MOTOR RACING : New Engine Wins Pole for Andretti

PHOENIX —  Ford power, with Michael Andretti at the throttle, threw down the gauntlet to Chevrolet in Indy car racing here Saturday.

When Andretti, who won the PPG Cup championship with a Chevy last year, set a Phoenix International Raceway record of 171.825 m.p.h. in qualifying for today’s Valvoline 200, he broke a Chevrolet engine pole-winning monopoly that had lasted for 23 consecutive races. Powering Andretti’s year-old Kmart-Havoline Lola was a new slimline Ford-Cosworth built in England.

Ford, after being a dominant force from 1965 to 1971, withdrew from Indy car racing after the 1971 season and did not return until this year.

“It’s just unbelievable,” Andretti said. “After all the trouble I had yesterday, all I was hoping for was getting in the top five. This is a huge surprise, but the car stuck (to the track) like glue.”

The last Ford-powered car to sit on an Indy car pole was driven by Lloyd Ruby on Feb. 28, 1971 at Rafaela, Argentina.

The Ford-Cosworth union is not new, however. They have collaborated in Formula One, winning 12 world championships and 159 races. A derivative of that engine, the Cosworth DFX, dominated Indy car racing in the late 1970s and through the 1980s, winning 153 races, including 81 in a row.

Andretti’s success came only one day after a disappointing practice in which neither of his two cars would perform properly.

“What a turnaround, from yesterday to today,” Andretti said. “Friday had to be the most frustrating day in my life. Nothing went right from the moment we unloaded the cars. The guys (on the Newman-Haas crew) really worked hard. They worked until 2 a.m. and were back up at 5:30 this morning, trying to get the spare car ready.

“They got it perfect. On the qualifying run, it felt like I was on rails. I was almost flat-out all the way around. That’s the most throttle I’ve ever used on a lap here. Dad (Mario) did OK with the new car, too, so if we can just do as well tomorrow. . . .”

Mario Andretti, driving the much smaller 1992 Lola specially designed to take the small-package Ford-Cosworth engine, qualified third at 170.737 m.p.h. Only Bobby Rahal, in a Chevy-powered Lola, split the Andrettis with a 171.618 lap. All three bettered Rick Mears’ year-old record of 168.334.

Carl Haas, owner of the Andrettis’ cars, chose Mario to drive the new model this week. A second new car will be tested by Michael next week at nearby Firebird Raceway before it is taken to Long Beach for next Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix.

“I wanted the ’92 for this race, but it just didn’t get here in time,” Michael said. “All Dad would let me do was sit in it. He wouldn’t let me take it out. We think the new ones will be better, but today my old one didn’t do so bad.”

Indicative of how important it is to have a new car is the fact that no year-old chassis has won an Indy car pole since July of 1988, when Emerson Fittipaldi won at the Meadowlands in a 1987 Lola.

Chevrolet-powered cars have won the last 37 races, including the 1992 season opener two weeks ago in Surfers Paradise, Australia, where Fittipaldi nipped Mears, his Penske teammate, in the rain.

In that race, Michael Andretti qualified second behind Al Unser Jr. and led the first 40 laps before dropping out with a broken header. Mario finished seventh, on the same lap with Fittipaldi.

“It might not seem right to say we’re happy when we don’t win, but from the way the Fords ran their first time out, and from the way they’ve run in tests, we can’t help but feel pleased,” Michael Kranefuss, Ford’s worldwide director of racing, said after the Australia race.

Ford’s last victory came here at Phoenix when A.J. Foyt won in 1971. Foyt’s hopes of winning again today ended when he crashed Friday, suffering a hairline fracture of his right shoulder. George Snider will drive his car today, starting at the rear of the field.

Mears, who had been the fastest qualifier in the last four Phoenix races, finished a disappointing eighth at 167.076 m.p.h.