Phoenix 200 : Mears Has No Peers as He Wins by a Lap

Rick Mears put his new Chevrolet-powered Penske PC-18 on cruise control Sunday and finished more than a lap ahead of the field in the Autoworks 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.

And he could have won by a larger margin.

Mears lost 54 seconds in the pits when he killed the engine on lap 69 during his second refueling stop.

That gave the race, first of the Indy-car season, its only semblance of a contest as Mears--who dropped nearly a lap behind race leader Michael Andretti--methodically ran down Emerson Fittipaldi, Teo Fabi, teammate Danny Sullivan, Al Unser Jr. and finally Andretti.

“It could have been worse,” Mears said. “If it happened on a green (flag) lap, I could have lost nearly two laps. As it was I lost almost one.”

Unser, gambling on his fuel, coasted through the fourth turn on the 200th and final lap to finish second ahead of Sullivan, Andretti and Fittipaldi, all on the same lap.

On a day when the temperature reached 100 degrees and the winds whipped up dust storms in the infield, a record Indy-car race crowd of 45,000 fans watched Mears and the other front-runners dart and dash through slower cars in dangerous traffic. Mears was lapping cars as early as the fifth time around the one-mile oval.

The most memorable pass came on lap 182 when Mears, battling from behind to make up ground lost in another fuel stop, sailed around the outside of Sullivan, then the leader, on the outside of turn three. Sullivan had led by 10 seconds only 20 laps earlier, but like everyone else, was helpless when Mears was on the move.

“I never even extended the car,” Mears said. “Once I got back out (after the last pit stop) I felt we had enough laps to get back up without abusing the car.”

Unser, informed of Mears’ remark, laughed and said: “I reckon he’s right, the way he went by me, he didn’t need to extend himself.”

Sullivan appeared to be ready to make it a one-two finish for car owner Roger Penske when he suddenly stopped for fuel with 18 laps remaining. This enabled Unser to break the combination.

“My only chance against those Penske guys was to gamble on finishing with one less stop,” Unser said. “With 60 laps to go, I called in and asked the crew if I could finish the race without stopping. I figured it was worth the gamble, because there sure wasn’t any way I could run with Rick and Danny.”

Mears won $53,460 for the race, completed in 1 hour 35 minutes 9.21 seconds. Four caution flags, three on fourth turn accidents, kept the speed down to 126.112 m.p.h. Mears set a qualifying record of 166.536 m.p.h. Saturday.

Two of the accidents occurred when slower cars were being lapped. Both Dominic Dobson, the surprise third-fastest qualifier, and Bobby Rahal were critical of the driving tactics.

Dobson was picked off by Jean Pierre Frey of Switzerland, who was making his third Indy-car start.

“I had already lapped him three times and it was only the 30th lap,” Dobson said. “He stayed down low every other time, but this time he came up high as I was starting to pass him. I just ticked his wheel, but it was enough to send me into the wall.”

The car suffered a broken wing and suspension damage, but is expected to be ready for this week’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Rahal, the 1986 and 1987 CART champion, was even more agitated with rookie driver Bernard Jourdain of Mexico, who also was making his third Indy-car start.

“I’m not happy with what happened,” Rahal said. “I was trying to lap the guy for four laps. He wasn’t paying attention to the blue (move over) flags. You know, this happens all the time and it’s so frustrating.

“I pulled inside of him going into turn three, and instead of rolling out of it, he came in racing me on the inside and lost it. I had no where to go. When you’re getting lapped, you’re supposed to give a guy a break.”

Jourdain, however, could not understand why there was a problem.

“Why is he mad at me?” the Belgian native asked. “I don’t think I did anything wrong. Two times I tried to let him pass, holding a steady line with room for him. When he didn’t come by, I started racing again. And then he hit me in turn four.”

Fourteen of the 24 starters were still running at the finish despite the heat (more than 100 degrees). Tom Sneva, who crashed during practice Saturday, did not start after spending a night under observation in the hospital, and rookie Steve Sallen of Anaheim withdrew because of lack of experience driving on an oval track.

The victory was Mears’ 24th in 148 career Indy car starts and his second at Phoenix. He won a 150-mile race in 1982.

“The car was the kind racers dream about,” Mears said.

It is also the kind that rivals of Mears and Sullivan will probably have nightmares about as they prepare for Sunday’s Long Beach race.