Al Unser
Andretti, the diminutive driving giant, led the race for the first 86 laps and one more later on; but Unser's 13 proved to be far from unlucky as one of two driving dervish brothers from Albuquerque, N.M., got the checkered flag by making more of what little gasoline he had left. The two Viceroy Special stablemates, powered by Foyt-Ford engines, finished the race on fumes, but neither knew the other was in trouble.
The race lost two of its other glamour names before the green flag was even unfurled. Jan Opperman upcoming super-sprint star, suffered a concussion and torn shoulder ligaments in a sprint car crash Wednesday night in Reading, Penn.
His “City of Syracuse” entry was driven instead by Pancho Carter. Gary Bettenhausen, whose late father Tony won here in 1956, six years before a change in State Fair dates brought an end to what had been the oldest USAC national championship race other than Indy, was involved in a careening, tumbling accident 10 minutes into the warmups.
Bettenhausen's car went out of control on the first turn, flipped over twice while twisting before hurtling over a 10-foot steel barrier and then plunging through the roof of an empty concession stand.
The two-time USAC sprint-car champ was rushed to the State University Hospital where a spokesman said he had suffered two broken collarbones, a broken finger, and other possible injuries, and was in satisfactory condition late last night after surgery.
But when the time trials and race got underway, the show belonged to Unser and Andretti, who between them own three Indy 500 titles.
After the drivers drew to determine the order for qualifying times, Andretti was second onto the track and Unser third, and neither wasted time in showing their class.
On the first of his two laps, Andretti smashed the 11-year lap record of Bob Sweikert (35.33 seconds or 101.896 miles per hour), with a lap of 34.76, or 103.567 mph. Unser, next onto the track, turned in a 35.08 time and the two red and white Parnelli Jones cars had the front row to themselves. Four other drivers smashed the old mark—Tom Bigelow, Greg Weld, Billy Vukovich and Joe Saldan, while Johnny Parsons equaled it.
Unser's time for the race was 1:03.549, or 93.872, not a track record, probably because 14 laps were run under the yellow flag. The record still belongs to Roger Ward’s farewell appearance in 1962 at 95.572 mph.
The attrition rate at the end of the race was an even 50 percent as 12 of the 24 cars that qualified for the final were still screaming when Unser coasted home his. front-engine, old-Indy style car 10 yards in front of Andretti.
Pre-race talk in the pits had the race down to two teams, Unser and Andretti, and Bettenhausen and Billy Vukovich. But Vukovich, third-place finisher at this year's Indy, could go only nine laps before he was black-flagged with an oil leak.
Unser, who won at Indy in 1970 and ‘71 (one of four men to win back-to-back), and the defending USAC dirt track champ (there were only three races counting toward the title last year), thus got off to a flying start.
Andretti, who won at Indy in 1969 and won two of the three dirt track races last year only to finish tied for second with Bigelow, thought he had the race won until his engine started to balk during the final 20 laps.
“I could tell I was running out of fuel when it sputtered on me, and I thought Al was running comfortably behind me, so I just tried to hold him off. There was no way he could have gotten his nose into me like that, though, if I wasn’t in trouble,” Andretti said.
Unser’s nose stuck out further than Andretti’s for the first time on lap 87 as Andretti's machine sputtered loudly in front of the 12,000 in the grandstand.
Unser led the game of tag for the next nine laps before the day’s final yellow flag appeared. When the field was given the green lap on lap 96, Andretti flew in front again on turn one, but the lead lasted only once around as Unser assumed command on 97 and held it to the black and white symbol of victory.
Someone in the Viceroy-Jones pits must have misjudged the fuel consumption of the two cars because although Andretti said he had little left at the end, Unser said, “I ran out of gas on the last lap and came in on fumes. On top of that, the car was hard to handle because I had little throttle response. But I just drove the thing the fastest I could.”
Unser, who according to promoter Glenn Donnelly will collect a shade more than $10,000 of the $35,000 purse, said, “I was having trouble with the injectors all day, and the slower laps probably cost me more fuel. We've got to get that fixed before the next race.”
Donnelly, a happy man as his effort to bring back big-time USAC racing after a 12-year absence seems to have paid off, was even more positive about next year.
“We’ll definitely go again next year. If we tell USAC we want it, that’s it, we'll go. And after today’s attendance despite the up and down weather the past few days, next year’s crowd should be bigger and see an even better race,” the popular young promoter exuded.
Unser agreed. “I would really like to see dirt track racing grow here and across the country because it's probably the most exciting form of auto racing there is. The track conditions and groove can change at any time, and you have to be able to adjust right along. And you can't afford a pit stop, not in these 100-milers, if you do stop, then your history. So, your car has to be set up to go the whole distance.”
Aside from Unser and Andretti, only Greg Weld, Bigelow and Sammy Sessions finished 100 laps.
The heat, which reached 95 degrees in the stands and nearly 120 trackside, didn't cause any cars to overheat, but Arnie Knepper, who finished sixth, was overcome by heat exhaustion in the pits after the race.
Results –
1. Al Unser
2. Mario Andretti
3. Greg Weld
4. Tom Bigelow
5. Sam Sessions
6. Arnie Knepper
7. Jimmy Caruthers
8. Rollie Beale
9. Lee Osborne
10.Bill Cassella
11.Mel Cornett
12.Karl Busson
13.Joe Saldana
14.Bill Puterbaugh
15.Gary Ponzini
16.Don Nordhorn
17.Ralph Liguori
18.Ronnie Burke
19.Bob Evans
20.John Hubbard
21.Dana Carter
22.Bill Vukovich
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