Guerrero Hits Wall, Now Tries to Bounce Back

Roberto Guerrero was able to joke about the broken rear wing that sent his Alfa Romeo-powered March careening into the wall during Monday’s practice for the Indianapolis 500.

He knew, however, that it was no laughing matter.

Guerrero, a native of Colombia who recently became an American citizen, realized immediately his hopes of making a sixth Indy start were handed a severe setback.

“I was obviously hoping to do a lot of work this week and see if we could increase the speeds and make sure we could make the race next weekend,” Guerrero said.

He and new teammate Al Unser, a four-time Indy winner, are on the outside looking in this week, hoping to find enough speed to join 15 drivers who already have qualified for the May 27 race when time trials conclude Saturday and Sunday. The fastest 33 cars in qualifying will start the race.

Emerson Fittipaldi, who holds the provisional pole with a record four-lap average of 225.301 mph, was back on the 2 1/2-mile oval Monday working on his race-day setup. He was still the fastest at 225.006.

Guerrero is among the challengers, although he’s thinking more about just “getting in the show” than challenging Fittipaldi or the other tentative front-row qualifiers, Rick Mears and Bobby Rahal.

Guerrero’s primary car was a total loss after the rear wing snapped off as he drove at more than 200 mph down the back straightaway. When the wing dropped, Guerrero lost downforce and the car spun out of control through the third turn. It hit the wall and skidded across the track into the infield grass, where the driver quickly jumped out to inspect the damage.

“I lost the back end,” Guerrero said. “That’s all I knew. I couldn’t figure out why. I feel great, but I was lucky.”

Asked if the accident will make him less confident of the March cars, Guerrero smiled and said, “I know one thing for sure. That wing isn’t going to come off again. If anything, it gives me confidence. I hit the wall very hard and saw how well I came out of it. In racing, you have to stress cars and engines to the maximum and, unfortunately, sometimes things break.”

Patrick Racing, which operates the Alfa Romeo team this year, kept Unser off the track while the crew checked out the rear wing on his almost identical March. And Porsche, the only other team using March chassis, also gave its rear wings a thorough check, although Italian driver Teo Fabi said, “These cars are really made by a different manufacturer and the wings are a different design. Still, we won’t take any chances.”

Fabi’s teammate, John Andretti, already has qualified for the field at 219.484. Fabi, the 1983 pole winner, missed a chance to qualify Sunday when his engine blew during the final practice session.

Porsche has been able to get plenty of speed out of its newest engines, with Fabi practicing at up to 221.784 mph. Alfa, on the other hand, has struggled since practice opened on May 5.

Unser’s best lap has been 214.592 and Guerrero has been up to only 212.384.

“We’ve been working pretty desperately and really needed all the time on the track we could get to try to find the speed,” Guerrero said. “It’s a guess, but I think it’s going to take 215 to make the race.

“Now, we’re going to have to go to our backup, a car that has never turned a wheel. The car was delivered just before the track opened and it will be ready for Wednesday. In the meantime, they won’t let Al run anymore until they can use different wings or replace the piece that fell apart.”

Unser, however, is the key to the equation as far.

“The good thing is that it’s the first year I’ve had a teammate and we’ve had cars with identical setups right along,” Guerrero said. “Al will be able to continue the development and do all the work for me until I can get out there.”

One reason the Alfas have struggled is a lack of power on the straightaways. Fittipaldi’s fastest straightaway speed this month has been 235 mph. Guerrero’s has been 219. “We just met with the Alfa engine people and they just don’t understand what the problem is,” Guerrero said. “They are seeing good (horsepower) numbers on the dyno and they feel the power should be close to the Chevrolet engines, but on the straightaways we’re 20 miles per hour slower. They (Alfa) feel maybe it’s in the installation (of the engine) or something like that. It’s just a matter of finding the problem. But there isn’t much time.”