Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 16, 1993 TAG: 9305160187
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Long
Luyendyk, a 39-year-old Dutchman and winner of the 1990 race, knocked 1969 winner Mario Andretti off the pole after waiting for cooler temperatures during the final hour of activity on the first of four days of qualifying.
Andretti was the first of 15 qualifiers Saturday, driving onto the 2 1/2-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval only minutes after the 58-year-old Foyt's emotional farewell to more than 200,000 spectators.
Andretti, 53, set the target when he qualified for his 28th Indy start with a four-lap, 10-mile average of 223.414 mph on a hot day that helped reduce speeds. Andretti came perilously close to the wall in turn 2 of his last lap.
Six hours later, with the sun losing its intensity and shadows cooling part of the track, Luyendyk dropped Andretti to the middle of the front row with a four-lap average of 223.967. His effort included laps ranging from 223.830 to 224.316 mph.
Luyendyk, who won $170,000 in cash and prizes for his first Indy-car pole, was more than 9 mph slower than Roberto Guerrero's record 232.482 last year.
He came into Saturday's qualifying a slight favorite after posting the fastest practice lap of the week at 226.182 on Thursday. But Luyendyk, who drives for former Indy racer Chip Ganassi, lost speed in Friday's practice and waved off his first qualifying attempt after one lap at 215.254 in the heat of the early afternoon.
"We were struggling with the setup. We were 226 two days ago and yesterday couldn't find the speed. So we tried something else this morning and it didn't really work, and then we tried something else for qualifying and said if it doesn't work we'll just wave off the run and come back and practice because the weather forecast looked pretty good.
"So the thing we tried on the first attempt didn't work. The car just didn't want to turn in, and I had to get out of the throttle big-time. So that kind of gave us an indication, well, we need to go this direction. And we went that direction and actually changed so many things, it's unbelievable."
Andretti blamed the heat of the day for the slow speeds early in the qualifying session.
"The grip just isn't there. The last lap, I almost got the wall in two," said Andretti, who was hoping to win his fourth Indy pole. "I just struggled to do a 224. This morning [in practice] I did a 225 fairly easy. The difference was the heat. It warmed up considerably.
"You try like hell to see what you can get out of those conditions," he added. "I mean, I don't know when I've been more nervous, trying to second guess this thing. The track was just going away more and more. The only thing we could do was follow the weatherman."
Raul Boesel, a former world sports car champion, joined Luyendyk and Andretti on a front row made up of Lola-Ford Cosworth cars by averaging 222.379 mph. The Brazilian, who also ran early in the session, believed he could have done better.
"I feel funny that I'm disappointed that I don't have the pole, so I think I have a good chance to win the race," Boesel said.
Scott Goodyear of Canada and Al Unser Jr., the man who beat him last May in the closest finish in Indy history, earned tentative second-row starting spots, at 222.344 and 221.773, along with Canadian Paul Tracy, 220.298.
The fastest of three rookies who qualified Saturday was Stefan Johansson of Sweden at 220.824.
Another rookie, Nigel Mansell, the reigning Formula One champion and Andretti's teammate, qualified at 220.255. Mansell, still aching from surgery on April 28 to repair a tear beneath the skin on his lower back, had waved off an earlier attempt after three laps above 218.
"It's a new education, but it's a great one," Mansell said of his first look at Indianapolis this week. "For me, that the race is more than a fortnight away is mind-blowing. The longest I've ever had to wait for a race is Monte Carlo, where you have Friday off, finish qualifying Saturday and race on Sunday."
Tracy's teammate, Emerson Fittipaldi, the 1989 Indy winner, was next at 220.150, followed by Guerrero, 219.645; Scott Brayton, 219.637; 1985 winner Danny Sullivan, 219.428; Indy rookie and three-time Formula One champion Nelson Piquet of Brazil, 217.949; Kevin Cogan, 217.230, and Scott Pruett, 216.794.
Each car is allowed up to three qualifying attempts during the four days of time trials that set the 33-car field. Qualifications continue today and on May 22-23.
Speeds already were down this year from 1992 because of physical changes to the turns - narrowing the track by eliminating the apron and replacing it with rumble strips and a grassy area - as well as smaller rear wings that decreased downforce.
Asked if the tighter corners made a difference in qualifying, Andretti said, "Oh yeah, for sure. What happens, it makes conditions that much more critical. You have to remember, it's just a tick of throttle difference. But it's lifting just a bit more. That's 2-3 mph, just unbelievable the difference."
Luyendyk agreed, saying, "Right now, the way the speedway is laid out . . . it's real difficult to get four consistent laps together.
"If you go in the corner just a little too quick you'll run out of room coming off the corner. It seems like . . . I had to kind of poke myself the whole time to not go into the corner too quick, and it paid off. It was great."
Nobody was expected to approach Guerrero's qualifying records - including a fast lap of 232.618. But Saturday's speeds were even slower than expected, with most drivers unable to even reach the speeds they had been running in practice during the week.
Gary Bettenhausen, a veteran of 20 Indy 500s, had three qualifying laps over 217 and then crashed in the second turn. He did a spin and a half before the rear end became somewhat airborne moments before he caromed off the concrete wall. The 51-year-old Bettenhausen was not injured.
The first 15 qualifiers averaged 220.387 mph.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB