INDIANAPOLIS 500 / UPDATE : Mansell to Skip Race? No Way, Team Says

A story in an English newspaper that an injured Nigel Mansell might be considering skipping the Indianapolis 500 and returning to Formula One racing this season was met with vigorous denials by members of Mansell’s Newman-Haas team Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“It’s all made-up hogwash,” said Michael Knight, Newman-Haas public relations spokesman. The story, by Alan Henry, one of the most respected European racing writers, appeared in the Manchester Guardian.

The mystery over when Mansell--at home in Clearwater, Fla., recuperating from back surgery caused by an accident in Phoenix--will arrive at Indianapolis to begin practice has only increased talk of the possibility. Even Knight admitted he had no idea when Mansell would arrive.

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On a day more suited for sun burns than speed, Mario Andretti’s 222.124 m.p.h. was the fastest lap during the first day of practice for the 77th Indianapolis 500. His son, Jeff, was second fastest at 218.092.

Thirty drivers took at least one lap during the day.

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Dick Simon, who always made a point of being the first driver on the track during his long career, has not changed since becoming a car owner.

At 1:55 p.m., when chief steward Tom Binford officially opened the Speedway for practice, five of Simon’s cars were lined up nose-to-tail in the pits: those of Lyn St. James, Scott Brayton, Raul Boesel, Stephan Gregoire and Jimmy Vasser.

Vasser won the drag race out of the pits.

“I told each one of them to try to be the first out,” Simon said. “Then I wanted them to form a V when they came around to cross the finish line the first time. The cameramen love it.”

The only problem was that, going down the backstretch, Marco Greco, in a bright red Lola, passed all five and was first to finish a lap.