Caution Doesn’t Have to Mean Yellow Flag : Auto racing: Improvements at Indianapolis Motor Speedway should make for a safer, and perhaps slower, Indy 500.

The closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history not withstanding, the 1992 race was a terrible show. Al Unser Jr.’s half-a-car-length margin over Scott Goodyear somewhat obscures that, but the Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials were aware of it.

A race that is slowed a record 13 times for 81 laps run under yellow caution flag conditions can’t be very good.

Yellow flags usually mean one thing--carnage in bodies and machines. Thirteen cars were eliminated in 10 accidents. Six drivers were hospitalized, two for more than a month.

Toward creating a better--and safer--show, the speedway undertook a massive refurbishing program that has given the 2 1/2-mile rectangular oval a new look.

A warm-up lane has been created for entering and exiting the pits; a rumble strip has been installed to keep cars from dropping below the white line at the bottom of the track and a 12-foot grassy strip defines the safety lane from the track itself in the four corners. Not so noticeable is a new wall around the track, 42 inches high, except on the main straightaway, where it is 39 inches.

“If slowing the race down is what they were after, they have succeeded,” said Scott Brayton, who tested Ford engines at the track for more than 500 miles before it opened Saturday for practice.

“The track is definitely narrower, and days of two cars running side by side through the corners is a thing of the past,” he said. “Passing will be more difficult, but it will make the 500 more of a driver’s race because making a pass will be more challenging and take more patience.”

Older drivers said the changes have made it more like it was a decade or more ago, when the apron was more distinct.

Said Bobby Rahal, the 1986 winner and current PPG Cup champion: “I have to give Tony (George, track president) and his staff credit for the improvements and the warm-up lane. It’s amazing that no one was seriously injured with the old warm-up lanes. I believe the track is safer in that regard.

“Actually, it is a lot like it was when I first came here in 1981. The officials didn’t want you to go under the white line, so we didn’t. Gradually, some drivers found a new groove way down low. Now it’s back where it was.”

The rule against driving below the white line was the threat of being black-flagged and called into the pits for a stop-and-go penalty. However, so many drivers took the shortcut across the bottom of the corners that no one was called in.

Consequently, driving below the line became commonplace, especially for the Andrettis, Mario and Michael.

“Mario’s line is now gone,” Brayton said. “No one is going to challenge those rumble strips unless they’re forced down there.”

Mario Andretti, who had the fastest lap Saturday, 222.124 m.p.h., said he was wary of the strips.

“I looked at them, but I wasn’t about to test them,” Andretti said. “They have eliminated an alternative line in case conditions are not ideal, but you’ve got to work with what they give you, even it means backing off (on the throttle) where before you didn’t need to back off.”

Gary Bettenhausen, who has raced at Indy since 1968, ventured across the rumble strips when he was practicing alone and said they more than got his attention.

“I clipped them once going about 170 m.p.h., and I sure didn’t like what it did to me,” he said. “It made the car twitch real bad. I hate to think what it would do at 220.”

What it also did was make a one-groove track through the corners.

Said Bettenhausen: “You’ve really got to thread the needle getting into the corners. Before, you could be a little sloppy and still make it through, but not now. You have to very precise.”

Said Rahal: “The track is now a third less in width, and that means we’ll have to be aggressive in traffic. I don’t think the strip will effect qualifying, only the race. Roberto (Guerrero) didn’t go under the line last year when he set the record.”

Guerrero, in Kenny Bernstein’s Buick, qualified at 232.482 m.p.h. last year to shatter all Speedway records.

Brayton found one negative factor in the narrowing of the track.

“After an accident, we will have less area to get around debris,” he said. “Before, we could drop down low and maybe get around stuff left on the track, but now we’ve got 14 feet less track to miss it.

“On the other hand, having the warm-up lanes will make it a lot safer for the safety crews when they’re cleaning up after a wreck, or when they’re working to get a driver out of the car. Now, we’ll all be down in the safety lane behind the pace car, instead of up on the track.”

Jeff Andretti, who was the most seriously injured in last year’s race, said he felt some of the changes made it more dangerous. Andretti, who has not raced since last year’s race, suffered multiple fractures to both feet and legs and still walks with a pronounced limp.

“They slowed us down, but that probably could make it more dangerous,” the younger of the Andretti brothers said. “If you suddenly find yourself in trouble, there’s no escape route.”

For spectators, the most noticeable change--except for the grassy strips in the corners--is in the golf course.

In place of the nine flat holes inside the track that were used largely for parking during the month of May, architect Pete Dye has designed four holes of a new championship 18-hole course. The other 14 are outside, adjacent to the backstretch, on the site of the former 18-hole Speedway Country Club course.

Berms that serve to define the four infield holes also act as viewing areas for race-day spectators in the general admission section along the backstretch. Also part of the new golf scenery is a five-acre lake.

“It’s the biggest endeavor in one year for the track I’ve ever seen,” said Charlie Thompson, track superintendent since 1977 and an employee since 1961.

Although the course is being designed with a PGA tour event in mind, it won’t approach the tournament atmosphere of the 1960 Festival Open, which was played the same weekend as the 500. It was held on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday, with the race on Sunday.

When golfers complained bitterly about all the noise from the cars on Carburetion Day, Thursday, Mike Souchak, one of the leaders, put things in perspective when he said, “I’ll play up the center of Main Street for $50,000.”

Worse that that was the condition of the course on Monday, the day after the race.

“The course was littered with chicken bones and beer cans and who knows what else,” recalled Dye, who was tournament chairman that year.