MOTOR RACING GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH : Michael Andretti Sets Record, Wins Pole

For the eight years that the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach has been run, the winner has been either an Andretti or an Unser.

Mario Andretti who won the first two in 1984 and 1985. Son Michael won in 1986--his first Indy car victory--and again in 1987. Al Unser Jr. took over in 1988 and has won four in a row.

In qualifying Saturday for today’s 105-lap race around the eight-turn, 1.59-mile street circuit, there was little to indicate a change.

Michael Andretti, driving a week-old slimline Lola powered by a Ford-Cosworth engine for the team owned by Paul Newman and Carl Haas, put together a record lap of 106.251 m.p.h. to take the pole from Scott Pruett.

Michael and Mario Andretti tested the car, newly arrived from the Lola factory in England, last Tuesday and Wednesday at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, Ariz. It was the first road course test for the new car, designed to accept the smaller Ford engine, after its oval course debut Sunday in Phoenix.

“It’s a good thing we did the test,” Michael Andretti said. “We learned a few things and worked out a few bugs. We were lucky today, to get our hot lap in when we did, between a couple of red flags. When you have to stop and start, it can get you out of your rhythm and it’s easy to screw up.”

The 45-minute qualifying session was stopped three times because of incidents that left damaged cars on the track.

“I would say the car is about 80% of where we’d like it, where we expect to have it later in the year,” Michael Andretti said.

Pruett, in the all-American chassis built by Truesports, turned in an early 106.128 and was apparently headed for an even faster one when his Chevrolet engine gave out and the car rolled to a stop with smoke pouring out the back.

“I’m certain we could have run faster than I did,” Pruett said, “but we’ll never know if it would have been better than Michael’s. The car felt good from the moment I went out for the qualifying session. It was shortly after I had the fast lap that I had the mechanical problem. It was just an engine failure.”

The Truesports car, like Michael Andretti’s, was delivered Monday and Pruett ran it at Firebird on Tuesday.

“When we ran Tuesday, it was the first time the wheels had even turned,” Pruett said. “Our chassis is completely new and the engine is new. The application of torque with the engines is very different between the Judd (last year’s engine) and the Chevrolet. . . . It’s like starting right from scratch.”

Later in the day, Danny Sullivan slipped one of the two new Galmers between Andretti and Pruett to gain a front row berth with a 106.191. Fourth was the other Galmer, driven by defending champion Al Unser Jr. at 106.09.

Emerson Fittipaldi qualified one of the Penskes fifth, with Eddie Cheever, in another Ford-powered Lola, sixth. Mario Andretti is seventh, followed by Bobby Rahal, winner of last week’s race in Phoenix.

As did Pruett, Sullivan was striving for an even quicker lap after his fast one when he lost control and clipped a wall. This turned him straight into a tire wall, nose first.

“It looks worse than it is,” Sullivan said. “I think it was pretty superficial damage.

Team manager Barry Green said that the damage will be easily repaired in time for this morning’s pre-race warm-up.

Only .082 seconds separate the first four cars on today’s starting grid. The race, third of 16 for the PPG Cup IndyCar championship, will start at 1 p.m.

“Any one of the top 10 cars is capable of winning tomorrow,” Michael Andretti said. “I think some of the character of the course was lost when they took the kink out where we ran through the (Hyatt) hotel garage, but it probably will make for a closer race. So, for a driver, it’s probably not so much fun, but to the spectators it might be better.”

It was the second consecutive year Michael Andretti won the pole at Long Beach and the second race in a row in which he was the fastest qualifier. In the opening race in Australia, he appeared to be the pole sitter when Unser won it with a last-minute effort. He came back to win it at Phoenix.

“It’s great to see all the different types of equipment out there, and it’s sort of good seeing them all run well,” Michael Andretti said. “As long as we can keep running a little better,” he added with a laugh.

“Every year is different, and things have changed dramatically this year, but I’m concerned about what Junior (Unser) may be doing tomorrow.”

Unser, who won the race from the fourth starting position in 1988, likes his chances of winning No. 5 from that same spot.

“We feel good,” he said. “I think the race can be won by anyone in the first three rows. It will be a fuel mileage race, the same as always.”