Mario Andretti Considering a Comeback

The U.S. 500, Championship Auto Racing Teams’ alternative to the new Indy Racing League, may offer Mario Andretti as another lure to attract the attention of race fans on Memorial Day weekend.

Andretti, who retired at the end of the 1994 season, is considering a one-race comeback in order to drive at Michigan International Speedway on May 26, the same day as the Indy 500.

“To be honest, I will not deny the possibility at this point,” Andretti said by phone from Phoenix, where he is filming a documentary on auto racing.

If the 1969 Indy winner reaches an agreement with Newman-Haas, his old team, he will again be a teammate with his son, Michael. The last race they ran together as teammates was the 1992 season finale at Laguna Seca, where they finished 1-2.

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Jurisprudence

A civil lawsuit has been filed on behalf of high school football official Ken Smotrys, who was punched during a game between Compton Centennial and Beverly Hills last Oct. 20.

Attorney David DeJulio said the suit, which was filed in Santa Monica, seeks damages from Centennial players Kumasi Simmons and Vincent Brooks, Centennial Coach Omar Bradley, as well as the city of Compton and the Compton Unified School District.

Simmons punched Smotrys during the game, saying he was provoked because Smotrys directed a racial epithet at him. During the same game, Brooks said, Smotrys pushed him down and called him a racial name. Smotrys denies the claims.

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Keith Tunnell, who says he was fired by East Tennessee State for alerting the NCAA about possible violations, is suing the school for $1.5 million. Tunnell worked in the sports information department from 1984 until he was fired in January 1995. He is seeking $500,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.

Eight basketball players, reportedly including some Americans who played in the NBA, are being investigated for trying to throw games for gamblers in Israel’s basketball league. Police would not disclose the identity of the suspects.

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German prosecutors denied that they were planning to drop a tax-evasion investigation of tennis star Steffi Graf. Mannheim prosecutor Peter Wechsung said a television report on Tuesday claiming the investigation would be dropped if Graf paid a fine of $3.4 million was “speculation.”

Baseball

Second baseman Eric Young of the Colorado Rockies will be sidelined two to three months after breaking a bone in his right hand. He was injured while taking batting practice during an off-season workout and will undergo surgery Friday.

The Houston Astros agreed to a one-year deal with outfielder Derrick May, avoiding arbitration. . . . First baseman John Jaha and the Milwaukee Brewers agreed to a $1.05-million, one-year contract, more than four times his 1995 salary of $229,000. . . . Pitcher Alan Mills and Baltimore agreed to a $540,000, one-year contract and infielder Jeff Huson settled with the Orioles on a $320,000, one-year deal. Both players were eligible for arbitration.

College Football

Adam Bledsoe, younger brother of New England Patriot quarterback Drew Bledsoe, has orally committed to play at Colorado. The younger Bledsoe, also a quarterback, said he selected Colorado over Vanderbilt and Washington State--where Drew played--mainly because of coach Rick Neuheisel. . . . Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer’s contract was extended through the 2000 season and he received a $45,000 annual raise. Athletic Director Doug Dickey said Fulmer’s total package is worth $470,000 a year.

Miscellany

Glenn Wilson, head of the 1984 Olympic commemorative coin program, which realized $36 million for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, and a close aide on other matters to Olympic President Peter V. Ueberroth, died in Pasadena at 85. . . . An appeal hearing for swimmer Jessica Foschi, 15, of Brookville, N.Y., was rescheduled for Feb. 11 at the U.S. spring national championships in Orlando, Fla. U.S. swim leaders want to ban Foschi for two years for testing positive for an anabolic steroid last summer after finishing third in the 1,500 meters at the summer nationals in Pasadena.