INDIANAPOLIS 500 DAILY REPORT : Positions of Groff, Rahal in Jeopardy as More Than 20 Seek to Join Field

By SHAV GLICK

May 17, 1994 12 AM PT

With only three positions left to be filled in the 33-car 500 field, and 20 or more driver-car combinations on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway grounds, prospects are good for a wild final qualifying weekend. Bumping will start as soon as there are 33 qualifiers. This will make Honda drivers Mike Groff and Bobby Rahal most vulnerable. A number of drivers have already called off attempts with speeds higher than Groff’s 218.808 or Rahal’s 220.178.

Among those still seeking spots in the field are four-time winner Al Unser, former pole sitter Pancho Carter, former rookies of the year Fabrizio Barbazza and Jeff Andretti, and Gary Bettenhausen, Geoff Brabham, John Paul Jr., Scott Goodyear, Willy T. Ribbs, Buddy Lazier, Johnny Parsons, Scott Pruett, Didier Theys and Jim Crawford--all veterans of past 500s.

After going from Indiana to California and back twice in four days, John Andretti finished 19th in the Save Mart 300 stock car race last Sunday at Sears Point Raceway near Sonoma. It was Andretti’s best finish in 10 Winston Cup races this year.

On Saturday, he had qualified on the outside of the front row for the Indy 500--after having been at Sears Point to qualify on Friday.

“This is a piece of cake compared to what I used to do,” he said. “I used to race 60 to 80 races a year and go to Moravian College on the East Coast (Bethlehem, Pa.) and drive back and forth (to Indianapolis) every weekend, and that’s a 1,500-mile round trip.

Two-time Indy winner Rodger Ward was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack Saturday in Ely, Nev., but was released Monday and expects to be at the Speedway next weekend.

Most teams took the day off Monday after finishing the first weekend of time trials. Only 18 cars were on the track. Busiest was Emerson Fittipaldi, who ran 86 laps in one of Roger Penske’s backup cars. He was also fastest with a 226.421-m.p.h. lap.

Fastest of the non-qualified drivers was rookie Mark Smith, at 219.411, in Derrick Walker’s Lola-Ford Cosworth.