European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 25, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 26 a the stars and stripes saturday May 25, 1991. Plidy 500 ramp cd Lino p to ibid i?,ourdaysof<1uali,yin9 Post Orts a determined by Speed with the fastest Driver on the first Day of qualifying winning the pole Here Are the thirty three qualify for the indy 500 and their qualifying speeds in Mph 7sth anniversary a jts a a a say #5. Mario Andretti Al under or. Danny Sullivan Scon Goodyear a Emerson Fittipaldi. R Mike Groff Bernard Jourdain. R Hiro Mats shit Scott Pruett Dominic Dobson. Gordon Johncock 221.819 218.923219.343 218.751 223.064 219.015. 216.683 218,351. 214.514 215.326 213.812 a go a a a a go a j a a a. Foyt a Mac Tibet Andresn Jim Crawford a Al Jeff Andretti Ane Luyendyk a Start Fox Tony Bettenhausen r buddy Lazier Ter Palmroth. R Willy  a Pancho Carter 220.843 218.947 217.632 223.b81. 219. Sot 218.188 215.692 215,848 a 217.997. 214.012 f�0� of a amp Rick Mears Bobby Rahal. John Andretti Eddie Cheever Gary Bettenhausen Kevin Cogan a. Scon by Ayron Geoff Brabham John Paul or. Roberto Guerrero a Randy Lewis a 224.113 i 221.401 218.058218,122 224.468 222.844. 218.627 214.859 217.952 214.027 215.043 now d Al m b o d a a a a a in m position it a Rookie Field average Speed 218.s90 Mph indy cars safest Ever in theory by Joseph s1ano the new York times. Indianapolis a by now the images on nightly television reports from the Indianapolis motor Speedway each. May Are almost cliches Driver loses control car hits Wall and flies apart Driver lives to drive again. Yet  safety has increased to the Point where Drivers Are almost expected to walk away from crashes the designers who have been responsible for Many safety advances Point out that these Drivers really Are fortunate to be alive. A Flor a Driver to survive an Accident at that sort of Speed it involves a certain amount of Luck a said Nigel Dennett. That May not Comfort Rick cars and Emerson Fittipaldi who drive the Penske Chevrolet 91 Chassis designed by Bennett the chief designer at Penske cars in Poole England. But his Point is backed up by rules no Driver should flout those of physics. The reason Drivers survive 200-Mph crashes Bennett Jaid is because a in one sense a they Arentt As bad As they May look the Drivers Are hitting the unyielding Concrete Wall surrounding the Speedway at an indirect Angle reducing the Force of deceleration a a head on crash at anything much above-50 Miles per hour is a survivable a Bennett said. A the human body just wont survive that sort of deceleration. The internal organs get irreparably damaged. So one is looking for a fair amount of tuck in How you hit the Wall and How oblique the Angle  even after his car spins a Driver still has some control Over Nis Fate. By letting a car spin even aggravating the spin a Driver is less Likely to hit the Wall head on As the tires scrub against the pavement friction slows the car. The 1991 indy cars designed by Bennett and his competitors Bruce Ashmore at Lola cars a tue a in Huntingdon England and Don Halliday creator of the american made True sports cars Are acknowledged As the safest Ever. This years cars have stronger nose sections and More leg room to reduce the lower leg injuries that have plagued indy car racing in the last few years. And the parts that Fly off crushing Rae ers Are actually protecting the Driver absorbing the Force of the Impact before it reaches him. The Driver is strapped into the tub the Central structural component of the car. Made of lightweight hut Strong materials like Carbon fiber and honeycomb aluminium the tub acts As a survival capsule. But there Are people1 in the sport including some Drivers who think the cars Are just too fast now for a comfortable y safety margin. One problem is that Bennett and other designers serve two masters the interests of safety As mandated by Rule makers and general concern for Drivers and the interests of car owners who pay them for that Edge in Speed that wins races. Some critics have suggested that an in Priver Randy Lewis was not injured in this naming crash at the first turn Wall during this years Indianapolis 500 trials Ginger Independent of any car owner or builder be called in to recommend ways to make the cars safer even it it slows them Down. Some of the biggest safety advances in indy racing were made As the old front engined roadsters disappeared in the 1960s. Quot the old indy cars did no to absorb the Shock a said John Gorsline an insurance agent from Rochester n.y., who specializes in covering Drivers and tracks. Quot they did not disintegrate. The Driver was he weak Point on the  As those cars became extinct indy car racing became much less lethal. But it was the tragic 1973 indy 500, which caused the deaths of a Driver a pit Crew member and several injuries to spectators that was a watershed for safety. That race led to changes not just in i he cars the size of the cars fuel tanks was sharply reduced for one thin but also in the Speedway itself and the officials who ran the race. In the 255 indy car races run since the Start of the 1974 season there have been two Drivers killed Gordon Smiley who hit the indy Wall head on in a 1982 race and Jim Hickman who died at a track in Milwaukee the same yearlong with one Spectator and one track worker. The Spectator died at the Speedway in 1987 when a wheel that had been improperly attached came off a car was struck by another car and flew into a grandstand. That led to a rules change mandating new wheel hubs. The track worker died at a race in Vancouver British Columbia last year when he helped push away a car and ran into the path of another. Safety changes will be implemented based on that Accident. A a a a a a. Those accidents demonstrate two sides to motor racing a approach to safety officials usually make effective changes when there is a bad Accident but it can take a bad Accident to show where change is needed. And no matter How Many safety improvements Are made the a tact remains that Auto racing by its very nature is a dangerous sport for Drivers spectators and Crew members Bennett expressed concern about the speedways pits a worry stemming from an Accident on May 10 in which a car driven by Mark Dismore a Rookie spun out exiting turn four the last turn before the pit Entrance. The car hit a Wall on the inside of the track punching a Hole in it then bounced of and hit an Impact Attenuator on the butt end of the Wail that separates the pit Lane from the main Straightaway. By then the engine and tub turn apart from each other were sliding along the pit Lane. Bennett a said the Penske team which was practising at the time. Was near the pit Entrance. Quot an engine and Gearbox finished up about 20 Yards from us Quot he said. Dismore suffered multiple fractures but he is expected to recover. What worries Bennett is the potential. For a disastrous Accident on race Day. There Are 33 cars in the race and in each of their pit positions is a refuelling tank that us the race begins contains about 200 Gallons of methanol. A few feet away Are grandstands loaded with thousands of  double Barrier slightly lower than hip height separates the Straightaway from the pit Lane another Wall separates the pit Lane from the Crew members and fuel tanks. Although such an Accident has never happened at the Speedway Bennett looks at the Dismore wreck and wonders. What would happen if a Large piece of a car might be hurled Over the pit Wall and hit a refuelling tank. Speedway officials have a safety record that since 1974, has been among the Best of All major tracks. They have achieved that with cars going More than 200 Mph on a track whose Basic design Hasni to changed since 1909. Gorsline who constantly visits tracks and makes safety suggestions to his clients said the Speedway management is Quot very receptive to such suggestions. Tony George the president of the Speedway is a former racer and the grandson of Anton Hulman who bought the track after world War ii. Bennett a concerns were presented to him and his response indicated changes Are coming. A the Way that the cars Are coming off of turn four and winding up inside the pit Lane a George said a there is the need to evaluate that situation. But there is no Quick fix for it. There a nothing i think we can do for this years