THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 : Slower Speeds May Not Necessarily Mean a Safer Race

For years, race car drivers and observers have pleaded for reduced speeds at the Indianapolis 500.

This year, for the first time since 1980, speeds are slower, substantially so, than the previous year, but it hasn’t resulted in safer racing.

When A.J. Foyt and Emerson Fittipaldi, two of the most respected drivers in the world, crashed during practice Thursday, it brought the accident total to 23 for the 17 days cars have been on the track since the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened for practice May 2.

All were single-car crashes, a trend that has brought a high level of anxiety and apprehension for today’s 71st running of the Indianapolis 500.

The carnage has left three drivers--Johnny Parsons, Dennis Firestone and Jim Crawford--in the hospital and a number of cars destroyed.

Fittipaldi, a two-time world champion from Brazil, had never hit the wall before in four years here, but his brush with the third turn wall forced him to move from his starting position in the fourth row to the back of the field in a backup car.

The fear of all the drivers is that the single-car crashes of the past three weeks could become multicar wrecks during today’s race.

Roberto Moreno, who left Indy car racing to drive in Europe this year, may have summed up the feeling. Moreno was walking through the pits when a fan said, “I’m sorry you’re not driving here at Indy.”

To which the Brazilian driver replied, “I’m not.”

Former winner Tom Sneva, who crashed twice this month, was only half kidding when he warned:

“They should move the women and children back a few rows. I’m going to be doing a lot of cardiovascular exercises to build up my heart for race day.”

The problem is a combination of many things, but the most mentioned are (1) new radial tires being used for the first time at Indianapolis, (2) a stretch of unusually warm weather that has left the track oily and slippery, and (3) a new ’87 March chassis that apparently does not mix with the radial tires as well as the ’86 March or the Lolas.

Seventeen of the 23 crashed cars were Marches.

The scary thing about nearly all of the crashes is that the driver had no warning of impending trouble.

Foyt, who hadn’t hit a wall here since 1966 except when he was knocked into one, was following two cars into the first turn when the turbulent air swept his Lola up the track and into the concrete barrier.

“I don’t know what happened,” Foyt said. “All of a sudden it was gone.”

Kevin Cogan, Fittipaldi’s Patrick teammate, said he felt that anyone who finished had a shot at winning.

Even Mario Andretti, the pole-sitter and favorite to win his first 500 since 1969, is concerned. Andretti qualified at 215.390 m.p.h. and has consistently been the fastest driver on the track.

“Turbulence is going to be a problem,” Andretti said. “I think it will be a conservative start because the track is going to take some getting used to on race day.”

Andretti, in a Lola entered by Paul Newman and Carl Haas, seems more confident than he has been in years.

“I love being the favorite,” he said. “If someone says that about you, you must have something going for you.

“Sure, you need some luck, but going in, I think we all feel good. The more times I compete here, the more chance I feel I have of luck going my way. It’s the law of averages. I figure Lady Luck has to smile on me sometime.”

Asked if he felt safe at today’s speeds, Andretti replied: “I don’t know how to answer that. Do you mean free of harm? Nothing’s free of harm.”

This is the third Indy car race of the season and Andretti has been on the pole for all three. He went on to win on the road course at Long Beach with a wire-to-wire performance, but Roberto Guerrero, the slender Colombian who now lives in San Juan Capistrano, came from last place to win the oval race at Phoenix.

If Mario wins, he will not quite be the oldest winner. When Bobby Unser won in 1981 he had been 47 eight days longer than Andretti is today.

Two other winners, defending champion Bobby Rahal, and two-time winner Rick Mears, share the front row with Andretti.

Rahal and Mears also indicated concern with race-day conditions.

“Every time you pit and change tires, it’s like coming back on the track with an entirely different car,” Rahal said. “The feel and balance of the car is changed radically.

“That means you have to be extra careful when you’re getting up to speed.”

Mears, who won in 1979 and 1984, will be in a year-old March after team owner Roger Penske put his new Penske PC-16s aside and brought in ’86 Marches for Mears, Danny Sullivan and Al Unser.

“When you see guys like A. J. and Emmo (Fittipaldi) hitting the walls, it tends to grab your attention,” Mears said. “In past years, people could buy a car, put their foot on the throttle and go fast. This year you’ve got to get your foot and head wired together. If you don’t, you can be in serious trouble.”

Mears also pointed out, however, that the last time he drove a year-old car was in 1979--the year he won his first 500.

Sullivan, who survived a 360-degree spin to edge out Andretti in 1985, originally qualified a Penske PC-16 this year, but elected to withdraw it to requalify in an old March.

When the decision was made, the car Sullivan will drive was in England as a show car.

“Moving from the fourth row to the sixth row is no big deal if you feel more comfortable in the car,” Sullivan said. “I don’t think we’ll have any trouble getting up with the leaders quickly.”

Today’s race has a strange mixture of drivers. There is age and experience, and there is youth.

There are a record nine former winners, with Andretti, Rahal, Mears and Foyt in the first four positions.

There are three drivers 50 or older--Foyt, 52, and Dick Simon, 53, in the second row and two-time winner Gordon Johncock, 50, returning after a two-year retirement, in the sixth row.

Johncock got in as a replacement for Crawford after the Scotsman crashed during a qualifying attempt and broke both his ankles.

Unser, another former winner, made the field in a Penske team car after Danny Ongais suffered head injuries in another crash. Ongais was released from the hospital, but track doctors would not give him permission to drive.

There are six rookies, including two in their twenties--Davy Jones, 22, a protege of Foyt’s, and Fabrizio Barbazza, 24, of Italy, the latest discovery of California winery owner Frank Arciero. The others are Jeff MacPherson, an off-road veteran from Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.; Randy Lewis, a 41-year-old University of California graduate; Ludwig Heimrath of Canada, and Stan Fox, Jones’ Foyt teammate.

Seven drivers--Guerrero, Michael Andretti, Scott Brayton, Al Unser Jr., Josele Garza and the rookies Barbazza and Jones--were not yet born when Foyt first drove here in 1958.

The machinery is as diverse as the drivers.

There are five Lolas, four of which are in the first two rows, and the rest are Marches, 17 new ones and an 11 year-old model.

There are more different engines than there have been for many years. The Ford Cosworth continues to dominate with 21 entries, but there are also five Ilmor Chevrolets, four Buick V-6s, two Brabham Hondas and one Chevy V-6.

Mario Andretti has one of the Ilmor Chevrolets.

“I see it as the new kid on the block and he looks strong and healthy to me,” the polesitter said. “Just because he’s new and we don’t know all about him, that doesn’t mean we should back away. I think the Chevy is a distinct opportunity.”

Parnelli Jones, who won here in 1963 and maintains a close association with the race, sees today’s 500 as a five-driver fight.

In a bet with car owner Mike Curb, Jones took Mario and Michael Andretti, Rahal, Mears and Guerrero, and gave Curb--who has Sneva and Ed Pimm in the field--the other 28.

INDIANAPOLIS 500 LINEUP

FIRST ROW No. Driver (Hometown), Car-EngineSpeed 5 Mario Andretti (Nazareth, Pa.), Lola-Ilmor Chevy 215.390

1 Bobby Rahal (Dublin, Ohio), Lola-Cosworth 213,316

8 Rick Mears (Bakersfield), March-Ilmor Chevy 211.467

SECOND ROW 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 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 23 *Ludwig Heimrath Jr. (Canada), Lola-Cosworth 207.591

81 Rich Vogler (Indianapolis), March-Buick 205.887

11 *Jeff MacPherson (Rancho Santa Margarita), March-Honda 205.688

FIFTH ROW 91 Scott Brayton (Coldwater, Mich.), March-Cosworth 205.647

15 Geoff Brabham (Noblesville, Ind.), March-Honda 205.503

56 Gary Bettenhausen (Monrovia, Ind.), March-Cosworth 204.504

SIXTH ROW 3 Danny Sullivan (Louisville), March-Ilmor Chevy 210.271

12 *Fabrizio Barbazza (Italy), March-Cosworth 208.038

2 Gordon Johncock (Pima, Ariz.), March-Buick 207.990

SEVENTH ROW 77 Derek Daly (Ireland), March-Buick 207.522

25 Al Unser (Albuquerque, N.M.), March-Cosworth 207.423

33 Tom Sneva (Paradise Valley, Ariz.), March-Buick 207.254

EIGHTH ROW 30 Al Unser Jr. (Albuquerque, N.M.), March-Cosworth 206.752

24 *Randy Lewis (Hillsborough, Calif.), March-Cosworth 206.209

7 Kevin Cogan (Palos Verdes), March-Ilmor Chevy 205.999

NINTH ROW 55 Josele Garza (Mexico), March-Cosworth 205.692

41 *Stan Fox (Janesville, Wis.), March-Cosworth 205.518

16 Tony Bettenhausen (Indianapolis), March-Cosworth 203.892

TENTH ROW

44 *Davy Jones (McGraw, N.Y.), March-Cosworth 208.117

29 Pancho Carter (Brownsburg, Ind.), March-Cosworth 205.154

98 Ed Pimm (Dublin, Ohio), March-Cosworth 203.284

ELEVENTH ROW

84 George Snider (Bakersfield), March-Chevy V-6 203.192

87 Steve Chassey (Carmel, Ind.), March-Cosworth 202.488

20 **Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil), March-Cosworth 205.584

*Rookie driver.

**Qualified 10th. Crashed Thursday and will start in backup car.

Average speed of field: 207.194 m.p.h.