MOTOR RACING GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH NOTES : Unser Wastes No Time in Bid to Extend Streak

Al Unser Jr., winner of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach the last three years, was fastest again Friday in qualifying for Sunday’s Indy car race and is on the pole for the third consecutive year, unless somebody knocks him off it today.

Driving a Chevrolet-powered Lola, Unser turned a fast lap at 89.773 m.p.h., well off the record of 91.249 m.p.h. set by Mario Andretti in 1987, after the track had been changed to its present configuration.

Still, his time of 66.969 seconds was a half-second faster than Michael Andretti’s best time in another Lola-Chevy, and Unser said he wouldn’t mind a bit if nothing changed before race day.

“I hope this is it,” he said. “Really, it would be nice.”

But both he and Mario Andretti’s older son figured that the track, laid out on Long Beach city streets, would get faster before Sunday.

“It feels awfully slick out there,” Unser said. “It doesn’t seem to be gaining as much rubber (build-up) as it usually does, and I think the track will change between now and tomorrow. And I think there’s a little bit left in the car.”

And Michael Andretti said: “I think the track is a little different. They’ve repaved a few areas and they seem a little bit slipperier. . . . I don’t think today’s times will be the ones that hold up.”

Surprisingly, Scott Pruett was third-fastest. Pruett, who missed last season after crashing in preseason testing, had a lap at 89.039 in what basically is a one-of-a-kind car, a Truesports chassis powered by a highly modified Judd engine known as a Truepower.

Emerson Fittipaldi was fourth-fastest at 89.001 in a Penske-Chevy.

The final qualifying session will be run today.

Eddie Cheever, an American who cut his racing teeth on the road and street courses of Europe, had his problems with the Long Beach course in Friday’s first practice session for the Indy cars, touching the wall twice and damaging his car’s left rear. He finished the session in his backup car and was eighth-fastest at 87.861.

Bobby Rahal hit the wall, too, and Phil Krueger had to be towed off after damaging his car’s right front suspension in a scrape.

Crewman Douglas Barnes of Indianapolis, working in Didier Theys’ pit, went to the track’s medical facility for stitches to close a wound suffered in a pit mishap.

Three volunteer corner workers were injured in two incidents.

In the most serious, Cindy Englander of Dana Point suffered a possible separated shoulder and Bard Laab of San Diego a possible concussion. Both were taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Long Beach.

They were injured during practice when Formula Atlantic driver Francisco Mendoza spun near a flagging station on the course. Officials said there was no contact betweeen the workers and Mendoza’s car but were uncertain how the volunteers had been injured.

Mendoza was also taken to St. Mary’s for leg X-rays.

During practice for the International Motor Sports Assn.’s sedans, Ken Murrillo hit the wall, dislodging a concrete block that struck and slightly injured Pete Saunderson of San Francisco. He was treated at St. Mary’s, then released.

The pro drivers weren’t the only ones with accident problems. Tony Dorsett, former pro football star, hit the wall in practice for today’s Toyota pro-celebrity race, and Leeza Gibbons of “Entertainment Tonight” made the worst of it.

She drove her Toyota Celica into the tow truck that was hauling Dorsett’s car away.

Gibbons suffered bruises and isn’t likely to get high marks from Danny McKeever, the man who instructs the celebrities in the finer points of race driving.

He was in the car with her and suffered cuts on his forehead and leg, the one on his forehead requiring stitches.

Some of the celebrity entertainers and driver Robbie Buhl of the Indy Lights series, which is designed to develop drivers for Indy car racing, visited Los Angeles-area children’s hospitals Thursday.

Buhl is the national spokesman for “Racing for Kids,” an organization that concentrates on children’s health-care needs. He visits children’s hospitals at every stop on the circuit.

Joining him on Thursday were singer Donny Osmond, actress Susan Ruttan and actors Craig T. Nelson, Dennis Franz and James B. Sikking.

“Racing for Kids” is the official charity of the Toyota pro-celebrity race and is expected to get more than $40,000 from the race and an earlier golf tournament. That money will go to Los Angeles Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Orange County.