74 Years, 140 M.P.H. Later, Speed Remains the Big Concern in 500

The more things change at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the more they stay the same.

Sixty-eight races after Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911, the thought persists: The cars are going too fast.

Harroun averaged nearly 75 m.p.h., prompting the Indianapolis News to editorialize the next morning: “Interesting and thrilling as was the race at the Speedway yesterday, it is hoped we have seen the last of these 500-mile contests. The winning driver said that the limit for speed had been reached and that the strain on participants was far too great.”

Today, more than 400,000 spectators will ring the 2 1/2-mile Speedway or rub elbows in the vast infield, trying to watch 33 cars race at speeds higher than 200 m.p.h. on the same flat-banked, rectangular oval that Harroun challenged in his Marmon Wasp. The average speed of the field is an astounding 208.138 m.p.h.--an increase of nearly five miles from last year’s record.

To put it another way: Tony Bettenhausen, 1985’s slowest qualifier at 204.824, would have been on the outside of the third row with that speed a year ago.

The magic number of 200, attained for the first time only seven years ago by Tom Sneva, is now so commonplace that Scott Brayton, the No. 2 qualifier, commented: “We scuff in our tires at 200 these days.”

With the speed, however, has come turbulence, the same frightening wind conditions that might normally be associated with a tornado, or at the least a whirlwind. Cars that slip through the air with ease while running alone, as they did during qualifying, become almost unmanageable when running in traffic in what drivers call dirty or spoiled air.

The air not only upsets the balance of the car and makes it difficult to maneuver but also buffets the driver around in the cockpit.

“It bangs your head around so you can barely see,” said Bobby Rahal, who will be starting outside in the front row. “When you close up behind a car, the air from their wings dumps right into your cockpit. Your seat belts and the straps on your shoulder harness start flopping around, and so does your head.”

Three-time winner Johnny Rutherford put it more succinctly: “If you ran down I-465 (Indianapolis’ version of the Santa Ana Freeway) at 100 m.p.h. and couldn’t see, wouldn’t that be distracting? The buffeting shakes your head so violently you can’t focus well. At 200 m.p.h., that’s a serious problem.”

Mario Andretti, who ran a lap at 215.6 m.p.h. during practice, says the stability of the cars will counteract the turbulent forces working against it.

“Look at what happened in qualifying,” said the defending national champion. “Four days and there wasn’t a single accident, and you know all those guys were letting it all hang out for four laps. I saw some cars that were so out of shape, a year or two ago they would have been a spot on the wall. But the way these new cars are designed, they held to the track. They are all so stable.”

For the first time in the race’s history, every car in the starting lineup is a new model. There are 23 Marches, 8 Lolas and 2 Eagles, all 1985s. They are so similar that there seems little argument as to their respective qualities.

In the engine department, however, the story is different. It has become a battle between the challenging Buick V-6 and the dominant Cosworth V-8.

Favored with a horsepower advantage under United States Auto Club rules this year, Pancho Carter and Scott Brayton qualified Buick-powered cars first and second. It is the first time a U.S. engine has been in a pole car since Rutherford’s Meyer-Drake in 1976, and it is the first stock block engine on the pole since 1931, when Russ Snowberger did it with a Studebaker.

Cosworth devotees acknowledge the Buick horsepower advantage but claim that Detroit engines will never last 500 miles.

“The Buicks should take off, and I don’t see much shuffling around until the first pit stop,” said Andretti. “It’s practically impossible for us (Cosworth drivers) to overcome that 100 horsepower at the start. Even if they slow down in the corners, they’ll pull away in the straights.

“You’ve got to question their reliability, though. Look what happened to Scott (Brayton) in qualifying. He didn’t even finish four laps. And Pancho (Carter) was having trouble all week.”

Brayton, after setting a one-lap track record of 214.199 on his third qualifying lap, lost his transmission the fourth time around. Carter said that his four fast laps on qualifying day marked “the first time I’d put four consecutive laps together since we got here.”

Carter is quick to counter with the Cosworth failures, though.

“Who lost four engines in the first week?” he asked sarcastically. “The great team did, and they were all Cosworths.”

His reference was to Andretti’s team, a multimillion-dollar operation financed by Beatrice Foods. His car did, indeed, lose four engines in five days.

Rahal sees the race as a series of 75- or 80-mile sprints, rather than as a 500-mile endurance test.

“It just seems to work out that you race like hell for about that long and then the yellow (caution light) comes on and you duck into the pits,” he said. “Everybody makes chassis changes if they’re having problems, or they get new rubber, and you go out and race like hell again.

“Then you keep doing it all over again. The key is to still be with the leaders for the last sprint and hope you’ve got something in reserve if you have to catch somebody or hold somebody off.”

Rahal expects the pace to be about 205 m.p.h. Andretti thinks the leaders may keep it as high as 210.

Carter says it doesn’t matter, as long as he’s running comfortably.

“I want to run my own pace,” he said. “That’s dictated by the way the car handles. If it’s fast enough, I’ll lead. And if it stays that way for 500 miles, I’ll win.”

The ticket for the 500 used to call the race an “International Sweepstakes.” For years, that wasn’t true, since all of the drivers were Americans. But today it would apply.

Among the 33 starters are nine foreign-born drivers, counting Andretti. He was born in Italy but has been a naturalized American citizen for a decade.

The foreign contingent includes Emerson Fittipaldi of Brazil, a two-time Formula One champion; Geoff Brabham of Australia, who is now a resident of San Clemente, Calif.; Roberto Guerrero of Colombia, Josele Garza of Mexico, Arie Luyendyk of the Netherlands, Raul Boesel of Brazil, Jim Crawford of Scotland and Derek Daly of Ireland.

Win or lose, history will be made today by A.J. Foyt, now fat and 50 and a four-time winner looking for the elusive No. 5. Today will be his 28th consecutive start in the Indy 500 and his 300th Indy car race since he started Aug. 17, 1957, at Springfield, Ill. He needs only 66 laps to reach 10,000 miles in competition at the Speedway.

A poll of writers here for today’s race, which the weatherman says will be run under clear skies in 90-degree heat, favored Andretti by a single vote over Rahal, 13 to 12, with Danny Sullivan and defending champion Rick Mears receiving five votes each.