The Gist: On paper, Danny Sullivan made an adventurous, but promising alternative when he joined Pat Patrick Racing and Alfa Romeo for the 1991 CART season. However early optimism concerning the venture quickly changed into frustration, because the 1985 Indianapolis 500 winner tells editor-at-large Jeroen Demmendaal in a Champweb unique.

The historical past of IndyCar racing is plagued by valiant efforts to realize success, some extra well-planned and viable than others. However certainly one of the formidable, but curious efforts should be the one by Alfa Romeo within the heydays of CART/IndyCar, because it tried and did not make it to victory lane with its works racing engine between 1989 and 1991 earlier than throwing the proverbial towel.

On paper, the Italian producer appeared to have all the pieces sorted out by 1991, because it was about to embark on its third 12 months in American open-wheel racing. It had teamed up with Patrick Racing, the most effective organised groups within the paddock. It had secured a model new Lola T91/00, the chassis of alternative in 1991. Funding wasn’t a problem, with a significant blue chip sponsor within the type of Miller beers. And it had a championship-winning driver in former Penske ace Danny Sullivan, son of Louisville, Kentucky.

So why didn’t it work? Was it a scarcity of effort, an overdose of Italian bravado, a scarcity of excellent fortune? In all probability not one of the above, possibly a bit little bit of all the pieces. Or as Danny Sullivan himself tells me, as we glance again at that fateful time in 1991: “Engines are tough. It’s by no means simply the pistons or the fuel administration. It’s all the time a mix of issues. Alfa had a whole lot of nice individuals and it was by no means for a scarcity of attempting. It simply didn’t have any energy!”

Choosing up the place Ferrari left off

First a bit little bit of again story then. As a result of in an period the place many are hoping for an announcement a couple of third engine producer becoming a member of the NTT IndyCar Sequence, it’d sound outlandish that within the late Eighties and early Nineties, round half a dozen producers had been vying to provide IndyCar racing groups with engines. Chevrolet was the dominant power, Porsche needed to be, whereas the lesser gods opted for extra reasonably priced, however underpowered or unreliable Cosworth, Buick and Judd engines. After which there was Alfa Corse.

Alfa Romeo had inherited the IndyCar-programme that was into consideration by its sister model Ferrari only some years earlier. Plans had been drawn up in Maranello to enter IndyCar as of 1987, whereas reigning CART champion Bobby Rahal was approached a couple of attainable trip and even visited the manufacturing unit in Italy. In the long run, the Ferrari plans turned out to be a bargaining chip utilized by Enzo Ferrari in his political battle with the powers that be in Formula 1, and the dream of a full-blown Ferrari IndyCar effort ended there after which.

However whereas the IndyCar chassis constructed by Ferrari was shelved and ended up in a museum, the engine venture was saved alive for Alfa Romeo, which noticed IndyCar as an ideal platform for constructing and selling its enterprise in the USA. However relatively than attempting to go it on their lonesome, by additionally constructing its personal chassis like Penske did and the short-lived Porsche effort aimed to do, Alfa determined to staff up with March Engineering.

March, lengthy a dominating power on the IndyCar circuit all through a lot of the Eighties, had fallen on tough instances come 1988 and was shedding ever extra floor (and prospects) to Lola. So it noticed the Alfa Romeo programme as a method of salvaging its dwindling IndyCar programme. A purpose-built chassis for the Alfa energy plant noticed the sunshine of day in early 1989, after which Colombian Roberto Guerrero was signed up as lead driver for the trouble, along with the Alex Morales racing staff.

The Alfa-powered March received its first style of aggressive motion midway via 1989, when the staff confirmed up in Detroit. A really acceptable eighth place finish on the Imply Streets of the Motor Metropolis turned out to be the spotlight of that season, which ended up being a glorified testing programme. Not solely did the engine lack energy, it additionally displayed a worrying lack of reliability. However at the least the staff was racking up mileage and knew its {position} within the pecking order.

For 1990, Alfa Romeo and March ended their collaboration with Alex Morales and as an alternative joined forces with Pat Patrick Racing, which had simply received the title with Emerson Fittipaldi however misplaced each its driver and Marlboro funding to Penske. A brand new title sponsor arrived within the type of Miller Real Draft beers, draping the automotive in a classy black and gold livery to switch the relatively bleak and decal-light color scheme of 1989. Guerrero remained the lead driver, whereas a second automotive was fielded for Al Unser at Indianapolis and Michigan.

That made 1990 a big step up from the earlier 12 months. However what the brand new set-up didn’t ship was a big enchancment in efficiency. The staff struggled with the March, and forward of Michigan switched to a 1990 Lola chassis. Whereas the Lola change offered a slight enhance, successes had been few and much in between, with a fifth place at Michigan the most effective end result for Guerrero. Reliability and velocity remained a problem all through the season and the Colombian completed a distant sixteenth within the 1990 CART World Sequence closing standings.

Which meant that for 1991, issues needed to change but once more. Guerrero was, justifiably or not, seen as improvement driver however not as the person to deliver success to Alfa, and noticed his contract terminated. As an alternative, Pat Patrick went on the lookout for a brand new star driver who might pilot the 1991 Lola-Alfa. Hearsay has it that he tried luring Fittipaldi again to the staff, because the Brazilian had skilled an underwhelming first season at Penske, however to no avail. As an alternative, he opted for one more Penske star with a confirmed functionality of profitable races and championships: Daniel John Sullivan III.

Drawing the quick straw

The telephone line from California is considerably shaky and unstable at first, when Sullivan and I sit down to debate this intriguing episode in his storied profession. Perhaps it’s attributable to the state’s ongoing lockdown associated to the coronavirus pandemic, or possibly the telephone line is attempting to channel the spirit of Alfa Romeo’s less-than-perfect IndyCar engine — both means, the crackling line feels oddly acceptable on this context.

Whereas Sullivan was one of many prime elements in Penske’s success all through the Eighties, with an Indy 500 win in 1985, a CART title in 1988 and 12 wins in 110 begins for the staff, he knew early on that 1990 can be his final season with Penske. “I had private connections with the Pennzoil individuals and I knew already in April that they would go away Penske on the finish of that season,” he explains. “Now, Emerson was very a lot tied to Marlboro, so he was there. And Rick Mears wasn’t going wherever, so I knew I used to be going to attract the quick straw. Roger Penske needed to carry an possibility to increase my contract by the summer season, and he didn’t.”

Now a free agent, Sullivan was free to search for greener pastures elsewhere within the paddock, snug within the information that he was nonetheless extremely marketable. In spite of everything, he had completed the 1990 season on a excessive with a win on the season finale at Laguna Seca. At that time, Sullivan and Alfa Romeo had been already in superior talks, however the race win offered a welcome bonus chip within the negotiation sport. Or, as he advised the Los Angeles Instances after the Laguna race: “After at the moment’s race I can ask for extra money. I used to be asking for lots earlier than, however now I can ask for extra.”

However Patrick Racing and Alfa Romeo weren’t the one possibility on the desk for 1991, Sullivan remembers. One different was the newly began Corridor/VDS operation, which had snapped up Pennzoil as a title sponsor and was about to enter IndyCar in 1991 with a Chevrolet-powered Lola. “The Jim Corridor factor was early on,” says Sullivan. “I don’t bear in mind precisely after we had conversations, nevertheless it was early on and so they had gone away. After which John Andretti signed with them.” Andretti, in fact, would go on and win the primary race of the 1991 season at Surfers Paradise.

Then there was the choice of signing with Derrick Walker, who had snapped up a lot of the belongings of the Porsche staff after the German squad pulled the plug on its IndyCar operation following the 1990 season. Given the tight bond between Sullivan and Walker from their shared Penske days, a partnership would have made sense. “I had a fantastic relationship with Derrick, however a whole lot of it has to do with sponsorship and cash, and what’s obtainable.” Funding was certainly a problem for Walker Racing in 1991, and the talks between Sullivan and Walker ended with out a deal.

And so he ended up at Patrick Racing. “It was the most effective deal on the desk, actually. A number of others had their drivers already locked in, so there have been only some locations to go,” says Sullivan. That was to not say that this was a matter of selecting the least dangerous possibility. For instance, there was the monetary aspect of issues, as referenced within the LA Instances article. It was usually believed that Sullivan had now turn out to be one of many, if not the most effective paid driver within the paddock. Relying on whose numbers you imagine (there are a number of, conflicting press experiences from these days), he fetched a price of between USD 1.5 million and 1.8 million for his companies.

As for Patrick Racing itself, ABC’s Bobby Unser revealed throughout an early 1991 broadcast that the staff funds was mentioned to be round USD 13 million. Even in 2020 {dollars}, that may be an enormous funds for one season of IndyCar Racing, not to mention in 1991. A part of these hundreds of thousands got here from the Miller Brewing Firm, the Milwaukee-based beer large that little question had fond recollections of 1988, when Sullivan received the CART title in a Miller-draped Penske. Clearly Alfa chipped in with fairly a number of {dollars}, whereas former oil man Pat Patrick additionally displayed a political streak by hanging up a business cope with the Kuwaiti authorities amidst the continued Gulf Warfare. In consequence, the brand of the state-owned Q8 oil conglomerate ended up on the Lola-Alfa.

After which there was the staff set-up. As mentioned, Patrick Racing had already confirmed its race- and title-winning methods with Emerson Fittipaldi in 1989. That high quality had not disappeared in a single day, so the crew was the most effective within the enterprise. Whereas the staff had misplaced chief engineer Mo Nunn to the Granatelli/Luyendyk effort for 1991, it had a proficient chief mechanic within the type of a younger Mike Hull. Whipping the staff as a complete into form was staff supervisor and former Penske veteran Jim McGee.

“I knew Jim properly, I knew Pat Patrick properly,” says Sullivan. “It was a fantastic crew, we had a fantastic chassis and nice workers. So it got here all the way down to the engine.” A go to to Alfa Romeo’s services in Milan through the off season instilled extra optimism in Sullivan: “Alfa was spending actually good cash, they weren’t going low cost at it. The services regarded nice and so they had a whole lot of good individuals. Giorgio Pianta (the top of Alfa Corse) was a extremely good man.”

Plus, relatively like the scholar who tries to chop some corners by copying another person’s homework, Alfa Romeo engineers had instance to work from. Shortly after Patrick Racing and Alfa Romeo signed their deal for 1990, and shortly earlier than he needed to return the Chevy-badged, Ilmor-built engines he utilized in 1989, Pat Patrick had despatched one of many engines to Italy. The concept: take it aside, discover out what makes the Chevy tick, and do one thing related. It was a choice that may come to hang-out Patrick by the top of 1991, however Sullivan hoped it will pay dividend: “Oh, there was positively confidence of their engine improvement, due to the engine that they had from Ilmor and the cash they had been spending.”

So at face worth, Patrick Racing and Sullivan had pretty practical expectations forward of the season. “Realistically, I hoped that we might be aggressive and get a win underneath our belt if the engine would develop through the season,” says Sullivan. “By the top, I needed us to be aggressive with the highest groups.” In the meantime, Alfa was satisfied that they might discover extra energy after the frustration of 1990, helped by their means to strip aside and analyse the Chevy benchmark.

Wanting again at that pre-season optimism with what he is aware of now, Sullivan is philosophical: “You recognize, each engine producer goes to say how good they’re going to be. Each producer will exit and say they may problem for wins. They need to. And we’re all racers and in the end optimistic, pondering: hopefully the engine guys will make a giant push. And Alfa actually had the manpower, services and funds to do it accurately.”

Early promise

Initially, the optimism appeared warranted because the 1991 season received off to begin for Sullivan, Patrick Racing and Alfa Romeo. The season opener on the streets of Surfers Paradise offered affirmation of what the staff already knew: there was nonetheless loads of work to be accomplished, however the bundle additionally demonstrated potential. Sullivan certified in tenth and regardless that he was nearly 2.4 seconds off the pole time set by Michael Andretti, he was the quickest non-Chevy driver within the subject. In comparison with the Chevy, the Alfa engine lacked torque coming off the corners. In consequence, Sullivan wanted a number of further gear shifts every lap to optimise his automotive’s efficiency, costing him priceless time on high of the velocity deficit.

However on Sunday, because the race went inexperienced, Sullivan had begin, passing each Arie Luyendyk and John Andretti of their Chevy-powered Lolas and settling in eighth. When it comes to tempo the Alfa Romeo was nonetheless second greatest by far, however sarcastically, in a race marked by extreme attrition, the engine stayed in a single piece — one thing it actually wouldn’t do later within the season. Sullivan, in flip, managed to keep away from the carnage that characterised the race and took the flag in fourth place, behind eventual winner John Andretti, Bobby Rahal and Rick Mears. Andretti had managed to leap him due to a fortunate warning coinciding with a deliberate pitstop, however in any other case Sullivan drove a robust race and was not handed by anybody.

The primary twelve championship factors within the bag, the staff headed off to Lengthy Seaside for the second race of the season. However on the Californian Pacific coast, the Lola-Alfa merely refused to indicate something resembling velocity. Sullivan certified in a weak sixteenth and ended the race in eleventh primarily as a result of attrition. A glass-half-full man would say that the automotive as soon as once more completed a race and that Sullivan added two factors to his tally, however {finishing} three laps behind race winner Al Unser Jr was a bitter blow to the staff’s early optimism.

But following the race, the engineers discovered that the poor efficiency at Lengthy Seaside was largely attributable to some defective wiring, which instructed the engine’s fuel injection to go to a lean setting and scale back the efficiency of the fuel combination. The end result was an estimated lack of 30–40 horsepower. With that drawback solved, the staff instantly discovered itself again in the direction of the entrance of the grid when the IndyCar circus arrived on the quick oval in Phoenix.

Having certified sixth, the most effective ever efficiency for an Alfa-powered automotive, Sullivan ran with the entrance runners all race, spectacularly slicing and dicing with the Chevy-powered automobiles and making life tough for his former Penske colleagues and the Andretti’s. He even led the race for numerous laps, earlier than the engine blew up whereas he was in fourth behind eventual winner Luyendyk.

“Yeah, after that race in Phoenix I used to be very inspired,” remembers Sullivan. “We had been operating in fourth, ran the quickest lap within the race and I bear in mind pondering: that is good, as a result of with a bit little bit of luck we might have received the race. Simply ask Arie! And at Phoenix, the dealing with is sort of extra essential than energy. If the automotive is dealing with rather well there, you’re feeling nice. However whenever you get to Indy, it’s all energy. And Indy actually put us in reverse.”

Fourteen days, 13 engines

Ah sure, Indianapolis. It’s undeniably a very powerful race on the IndyCar calendar, for groups, drivers, sponsors and producers, and there was arguably no different monitor on the 1991 schedule to which the Alfa Romeo engine was so unsuitable. It turned out the engine blowout at Phoenix can be an indication of issues to come back through the month of Might. Not solely did the Alfa miss pure velocity and efficiency, it additionally responded very poorly to being pushed to the utmost.

“It was loopy,” says Sullivan, referring to the primary two weeks of observe and qualifying. “I believe I blew up 13 engines in fourteen days!” Worse, his instances had been nowhere close to these set by the Chevy drivers. Whereas the quickest drivers had been practising within the 226 mph bracket and certified with common speeds above 224 mph, Sullivan struggled to get above 220 miles per hour on common. In the meantime, Alfa engineers had been adamant that their engine was on par with the Chevy, a declare that Sullivan was sceptical about.

“Nicely, you understand how it’s. Racers are all the time a bit extra blunt on some stuff,” he chuckles. “Alfa saved saying they had been making the identical horsepower as Chevy, however I wasn’t shopping for it. They had been all the time telling us the engine did properly on the dyno again in Italy, however racing may be very easy: it’s confirmed on the racetrack, proper there. At Indy, the highest finish is essential, and also you undergo the corners nearly flat out. However I used to be operating round flat the entire means round. Don’t get me mistaken, the individuals had been unbelievable. I appreciated all of them. Besides there was this one man accountable for engine improvement… it had nothing to do together with his character. However the engine wasn’t good, and he thought it was good.”

His frustration rising, Sullivan tried an academic strategy. “I simply needed to indicate him how good our rivals had been,” he explains. “So this man, I took him down the pit lane and requested the opposite groups: do you thoughts if I present him the rear wing angle in your automotive? Not one of the different groups noticed us as a menace, so that they had been like: yeah certain, go forward Danny. And I confirmed him: we’re operating zero rear wing, they’re operating much more rear wing and nonetheless they’re miles an hour quicker than us!”

However the Alfa engineer remained unmoved. “He simply saved making excuses,” says Sullivan. “At that time, it turns into very irritating for a racing driver. You’ll have some enthusiasm if they might say after that: my gosh, you’re proper, we have to work on this. However this man, he simply didn’t wish to get it.”

In fact, on a dyno the engineers would possibly ultimately attain the utmost energy output inside an engine. However not like a dyno run, the straights at Indianapolis are finite. So whereas in idea the Alfa may need been simply as highly effective because the Chevy, it took so much longer to get there. Too lengthy, says Sullivan. “The issue was largely torque, like: how a lot is it going to tug coming off the nook? As a result of whenever you’re coming off Flip 2, or coming off Flip 4, the torque needs to be there as properly.”

Which it wasn’t, he provides. “I don’t bear in mind the RPM values precisely, however in the event you come off the nook at 10,000 RPM out of Flip 2, the query is: how fast is it going to tug as much as 11,000. Do you get there simply earlier than you’re turning into Three, or already whenever you’re solely midway on the again stretch? That’s what guys are speaking about once they speak about automobiles being ‘free’ at Indy: that there’s seemingly no restrict within the automotive.”

Starting of the top

Regardless of all of the reliability and velocity issues, Sullivan certified the automotive at an inexpensive ninth beginning {position}, on the skin of Row Three. However come race day, mechanical gremlins popped up once more and Sullivan really missed the beginning of the race due to a damaged fuel pump cable. He joined the race a lap down, however managed to work his means again into the highest ten regardless of an extra electrical drawback.

Nonetheless, Sullivan struggled to cross individuals on monitor as a result of the straight-line velocity merely wasn’t there. A blown turbo on lap 173, draping the entrance stretch of the Speedway in an unlimited cloud of smoke, was a becoming finish to a bitterly disappointing month of Might for Sullivan, Patrick Racing and Alfa Romeo. That Sullivan was categorised in tenth and picked up three championship factors was little comfort.

But per week later, on the Milwaukee Mile in Wisconsin, the staff was instantly again on Phoenix kind. Sullivan posted a fourth quickest time in qualifying, sharpening Alfa’s greatest qualifying file and little question pleasing the quite a few friends that had confirmed up for title sponsor Miller’s dwelling race. Within the race he completed fifth, albeit three laps down from winner Michael Andretti.

Spirits briefly lifted, on the subsequent race in Detroit it was again to catastrophe mode once more. In qualifying Sullivan might do no higher than thirteenth, and within the race he completed a distant tenth. Certain, to this point he had six factors finishes in six races, however the novelty of being a part of a improvement effort began to put on off. As an alternative, the sensation began sinking in that the staff can be also-rans for the rest of the season.

The racing press began to note as properly. “At Least Sullivan Isn’t Driving A Yellow Cab” was the tough conclusion of a June 1991 article in Allentown, PA newspaper The Morning Name, referring again to Sullivan’s one-time job as a cab driver in New York Metropolis. The article introduced its readers with a pissed off Sullivan, who was clearly fed up with having to make do with an experimental engine programme. He knew it was going to be a problem, Sullivan advised the paper: “However by no means something like this.”

It wasn’t all the time simple to maintain up the spirits, Sullivan admits thirty years later. “You must be a part of the staff and present up day-after-day with a constructive angle. However it wasn’t all the time nice on race day, as a result of I knew: boy, we’re gonna want some luck right here and a few failures if we’re going to make one thing occur,” he displays. “All people needs to win and do properly, so at sure levels it was tough and also you had been like: not one other engine blow up, not one other day of no energy. That’s not enjoyable for anyone. However you’re paid to do a job, so that you flip up.”

What helped soften the blow was the presence of McGee and Hull, Sullivan says. “Jim McGee all the time had a constructive angle. That doesn’t imply he was not pissed off or essential when one thing went mistaken. However he got here in day-after-day with a constructive outlook on what we had been gonna do. Mike Hull was the identical, and that angle filters all the way down to the staff. So I all the time regarded ahead to coming in and dealing with these guys. That type of retains your spirits up.”

Nonetheless, because the mid-way level of the season arrived, Sullivan began pondering past 1991. He scored a number of extra factors finishes in Cleveland and on the Meadowlands, however adopted that with three straight mechanical retirements at Toronto, Michigan and Denver. A ninth place finish in Vancouver represented a slight enchancment, however the Lola-Alfa failed prematurely once more throughout the next races at Mid-Ohio and Street America.

In the meantime, Alfa Romeo and Patrick Racing had additionally began drawing their conclusions about the way forward for the partnership. It doesn’t matter what the engineers in Italy did, the bundle wouldn’t enhance, be it by way of efficiency or by way of reliability. Or as Alfa’s engine honcho Giorgio Pianta advised Sullivan’s hometown paper The Louisville Courier-Journal in August 1991: “I had thought by this time of 12 months we might have been in a position to resolve the issue.”

That assertion was revealing. Quickly after, Sullivan learnt that Alfa Romeo would pull its manufacturing unit help for the IndyCar engine programme. “Each producer wants outcomes to go ahead, however regardless, I don’t suppose they ever penciled in a five- or ten-year programme,” he says. “It was all the time going to be pushed by their gross sales right here within the US. However, , all people needs outcomes.” There was by no means a proper announcement, he provides: “Alfa solely had a one-year cope with Patrick. There was an possibility within the contract to proceed, however they didn’t decide it up.”

Ups and downs

Whereas Sullivan had relationship with Pat Patrick, any probability of him staying with the staff was topic to Patrick securing a Chevy engine for 1992. And that is the place Patricks earlier trick got here again to chew him. Following his little stunt of sending an Ilmor-engineered engine to Italy for Alfa technicians to select aside, Ilmor was incensed with Patrick. As a direct end result, it determined from then on to lease engines solely, relatively than promoting them outright to groups, whereas all engines had been outfitted with a not-to-be-broken seal. Oh, and Pat Patrick turned persona non grata at Ilmor — the corporate made it clear he wouldn’t get an Ilmor-built Chevy engine even when hell froze over.

That positioned Patrick in a tough scenario, leaving him no different alternative than to promote the staff. He made a cope with prepared consumers Bobby Rahal and Carl Hogan, who took over the operation for 1992 and had no points securing mentioned Chevrolet energy vegetation from Ilmor. The deal additionally meant the top of Sullivan’s time with the staff: “I bear in mind, Ilmor was very upset. And when the entity received offered to Rahal and his group, I needed to look elsewhere. However it additionally proved how good the staff was. As a result of Rahal got here in together with his companions in 1992, the one change he made was to herald his personal engineer, after which they received the championship.”

Sullivan as an alternative began speaking to Rick Galles and Chip Ganassi a couple of trip for 1992. “Yeah, there have been some discussions with Chip Ganassi, however we couldn’t put it collectively. After which Molson was in play, they needed a giant push in IndyCar and I did a check with Galles which went properly.” The interval with Galles, within the blue-and-white automotive draped in Molson beer colors, was significantly extra profitable for Sullivan: particularly in 1992 he was moderately aggressive and over two seasons he received two races with the staff.

Requested if he has any regrets about his Alfa Romeo journey, he’s philosophical once more. “I suppose this simply comes all the way down to the ups and downs of your profession,” he displays. “I want it will have turned out higher clearly, and I additionally suppose it will have been good for the sequence to have one other robust engine producer. That will have been alternative for these individuals that would not get the Chevy.”

And he beloved being a part of the staff, he provides. “It was a fantastic group. Not like in what now we have seen just lately in different instances, there was by no means any mudslinging. The Alfa people had been constructive and attempting to do their greatest. And I’m certain that if Alfa would have stayed, Pat would have continued as properly. So from that perspective, it’s a bit unhappy that it didn’t work out. You all the time wish to be a part of one thing profitable, and having the ability to lead the cost with one thing that another person doesn’t have.”

In the long run, Sullivan says, he’s completely satisfied together with his profession. “It might have been good to have a barely extra regular finish, however I had a fantastic profession,” he says, as our dialog begins to wind down. “There are only some drivers who’ve a persistently nice profession, and ultimately it labored out okay. I’m nonetheless right here — I received a number of bangs alongside the best way, however I’m all good!”

All textual content: © Jeroen Demmendaal

As revealed on Champweb: https://champweb.net/once-upon-a-time-danny-sullivan-and-the-alfa-adventure/