Rahal Is Champion : Indy Car Title Is His After Michael Andretti Is Forced Out of Race

Bobby Rahal knew that all he needed to win the Indy car championship Sunday and its $300,000 prize was to keep ahead of Michael Andretti in the Nissan Indy Challenge at Tamiami Park.

It turned out he didn’t even need to do that much.

When Andretti pulled his blue and yellow March off the picturesque 1.78-mile road course shortly before the halfway point of the 200 mile race, the CART/PPG Indy Car World Series championship was Rahal’s.

The championship win wasn’t as dramatic as his late pass of Kevin Cogan to win the Indianapolis 500, but to Rahal it was more satisfying.

“When you go through 17 races against this kind of competition, fighting race in and race out and it comes down to the last 200 miles, I can’t express what a personal satisfaction it is to win it,” Rahal said. “Purely from a driver’s point, it has to be more satisfying than winning a single race, even a race like Indy.”

The race itself, which had taken a back seat to the Rahal-Andretti confrontation all week, turned into one of the most dramatic of the season.

Roberto Guerrero of Colombia and San Juan Capistrano led from start to almost finish before his car ran out of fuel on the final mile. Guerrero had led for 111 of 112 laps, but shortly after taking the white flag, he could only sit and suffer as Al Unser Jr. flashed past to take the checkered flag.

At one point, Guerrero led by 30 seconds. This would have been his first Indy car win, although he has finished second, third and fourth in the last three Indianapolis 500s.

Rahal was second when his crew chief, Steve Horne, informed him over the radio that Andretti was off the course. For a few laps, Rahal set out after Guerrero, but the emotions of winning the grueling season overcame him and he became sick to his stomach.

“It started around lap 85 or so,” Rahal said. “I knew Michael had dropped out but it took a few laps before it really sank in what it meant. That all the pressures and tension was over. All of sudden I started getting sick.”

Instead of pulling into the pits, however, the 33-year-old Dublin, Ohio, driver remained in the race to assure his crew of winning the $25,000 Dana Pit Crew award.

“I almost pulled off, but Steve (Horne) said to try to stay out and cruise around for a few laps and maybe I’d feel better. I knew the crew was fighting for the Dana Pit Crew championship and Steve felt we might have to finish to win it. They’d done a great job all season and I didn’t want to let them down just because I’d won, so I kept driving. I did start feeling better but my concentration was gone and it was all I could do to finish.”

Rahal finished eighth, three laps behind Unser and Guerrero.

The two leaders were two laps ahead of third-place finisher Rick Mears in Roger Penske’s Chevrolet-powered PC-15.

Guerrero, who appeared about to become the first driver to win an Indy car race wire-to-wire in more than two years, said he had no idea his car was about to run out of fuel.

“I thought we had enough (fuel) for 10 more laps,” he said. “The car handled like a dream the whole race. This was certainly the biggest disappointment of my career. I really thought I had it.”

Unser, who lost the championship to his father by a single point here at Tamiami Park last year, said as the race progressed that he figured he would finish about five seconds behind Guerrero.

“I knew I was gaining on him, but I thought he was just saving his car,” Little Al said. “I won because I had nothing to lose and I drove my car into the ground. Last year, when I was trying to win the championship, I had to be careful in order to finish the race.

“Today I wasn’t careful of anything. I didn’t even look at the gauges. Actually, I did, and they were way up where they shouldn’t be, but I just kept pushing. That’s why I’m up here (on the winner’s platform). Because I just let it all hang out.”

The day was a disaster for both Michael Andretti and his father, Mario.

At one point Mario was running third behind Guerrero and Rahal. Had he finished that way, instead of fading to eleventh with shifting problems, he would have won $150,000 in PPG Cup third-place money. However, he ended up fifth, a $50,000 drop in pay.

The $10,000 bonus for the driver who leads the most laps during the season appeared certain for Michael--until he dropped out on lap 59. This enabled Unser Jr. to move ahead of him.

The younger Andretti did win $200,000 as the season runner-up, however.

“It was a frustrating finish to a good year,” Michael said. “We fought an uphill battle all week. For a while I could race with Bobby (Rahal) but one lap before I stopped, I had trouble picking up the gears. Then the whole thing quit.”

The problem turned out to be a broken seal in the gearbox.

“The oil just blew out and that was that,” Andretti said.

A sullen South Florida sky, which was spitting rain most of the morning, delayed the start of the race 45 minutes while CART officials gave crews time to change tires while the weather turned from wet to dry.

Guerrero, who started from the pole after qualifying at 113.043 m.p.h., took the lead at the first turn and was never seriously challenged until his tank ran dry.

Rahal, who started fifth, and Michael Andretti, back in 10th, were on the move immediately. By lap 15, Rahal had moved past Kevin Cogan and Roberto Moreno into third and Andretti was fifth behind Emerson Fittipaldi.

Rahal moved into second place after passing Raul Boesel on lap 53 and when Boesel stopped a couple of laps later Andretti was third and the race for the championship was in full steam.

Rahal started the day three points ahead of Andretti, which meant that he needed only to keep his young rival behind him.

A dramatic moment occured on the 58th time around Tamiami when Rahal moved up to lap Mario Andretti. After Rahal made one attempt to pass and couldn’t quite make it, the elder Andretti moved aside at the next corner to let the faster car by.

Before Michael could close the gap on his father and put pressure on Rahal, however, the championship chase ended when he drove off course and parked his car.

“I knew I was through, but I was hoping to see a red car (Rahal’s) at the side of the road,” young Andretti said. “I parked my car behind the wall because I didn’t want Bobby (Rahal) to think it was too easy.”

Rahal said he never saw Andretti’s car but was informed by his crew that he was the 1986 champion.

From then on, the attention centered around Guerrero’s white March and its apparently flawless performance. Once Rahal slowed, only Little Al made even a semblance of a race out of it.

Then, without a hint of what might happen, his fuel was gone.

“I just wanted to die right there,” Guerrero said. “The crew told me over the radio to pick up the pace because Little Al was gaining on me and I told them I couldn’t, that I was dead.”

Little Al, who had been ready to accept second place, happily took what was given for his first win of the season.

“There were three guys out there--Michael, Rahal and Roberto--that I couldn’t run with,” Little Al said. “Then they all started having their problems and it turned out to be my day.

“I guess the most I worried all day was when I saw that Roberto had run out of fuel. That really got me worried and I told my car, ‘Don’t quit on me now, you turkey.’ ”

Unser’s victory margin was 35 seconds as Guerrero struggled to keep his car coasting to the finish line. The speed of 106.322 m.p.h. obliterated the year-old record of 95.915 by Danny Sullivan last year.