Andretti Raises Fastest Lap at Indy to 221.565 M.P.H.

The speed war escalated Wednesday as Mario Andretti surpassed the lap turned 24 hours earlier by Rick Mears at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, reaching 221.565 m.p.h. in practice for the May 29 Indy 500.

Andretti was upset Tuesday after Speedway officials apparently missed his final fast lap, one that his team insisted was faster than the 220.048 Mears had posted earlier in the day.

The battle continued Wednesday on the 2 1/2-mile oval, with Andretti pushing his Lola-Chevrolet to 218.499 in the heat of the afternoon, while Mears got his Penske-Chevrolet up to 217.864.

When the track began to cool in the final hour of practice-- the time known at the Speedway as “Happy Hour,” Andretti did consecutive laps of 219.191, 219.887 and, finally, the fastest trip ever run around the historic track.

Mears tried to meet the challenge, jumping into his car in the final 15 minutes of the practice session and getting up to 220.967 before time ran out.

Andretti called 220 a plateau and said, “Any plateau is new and unknown. You find you’ve got to drive the car differently. On those three laps, I made a few adjustments because everything was happening so much faster. I tried to maximize the situation, but you’re learning every lap because it’s so different.”

Mears said that on his final fast lap, he caught teammate Danny Sullivan in Turn 3 and eased off the accelerator just a bit.

“I thought I was going to run out of track. When I saw him up ahead, I sort of conceded the lap. I didn’t get out of (the throttle), really, but the closing rate is really unbelievable on the back straightaway.

“If I hadn’t lifted, it would have been enough . . . for a 221. Or if I had known it was him, it might have been even better because I could have played off him.”