| | Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS -- Not even finishes in 17th and 18th place, or a wet track, could dampen Mario Andretti's excitement about returning to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The former Indy 500 and Formula One champion, who retired in 1994, drove in a pair of support races before the U.S. Grand Prix.
"I'm totally pleased that I did it. No regrets," he said after finishing 18th in the Porsche Pirelli Supercup on Sunday.
The 60-year-old Andretti was 17th among 24 drivers in the first Supercup race on Saturday.
"It was totally different, the conditions and everything else," he said of 2.6-mile road course that was wet in some places. "I second-guessed the situation and made the rear bar too soft. I underestimated how dry the infield was going to get,
watching the F1 practice. It was a mistake. I felt it the first lap. I just couldn't get it to turn."
Al Unser Jr., another former Indy winner, was 20th both days.
"Today I didn't crash," said Unser, who went off the course in Saturday's race. "Today, we were just taking it easy and having fun."
Jorg Bergmeister of Germany, who started from the pole, beat Enrico Bertaggia of Monte Carlo by 2.5 seconds to win the 16-lap Supercup on Sunday.
"Conditions were very wet, so it was difficult to pass at first," Bergmeister said. "The start wasn't so good for me, but after a few laps my tires had grip so I could overtake, and the car was perfect."
Bernd Maylander of Germany, who won Saturday's race, was third. Patrick Huisman of the Netherlands was fourth, good enough to clinch his fourth straight series title. Derek Hill, son of 1961 Formula One champion Phil Hill, lost control one lap from the finish and went head-on into a tire barrier. He was not injured.
In the final support race, Steve Earle of Garden Ridge, Texas, led from start to finish and beat Jim Kenton of Fairfield, Conn., by 1 second to win the Ferrari Challenge.
Rubens changes too soon
Runner-up Rubens Barichello, who finished 12.1 seconds behind Michael Schumacher, was the first driver to make a pit stop, changing from rain tires to slicks after just six laps.
"I had far too much oversteer on the wets," Barichello said. "And the team decided I should put a lot of fuel in the car and I had quite a difficult period. It was difficult to maintain the car on the race track.
"I chose to come in a little too early, and I paid the price," he said.
Barichello was in eighth place by the 19th lap, up to fifth after 37 laps and second by the 50th lap when Heinz-Harald Frentzen made a pit stop. Barichello pitted three laps later but kept second place over Frentzen by 7.6 seconds.
"I had really a hard race," Frentzen said. "I was fighting for every 10th (of a second). I had my car set up for being quick on the straight, but I was struggling a little bit on the infield."
Back off the bricks
Indy's famed Yard of Bricks, the last remnant of some 3.2 million bricks that once covered the entire oval, is great for tradition but not for traction.
At the urging of front-row starters Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard, the entire grid was moved back 17 yards so the race would not begin from the 36-inch row of bricks stretching across the track at the usual start-finish line.
Schumacher's front wheels would have been positioned about a yard behind the bricks, and he was concerned about the wheels spinning as he crossed the line at the start.
"The car's balance wasn't too bad, maybe a bit of oversteer. It's always going to be like that when it's damp," Coulthard said after the warmup session Sunday morning. "You tend to harden the rear tires, so you lose grip a bit there. Otherwise, it wasn't too bad."
Standing starts were last used at the Speedway in 1909-10. Every auto race since the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911 had begun with a flying start.
A fourth term for Mosley?
FIA president Max Mosley said he will run for a third four-year term when his current term ends in October 2001.
"But that would definitely be it," Mosley said.
"At the end of that term, I would be 65. That is quite a good
time to stop," he said. "It's all right to go into to the
driver's briefing when they are old enough to be your children, but
not your grandchildren."
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