MOTOR RACING LONG BEACH GRAND PRIX NOTES : Michael Andretti Has Provisional Pole

A familiar name and one not so familiar were at the top of the list after the first day of qualifying Friday for Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Michael Andretti, winner of 22 Indy car races and driving a new car--a Lola-Ford so new it needed major surgery before it could legally run here--won the provisional pole with a fast lap of 105.633 m.p.h.

But right behind him was Scott Pruett, who has yet to win in Indy cars but who turned a lap at 105.606, and said he could probably have gone faster in his new Chevrolet-powered Truesports had the car’s fuel pump not broken.

That occurred right after his fast lap, on a lap that he had hoped would be even faster.

“You end up having two real fast laps sometimes, and that was the first of two,” he said. “It’s unfortunate it didn’t happen a lap later. But we’ve got tomorrow.”

Michael Andretti has today’s qualifying session ahead of him, too, and he and his father, Mario, who drove an identical car, hope it isn’t quite as hectic as Friday was.

Technical inspection determined that both new cars were slightly too wide in the front. Both were allowed to practice in the morning, but both had to be brought within regulations before they could qualify. As a result, Michael was about 10 minutes late for the 30-minute qualifying session, and Mario missed all but nine minutes. Even so, he was fifth-fastest, at 104.602.

And Michael predicted that Friday’s speeds would not hold up anyway.

“I don’t have (the pole) yet,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do yet to try to keep it. I think it’s going to be far quicker (today).”

Third-fastest was Emerson Fittipaldi in a new Penske-Chevy at 105.204, and fourth was Al Unser Jr., who has won the last four races here, in his new Galmer-Chevy, at 104.956.

“We’re still learning how to get the car working better,” Unser said. “We are about a half-second off.”

Construction has necessitated a change in the street course used for the race. Three turns and the “shortcut” through the Hyatt garage have been eliminated, making for a faster track, as Friday’s speeds showed. Drivers, however, don’t necessarily see the change the same way.

Said Unser: “Passing is the same. They haven’t taken away or added any passing areas.”

Michael Andretti disagreed: “It just opened up a whole new passing zone because of the long straightaway down the back straight.”

Passing areas aside, the track is definitely faster. Pole speeds the last three years have been slightly more than 90 m.p.h. And because the race figures to be faster, it will be run at 105 laps, up 10 from last year.

When Pruett finishes here Sunday, he will turn his skills to an altogether different kind of driving. Next Wednesday, he hopes to be at the controls of the Birmingham, a Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine in waters off Hawaii.

Pruett, who says he has never been in a sub, is tentatively scheduled for a day of orientation before taking over the boat, which is 360 feet long, 33 feet wide and displaces 6,900 tons.

He isn’t exactly sure, though, what will come about.

“I don’t know all the details yet because (the Navy) won’t tell us,” he said.

There won’t be a Foyt in the familiar black and orange No. 14 car here this weekend, but there will be a Foitek.

A.J. Foyt, injured a week ago in a crash at Phoenix, has put Swiss driver Gregor Foitek into his Lola-Chevy for this season’s street and road course events in the IndyCar series.

Foitek was 11th-fastest Friday at 103.288.

Roberto Guerrero, who raised the eyebrows of Indy car followers with a test lap of more than 230 m.p.h. at the Indianapolis Speedway last month, will start his season Sunday in Kenny Bernstein’s Buick-powered car, and the stock-block V-6 may be more competitive here.

The Buick V-6 has never been competitive anywhere but Indy because the United States Auto Club, which sanctions the 500, was more liberal in its rules regarding stock blocks than was CART, which sanctions the Indy car events everywhere else.

This year, though, CART has increased the turbocharger boost level from 45 to 50 inches for stock blocks, which increases their power.

Guerrero was 15th-fastest in Friday’s qualifying session at 102.294.

Fittipaldi, who won the first Indy car race of the season before a crowd estimated at 80,000 in Surfers Paradise, Australia, wants to introduce Indy cars to his native Brazil.

“In the past five years, thanks to international television, racing fans in Brazil are as familiar with Rick Mears, Al (Unser) Jr., Bobby Rahal and the Andrettis as they are with (Formula One drivers) Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell or Niki Lauda,” Fittipaldi said. “I have talked with the mayor of Rio de Janiero and I know he wants to have a race there. We would build a short mile oval, like Phoenix. I hope the economy will be improved in time for a race next season.”

Times staff writer Shav Glick contributed to this story.