INDIANAPOIS 500 : Rutherford Fails to Qualify in Last-Ditch Effort

The fastest 33-car field in racing history will start the May 28 Indianapolis 500 without three-time winner Johnny Rutherford, whose last-minute qualifying attempt blew up Sunday along with the engine in the car he borrowed from A.J Foyt.

Rutherford, 51, was bumped from the lineup by Rich Vogler with under 15 minutes remaining on the final day of time trials. But Foyt, a fellow Texan and longtime friend, put Rutherford into a Cosworth-powered Lola, got the car through technical inspection and onto the 2 1/2-mile oval one minute before the scheduled close of the track.

The crowd at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway screamed its approval when Rutherford rolled off pit row.

His crew said Rutherford’s warmup lap was more than 217 m.p.h., well above what he needed to get back into the field.

But, fewer than 100 yards after taking the green flag for the start of a four-lap, 10-mile qualifying run, smoke poured from the engine and the crowd groaned in disbelief as Rutherford took a slow ride back to pit row.

It was the second consecutive year that Vogler has been the final qualifier, bumping a former Indy winner. In 1988, he put a car into the field in the last moments, knocking Gordon Johncock out of the race.

“I hate to see that happen, but what happens happens in racing,” Vogler said. “I know that Johnny Rutherford and Johncock are two people who kind of understand that. They’ve raced for a living for a long, long time. I don’t know, maybe that means I’m gonna win this race some day.”

Rutherford, speaking in hushed tones, said: “There’s just no words to describe the disappointment. . . . I guess we’ll have to regroup and get things together and try again next year. It was apparently a dropped valve.

“Usually, I’m on the other end of the stick. I have been for so many years, I guess I can’t really kick too hard. I have been on the pole many times, and won the race three times and had a pretty good career here, but I still like to race here and I’m still disappointed not making this one.”

Besides Vogler, who will drive in his fifth Indy 500, Bill Vukovich III, the 1988 Indy rookie of the year; Davy Jones, who was bumped and bounced right back, and Pancho Carter made the lineup Sunday.

The field average of 216.588 m.p.h. breaks the Indianapolis record of 210.280 m.p.h. set in 1986. Rookie Bernhard Jourdain of Mexico was the slowest qualifier at 213.105.

The record-smashing field is led by defending champion Rick Mears, who won his record fifth pole a week ago with a four-lap average of 223.885 and a fast lap of 224.254.

Rutherford failed to join the eight other active former Indy winners, four-time winners Al Unser and Foyt, three-time winner Mears, two-time champion Johncock and Mario Andretti, Tom Sneva, Bobby Rahal, and Danny Sullivan in the lineup.

All the others made the field on the first weekend of time trials except Sullivan, the 1985 winner, who led Saturday’s qualifications at 216.027 despite driving with a special brace on his broken right forearm.

Sunday’s six-hour qualifying session began with two positions open in the lineup.

Vukovich, the only third-generation driver to compete at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was first out, turning four laps of more than 216 m.p.h. for a 10-mile qualifying average of 216.698.

“It seemed like we were lost,” said Vukovich, whose grandfather was killed at Indy while leading the 1955 race after winning the previous two years and whose father finished second in 1973. “Our crew chief finally brought us back to where we should have been by doing a lot of adjustments.

“I thought this year would have been a lot easier, but it was a lot harder.”

Rutherford, Indy winner in 1974, 1976 and 1980, was the 33rd qualifier at 213.097. He has started 24 Indy 500s, second only to Foyt, who will drive in a record 32nd consecutive race next Sunday. Rutherford was a rookie here in 1963 and has missed only two previous races, 1966 and 1983, during that period, both because of injury.

“That’s a lot slower than we had hoped for obviously,” said Rutherford, who sweated out the last starting spot until Vogler jumped into already-qualified Kevin Cogan’s backup car and bumped the popular Texan from the field with an average of 213.239.

Tony Bettenhausen ran two laps at 212.4 and rookie Michael Greenfield had one lap at 210.7 before Rutherford made his last effort as time ran out.

Johnny Parsons, son of 1950 winner Johnnie Parsons and half-brother to Pancho Carter, crashed while trying to get a car belonging to rookie Steve Saleen up to speed. Saleen crashed in practice on Saturday and spent the night in Methodist Hospital after complaining of lower back pains. He was released Sunday, but hired Parsons to drive his backup. Parsons was not injured.

INDIANAPOLIS 500 LINEUP

FIRST ROW

No., Driver (Hometown), Car-Eng. Speed 4.Rick Mears (Bakersfield), Penske-Chevy 223.885 25.Al Unser (Albuquerque, N.M.), Penske-Chevy 223.471 20.Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil), Penske-Chevy 222.329 SECOND ROW 15.Jim Crawford (Scotland), Lola-Buick 221.450 5.Mario Andretti (Nazareth, Pa.), Lola-Chevy 220.486 22.Scott Brayton (Coldwater, Mich.), Lola-Buick 220.459 THIRD ROW 18.Bobby Rahal (Dublin, Ohio), Lola-Cosworth 219.530 2.Al Unser Jr. (Albuquerque, N.M.), Lola-Chevy 218.642 30.Raul Boesel (Brazil), Lola-Judd 218.228 FOURTH ROW 14.A.J. Foyt (Houston), Lola-Cosworth 217.136 28.Randy Lewis (Hillsborough, Calif.), Lola-Cosw. 216.494 70.John Andretti (Indianapolis), Lola-Buick 215.611 FIFTH ROW 8.Teo Fabi (Italy), March-Porsche 215.564 99.Gary Bettenhausen (Mnrvia, Ind.), Lola-Buick 215.230 9.Arie Luyendyk (Netherlands), Lola-Cosworth 214.883 SIXTH ROW 56.Tero Palmroth (Finland), Lola-Cosworth 214.203 3.*Scott Pruett (Roseville, Calif.), Lola-Judd 213.955 71.Ludwig Heimrath Jr. (Canada), Lola-Judd 213.878 SEVENTH ROW 12.*Didier Theys (Belgium), Penske-Cosworth 213.120 69.*Bernard Jourdain (Mexico), Lola-Cosworth 213.105 6.Michael Andretti (Nazareth, Pa.), Lola-Chevy 218.774 EIGHTH ROW 7.Tom Sneva (Paradise Valley, Ariz.), Lola-Buick 218.396 91.Gordon Johncock (Hstngs, Mich.), Lola-Buick 215.072 10.Derek Daly (Ireland), Lola-Judd 214.237 NINTH ROW 65.*John Jones (Canada), Lola-Cosworth 214.028 1.Danny Sullivan (Louisville), Penske-Chevy 216.027 11.Kevin Cogan (Palos Verdes), March-Cosw. 214.569 TENTH ROW 48.Rocky Moran (Arcadia), March-Cosworth 214.212 86.Dominic Dobson (Fairfax, Calif.), Lola-Cosw. 213.590 81.Bill Vukovich III (Fresno), Lola-Judd 216.698 ELEVENTH ROW 50.Davy Jones (McGraw, N.Y.), Lola-Cosworth 214.279 77.Pancho Carter (Brownsburg, Ind.), Lola-Cosw. 214.067 29.Rich Vogler (Indianapolis), March-Cosworth 213.239

*--Rookie.

Average speed of field--216.588 (record, old mark, 210.280, 1986)