Motor Sports Roundup : Andretti Wins With a Leisurely Sunday Drive

Despite the lingering effects of a separated shoulder, Mario Andretti led from start to finish Sunday to win a 200-mile Indy-car race by 41.08 seconds over Geoff Brabham at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Andretti, in his red Chevy-Lola, was almost 10 seconds ahead of Danny Sullivan after 10 laps, and by the halfway point, he held a 17.9-second lead over Emerson Fittipaldi. The only question was whether Andretti would go the distance or be felled by mechanical problems, as has happened often this season.

“It was absolutely perfect, absolutely flawless,” Andretti said. “As far as the car, geez, I don’t know when I’ve had a car working so beautiful.”

The victory was Andretti’s second of the season, 49th of his Indy-car career and his 20th on a road course. Only A.J. Foyt, with 67 victories, has won more races.

Andretti averaged 120.155 m.p.h., a race record, which broke his own mark of 116.347, set in 1984. Andretti has won 3 of 6 Indy-car races held at the Road America four-mile course, each time from the pole position.

Andretti tied Roberto Guerrero for third place in the driver standings with 85 points. With four races remaining, Bobby Rahal leads with 129 points, followed by Andretti’s son, Michael, with 115.

When Fittipaldi ran out of fuel and rolled to a halt on the 33rd of 50 laps, Andretti was left without a challenger, cruising along with a 57-second lead.

The only moment of tension for Andretti occurred on the final lap, when he decided against a final stop for a few gallons of fuel.

“They (his pit crew) were ready (for a fuel stop), but it was up to me,” Andretti said, “I had everything pretty much under control.

“I was really running a minimum amount of revs. After our last fuel stop (on lap 33), I started to conserve them, so I felt I should make it to the end.”

Brabham, in a March-Honda, recorded his second straight second-place finish.

The only other drivers finishing on the lead lap were Al Unser Jr., who was third in a March-Cosworth, and Arie Luyendyk, who was fourth, also in a March-Cosworth. Sullivan, in a March-Chevy, was fifth, one lap back.

Darrell Waltrip squeezed past Dave Mader III in the final turn and beat him to the finish line by a nose to win the 200-lap All American Challenge in the NASCAR World Crown 500 races at Jefferson. Ga.

Larry Pearson dominated the 200-lap Busch Grand National competition to win the other major race on the half-mile track. Keith Newbern won the 100-lap late model stock car race that completed the tripleheader.

Waltrip led only the last 50 feet to score a hood-length win over Mader, who led 122 of the 200 laps. Waltrip was on Mader’s bumper for the final 35 laps, but Mader held him off until the final corner.

Don Jenkins finished third, followed by Stanley Smith and Mitch Fowler. Waltrip won $3,500 and completed the race at an average speed of 65.753 m.p.h.

Pearson led 129 of the 200 laps in the Grand National race, including the final 70. He beat L.D. Ottinger by 2.5 seconds. The victory was Pearson’s third straight on the Grand National series and his sixth of the season in 20 races. He won $7,325 and completed the distance at an average speed of 74.969 m.p.h.

Eddie Cheevers of the United States and Raul Boesel of Brazil, driving a Jaguar, won the World Championship for prototype group C sports cars despite a one-minute penalty for an early start at Nuerburgring, West Germany.

Only the Jaguar completed the required 221 laps that covered 620 miles. The win knocked out defending champion Porsche, which dominated the endurance race circuit since 1982 with its 956- and 962-type cars.

In the drivers ratings, Boesel increased his lead in the standings to 110 points, ahead of Hans-Joachim Stuck of West Germany and Derek Bell of Britain, who both have 99 points.

The second Jaguar, driven by Jan Lammers of the Netherlands and John Watson of Ireland, was forced to drop out of the race after 45 minutes with engine problems.

Sauber-Mercedes’ team of Mike Thackwell of New Zealand, Henri Pescarolo of France and Johnny Dumfries of Scotland dropped out because of transmission trouble.