MEXICO CITY -- Johnny Rutherford heads a field of five former Indianapolis 500 winners in the $150,000 inaugural Primera Copa Mexico 150 for Indy cars Oct. 26 at the Autodromo Ricardo Rodriguez.
A total of 29 cars has been entered in the first champ car race ever held in this country. Among the other drivers gunning for the pole are three-time Indy winner Al Unser; his brother, Bobby, a two-time Indy champ; 1973 winner Gordon Johncock and last year's checkered flag driver Rick Mears.
It was uncertain whether a sixth former Indy winner, Mario Andretti, would be in the 150 mile race. Qualifying will be held Saturday, with the race scheduled for 2:30 p.m. EST Sunday.
Rutherford won Indianapolis this year for the third time and captured the Championship Auto Racing Teams' title. He also is 1980's Olsonite Driver of the Year.
The Rodriguez circuit is no stranger to Tom Bagley, who raced Super Vee, Trans-Am Camaro and Formula Atlantic cars at this track.
'I would think people here would love Indy cars because of the speeds,' said Bagley. 'When I ran the Camaro, I sensed how popular racing was with the fans. The people are familiar with the Indy 500 and know Formula One well. These cars are basically Formula One types with turbochargers.' The four-kilometer Rodriguez course is expected to be fast and there is no doubt among the drivers that speeds of 200 miles an hour will be clocked on the straightaway.
For 46-year-old Bobby Unser, this is his 32nd season of racing. But it has been the last two years which brought the Albuquerque, N.M., driver his biggest measure of success. Coincidentally, it also marked Unser's association with the racing team of Roger Penske in the cockpit of the Norton Spirit.
Unser achieved a career high of six victories in a champ car season last year. With a victory in Mexico City, he would still have an opportunity to equal that plateau in the final race of the CART schedule in Phoenix, Ariz., next month.
Is age creeping up on Unser and will it effect his reflexes?
'People forget that Juan Fangio (Grand Prix king of the 1950's) didn't even become a race driver until he was 40 years old,' says Unser, 'and look at the reccord he piled up.'
Unser won two of the 500 mile champ car races this year _ at Pocono and Ontario _ and may have made it a complete sweep except for an overheated engine that forced him out of the Indy 500 two-thirds of the way through the race.
Unser's blue car with its gold side stripe has been battling Rutherford's Chaparral all season. The PC-9 Spirit is a ground effects car powered by a turbocharged Cosworth-Ford V-8 engine and one which Unser hopes can lock up the No. 2 spot in the driver's standing by winning next Sunday's race. Penske teammate Rick Mears has an outside chance of catching Unser.
