Sullivan Goes Out on Top for Penske : Auto racing: He ends six-year association with team by winning at Laguna Seca in CART’s final event of the season.

Danny Sullivan, the odd man out in Roger Penske’s racing plans for 1991, made his farewell a glorious one Sunday with a wire-to-wire victory in the Champion Spark Plug 300 at Laguna Seca Raceway.

“It’s been an emotional thing, knowing I was leaving, but you know, the biggest supporter of all has been Roger,” Sullivan said after the season’s last race. “He called me last week and said, ‘This one’s going to be for you.’ ”

Nevertheless, the way Sullivan dominated his Penske teammates, Rick Mears and Emerson Fittipaldi--who drove identical Chevy-powered Penske 90s--must have been gratifying to the 40-year-old driver who divides his off-track time between Los Angeles and Aspen, Colo.

Mears finished fourth behind CART PPG Cup national champion Al Unser Jr. and Michael Andretti. Fittipaldi, the driver sponsor Marlboro chose over Sullivan in the Penske musical chairs, was lapped by Sullivan. A few laps from the finish, Sullivan led Fittipaldi past and the Brazilian was credited with sixth place.

The 84-lap event around Laguna Seca’s 11-turn, 2.214-mile hillside road course was probably as uneventful as any race in CART’s 16-race season. From the moment Sullivan jumped in front from his pole position, he was never seriously challenged.

Sullivan, who had taken the pole with a 110.113-m.p.h. lap, averaged 103.556 for the 186 miles and won $86,908. Only one full-course caution flag was displayed, and that for only one lap, the first.

After Mario Andretti dropped out on the second lap with electrical failure and gave up second place to Unser, there were no changes among the top seven drivers for 80 laps except for Bobby Rahal’s slip from third to fifth.

Three laps from the end, Mears gave the crowd of more than 50,000 its major moment of excitement when he slipped past Michael Andretti as they crested the top of the hill just before the corkscrew. As Mears squeezed past, Andretti angrily pointed to course marshals waving a yellow caution flag--which means no passing.

The question of a protest became moot on the final lap when Mears’ car ran out of fuel and Andretti passed him a few feet from the finish line.

“I was livid the last few laps because he passed me under the yellow and then, when he slowed down, he tried to block me and I almost hit him in the back,” Andretti said. “He wouldn’t have caught me at all if (Arie) Luyendyk hadn’t blocked me for about 15 laps. I lost nine seconds trying to get around (Luyendyk), and he was a lap down. But in the end what comes around goes around, and we got back by Mears when his engine started popping.”

The battle between Mears and the younger Andretti took on special significance because second-place points money of $250,000 for the season was at stake. Andretti ended up 13 points ahead of Mears. Unser had clinched the $400,000 champion’s bonus before the series came to Laguna Seca.

While most of the non-action was taking place, Sullivan was cruising along. At one point he held a 32-second lead. He finished 29.7 seconds ahead of Unser.

It was the second time Sullivan had won from the pole here. In 1988, his victory led to winning the PPG Cup championship for the Penske team.

“It’s been a tremendous six years for me working for Roger Penske, and I’m really happy to be leaving him on such a high note,” Sullivan said. “Roger has been a great guy to drive for because he was a driver himself and he understands what a driver needs. Besides that, he’s the hardest working guy on the team.”

Sullivan, since learning he was being dropped by Penske, has been negotiating with Jim Hall, who is returning to Indy car racing after an absence of seven years with a new Chevy-powered Lola; and Pat Patrick and Alfa Romeo, who want someone to carry on the development program begun by Roberto Guerrero.

When Hall signed John Andretti as his driver, it left Sullivan and Alfa to work out the small print in their agreement. Lawyers are in negotiations, and Sullivan should be announced as the new Alfa Romeo driver before December.

“One reason negotiations slowed was because I put them on hold to concentrate on today’s race,” Sullivan explained. “It is a terrible distraction, and I didn’t want them to take away from my preparations. Now I can go to work tomorrow on getting things done.

“Of course, after today’s race I can ask for more money. I was asking for a lot (rumored to be $1.5 million) before, but now I can ask for more.”

Sunday’s race also marked the end of Porsche’s three-year experiment with Indy cars. Teo Fabi finished seventh and John Andretti eighth in the final race for Porsche-powered machines that had only one victory--by Fabi at Mid-Ohio in 1989--and did no better than Fabi’s third at Meadowlands this season.

Porsche, announcing it would reenter Formula One next year, pulled the plug on its Indy car program in mid-season. Andretti is headed for Hall’s new team, but both Fabi and Walker are job- hunting.