Phoenix 200 Qualifying : Guerrero Happy With a Second Behind Mears

Any lingering doubts that Roberto Guerrero isn’t race-ready after recovering from a two-week coma last September were dispelled Saturday when the Colombian Indy car driver came within a tick of a second of winning the pole for today’s $400,000 Checker 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Guerrero, in his first race since smashing into the wall during a tire test session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway seven months ago, qualified Vince Granatelli’s Lola at a near-record 165.122 m.p.h. and appeared to have the pole until Rick Mears went out a few moments later.

Mears, one of racing’s finest qualifiers, took his Penske PC-17 around the one-mile oval .079 second quicker than Guerrero for a 165.723 m.p.h. The track record, set two years ago by Mario Andretti, is 165.776.

“It isn’t often that a race driver is pleased by finishing second, but it’s nice for me to be in that position today,” Guerrero said. “It’s a lot better than last year and it’s a lot better than being in the hospital.”

Guerrero started last year’s race at the rear of the field after his car was found to be overweight, but he still managed to win--one of the four times in Indy car history that a driver came from last to take the checkered flag.

“You can be sure they won’t find us overweight this year,” Guerrero said. “We have too much weight--about 30 pounds too much--so I don’t think we’ll be penalized for that.”

Mears’ first lap in the two-lap qualifying was slower than Guerrero’s, but on his second time around he found more speed.

“Roger (car owner Penske) said he’d tell me over the radio if I got the pole on the first lap so when I didn’t hear anything I knew I was in serious trouble and had to pick it up,” Mears said. “I had tested the waters all the way around on the first lap, so I set myself up better to run through the third and fourth turns faster the second time. That made the difference.”

For Mears, it was his 23rd career pole to tie Johnny Rutherford for fifth place on the all-time list, and it was the first for a Penske chassis since Mears sat on the pole in the 1986 race at Sanair in Quebec, Canada.

“The car ran beautiful, I’m very happy about the race set up and all we can do is wait and see if it holds up tomorrow,” Mears said. “Winning the race here can give us a good carry-over leading to Indianapolis and the 500.”

Track record holder Andretti, who won here in 1966 and 1967 but not since, will start on the second row alongside Al Unser Jr., son of the four-time Indianapolis 500 champion who is without a ride today.

A. J. Foyt, who has declared intentions of competing in all 15 Indy car races this season for the first time since 1978, qualified seventh at 159.957 m.p.h.

“For a new car, that’s not too bad,” Foyt said. “Normally, when five or six people outrun you you’re not too happy but at least we’re in the hunt.”

Foyt won the first Indy car race ever held here, in 1964, when the qualifying speed was 114 m.p.h.

Another happy qualifier was Italy’s Teo Fabi, in a March with the new Porsche engine. He ran 159.610 m.p.h., eleventh fastest, despite having teething problems with the Porsche powerplant.

“For having only a half-hour of practice I think it is very good,” Fabi said. The car blew an engine during warm-ups Friday and the Porsche team lost the entire day of practice.

United States Auto Club supermodified champion Billy Vukovich III, who passed up racing in this year’s USAC opener Saturday night at Madera, Calif., to drive in his first Indy car race, failed to make the 22-car starting grid but was added to the field at the promoter’s request. Vukovich won a supermodified race on the Phoenix track last February.

Today’s race, first of the Indy car season, will be shown on Channel 7 at 3 p.m.