Indianapolis 500 Qualifying : Johncock Ends Retirement, Will Replace Crawford

Almost two years to the day after Gordon Johncock quit racing with a teary-eyed retirement speech, the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner returned to Indy car racing Sunday.

Johncock, 50, now a gray-haired rancher from Pima, Ariz., responded to a call from Pat Patrick, his former car owner, to fill in for the injured Jim Crawford in the American Racing Series car.

On May 10, 1985, the day before qualifying, Johncock abruptly told Patrick that he was hanging up his helmet after driving in 20 Indy 500s.

“A few months later, I began to regret retiring,” Johncock said after flying in from Arizona to take his physical examination and familiarize himself with the Buick-powered March.

Johncock has not so much as sat in an Indy car since that day, although he drove briefly in an American Racing Series car--a smaller version of an Indy car--last month in Phoenix.

“If I hadn’t run at Phoenix, I don’t know if I would have been so receptive,” Johncock said. “But after I ran there, there was no hesitation.”

Crawford had tested the car at 215.982 m.p.h.--the third fastest lap at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this month--but a high-speed crash in the team’s other car during a qualifying attempt Saturday sent him to Methodist Hospital with his feet, left knee and shin bone shattered.

Crawford remained in stable condition Sunday, but doctors said he probably would spend eight weeks recuperating in a wheelchair.

“If everything holds together, I don’t know why we can’t win the race,” Johncock said. He will take his first laps in the car today.

Dick Rutherford, ARS president and a Patrick team spokesman, said there was no other choice in Patrick’s mind than to get Johncock.

A number of former Indy 500 drivers, including three-time winner Al Unser, have been strolling the grounds in search of a ride. Others here include Michael Chandler, who is hoping to start a comeback after not racing since a crash during practice here in 1984; Howdy Holmes; Tom Bigelow; Spike Gehlhausen, and Herm Johnson.

Seven more drivers, including rookies Ludwig Heimrath Jr. of Canada and Jeff MacPherson of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., qualified for the May 24 race.

This brought the field to 18 after two days of qualifying. The remainder of the 33-car field will be determined in trials Saturday and next Sunday.

Heimrath, a former sports car driver from Toronto, had the day’s fastest four-lap average of 207.591 m.p.h. while driving a Lola.

“I can’t remember a darned thing about it,” Heimrath said of his run, which was faster than three of Saturday’s first-day qualifiers.

“I didn’t believe the guys yesterday about how much debris there was on the track, but I tried to look at the sports section as I went by to see how the Blue Jays were doing.”

Defending 500 champion Bobby Rahal had to deal with a bouncing beach ball on the track during his front-row qualifying run Saturday.

“I’d seen paper and all kinds of stuff on the track,” Rahal said, “when I saw this beach ball coming. Luckily, it didn’t blow across the track, but the next time around I saw a guy run out after it. He got about halfway out there when he saw me coming. It was a little disturbing to have something like that going on when you’re running over 200.”

MacPherson, 30, is in his first Indy 500 after a career that started in off-road racing with his father, an Orange County car dealer.

“It was the toughest 10 miles I’ve ever gone,” MacPherson said. “It’s wild here, and I’m just glad to be qualified.”

Gary Bettenhausen, who qualified for his 16th 500, and Pancho Carter, who made his 14th, slipped in with speeds that may be precarious if the bumping starts next weekend.

Carter, at 203.781 in an ’86 March, is the slowest driver in the field.

“This was a shot in the dark,” said Carter, who sat on the pole two years ago in a Buick. “If this isn’t fast enough, we’ll pull the upside-down car out.”

Last Sunday, while practicing with his ’87 March, Carter’s car became airborne--upside down--and sailed like an airplane for 600 feet on its top before stopping.

Others who qualified were Geoff Brabham, Scott Brayton and Rich Vogler, the United States Auto Club midget champion from Indianapolis.

Former 500 winner Tom Sneva, after hitting the wall coming out of the first turn for the second time this week, warned that the 500 could be a dangerous race if cars continued to break loose without warning.

“I talked with several drivers who had the same thing happen, and they all said they went into the wall without any warning,” Sneva said.

“In the past, when you felt a problem coming on, you could get out of the throttle, let the tires regrip themselves, and go on.

“Today, there isn’t the slightest hint of a warning. The tires feel like they’re working perfectly until you reach the apex, and suddenly the car quits turning. All the traction is gone.

“What’s worse, a car might go through two or three corners the way you want, and then on the next one, it will quit.”

This is the first year that steel-belted radial tires have been used at Indianapolis. In past years, they were bias.

“The tires are just different, that’s all,” Sneva said. “They are so speed-sensitive that the slightest change in the car’s attitude can affect the tires.

“Some serious problems could turn up in the race when you’re running close to another car and you’re worried not only if your tires will grip properly, but also the other guy’s. It could get spooky.”

Sneva, after losing two cars to the wall, hopes to qualify next weekend in a third Skoal Bandit entry.

“It’s the ’86 March that Ed Pimm drove last year,” crew chief John Anderson said. “We’re working to fit the Buick engine in last year’s chassis. We’ll also take a look at the two ‘87s and see if they can be repaired.

“One way or the other, we hope to have a car for Tom to drive by Friday.”

Sneva, noting that only 18 cars were qualified after two clear days of time trials, said that the way things were going, “We may not have 33 cars in the race.”

TENTATIVE INDIANAPOLIS 500 LINEUP

FIRST ROW

No. Driver (Hometown), Car-Engine Speed 5 Mario Andretti (Nazareth, Pa.), Lola-Chevy 215.390 1 Bobby Rahal (Dublin, Ohio), Lola-Cosworth 213.316 8 Rick Mears (Bakersfield), March-Chevy 211.467

SECOND ROW

No. Driver (Hometown), Car-Engine Speed 14 A.J. Foyt (Houston), Lola-Cosworth 210.935 4 Roberto Guerrero (Colombia), March-Cosworth 210.680 22 Dick Simon (San Juan Capistrano), Lola-Cosworth 209.960

THIRD ROW

No. Driver (Hometown), Car-Engine Speed 71 Arie Luyendyk (Netherlands), March-Cosworth 208.337 21 Johnny Rutherford (Fort Worth), March-Cosworth 208.296 18 Michael Andretti (Nazareth, Pa.), March Cosworth 206.129

FOURTH ROW

No. Driver (Hometown), Car-Engine Speed 20 Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil), March-Cosworth 205.584 4 Danny Sullivan (Louisville), Penske-Chevy 205.288 23 *Ludwig Heimrath Jr. (Canada), Lola-Cosworth 207.591

FIFTH ROW

No. Driver (Hometown), Car-Engine Speed 81 Rich Vogler (Indianapolis), March-Buick 205.887 11 *Jeff MacPherson (Rancho Santa Margarita), March-Honda 205.688 91 Scott Brayton (Coldwater, Mich.), March-Cosworth 205.647

SIXTH ROW

No. Driver (Hometown), Car-Engine Speed 15 Geoff Brabham (Noblesville, Ind.), March-Honda 205.503 56 Gary Bettenhausen (Monrovia, Ind.), March-Cosworth 204.504 29 Pancho Carter (Brownsburg, Ind.), March-Buick 203.781

*Rookie driver.

Average speed: 207.591 m.p.h.

Note: Qualifying continues Saturday and Sunday.