Years-and-a-Day Wait Is Over for Guerrero : Indy 500: Speed holds for pole at track that broke his heart, almost ended his life.

The way Roberto Guerrero looks at it: “Racing is 99% disappointment and 1% satisfaction, but when you get that 1% it makes up for all the other 99.”

Sunday, the Colombian native who lives in San Juan Capistrano was enjoying his full share of the 1%.

After breaking all Indianapolis Motor Speedway records with a four-lap qualifying speed of 232.482 m.p.h. late Saturday afternoon, Guerrero had to wait nearly a day before he was assured the pole position for the Indianapolis 500 on May 24.

When first Eddie Cheever’s 229.639 and then Indy car champion Michael Andretti’s 228.169 fell short, and Jim Crawford lost his chance when his engine broke Sunday, Guerrero’s long climb from the disappointments and near death of 1987 reached a happy peak.

“This is one of the high points of my career, and nothing is going to take it away,” he said. “I think I will sleep like a baby tonight. I didn’t close an eye last night. I tossed and turned all night. But now I can relax.

“I love Indy. Overall, it has been very good to me. I don’t want to dwell on the bad times. I don’t want to think about 1987.”

Two bad things happened to Guerrero in 1987 at the Speedway.

He had a substantial lead with 45 miles remaining in the 500 when he made his final pit stop--and killed the engine. Before he could get restarted, Al Unser swept past and went on to win his fourth 500.

“That was one I will never forget,” he said. “The only thing that will make me forget it is winning the race this month.”

On Sept. 10, 1987, Guerrero suffered a concussion in a freak accident during testing when a broken wheel rebounded and hit him in the temple. He was in a coma for 17 days, but as soon as he got a doctor’s release, he returned to his race car in a test at Firebird Raceway, near Phoenix.

“That was a big achievement for me after the accident because it ended all questions about my ability to come back,” he said, “but today is a different feeling. That was a relief, this is wonderful.”

Cheever was the day’s surprise. After not running a 230 m.p.h. lap all month, the former Formula One veteran hit 230.103 on his third lap en route to a 229.639 qualifying average. It made him the fastest of the Ford Cosworth-powered Lolas, and put him in the middle of the front row between Guerrero and Mario Andretti.

“If you’d asked me (Saturday) if I was going to be on the front row, I’d have told you ‘no,’ ” Cheever said. “If you had asked me this morning, I’d have told you ‘no.’ But conditions changed dramatically between (Saturday) afternoon and today, and Morris (chief engineer Morris Nunn) had the engine running very strong. Those are probably the four finest laps I’ve ever driven around here.”

Crawford, Guerrero’s Buick teammate and the driver who was expected to be his chief challenger for the pole, had a valve train failure during morning practice, and the crew was unable to change engines before the noon deadline for pole qualifying.

The Scotsman came back late in the afternoon to qualify at 228.859 m.p.h., but because it came on the second day, it left him on the inside of the eighth row. It would have put him on the second row had he done it earlier, but all first-day qualifiers are locked in position and subsequent qualifiers must line up in the rear.

Two four-time winners, A.J. Foyt and Unser, were among the six second-day qualifiers, bringing the field to 27, with two qualifying days remaining, Saturday and Sunday. Thirty-three cars are scheduled to start the race.

Foyt qualified for his 35th consecutive Indy 500 when he took a second-day speed of 222.798 m.p.h. for his Lola-Chevy. He averaged more than 226 for three laps Saturday before his car quit, forcing him to come back Sunday.

“It (qualifying attempt) wasn’t very good at all,” Foyt said. “I could have taken a few more practice laps, but I didn’t want to chance it. The big thing was to get in the show. I didn’t want to sit around all day and take a chance something might break. I’m not real happy with the speed, but that’s the breaks.”

Unser, who did not sit in the car until Sunday morning, accepted a ride from John Menard in a Lola-Buick that had been assigned to three-time world Formula One champion Nelson Piquet. After Piquet suffered serious leg and foot injuries in a crash during practice Thursday, Menard called Unser.

With only 40 laps of practice Sunday, Unser made the show with a 223.744 m.p.h. effort, nearly a mile per hour faster than his son, Al Unser Jr., did Saturday in the new Galmer-Chevrolet.

The last time Unser stepped in for an injured driver, Danny Ongais in 1987, he won the race for team owner Roger Penske.

The average speed for 27 qualifiers is 224.025, nearly 5 m.p.h. faster than the record 219.262 of last year.

Partial Indianapolis 500 Lineup

First- and second-day qualifiers for the Indianapolis 500 on May 24. The remainder of the 33-car field will be filled through qualifying May 16-17.

FIRST ROW

No. Driver (Home) Car-Eng. Speed 1 .Roberto Guerrero (San Juan Capistrano) Lola-Buick 232.482 2. Eddie Cheever (Aspen, Colo.) Lola-Ford 229.639 3. Mario Andretti (Nazareth, Pa.) Lola-Ford 229.503

SECOND ROW

No. Driver (Home) Car-Eng. Speed 4. Arie Luyendyk (the Netherlands) Lola-Ford 229.127 5. Gary Bettenhausen (Monrovia, Ind.) Lola-Buick 228.932 6. Michael Andretti (Nazareth, Pa.) Lola-Ford 228.169

THIRD ROW No. Driver (Home) Car-Eng. Speed 7. Scott Brayton (Coldwater, Mich.) Lola-Buick 226.142 8. Danny Sullivan (Aspen, Colo.) Galmer-Chevy 224.838 9. Rick Mears (Jupiter, Fla.) Penske-Chevy 224.594 FOURTH ROW

No. Driver (Home) Car-Eng. Speed 10. Bobby Rahal (Dublin, Ohio) Lola-Chevy 224.158 11. Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil) Penske-Chevy 223.607 12. Al Unser Jr. (Albuquerque, N.M.) Galmer-Chevy 222.989

FIFTH ROW

No. Driver (Home) Car-Eng. Speed 13. Stan Fox (Janesville, Wis.) Lola-Buick 222.867 14. John Andretti (Indianapolis) Lola-Chevy 222.644 15. *Eric Bachelart (Belgium) 1990 Lola-Buick 221.549

SIXTH ROW

No. Driver (Home) Car-Eng. Speed 16. *Philippe Gache (France) 1991 Lola-Chevy 221.496 17. Scott Pruett (Dublin, Ohio) Truesports-Chevy 220.464 18. John Paul Jr. (West Palm Beach, Fla.) 1990 Lola-Buick 220.244

SEVENTH ROW

No. Driver (Home) Car-Eng. Speed 19. *Paul Tracy (Canada) 1991 Penske-Chevy 219.751 20. Jeff Andretti (Nazareth, Pa.) 1991 Lola-Chevy 219.306 21. *Scott Goodyear (Canada) 1991 Lola-Chevy 219.054

EIGHTH ROW

No. Driver (Home) Car-Eng. Speed 22. Jim Crawford (Scotland) Lola-Buick 228.859 23. Al Unser (Albuquerque, N.M.) Lola-Buick 223.744 24. A.J. Foyt (Houston) Lola-Chevy 222.798

NINTH ROW

No. Driver (Home) Car-Eng. Speed 25. Buddy Lazier (Vail, Colo.) 1990 Lola-Buick 222.688 26. Raul Boesel (Brazil) Lola-Chevy 222.434 27. *Jim Vasser (Discovery Bay, Calif.) Lola-Chevy 218.268

*--Rookie.

Average speed of 27-car field--224.025 (qualifying record, old mark, 219.262, 1991).