
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 7, 1990                   TAG: 9005070067
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS                                LENGTH: Medium

VOGLER SEEKS SEAT UP FRONT

Rich Vogler got more attention for his last-minute, last-row starts in the Indianapolis 500 the past two years than he did for all of his 129 U.S. Auto Club sprint and midget car victories combined.

In 1988, Vogler was bumped from the lineup by Gordon Johncock with less than 15 minutes to go on the final day of qualifications. But he scrambled back onto the track in his backup car just before the closing gun and knocked out Johncock, a two-time Indy winner.

Last year, driving a borrowed car, Vogler went out with 14 minutes to go and bumped three-time winner Johnny Rutherford from the 33-car starting lineup.

"I don't like to make it dramatic," said Vogler, a five-time national USAC midget car champion and two-time sprint champ who is trying for his sixth start at Indianapolis. "It's just that that's the circumstances that came up for me the last two years, being the last qualifier in the race and being in the last row."

The first of four days of qualifications for the May 27 race will be Saturday.

"Hopefully, this year, with the '88 Penske, I think the car will be capable enough to be put in the front three or four rows the first day" of qualifications, he said.

Vogler is teamed with three-year Indy starter Randy Lewis on the Arciero Racing Team.

"It's a two-year-old Penske car, and anything Roger Penske has had has got to be pretty good," Vogler said of the car owner and builder whose drivers have won at Indy a record seven times since 1972. "We've got Buick power this year, which has a lot more horsepower than the Cosworth [engine]. It's equal to the Chevy [which has powered the first two Indy-car winners this season at Phoenix and Long Beach], as far as horsepower."

Vogler, who started 33rd last year, still was running at the finish and completed 192 of the 200 laps for eighth place.

"That was my goal," he said. "My first goal was to make the race. I did that in '85. My second goal was to finish, to run 500 miles or as close to that as I could, and I did that last year. So my third goal is to win the race, and that's what we're going for this year."

Keywords:
AUTO RACING

by CNB