Andretti in Tough Spot : Mario Doesn’t Like His Chances Sunday--He’ll Start Last in Indy 500 Field

If anyone could start last in the Indianapolis 500 and still have a chance to win, it would be Mario Andretti.

The 46-year-old former world champion, whose only victory here was back in 1969, will be forced to try it Sunday because he destroyed his Lola during practice after it had qualified for the second row. Andretti will race in the Newman-Haas Racing team’s backup Lola, but because he did not qualify it, he must start last in the 33-car field.

“I’ve done it before, but this year it will be much more difficult,” Andretti said. “For one, the quality of the field and the overall speed of the cars will make it difficult to catch up while the leaders are flying out in front.

“Making it even more of a problem will be the added turbulence caused by the design of the ’86 cars. Especially at the start, when we’re all bunched up, it will be hectic.”

If omens are to be taken seriously--and race drivers are a superstitious lot--Andretti’s only win here came after he crashed his No. 1 car and had to drive his backup machine.

In 1969, he hit the wall in Colin Chapman’s new Lotus on the Thursday following the first weekend of qualifying. Andretti was burned on the face but not otherwise injured. However, the impact knocked the Lotus out of the race.

However, there was one major difference--the first weekend was rained out, so when Andretti brought his year-old Hawk out of retirement, he qualified it in the middle of the front row, his speed bettered only by A. J. Foyt.

When leader Lloyd Ruby dropped out on Lap 106 of the 200-lap race, Andretti took over and won by nearly two laps over runner-up Dan Gurney.

“Every May, it seems like this place is a monthlong jinx to me,” he said.

“Even when I won, it wasn’t easy.”

Twice, in 1978 and again in 1981, Andretti was forced to start in the last row. Both times, he was driving in the Belgian Grand Prix on the Formula One circuit during Indy qualifying weekend.

Mike Hiss qualified for him in a Penske car in 1978, a day before Andretti won in Belgium to take the lead in world championship points. After starting 33rd in the 500, Andretti passed nine cars on the first lap and had the fastest lap in the race on Lap 75 at 193.924 m.p.h. He had moved up to ninth by the 150th lap before engine problems slowed him down to a 12th-place finish.

Wally Dallenbach, now the competition director for Championship Auto Racing Teams, qualified Andretti’s car for owner Pat Patrick in 1981. This time, Mario started 32nd because Tim Richmond took over a car qualified by George Snider after Andretti made his switch.

Andretti charged through the field to lead for 12 laps. When the race ended, Andretti was running second behind Bobby Unser, but the day following the race, Andretti was declared the winner after Unser was penalized a lap for passing illegally. Nearly five months later, Unser’s penalty was changed from one lap to a $40,000 fine, and Andretti moved back to second.

“I’d lost races in lots of ways, but that was the first time I ever lost one in court,” Andretti said, still a bit nettled over the 1981 decision that deprived him of a second Indy ring.

In the 1982 Michigan 500, Andretti crashed in practice the day before the race, climbed into his backup car and got to the front before losing to Gordon Johncock.

“It can be done, but it’s not a prospect I’m looking forward to,” Andretti said, rubbing his still swollen knees.

In last Thursday’s accident, a connecting bolt sheared off in the right-rear suspension, causing the car to spin halfway around and smack head-on into the Turn 3 wall.

The wrecked chassis was flown to the Lola factory at Huntingdon, England, where car owner Carl Haas hoped it could be repaired in time for Sunday’s race, enabling Andretti to start in the fifth position.

Unfortunately, the tub was found to be twisted beyond repair, forcing use of the unqualified backup Lola. During practice two weeks ago, Andretti clocked a 210-m.p.h. lap in the second car. Last Saturday, after sitting out two days on crutches, Andretti shook it down in racing trim at 206.

“It’s really no different from the one I qualified,” Andretti said. “It’s just that there’s a hell of a difference between starting 5th and 33rd.”

Shortly before the first car’s suspension broke, a team member with a radar gun caught Andretti going through the corner at 220 m.p.h.

“It was the hardest hit I’ve ever taken head-on,” Andretti said. “If it had happened two or three years ago, I could be history right now.”

The accident occured at nearly the same spot that Gordon Smiley hit in 1982, killing him instantly. Smiley’s speed at impact was estimated at 185, at least 15 m.p.h. slower than Andretti.

“The fact that all I got was a couple of bruised knees and a cut on my left heel is a tribute to the new rules and the new front-end construction. Those four inches really made a difference to me.”

The 1986 rules called for the front end of all cars to be extended four inches, the added area to be used for energy absorbing material. Even then, however, a driver’s feet extend beyond the wheel assembly where they are vulnerable in head-on crashes.

“It pays to be short when you’re a race driver,” the 5-6 Andretti said with a grin. “The only time I think being short is an advantage is when I’m sitting in a race car.”