Fittipaldi makes a lasting pass for victory in ever-changing Indy Rookie mistakes catch up with Mansell in debut

INDIANAPOLIS -- The world driving champion walked ever so slowly to the podium. When he got there, he seemed to collapse into the chair. He just had driven the longest race of his career.

He leaned his elbows on the table, ran an index finger around the inside of the dirty collar of his driver's suit, and then rubbed his eyes.

So, Nigel Mansell, how was your first Indianapolis 500?

"I'm glad it's over," he said and giggled. "I think hitting the wall at 220, bouncing off and continuing on is very impressive, don't you? . . . But that restart, I can't believe it."

It was Mansell's first race on an oval and he came home third, despite a rash of rookie mistakes.

"I thought the early laps were hell," he said. "The rules are all so different and going down there, into the first turn, with eight or nine cars, there's no air and then the fumes make your eyes water. It was a very impressive sight and I had to remind myself I was driving as opposed to watching."

He showed his rookie stripes, when he missed his pit on an early stop.

"Did you see that?" he said, turning to Arie Luyendyk, seated beside him.

"No brakes?" asked Luyendyk, who later passed him for a second-place finish.
"No brains," Mansell shot back.

When Mansell hit the wall with seven laps to go, to bring out the last caution, he said he was content to come home third.

"I hit the wall hard and I mean hard," he said. "I was glad they brought the yellow for my self-preservation and I don't mind being beaten [yesterday]. Emerson and Arie deserved their places and I learned an awful lot."

Mansell also showed his great ability. He was one of the first to discover that a car could pass on the outside going into turn one of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's newly designed race track.

He gave a demonstration on lap 175, when he blitzed then race-leader and teammate Mario Andretti with an outside pass on a restart and moved from third to first.

But when he found himself in Andretti's situation on lap 185, Emerson Fittipaldi and Luyendyk both took advantage of him.

"It was just an experience factor," said Luyendyk. "Coming to the restart, both Emerson and I set out to see what Nigel would do. We were able to get a little jump."

"Yeah, I goofed up," said Mansell. "I thought I had the gas and all I see is vroom, vroom, they're all over me. But just you wait till next year."

* It was A. J. Foyt's first experience as a car owner only at Indianapolis. And he enjoyed it.

"At the start, I didn't even think that much about not starting," he said. "I was more worried about the cars and the guys staying out of trouble. I knew we had a big job to do and I was worried about Robby quite a bit. I thought all in all he used his head real good, and considering where we started, I thought we did a hell of a job."

John Andretti, who started 24th, wound up 10th in Foyt's Copenhagen/Marmom Wasp II, and rookie Robby Gordon, who started 25th, finished 27th when the gearbox gave way.

* Mario Andretti's string of disappointments here continued unabated. Shortly after the midway point, Andretti had a 20-second lead on the field, the biggest lead anyone had all day. But teammate Mansell blew by him on a restart with 25 laps to goand Andretti finished fifth.

"I got stung by a bad set of tires," Andretti said. "It wasn't a mistake on the tires; it's just something you don't know for sure until you use them. It is frustrating, though, especially when you know the car is right."

* Mansell and Gordon weren't the only rookies who did well. Stefan Johansson finished 11th, and Stephan Gregoire, in his first oval race, came home 19th. And, Nelson Piquet, the former three-time Formula One champ, was 32nd, sidelined by an engine failure.

* Willy T. Ribbs had two goals going into yesterday's 500, and he reached both.

"Our first goal was to finish the race after a year and a half not being in a car," he said. "Our second was not to make any mistakes."

Ribbs, who started 30th, avoided all problems on the track and finished 21st.

* Lyn St. James said she felt good about her 25th place. At one point, she was running as high as 20th before her engine stalled.

"I drove hard, and the car was 100 percent there until it broke," she said."

Bettenhausen fastest qualifier, but day too late for Indy pole

INDIANAPOLIS -- Thirty years to the day after his father, Tony, was killed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Gary Bettenhausen ran four laps yesterday at 224.468 mph to become the fastest qualifier for the 75th Indianapolis 500.

Bettenhausen's 10-mile run in a Buick-powered Lola bettered the Pole Day speed of Rick Mears, who did 224.113 Saturday to take the No. 1 position for the May 26 race. It was typical of the Bettenhausen luck at Indianapolis that his fast time came a day too late.

The 49-year-old veteran from nearby Monrovia, Ind., will start 13th, on the inside of the fifth row and behind all first-day qualifiers, including Scott Goodyear, who ran only 216.751.

It will be the first time since 1981 that the fastest car will not start on the pole. Tom Sneva was the fastest that year when he ran a record 200.691 mph, but he had to start 20th because his new car did not arrive at the Speedway in time to qualify on the first day.

Bettenhausen missed out Saturday because he, along with such others as Emerson Fittipaldi, Arie Luyendyk and Kevin Cogan, decided to wait until late in the day and take advantage of cooler conditions. Their plan backfired when it rained before the temperature dropped.

"It just turned into a deal where we got caught by Mother Nature," Bettenhausen said. "She fooled us."

Tony Lee Bettenhausen, Gary's younger brother, who qualified moments later at 218.188, put the irony in perspective.

"It was typical Bettenhausen luck," Tony Lee said. "Highest speed. Wrong day."

Indianapolis has never been kind to the Bettenhausens. Tony was killed while testing a car for a friend, Paul Russo, two weeks before the 500 in 1961. Bettenhausens have driven in 41 Indy 500s without winning -- the original Tony in 14, Gary in 18 and young Tony in nine.

The closest the family came was in 1972 when Gary Bettenhausen led 138 of 200 laps in a Penske car and appeared to have the race in hand when an ignition problem halted the car 17 laps from the finish.

The highest they ever finished was a second to Bob Sweikert for father Tony in 1955, but even that moment was bittersweet. Bill Vukovich, Tony's close friend, was killed during the race.

"This is awfully emotional for me," Gary said as tears welled. "It was just 30 years ago that we were home packing our clothes, getting ready to come to Indianapolis, when our father was killed."

Tony Lee added: "It didn't sink in for three or four day. When there was a mountain of flowers on my dad's grave about 25 feet high, that's when it sunk in. But let's dwell on the positives now. Let's talk about what a hell of a job Gary did."

Bettenhausen's car was prepared by Menard Motorsports of Eau Claire, Wis.

"The big difference between this Buick and ones we had here in the past is that Buick used to put their engines in an existing car that was built for a Cosworth or a Chevrolet or a Judd or an old chassis that somebody sold," Bettenhausen explained. "Last year, all the Buick engines were in '89 chassis, and we knew they were obsolete the minute the new rules came out. We didn't have a chance.

"This year, Buick got together with Lola and had a chassis built specifically for the Buick engine. It is probably 70 pounds heavier than the other engines, and you've got to remember, it was designed for a passenger car, but it was a great combination today."

Bettenhausen's four laps were the second fastest in Indy historyOnly Fittipaldi's track-record 225.301 set last year is faster.

Bettenhausen received $20,000 for being fastest on the seconday of qualifying. Bettenhausen probably will receive another $10,000 for having the fastest single lap in qualifying -- 224.843 on his second lap -- unless someone betters it next weekend. That is most unlikely, because all the cars that showed top speed during practice have qualified.

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