Rahal Bumps Into Some Good Luck : Auto racing: After his slower car is taken out of the Indy 500 field, he returns with a faster car.

The scenario Bobby Rahal was hoping would get him into the Indianapolis 500 with a competitive car could not have worked out better Saturday if he had hired a Hollywood scriptwriter.

First, the 33-car field had to be filled with three more drivers. John Paul Jr., Scott Goodyear and Mark Smith took car of that.

That left Rahal’s Honda teammate, Mike Groff, on the bubble with the slowest car in the field. Rahal wanted him out. Davy Jones, fired two weeks ago by A. J. Foyt and hired Thursday by Kenny Bernstein, took care of that with four laps at 223.817 m.p.h.

Now Rahal was on the bubble in the other Honda. So what did the 1986 winner do? He ordered Groff to bump him from the race.

Groff, now in a ’93 Penske-Ilmor, took care of it at 221.355.

Actually, the two Hondas were withdrawn as they were being bumped so the team could legally place the Penske cars in the qualifying lineup, but as co-owner Carl Hogan said, “Technically, we were bumped by the rules, but really, we were bumped on the track.”

Rahal then bumped himself back into the race at the expense of Smith with the seventh-fastest speed in the field--224.094 m.p.h.

“I can’t say enough for the help the Penske people and the Ilmor people gave us,” Rahal said, smiling as if he had won the 500. “I definitely think I have a car that can win the race.

“I wish that we were there with Honda, but it didn’t work out. This is not the end of our Honda project. It will be back, but for this race we did what we had to do. Carl (co-owner Hogan) and I had an obligation to our crew and to our sponsors. After what we went through last year, we were determined not to let it happen again.”

Last year, Rahal, then the defending Indy car champion, was bumped by Geoff Brabham on the final day, and when he tried to get back in the race, he failed to get enough speed. He spent race day in his sponsor’s suite.

“It just shows what a crazy place Indy is,” he said. “Last year I got bumped and it was the lowest point of my career. This year I got bumped and I couldn’t be happier.”

Robert Clarke, general manager of Honda Performance Development in Santa Clarita, the operations center for Honda’s Indy car program, issued a statement that said in part:

“We are certainly disappointed that Honda was unable to qualify for its first Indianapolis 500. . . . Honda will learn from this experience and use it to continue to improve the engine.”

Rahal said he and Groff will be back in their Honda-powered cars for the Milwaukee race, a week after Indy.

“I’m so pleased this ordeal is over,” Rahal said. “I appreciate all Honda has given us. It’s early in the development, and there’s no question it will be a good engine.”

Smith’s being bumped was like a year-old nightmare returning. Last year, trying to become the first driver named Smith to run the 500, he qualified in Frank Arciero’s car, was bumped, re-qualified in a backup car and then was bumped again.

“I’ll be back again Sunday and try to qualify again,” Smith said.

Gary Bettenhausen, who had run a strong 223-m.p.h. lap in morning practice, crashed shortly before he was about to qualify. After spinning while coming out of the second turn, he hit the inside wall before continuing to spin like a top until he stopped in the middle of the backstretch.

Bettenhausen, trying to make his 22nd 500, was not hurt, but the car was heavily damaged.

“It spun so fast I couldn’t save it,” he said. “I have to talk to my brother (car owner Tony Bettenhausen). He’s the boss. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Roberto Guerrero, driving the same car in which he set the track record of 232.482 in 1992, suffered first- and second-degree burns on his right arm when his Buick suffered an engine fire that spread to the cockpit. He was cleared to drive today in the team’s other car.