Boesel Races Now, Plans for the Future : Indy 500: He drives an old Lola meant for Scott Pruett, but his team works toward 1991, building a ‘made-in-the-U.S.A.’ car.

When Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr. collided on the 199th lap of last year’s Indianapolis 500, the impact sent Unser spinning into the wall and out of the race. Fittipaldi managed to get his car under control and drove to victory a lap later.

Had Fittipaldi joined Unser on the wall, the lead would have gone to a Brazilian countryman--Raul De Mesquita Boesel, a former horse-jumping champion from Curitiba, who might have been the defending champion here Sunday.

Boesel, who led the race at one stage, was third, six laps back, when Fittipaldi and Unser touched wheels.

“I wasn’t near them when it happened, but my crew radioed me that they had touched,” Boesel said Thursday after putting his car through its final laps before this year’s race. “When I came by, I saw only one car, but I thought maybe Emmo might have to come back to the pits. Then the yellow lights came on, and I knew we were through racing.”

The race ended under a caution flag, with no passing allowed during the final lap. Because Unser was still only one lap behind when Fittipaldi took the checkered flag, he was credited with second place, and Boesel was third. It was his highest finish in 61 Indy car races.

Despite success at Indianapolis, Boesel was dropped from Doug Shierson’s team at the end of the year and replaced by Arie Luyendyk.

Finding himself without an Indy car ride after four seasons, Boesel planned to drive in the world sports car championship this season with Nissan. In 1987, during another layoff from Indy cars, he won the world championship while driving a Jaguar JXR8.

On March 21, Boesel was testing a Group C Nissan in Monza, Italy, when he got a message to call Steve Horne, president of the Truesports team, in Columbus, Ohio.

Scott Pruett, the Truesports driver, had crashed at 130 m.p.h. while testing a Lola-Judd car in West Palm Beach, Fla., five days earlier, breaking both legs, both heels and two vertebrae in his lower back.

“All of a sudden, at very short notice, we found ourselves looking for a driver with experience and the ability to win,” Horne said. “Raul seemed to be our best bet.”

After getting the offer from Horne that night, Boesel got an OK to leave the British-based Nissan Europe team with which he had been testing.

“Thursday was a long day,” Boesel recalled. “I flew from Monza to Milan to Frankfurt to my home in Miami. I arrived home about 3 in the afternoon, took a shower, got some fresh clothes, and at 7 that night I flew from Miami to Columbus. I arrived there at 1 o’clock in the morning.”

After a hurry-up testing session to familiarize himself with the year-old Truesports Lola and a new crew, Boesel drove at Phoenix and Long Beach, but all along the main goal was the Indianapolis 500. He ran as high as fourth on the mile oval at Phoenix before a wheel-bearing failure forced him to stop, and was in eighth place at Long Beach when Unser Jr. took the checkered flag.

“We decided against buying a new Lola for this year because we are building our own car, right from scratch, for 1991,” Horne said. “We want to utilize all American technology and build the first ‘made-in-the-U.S.A.’ winning car since Gordon Johncock drove a Wildcat back in 1983. I don’t think 90% of the people realize that last year’s winner was a foreign driver, with a Penske chassis from England, powered by a Chevy engine from England.

“We don’t see why Indy cars have to be manufactured outside America, so we are planning to build our own in Columbus.”

In the meantime, Horne will field a foreign-built car with a foreign driver, like 10 others in the 500.

Boesel qualified in 17th position at 217.381 m.p.h. It is the fastest of the three Judd-powered cars in the race.

“We’ve had two races together, and it looks like we’re coming together pretty well,” Boesel said. “No driver likes to get an Indy car ride this way. I want Scott to get well as fast as everyone, and I will just do my best until he returns.”

Pruett, who hit the wall head-on at West Palm Beach, is walking on crutches here, working as a TV analyst for ESPN.

Terry Trammell, orthopedic surgeon at Indianapolis Methodist Hospital, repaired the injuries to Pruett’s legs and ankles in 6 1/2 hours of surgery, followed by another 4 1/2-hour operation to repair the fractures to his vertebrae.

“What caused the crash was a catastrophic brake failure, but we may never know the exact reason because the car was damaged so badly,” Pruett said. “I remember everything about the accident vividly. I was going down the back straight, and suddenly the brakes were gone. That was about it, there was nothing there at all.

“I was conscious all the time. I knew my legs were bad, but I didn’t know my back was broken. I can’t wait to get back--next year I hope--and help Truesports develop their American car.”

When Pruett is ready to drive again, Horne plans to keep Boesel and have a two-car team.

“Roger Penske has proved that having two drivers accelerates the learning curve,” Boesel said. “I hope I can be with the team when Scott comes back, but right now my main interest is helping get the team ready for Sunday. I have been impressed with the way the Truesports crew has made over the 1989 Lola so that it drives almost like a new car.”

Boesel ran several laps at 218 m.p.h. Thursday with a full tank of fuel, which is faster than he ran last week during qualifying.

“I think we are closing the gap,” he said. “The car runs well in traffic, and the Judd engine has a lot more power than it did last year.”