Fate Strikes Three as Unser Wins His Fourth : Andretti Falters Again as Al Takes Indy 500

Al Unser has been a fatalist as long as he’s been a race driver.

If it’s your day to win, you’ll win, he says. If someone is killed, he says it was fate, that his number was up.

If that philosophy was ever put to a test, it was Sunday in the 71st Indianapolis 500.

Ten days ago, Al Unser did not have a ride. It took a head injury to Danny Ongais to put him in a year-old March entered by Roger Penske. After Ongais had demolished his car, the Penske crew had to resurrect one that was being used as a show car back in Reading, Pa., for Unser to drive.

Fate strikes once.

Unser, who started 20th in the 33-car field, escaped a spinning car in the first lap and slowly worked his way up to the front.

Twenty-three laps from the finish of what appeared to be a one-sided win by Mario Andretti, Unser was running third, nearly two laps behind the leader.

Andretti, still looking for his first win here since 1969, had led 170 of the 177 laps to that point and the only driver who had remotely challenged him was Roberto Guerrero.

With lightning suddenness, Andretti coasted to a stop when the fuel metering system malfunctioned on his Ilmor Chevrolet engine.

Fate strikes twice.

This put Guerrero, the young Colombian who drives for Vince Granatelli, in the lead by about a lap over Unser.

Guerrero, with the luxury of a 45-second lead, pitted for his last splash of fuel and fresh tires with 18 laps to go. When the car dropped down off the jacks, it killed the engine.

The crew was frantically trying to push-start Guerrero’s March when Unser flashed by the pits to take the lead.

Fate strikes a third time.

Unser took charge of his own fortunes at this point, driving the March-Cosworth as hard as he could without getting in trouble, to win his fourth Indianapolis 500 as a crowd of close to 400,000 screamed itself hoarse at the improbable conclusion to what had been a boring race.

After a caution flag, brought out when Andretti stalled on the course a second time, Guerrero moved within range of Unser with only four laps remaining.

The scene was reminiscent of last year when a trailing Bobby Rahal took advantage of a similar caution flag to pass Kevin Cogan on the restart and win.

But Unser would have none of it. After Guerrero narrowed the margin to 2.8 seconds with three laps left, Unser called on all the cunning of 27 years of racing to drive the March to its limit.

By the race’s end, the margin was 4.496 seconds.

It was the most stunning turn of events at the Speedway since Parnelli Jones rolled to a stop four laps from the finish in 1967 while leading A.J. Foyt. Curiously, Jones was driving a turbine for Andy Granatelli at the time, and Guerrero was driving for Andy’s son, Vince.

“I couldn’t get the car out of gear,” Guerrero said. “I suspected we had a clutch problem but I prayed and hoped for the best. Then the car dropped and died.”

The win put Unser, who also won in 1970, 1971 and 1978, in a tie with Foyt for the most Indy 500 wins. Foyt, in his 30th consecutive Indy 500, dropped out midway in the race with an oil leak.

The win also gave car owners and sponsors something to ponder. Why was such a talented driver unemployed?

“That ought to prove all of his doubters were wrong,” Al Unser Jr. said proudly. “They called him retired and washed up and all that. Now they know he’s far from it. I’m ecstatic for dad.”

Al Jr. finished fourth behind his dad, Guerrero and Fabrizio Barbazza, the Italian youngster who almost surely will become the second straight rookie of the year brought here by Frank Arciero of Anaheim. Randy Lanier won the honor last year.

Barbazza was two laps back of Unser, and Little Al another two laps back of the rookie.

Only 11 cars were running at the conclusion of the 3-hour, 4-minute, 159.147-second race and, one of them, Josele Garza, was 71 laps back.

Fears that the race might be a carnage--fueled from the 23 crashes that occurred during 17 days of practice and qualifying--proved to be overstated.

There were only two minor incidents involving cars on the track.

“There were no cut tires, no problems of any kind,” said Leo Mehl, director of racing for Goodyear, which introduced radial tires for Indianapolis for the first time this year. “All the guys I talked to said they loved them.”

The first spectator fatality here since 1960 occurred when a wheel came off Tony Bettenhausen’s car, hit the front of Guerrero’s car and caromed into the stands where it hit a spectator in the head.

Lyle Kurtenbach, 41, of Rothschild, Wis., was sitting in the grandstand between the third and fourth turns when the wheel flew into the stands.

“If the wheel had been three feet higher, it would have sailed over the stands,” one witness said.

Kurtenbach was taken to Methodist Hospital where he died of head injuries.

The flying wheel damaged the nose cone on Guerrero’s March and he lost a lap when it took the crew 55 seconds to replace it.

“If it hadn’t happened, we would have been a lap up on Unser,” Granatelli said.

Andretti, who started from the pole after a qualifying speed of 215.390 m.p.h., totally dominated the first 400 miles of the race.

When Guerrero stopped to have his nose cone replaced, it put Andretti more than a lap ahead of the field. There was no sign of impending trouble until the Lola-Chevy slowed entering the first turn on lap 177.

“After the first 10 laps, I could feel the measure of the competition and I knew, unless something drastic happened, we had it covered,” Mario said. “I truly felt I was in control of the situation. It was the best car I’ve ever had here. I’ve never driven a car so perfect.”

When the fuel metering system quit working, raw fuel was spewed into the engine.

Andretti ended up ninth.

“Mario knew he had it won,” Unser said. “He went off and left us behind. He must be a very upset man and I feel sorry for him, but I’m glad I was the one who was there.”

Unser, who averaged 162.175 m.p.h. for the race, which was slowed by nine caution flags, was not without trouble either.

“On the first turn (of the first lap) Garza passed me down low, clear under the paint, and I thought he was going to get me.

“I had to make a quick decision, either watch and see what he did or try to outrun him. I elected to outrun him and I just made it. I really tensed up because I thought he was going to get me in the right rear.”

Garza’s spin did catch Pancho Carter, damaging his car slightly. Both cars returned to the race, although it took Garza’s crew 55 laps to tape and wire the car back together.

“I feel like a rookie who makes a big terrible mistake,” Garza said. “I was planning a real cool start and I got a real good one. I thought I was playing it safe, but I guess I wasn’t.”

Unser also had his car stall in the pits but it was early in the race and not so critical as Guerrero’s later mishap.

Tom Sneva, who crashed twice during practice, was the only other driver who hit the wall.

“We were going along like we had for the last 20 laps when we got down to Turn 2, it just didn’t want to turn,” Sneva said. “I can’t understand it. Another of those mystery deals.”

The impact sheared both right-side wheels off Sneva’s car, but the former champion was not hurt.

Defending champion Bobby Rahal and Rick Mears, who started on the front row with Andretti, both left the race early with ignition problems.

Rahal was second on lap 34 when the engine on his Lola started missing.

“We came in, changed the ignition box and went back out, and it started breaking up again,” Rahal explained. “It just kept happening, so we called it a day. Obviously, the problem went deeper than the ignition box.”

Mears went out on lap 75 when a coil wire broke.

Mears and Danny Sullivan, the other Penske drivers, were the biggest cheerleaders as they watched from the Penske pit as Unser held off Guerrero.

“I’m so happy for Al I have tears in my eyes,” said Sullivan, who won for Penske in 1985. “He’s such a great champion. This is a team victory. We (Sullivan’s car) lost an engine, but right now all that matters is that Al won.”

This was the sixth win for a Penske car since the late Mark Donohue won for him in 1972. The others were Mears in 1979, Bobby Unser in 1981, Mears in 1984 and Sullivan.

Al Unser, who has 35 other Indy car wins in addition to his four Indy 500s, said this was the sweetest.

“You never forget your first win, but I think this one was a lot nicer,” he said. “I’m older, and I know how hard it is to win. This is more gratifying because of how it happened.

“It was a very empty, lonely feeling coming to Indianapolis with no ride this year. It was the first time in my career it had happened and I felt helpless.

“Sitting in the car, going around on the last lap, I couldn’t believe it was happening. I couldn’t talk to Roger on the radio, my voice was trembling so.”

Al, who will be 48 on Friday, became the oldest driver to win at Indy, taking the record away from his brother Bobby, who was a younger 47 when he won in 1981.

“I wonder if that’ll bring Bobby back,” he laughed. Bobby retired after his third win and was a commentator for Sunday’s ABC telecast.

THE FINISH

Pos. Driver(Hometown) Car-Eng. Laps 1. Al Unser (Albuquerque, N.M.) March-Cosworth 200 2. Roberto Guerrero (Colombia) March-Cosworth 200 3. *Fabrizio Barbazza (Italy) March-Cosworth 198 4. Al Unser Jr. (Albuquerque, N.M.) March-Cosworth 196 5. Gary Bettenhausen (Monrovia, Ind.) March-Cosworth 194 6. Dick Simon (San Juan Capistrano) Lola-Cosworth 192 7. *Stan Fox (Janesville, Wis.) March-Cosworth 192 8. *Jeff MacPherson (Santa Margarita) March-Honda 182 9. Mario Andretti (Nazareth, Pa.) Lola-Ilmor Chevy 180 10. Tony Bettenhausen (Indianapolis) March-Cosworth 171 11. Johnny Rutherford (Fort Worth) March-Cosworth 171 12. Scott Brayton (Coldwater, Mich.) March-Cosworth 169 13. Danny Sullivan (Louisville) March-Ilmor Chevy 160 14. Tom Sneva (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) March-Buick 143 15. Derek Daly (Ireland) March-Buick 132 16. Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil) March-Cosworth 131 17. Josele Garza (Mexico) March-Cosworth 129 18. Arie Luyendyk (Netherlands) March-Cosworth 125 19. A.J. Foyt (Houston) Lola-Cosworth 116 20. Rich Vogler (Indianapolis) March-Buick 109 21. Ed Pimm (Dublin, Ohio) March-Cosworth 109 22. Gordon Johncock (Pima, Ariz.) March-Cosworth 76 23. Rick Mears (Bakersfield) March-Ilmor Chevy 75 24. Geoff Brabham (Noblesville, Ind.) March-Honda 71 25. Steve Chassey (Carmel, Ind.) March-Cosworth 68 26. Bobby Rahal (Dublin, Ohio) Lola-Cosworth 57 27. Pancho Carter (Brownsburg, Ind.) March-Cosworth 45 28. *Davy Jones (McGraw, N.Y.) March-Cosworth 34 29. Michael Andretti (Nazareth, Pa.) March-Cosworth 28 30. *Ludwig Heimrath Jr. (Canada) Lola-Cosworth 25 31. Kevin Cogan (Palos Verdes) March-Ilmor Chevy 21 32. *Randy Lewis (Hillsborough, Calif) March-Cosworth 8 33. George Snider (Bakersfield) March-Chevy V6 0

Pos. Comment 1. 2. 3. Running 4. Running 5. Running 6. Running 7. Running 8. Running 9. Ignition 10. Running 11. Running 12. Engine 13. Engine 14. Crash 15. Engine 16. Engine 17. Running 18. Suspension 19. Broken seal 20. Rocker arm 21. Lost Boost 22. Valve 23. Coil wire 24. Oil pressure 25. Engine 26. Ignition 27. Valve 28. Engine 29. Pit fire 30. Spin 31. Oil Pump 32. Gear box 33. Engine fire

Time--3:04:59.147. Winner’s Speed--162.175 m.p.h.; Lap leaders: 1-27--Mario Andretti. 28--Roberto Guerrero. 29-60--Andretti. 61-64--Danny Sullivan. 64-80--Andretti. 81--Guerrero. 82-96--Andretti. 97--Guerrero. 98-177--Andretti. 178-182--Guerrero. 183-200--Al Unser; *Rookie driver.