Education Quick for Mansell in Michigan : Auto racing: He learns fast enough to get out front, accumulates knowledge as he stays there in Indy car event.

For someone who said the high banks of Michigan International Raceway were too rough and too dangerous, Nigel Mansell put on quite a demonstration of high-speed driving to win the Marlboro 500 on Sunday before an estimated 60,000.

The British Formula One champion toyed with the other 22 Indy car starters, finishing 9.434 seconds ahead of Newman-Haas teammate Mario Andretti and a lap ahead of third-place finisher Arie Luyendyk.

Mansell’s margin over Andretti does not tell the story. For nearly 50 laps, no one was on the same lap with Mansell’s Ford-powered Lola. It took a quick pit stop and a caution period to enable Andretti to make up his lap deficit, but even then he could not seriously challenge Mansell.

“I was impressed, but not surprised,” Andretti said of his teammate’s feat. “He has always been quick, wherever he runs, and he’s proved he’s a fast learner, too.”

Mansell led 222 of the 250 laps and averaged 188.203 m.p.h. for the 500 miles--the second fastest race in Indy car history. Only three caution periods, totaling 24 laps, prevented him from bettering the record 189.727 set here in 1990 by Al Unser Jr.

After winning the pole with a record 234.275 m.p.h. lap Saturday, Andretti led the first 27 laps before being passed by Mansell.

“That (the pass) was quite a thrill,” Mansell said. “I want to congratulate Mario on a fantastic job. We were wheel to wheel for quite a time, and you don’t do that with anyone you don’t trust. It is always a thrill for me to drive with Mario.

“I’ve driven alongside some great, great drivers in my career, and Mario is one of the most outstanding ones.”

It was the first time Mansell, a veteran of Grand Prix road circuits, had driven on a high-banked oval, and only the second time in a 500-mile race.

“This (victory) stands alone,” the exhausted winner said. “I have never gone through an experience like this. It was much more taxing than Indianapolis (where he finished second to Emerson Fittipaldi). Nothing in Formula One can compare with his. Brazil is the toughest Grand Prix race, with the temperature around 120 degrees, but this is tougher on the car and tougher on the driver.”

Looking as pale and wan as his likeness in Madame Toussad’s wax museum in London, Mansell said: “I don’t mind telling the world that I’m tired, totally exhausted. My wrist aches, my head aches. I’m just not used to this kind of a circuit. I was still learning the circuit as I went along.”

Ford also was a big winner. It was the first victory in a 500-mile race for Ford since Joe Leonard won the 1971 California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway. And Fords finished 1-5, with Raul Boesel and Scott Goodyear, last year’s Marlboro 500 winner, fourth and fifth.

The first Chevrolet finisher was Teo Fabi, in sixth.

It was not a good day for the host Penske team. On a track owned by their boss, Roger Penske, Fittipaldi fought an ill-handling car to finish 13th, 13 laps behind, and Paul Tracy slowed to a stop on the 114th lap with a sour engine.

“The car had been running well and we had moved up to third,” Tracy said. “I thought things were going smoothly until the yellow (caution flag) forced me to drop back to ninth following my first pit stop. . . . Then the engine went. It was the end of a disappointing day.”

Outside of Mansell’s dominating drive, the day’s most spectacular moment occurred when Andretti spun exiting the pits and found his car headed the wrong way. He whipped it around in a 180-degree spin and headed back to the track.

“I just lost it,” Andretti said. “I was anxious to get out and get after Nigel. I was lucky I was able to keep the engine running without killing it.”

Mansell had complained loudly Friday about the bumps in the third and fourth turns and that he considered the course dangerous because of the high speeds.

After winning, he toned down his comments.

“This is just a superb facility,” he said. “It makes me proud to have won on such a fantastic oval circuit.”

Bobby Rahal, the defending Indy car champion who finished ninth, echoed Mansell’s earlier sentiments, however.

“It’s nice to roll the car back to the trailer and walk away from here,” Rahal said.