Motor Racing Roundup : ‘Lucky’ Andretti Wins Cleveland Grand Prix

Mario Andretti knew he had more than his own driving skills working for him on Sunday when he won the Cleveland Grand Prix for the 51st victory of his Indy-car career.

Andretti’s car survived a brush with a wall and then took advantage of a slight mistake by Bobby Rahal with 12 laps left to win the race by 91/100ths of a second.

“It was just a matter of being lucky,” Andretti said. “I just touched the wheels (to the wall) and there was no damage. I was trying to stretch the corners. It got away from me and I whacked the wall.”

Andretti also benefited from a quick pit stop that kept him in the lead with 23 laps left and from a second-place battle that slowed Rahal and Danny Sullivan slightly in the closing seconds.

“Most of the time, things settle down and you get a breather toward the end. There was no breather here,” said Andretti, whose first victory of the year was in the season-opener at Phoenix.

“It was right to the very last lap. Bobby was ready to take advantage of any slight mistake. As soon as I saw traffic in front of me, I could almost see him stand up in his seat.”

Andretti, 48, passed Rahal on lap 68 as the two went onto the back straight of the 12-turn, 2.48-mile road course at Burke Lakefront Airport.

He maintained a small lead until Rahal and Sullivan, the pole-sitter, maneuvered side-by-side on the 79th lap, allowing Andretti to briefly pull ahead by more than two seconds.

Rahal fought off Sullivan’s challenge and held on for second place. Sullivan was third and Al Unser Jr., the only other car on the lead lap, was fourth.

“It was a matter of who got lucky when,” Rahal said. “Mario and Danny both had bad breaks. Unfortunately, I was the last one to have them.”

Andretti’s average speed of 124.295 m.p.h., held down by one full-course yellow flag and several cautions on portions of the course, was well off the race record of 128.421 set by Emerson Fittipaldi last year.

Sullivan and his Penske Racing teammate, Rick Mears, started in the front row of the 26-car field. Although Mears dropped out because of gearbox trouble on the 23rd lap, Sullivan seemed headed for an easy victory through the first third of the 80-lap, 198.4-mile race.

But on lap 30, Rocky Moran’s car hit a wall near the pit exit and forced a pace car onto the track, and when the yellow flag was lifted three laps later, Sullivan’s lead had dwindled to a second.

Alain Prost returned home to capture the French Grand Prix at Le Castellet, France, and extend the McLaren-Honda domination in Formula One races this year.

Prost took his 32nd Grand Prix victory by beating teammate Ayrton Senna of Brazil by 31.752 seconds.

It was the fifth time in seven races this year that McLaren-Hondas finished one-two and the fourth victory for Prost.

On the Paul Ricard circuit, Prost toured 80 laps in 1 hour 37 minutes, 37.328 seconds. He averaged 126.496 m.p.h. over the 2.369-mile track.

Wayne Gardner of Australia won the 500cc Belgian Grand Prix motorcycling race at Francorchamps, Belgium, leading the 17-lap event on a wet and slippery track from start to finish.

The reigning world champion held off Eddie Lawson of the United States, the current world leader, who was second.

With one Grand Prix left, Lawson tops the world standings with 159 points. Gardner is second with 125 and Wayne Rainey of the United States is third at 117.

Scott Pierce, driving the Mr. Pringles hydroplane, won the $125,000 Madison Regatta when favorite Chip Hanauer’s Miller High Life boat failed on the final turn of the last lap at Madison, Ind.

Hanauer, who set Madison Regatta records in qualifying on the 2 1/2-mile Ohio River course on Friday and Saturday, won two of his three preliminary heats of competition but did not finish his third heat when his engine was swamped and could not be restarted.

Don Prudhomme, the most successful Funny Car driver in National Hot Rod Assn. history, won the 36th NHRA event of his career in the Le Grandnational Molson at Sandair International Dragstrip at St. Pie, Canada.

The $587,150 event, seventh of the 16-race, $15 million Winston Drag Racing Series, also saw Gene Snow of Fort Worth win the Top Fuel race and Morris Johnson Jr. of Richmond, Va., take top eliminator honors in the Pro Stock category.

Prudhomme, 47, of Granada Hills, won his seventh career Grandnational Funny Car title when he drove his Pontiac Trans Am to victory in 5.445 seconds for the quarter mile. His top speed was 260.94 m.p.h.