Ribbs Makes Field With Help of Friends : Indy 500: His 217.358 m.p.h. is the day’s fastest and bumps former champion Tom Sneva from the starting grid.

For most of May, the subplot at Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been the attempt of Willy T. Ribbs to find a car as fast as he could drive.

Sunday, he found one.

With 45 minutes remaining in Sunday’s six-hour final qualifying session, Ribbs, 35, from San Jose, became the first black driver to make an Indianapolis 500 field, turning an average of 217.358 m.p.h. for four laps--the day’s fastest speed--in a Lola-Buick and bumping 1983 champion Tom Sneva after 17 consecutive years in the field.

Ribbs will start 29th, or in the middle of the 10th row.

His qualifying average was three miles per hour faster than he had practiced.

“The car just worked and we did it,” he said. “In practice and testing, you never show your hand. You just play it cool and try to get your car working good. When you get it where you want it, when you know it’s there, boom, stand on it.”

He drew a roar from the crowd when he said, “I’m glad everybody was here to witness history because it can only be done once.”

It almost wasn’t done at all because Ribbs and the Derrick Walker team hadn’t been able to keep a car together through a series of blown engines and turbocharger problems.

At one time during the past week, Walker had said, “We might as well pack up and go home.”

But Ribbs didn’t. Instead, he got more backing from entertainer Bill Cosby and found more engines with the help of Buick and competing car owner Kenny Bernstein.

But the bumping process wasn’t finished. Randy Lewis, a veteran of four Indy starts, went out immediately after Ribbs and ran four laps at 214.565 m.p.h. to force out Johnny Parsons, who had qualified earlier in the day at 213.802.

For Lewis, the run was sweet because he had blown an engine, and his team had to buy and install another one Sunday morning.

Lewis’ run left Gordon Johncock, who was the day’s first qualifier at 213.812, “on the bubble” as field’s slowest. He stayed there and will start on the outside of the 11th row in the 75th renewal of the race Sunday.

Didier Theys of Belgium went out with about 10 minutes remaining and did one lap at 209.541. Salt Walther did one lap at 206.635. And Theys got back out just before the final gun and managed one lap at 208.647 before calling off the last qualifying attempt of the month.

Others who made the field included Pancho Carter and Dominic Dobson, who had chipped a bone in his left thigh in a crash a week ago and limped to the car with the aid of a cane and a brace. He turned four laps at a solid 215.326.

The final field includes eight former winners and five rookies, and the 33 cars averaged 218.590 m.p.h., surpassing the record of 217.437 set last year.

Indianapolis 500 Lineup

FIRST ROW

No.Driver (Home), Car-Engine Speed 3.Rick Mears (Bakersfield), Penske-Chevy 224.113 14.A.J. Foyt (Houston), Lola-Chevy 222.443 6.Mario Andretti (Nazareth, Pa.), Lola-Chevy 221.818

SECOND ROW

No.Driver (Home), Car-Engine Speed 18.Bobby Rahal (Dublin, Ohio), Lola-Chevy 221.401 10.Michael Andretti (Nazareth, Pa.), Lola-Chevy 220.943 2.Al Unser Jr. (Albuquerque, N.M.), Lola-Chevy 219.823

THIRD ROW

No.Driver (Home), Car-Engine Speed 4.John Andretti (Indianapolis), Lola-Chevy 219.059 26.Jim Crawford (Scotland), Lola-Buick 218.947 20.Danny Sullivan (Vail, Colo.), Lola-Alfa Romeo 218.343

FOURTH ROW

No.Driver (Home), Car-Engine Speed 8.Eddie Cheever (Vail, Colo.), Lola-Chevy 218.122 86.*Jeff Andretti (Nazareth, Pa.), Lola-Cosworth 217.632 15.Scott Goodyear (Canada), Lola-Judd 216.751

FIFTH ROW

No.Driver (Home), Car-Engine Speed 51.Gary Bettenhausen (Monrovia, Ind.), Lola-Judd 224.468 1.Arie Luyendyk (Netherlands), Lola-Chevy 223.881 5.Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil), Penske-Chevy 223.064

SIXTH ROW

No.Driver (Home), Car-Engine Speed 9.Kevin Cogan (Palos Verdes Estates), Lola-Buick 222.844 91.Stan Fox (Janesville, Wis.), Lola-Buick 219.501 50.*Mike Groff (Northridge), Lola-Cosworth 219.015

SEVENTH ROW

No.Driver (Home), Car-Engine Speed 22.Scott Brayton (Coldwater, Mich.), Lola-Chevy 218.627 16.Tony Lee Bettenhausen (Indianapolis), Penske-Chevy 218.188 48.Bernard Jourdain (Mexico), Lola-Buick 216.683

EIGHTH ROW

No.Driver (Home), Car-Engine Speed 21.Geoff Brabham (Australia), Truesports-Judd 214.859 71.*Buddy Lazier (Vail, Colo.), Lola-Cosworth 218.692 7.*Hiro Matsushita (Japan), Lola-Buick 218.351

NINTH ROW

No.Driver (Home), Car-Engine Speed 93.John Paul Jr. (West Palm Beach, Fla.), Lola-Buick 217.952 23.Tero Palmroth (Finland), Lola-Cosworth 215.648 19.Scott Pruett (Dublin, Ohio), Truesports-Judd 214.814

TENTH ROW

No.Driver (Home), Car-Engine Speed 40.Roberto Guerrero (San Juan Capistrano), Lola-Alfa Romeo 214.027 17.*Willy T. Ribbs (San Jose), Lola-Buick 217.358 66.Dominic Dobson (Fairfax, Calif.), Lola-Judd 215.326

ELEVENTH ROW

No.Driver (Home), Car-Engine Speed 90.Randy Lewis (Hillsborough, Calif.), Lola-Cosworth 214.565 12.Pancho Carter (Brownsburg, Ind.), Lola-Buick 214.012 92.Gordon Johncock (Hastings, Mich.), Lola-Cosworth 213.812

*--Rookie.

Average speed of field--218.590 (qualifying record, old mark, 217.437, 1990)