Wire-to-Wire Victory for Rahal : Phoenix 200: He wins after pole-sitter Michael Andretti has electrical problems on parade lap.

After seeing pole-sitter Michael Andretti sitting in the pits instead of starting alongside him, Bobby Rahal roared away to win the Valvoline 200 Indy Car race Sunday with a wire-to-wire performance.

Rahal, in his second start as owner-driver of a black and gold Lola-Chevrolet, was challenged during mid-race by Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears, but after an electrical problem slowed Mears, Rahal motored away to a 22.3-second victory over Eddie Cheever.

Cheever, in a Lola powered by a Ford-Cosworth engine, drove the only other car on the same lap with Rahal, who finished the 200 miles around Phoenix International Raceway’s mile oval with an average speed of 130.526 m.p.h. Six caution flags, for 33 of the 200 miles, kept the speed down.

Most of the day it was closer to 170 m.p.h. as Rahal and the other leaders circled the smallest track on the 17-race Indy Car schedule at a dizzying pace, overtaking slower cars almost continually. In a remarkable display of safety and speed, only one incident occurred during the 1 1/2-hour race. Rookie Jim Vasser spun on a restart after a yellow flag late in the race and smacked the wall coming out of the second turn. He was not injured.

Michael Andretti, who set a track record of 171.825 m.p.h. during qualifying Saturday, stunned the 55,000 spectators when he brought his new Lola-Ford into the pits during the parade lap. Before the Newman-Haas crew could diagnose the problem and restart Andretti, the other 21 starters completed two pace laps and were four laps into the race.

“It was unbelievable. I don’t remember being in the pits at the start of a race in my life,” Andretti said disgustedly. “It was a spark box or something. We changed the electrical control unit.”

A crew member said the problem was wet spark plugs, but he said the crew had no idea how they got that way.

Andretti finished 10th.

Rahal, with no one to challenge him through the first turn, pulled away from Emerson Fittipaldi, who finished third, a lap behind, Mario Andretti, John Andretti and rookie Paul Tracy.

The real racing was back in the pack as Mears ducked in and out of traffic to move from eighth to second in 16 laps, and Cheever drove the most impressive race of his long career after starting 14th. The former Formula One driver was in second place after passing Mears on the 45th lap.

Although Rahal, at times, was cruising along nearly half a lap ahead of his pursuers, the crowd was on its feet much of the day as the faster cars made one breathtaking pass after another. The busiest man on the premises was starter Nick Fornoro, who was waving the blue and yellow “move-over” flag almost continuously.

“Traffic is always a problem at Phoenix, but I can’t complain about anything today because if I did, people would say I was greedy,” Rahal said.

“I’d have to say we’re happy with the old Chevy engine. I think we showed there’s life in the old girl yet. There’s something to be said for the tried and true.”

Rahal’s engine is an older model Chevy Ilmor V8, as compared to a streamlined new model used only by the Penske team of Mears, Fittipaldi and Tracy. New Ford-Cosworth engines were in the cars driven by Mario and Michael Andretti and by Cheever.

As the car owner, when asked what he would say to his driver, Rahal laughed and said, “Don’t let it go to your head.” He and trucking executive Carl Hogan purchased the team during the off-season from Pat Patrick.

After one of the six caution flag periods served to reel in Rahal briefly, Mears appeared on the verge of challenging the leader 40 miles from the finish. Before he could catch Rahal, however, an electrical problem brought Mears into the pits on three successive laps, and he fell back to finish eighth.

“I think we had the fastest car out there,” Mears said. “Around lap 170 I noticed my on-board battery wasn’t recharging, so I pitted for a battery change, but it still wasn’t right. That’s when we realized we must have had a short circuit.”

Adrian Fernandez, in his first Indy Lights event, drove to an easy victory in the season-opening race at Phoenix International Raceway.

Fernandez, of Mexico City, earned $21,500 for winning the 75-lap event on the one-mile oval by 2.114 seconds over runner-up Robbie Groff in the race for drivers in Buick-powered Wildcats. Fernandez averaged 121.009 m.p.h.