Phoenix 200 Indy Car Race : Mario Andretti Picks Off Pole From Son Michael

Mario Andretti thoroughly enjoys seeing his son Michael succeed in Indy car racing--as long as he doesn’t beat the old man.

Michael, 24, appeared to have the pole won for today’s Checkers 200 with a lap of 164.009 m.p.h. Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway.

A few minutes later, however, when the track was hotter and higher speeds were not expected, Mario, 48, went out and ran 164.896 m.p.h.

This was a carbon copy of last year’s scenario for the same race when Mario followed Michael’s 165.251 with a record 165.776 to set up the first father-son front row in Indy car history.

Mario collected another $5,000 as fast qualifier to go with the similar prize he won last week at Long Beach. Each pole winner in Indy car races this year also becomes eligible for a $730,000 end-of-season race at Miami.

“I told dad to back off because I wanted to qualify for the Miami race,” Michael kidded. “I think he wants to make a habit of this.”

“I love it, I love it,” Mario responded, obviously pleased at his one-upsmanship. “It’s got to end sometime, but I’m enjoying it while it’s happening.”

Roberto Guerrero, driving Vince Granatelli’s March, qualified third at 163.095 but was disqualified because the car was 2 1/2 pounds light when it was weighed after the trials.

This placed Rick Mears in the third position at 161.631 and moved Indianapolis 500 champion Bobby Rahal into the second row at 161.059.

Guerrero will start at the rear of the 22-car field.

Dick Simon, at 52 the oldest driver on the Indy car circuit, came out of a season of semi-retirement to run a surprising 158.926 lap and earn a spot in the third row alongside 1986 Phoenix winner Kevin Cogan.

When today’s Checkers 200 starts at 1 p.m. it will be the third time the Andrettis have started alongside one another on the front row. It happened here last year and again at Meadowlands, where it was Michael who had the pole.

Mario, whose only indication of the aging process is a streak of gray at the temples, credited engineer Adrian Newey with making the Chevrolet-powered Lola the fastest car on the track.

“When we came here (Friday) we found we needed a totally different setup than the one we’d used in testing,” Mario said. “Luckily, we had Adrian Newey here to make the proper changes. We were struggling until the end of today’s practice, when things started clicking.

“To me, Newey is the finest engineer I have ever worked with, including Colin Chapman. I couldn’t ask for anything better than the setup I have with the Newman-Haas (Paul Newman and Carl Haas) team.”

Curiously, Newey was the engineer for Michael Andretti and the Kraco team last season. During the off-season, he switched allegiance.

“I thought it would be a terrible letdown when Newey left,” Michael said, “but (car owner) Maury Kraines went out and got Peter Gibbons and Tino Belli, and we regrouped to the point where we’re as strong as ever.”

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Gordon Johncock, 50, who retired two years ago, returned to competition in the American Racing Series and qualified ninth among 11 drivers of nearly identical Buick Wildcats.

Didier Theys of Belgium, last year’s Super Vee national champion, was the fastest qualifier for the 75-mile ARS race at 142.180 m.p.h. Steve Millen of Irvine, last year’s winner here who is driving while recuperating from a broken left leg, was seventh at 136.054.