Unser Runs Dry on Try for Indianapolis 500 Pole : Auto racing: Driver doesn’t compensate for weather and will start from third row. Fittipaldi’s top speed stands.

The rain didn’t come Saturday to Indianapolis Motor Speedway--and neither did Al Unser Jr.’s anticipated challenge to Emerson Fittipaldi for the Indianapolis 500 pole.

An unexpectedly dry day allowed the 33-car field to be filled for next Sunday’s $6-million race whether it rains today--as predicted--or not.

Equally as unexpected was the relatively slow qualifying speed of Unser Jr.--a four-lap average of 220.920 m.p.h.--which left him on the inside of the third row.

Earlier in the day, Unser had a series of practice laps above 225 m.p.h., with a top speed of 226.729 making Fittipaldi’s six-day-old pole-qualifying record of 225.301 appear vulnerable.

When the day was done, Arie Luyendyk was on the front row with Fittipaldi and Rick Mears instead of Unser. Luyendyk, a Dutchman who lives in Brookfield, Wis., averaged 223.304 for four laps just as Unser was pulling onto the track in his Lola-Chevy.

“I really didn’t think my speed was good enough for the front row,” Luyendyk said, “not with Little Al coming up right after me. I hate to say it, but I thought it was great when I saw that his speeds were down on his first lap.”

Fittipaldi, who qualified last Sunday and had to wait nearly a week to find out if he had won the $100,000 PPG Pole Award, had similar feelings.

“I was expecting Junior to go faster, even after his first lap (220.718),” Fittipaldi said. “It wasn’t until his second lap (220.843) that I was sure he was having problems and the pole was ours.

“This morning was very emotional for me, not getting in my race car, waiting and watching to see what would happen. When I heard that he had run 226 in practice, I was a nervous wreck, much more nervous watching than if I had been running myself.”

Unser, who had the year’s fastest unofficial lap of 228.502 a week ago Friday, was at a loss to explain what happened.

“Something happened and the car pushed real hard,” he said. “I had to lift (the accelerator) in all four corners, and during the morning I didn’t have to lift at all. What happened was we should have changed the car as the day went on and anticipated the qualifying run.

“The track changed. My mistake was in not realizing it changed as much as it did. We had set it up for the one run and we missed a little. It’s tricky when you don’t run in an hour to get the car adjusted right and we just missed it. That’s all that happened.”

A.J. Foyt made changes that hit right on the mark. He qualified for his record 33rd consecutive Indy 500 with a center third-row speed of 220.425. It was the fastest he has ever qualified and is 77 m.p.h. faster than he ran in his rookie year of 1958.

“I knew the track heats up, so we put a little bit more wing in the left front and right front, took the wicker bill off (the rear wing) and I towed the left rear in and the right rear in to give it a little more bite so I could hang it out if I could,” Foyt, 55, explained.

“Eddie Cheever was behind me in line and he said, ‘You mean you changed everything like that and haven’t even tried it?’ and I said yeah. He just shook his head, he couldn’t believe it. I knew it could have gone the other way. We just rolled the dice.”

Cheever became the fastest of five rookies with a 217.926. He is an Indy car rookie even though he has 10 years’ experience in Formula One.

“Historically, the term rookie fits me very well,” Cheever said. “I’m used to showing up at a track on Thursday, practicing Friday, qualifying Saturday, racing Sunday and packing up and going home. I couldn’t believe that it was necessary to run a month here, but now I wish it was three months.

“You know, I had never seen an oval in my life before, and, believe me, an oval has some pretty big teeth. When I came here the first week, it terrorized me. Now, I’m almost embarrassed to say I’m enjoying it.”

Other rookies who qualified included Dean Hall, a downhill skier from Olympic Valley, Calif., 216.975; Scott Goodyear of Canada, who made it last week at 213.622; Buddy Lazier of Vail, Colo., whose father, Bob, drove in the 500 in 1981, in a vulnerable 33rd spot at 209.418; and Jeff Andretti of Nazareth, Pa., Mario Andretti’s youngest son, 210.268.

When Jeff qualified, it made the Andrettis the first family to have four drivers in the 500. In addition to Mario, Michael and Jeff, there is also John, whose father is Mario’s twin brother.

“It was a great feeling to see that checkered flag and realize it was a dream come true,” Jeff Andretti said. “I had always been a spectator here before. Now I can appreciate what my father and Michael have gone through here over the years.”

Another rookie, Mike Groff, the American Racing Series champion from Los Angeles, was in the field for a few hours with a speed of 203.643, but he was bumped by Jim Crawford, who had spun out or crashed three times this month before making it into his fifth 500.

Three-time winner Johnny Rutherford, who accepted a speed of 204.801 in a two-year-old Lola Cosworth, found himself bumped for the second year in a row when Stan Fox, who is better known as a midget-car driver, finished a surprisingly quick 213.812 run seconds before the 6 p.m. track closure.

The 33-car field average speed is a record 217.252 m.p.h., 0.664 faster than last year.

INDIANAPOLIS 500 TENTATIVE LINEUP

No. Driver (Hometown), Car-Eng. Speed FIRST ROW 1. Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazi), 225.301 Penske-Chevy 2. Rick Mears (Bakersfield), 224.215 Penske-Chevy 30. Arie Luyendyk (Netherlands), 223.304 Lola-Chevy SECOND ROW 18. Bobby Rahal 222.694 (Dublin,Ohio), Lola-Chevy 3. Michael Andretti 222.055 (Nazareth, Pa.), Lola-Chevy 6. Mario Andretti 222.025 (Nazareth, Pa.), Lola-Chevy THIRD ROW 5. Al Unser Jr. 220.920 (Albuquerque, N.M.), Lola-Chevy 14. A.J. Foyt (Houston), 220.425 Lola-Chevy 7. Danny Sullivan 220.310 (Louisville), Penske-Chevy FOURTH ROW 41. John Andretti 219.484 (Indianapolis), March-Porsche 86. Dominic Dobson 219.230 (Fairfax, Calif.), Lola-Cosworth 12. Randy Lewis 218.412 (Hillsborough, Calif.), Penske-Buick FIFTH ROW 16. Tony Bettenhausen 218.368 (Indianapolis), Lola-Buick 25. *Eddie Cheever (Phoenix), 217.926 Penske-Chevy 11. Kevin Cogan 217.738 (Palos Verdes Estates), Penske-Buick SIXTH ROW 23. Tero Palmroth (Finland), 217.423 Lola-Cosworth 19. Raul Boesel (Brazil), 217.381 Lola-Judd 51. Gary Bettenhausen 217.264 (Monrovia, Ind.), Lola-Buick SEVENTH ROW 21. Geoff Brabham (Australia), 216.580 Lola-Judd 70. Didier Theys (Belgium), 214.033 Penske-Buick 28. *Scott Goodyear (Canada), 213.622 Lola-Judd EIGHTH ROW 29. Pancho Carter 213.156 (Brownsburg, Ind.), Lola-Cosworth 4. Teo Fabi (Italy), 220.022 March-Porsche 39. *Dean Hall 216.975 (Olympic Valley, Calif.), Lola-Cosworth NINTH ROW 9. Tom Sneva 216.142 (Paradise Valley, Ariz.), Penske-Buick 22. Scott Brayton 215.028 (Coldwater, Mich.), Lola-Cosworth 97. Stan Fox (Janesville, Wis.), 213.812 Lola-Buick TENTH ROW 20. Roberto Guerrero 212.652 (San Juan Capistrano), March Alfa-Romeo 15. Jim Crawford (Scotland), 212.200 Lola-Buick 40. Al Unser (Albuquerque, N.M.), 212.087 March Alfa-Romeo ELEVENTH ROW 81. Bill Vukovich III (Fresno), 211.389 Lola-Buick 98. *Jeff Andretti 210.268 (Nazareth, Pa.), Lola-Cosworth 91. *Buddy Lazier (Vail, Colo.), 209.418 Lola-Judd

*--Rookie.

Average speed of field--217.252