MOTOR RACING / LAGUNA SECA : Sullivan Is Penalized; Unser Jr. Wins Race

Al Unser Jr., winless since the Long Beach Grand Prix, scored a major financial victory Saturday when he drove his backup Lola-Chevrolet to a $252,500 windfall in the Marlboro Challenge at Laguna Seca Raceway.

Little’s Al win in the 100-mile sprint for the 10 top drivers in the Championship Auto Racing Drivers Indy car series was made easier when runner-up Danny Sullivan was penalized for spinning his wheels coming out of the pits.

Sullivan was given a black flag and called back into the pits for a stop-and-go penalty.

“I never heard of such a thing in the rule book,” Sullivan said. “The penalty cost me 16 seconds and I lost by four.

“What do you think of that?” Sullivan asked of Unser in the victory circle.”

“Thank you,” a grinning Unser said.

“I needed the money because my wife is planning a new wing for our house in Albuquerque,” the winner said.

The Marlboro Challenge is a race held for race winners and pole winners during the season, with additional drivers added from the PPG Cup standings to make a field of at least 10.

Emerson Fittipaldi, who has already clinched the Indy car championship, was running second most of the day until his Penske-Chevy ran out of fuel on the last lap. This enabled Sullivan, and then Bobby Rahal, Teo Fabi, Mario Andretti, Scott Pruett and Michael Andretti to pass the Brazilian veteran in the final two miles.

Two cars, driven by Rick Mears and Arie Luyendyk, failed to finish. Mears had brake failure late in the race, and Luyendyk lasted only four laps before pitting with electrical failure.

Michael Andretti, who stood to make $400,000 if he won because of a bonus from the cigarette sponsor, jumped into the lead with a daring pass of Mears and Fittipaldi on the second turn.

Unser was running fourth at the time. He began his move toward the lead by passing Fittipaldi for third place on the second lap and set out after Mears. On the seventh lap he passed Mears on the outside of the first turn and began running down Andretti, who had a five-second lead.

“I passed Rick on the outside,” Unser said. “I was surprised when he just lifted. I had been working on him for a couple of laps, trying to figure out where to get him. He’s become a real good road racer. I got him with a pass I learned from Teo Fabi at Mid-Ohio.

“Fabi did it to me to win the race and I learned a lesson. It came in handy getting past Rick (Mears).

Five laps later, Unser caught and passed Andretti for the lead.

“I passed Michael on top of the corkscrew. I think I surprised him. He never expected me to get him there. I was able to get into the corners real well today. I hope I can do as well Sunday.”

Today, the same 10 drivers plus 18 others, will compete in the Champion Spark Plug 300-kilometer race, the final event of the CART/PPG 15-race schedule.

All of the drivers in Saturday’s race were driving their backup cars and will switch into their No. 1 machines today,.

“Our crew is very repeatable in the way they set up my car,” Unser said. “Actually, I feel like I have three No. 1 cars, instead of a No. 1 and two backups.”

Unser held a 12-second lead after making his mandatory pit stop, but the close of the race became dramatic when Fittipaldi and Sullivan began closing the gap by as much as a second a lap.

Sullivan ran the fastest lap of the day, 109.335 m.p.h., on the 40th lap of the 45-lap race.

“I guess I was burned up about that penalty and I was taking it out on the car,” Sullivan said. “They said I was spinning my tires before the car hit the ground (off the jacks). I know they warned Michael Andretti about that in the past, but I didn’t know it was a rule.

“I know it cost me a lot of time, but I would never predict that if I hadn’t had the penalty that I would have beaten Little Al. Changing the circumstances would also change how the cars might have been driven. Al knew he had a substantial lead and drove accordingly. If I had been closer, he might have driven entirely differently. He drove a fine race and deserved the win. “

Hans Stuck of West Germany drove an all-wheel drive Audi 90 Quattro to an easy victory in the International Motor Sports Assn.’s GTO-GTU race earlier in the afternoon.

Stuck’s win over his Audi teammate, Hurley Haywood, denied the Mercury Cougar team of Pete Halsmer and Wally Dallenbach Jr. the opportunity of winning the individual championship until next Sunday’s final race at Del Mar during the Camel Southern California Grand Prix.

Halsmer, who finished fifth, holds an eight-point margin over Dallenbach, 188 to 180, with Stuck still in the running with 170. A win at Del Mar is worth 20 points.

Jean Alesi of France debuted a Ferrari in the GTO series, and finished after briefly leading at the start of the one-hour preliminary event.