Long Beach Grand Prix : Al Unser Jr. Will Be First in Line Today

Al Unser Jr. couldn’t beat his Friday speed Saturday in qualifying for today’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, but neither could anyone else, so he will start on the pole for the first time in his 94 Indy car starts.

As he had hoped, the sun came out and warmed the track, making it a bit slippery and reducing speeds, keeping his fast lap of 90.740 m.p.h. out of harm’s way.

And the sunshine wasn’t Unser’s only break. At least equally significant, Michael Andretti, second-fastest in Friday’s session at 89.240 m.p.h., was unable to mount a Saturday challenge when the clutch failed in his car, keeping him in the pits.

“We went to turn the engine over and the hydraulic system in the gearbox seized,” he said. “There was no clutch at all. From then on, all I could do was pray (that nobody would bump him from the front row). I was dying. It was the longest session I ever sat through.”

Even with no threat from Andretti, Unser said, he never felt entirely safe with his speed.

“The track was slicker, and I don’t think we could have matched our times if we’d wanted to,” he said.

So instead of trying, and on the advice of his father, a four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, Unser spent much of the session playing a waiting game.

“I talked with my father before (the session) and he told me to put on new tires and sit and wait, and if anybody (got fast enough to threaten), to get out and go.”

As it turned out, both Teo Fabi and Danny Sullivan made slightly threatening gestures, but neither was able to oust even the pit-bound Andretti, much less the ready, willing and able Unser.

So, when the 28-car field lines up for the noon start on the 1.67-mile street course today, Unser, the defending champion, and the younger Andretti, who scored his first Indy car victory here in 1986, will lead the field into the first turn, each in a Lola-Chevrolet.

Fabi, in a March-Porsche, answered a late-session challenge by Sullivan in a Penske-Chevy and regained the third spot on the grid.

On the second-last lap of the session, Sullivan, who had complained of an ill-handling car on Friday, turned a lap at 88.825 m.p.h., beating Fabi’s 88.804. But before the checkered flag fell, Fabi answered with an 88.884 in an encouraging showing for the Porsche effort, a major disappointment last season.

Mario Andretti, in his backup Lola-Chev, was unable to improve his Friday speed and fell from fourth to fifth in the lineup, thanks to Sullivan. And Emerson Fittipaldi, in his backup Penske-Chev, moved from seventh to sixth.

Mario Andretti decommissioned his primary car when he tangled with Randy Lewis in the Friday morning practice session, and Fittipaldi crunched his last weekend at Phoenix.

Rick Mears, a convincing winner at Phoenix, fell from fifth to seventh on the Grand Prix grid in his Penske-Chev and will start next to Scott Pruett in a Lola-Judd.

Bobby Rahal had the fastest Cosworth-powered car, but his Lola was more than two miles per hour slower than Unser’s and he will start ninth in the 158.6-mile race.

Unser, who has been fastest qualifier in other types of racing, said he was relieved at having finally put an Indy car on the pole.

“It feels great,” he said. “That’s a lot of pressure off. Now I can just go racing. Hopefully, the questions will stop about not being a qualifier. It’s been seven years trying for this deal, so I’m very happy.”

He also said that he had experienced some slight car problems.

“It seems like a little leak in the turbo,” he said. “We had a little bit of smoke come out earlier on in the session this morning. It started yesterday and it’s gotten progressively worse. We really didn’t want to mess around with anything, engine-wise, so we just left it alone. It really wasn’t all that bad, then during the session it started getting bad.

“‘We’ll dig into the motor and the turbocharger now and find out what’s going on.”

Unser finished second a week ago at Phoenix in the season opener of the PPG Cup series and is encouraged with his early showing.

“I felt good about this weekend when we got here,” he said.

QUALIFYING: Page 16