INDIANAPOLIS 500 / DAILY REPORT : Unser Passes Michigan Test, Gets Up to 226.478

The first four days of practice for the May 29 Indianapolis 500 have been the safest in the track’s history.

Seventy cars have been driven 6,930 laps--17,325 miles--at speeds up to 230 m.p.h. with only one minor accident. That occurred when Mike Groff’s car slid in a patch of oil and hit the wall last Monday. The car, a Lola-Honda, suffered minor damage and Groff escaped with a bruised foot.

Windy conditions kept speeds down Wednesday as Al Unser Jr. recorded the fastest lap, 226.478 m.p.h., in one of Roger Penske’s Mercedes-Benz-powered cars. That was well below the 230.403 posted Tuesday by Raul Boesel, in a Lola-Ford Cosworth.

Unser credited the quick lap to running 520 miles in a test Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

“It’s been really, really important for us to run up there,� Unser said. “It has helped us coming here. I’ve heard what people are saying (about sandbagging), but the Marlboro Penske is not locked in for the pole. We need to get the car around the corners to go quick. You can have all the horsepower in the world, but you’ve still got to get around the corners.�

Scott Brayton, in a Lola-Menard, was fastest Sunday, followed by Michael Andretti’s Reynard-Ford Cosworth on Monday, Boesel on Tuesday and Unser on Wednesday.

Pole qualifying is Saturday.

*

When Bobby Rahal practiced in his Honda-powered Lola, it was the first time a Japanese manufacturer had participated in the Indy 500, but it was not the first Japanese involvement.

Hiro Matsushita was the first to drive in the 500 in 1991. The late Takio (Chickie) Hirashima, a California-born Japanese, was a riding mechanic for George Robson’s winning car in 1946 and also was in charge of Autolite’s Indy spark-plug program in the ‘70s.

*

Johnny Parsons, an 11-time 500 starter and a former Los Angeles policeman, has replaced rookie Michael Greenfield in Peter Greenfield’s ’93 Lola-Greenfield. The engine is a 209-cubic-inch model similar to Penske’s Ilmor Mercedes power plants.

Parsons’ father, the late Johnnie Parsons, won the 500 in 1950.

*

Defending 500 champion Emerson Fittipaldi, on the death of his close friend Ayrton Senna: “The world lost the greatest athlete in the history of motor racing.�