11-turn, 1.67-mile circuit. Brabham, who finished second to Andretti last year, was a tick behind at 91.297.

Andretti set the track record last year at 90.729.

“Tomorrow, we’ll go faster than today,” Andretti said. “It’s a historical fact on this track that each session gets faster than the previous one.

“Today’s performance means a lot to me because it shows there was no complacency on our team after winning everything last year. That was our biggest concern, that we might think we had it made. The way the car ran proves we all did our jobs in the off-season.”

The battle for the pole was one of cars as well as drivers. Andretti was in a Lola and Brabham in a March. The two British-built machines are the only makes entered except for a pair of Eagles built in Santa Ana by Dan Gurney.

Tom Sneva stands 13th at 87.750 m.p.h. in one of the Eagles, and Ed Pimm hit the wall in the other.

A crowd estimated at 30,000 watched the first half of the Indy car qualifying. The final session will start at 12:30 p.m. today. Twenty-eight cars ran Friday, and 24 will start Sunday’s 150-mile race, opening event of CART’s 14-race season.

Also scheduled today are a pro-celebrity race and a Bosch Super Vee championship race. Davy Jones of McGraw, N.J., is on the pole with a lap at 81.935 m.p.h. for the Super Vee race, with Jeff Andretti, Mario’s youngest son, in 13th position.