Inexperience: INDIANAPOLIS (AP)- Nine rookie drivers will be in the 33-car lineup Sun- day for the 66th Indianapolis 500-mile race. But a more significant fact is that 18 of the starters have driven in no more than two Indy races. Since the first Indy 500 in 1911, when all the starters were rookies, the record for the most first-year drivers is 19 in 1919. The post-war record, however, is 12 in 1951. "EXPERIENCE is important here," says three-time winner Johnny Ruther- ford, who will be starting his 19th Indy race. "It used to be that very few car owners would even consider a younger guy if there was somebody with some experience around without a ride. "But things have changed. Nowadays, ifa driver comes along with a sponsor in his pocket-a chunk of money to bring to the team-he's in the car. It's the rent-a-ride thing now, and that can put guys in the driver's seat who don't belong there. They don't know how to react in a bad situation." Rutherford doesn't condemn all newcomers, though, noting, "Of course, there are talented guys who come along who are going to be the stars of the future. Like Kevin Cogan, for example. He's only 26 years old and he's got a brilliant future ahead of him. "BUT HE'S out there going very fast in a state-of-the-art race car and there are still things he does on the track that tell you he's got a lot more to learn." Cogan, who will start the race in the middle of the first row after qualifying at more than 204 mph, is one of the talented group of Indy sophomores in the race. But this year's rookies also made a The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, May 26, 1982-Page 15 Sunday's.Indy field includes only 15 vets considerable impression during the two history. weekends of qualifications, with Chip ACTUALLY, THE term rookie is a Ganassi and Dale Whittington both misnomer here, since nearly every fir- qualifying at more than 197 mph, Dan- st-year Indy driver has had experience- ny Sullivan and Jim Hickman both over often a great deal-elsewhere. 196, Herm Johnson and Mexico's Hec- In this year's rookie group, Rebacque tor Rebacque both over 195, and Chet has raced in Formula One; Sullivan in Fillip, Bobby Rahal and Roger Mears Can-Am; Rahal and Whittington in all over 194 in the fastest field in Indy sports car endurance racing; Ganassi and Hickman in the Super Vee, or mini- Indy, series; Johnson has run nine other Indy-car races; Fillip sprint cars and modifieds, and Mears off-road, sprintcars andstocks. "It used to be that just about everybody who came here paid his dues in the midgets and sprint cars," said pole-sitter Rick Mears, Roger's younger brother and Cogan's team- mate. "But things have changed. The cars are different now. You don't drive these cars like dirt cars anymore. You don't slide them through the turns with ground effects and the other aerodynamics. "Now the training ground is mostly Super Vees or sports cars. But, really, if you're a race car driver, you just get n and drive. Experienceis important. But you don't get experience in a cer- tam type of car unless you drive it." Except for a two-hour practice Whittington session on Thursday, the track will be le qualifiers closed until race day. Ganassi and . ..top rook DEFEATS BRUCE MANSON IN THREE SETS: Connors advances in French Open PARIS (AP)- Tournament favorite Jimmy Connors advanced to the second round of the $917,000 French Open ten- nis tournament yesterday with a 6-3, 6- 3, 6-1 elimination of fellow American Bruce Manson. "The older I get, the better I'll get ... maybe," said Connors, who turns 30 in September. CONNORS, ranked second in the world, is attempting to become the first American to win this prestigious Fren- ch clay court event in nearly three decades. The chances for that honor escaped another seeded American player yesterday. South Africa's Danie Visser, a 20- year-old who is ranked 121st in the world, staged the first upset of the two- week tournament when he wore down No. 14 seed Steve Denton 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6- 3. Denton, 25, from Driscoll, Texas, is ranked21st. IN OTHER first-round matches yesterday seventh-seeded Peter Mc- Namara of Australia posted a hard- fought 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 7-5 victory over French teen-ager Henri Leconte, while eighth-seeded Yannick Noah of France had little difficulty in scoring a 6-2, 6-3, 6:2 triumph over Jean-Louis Haillet, also of France. No. 10 seed Balazs Taroczy of Hungary needed five sets to survive yesterday. He advanced with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Sweden's Hans Simonsson, who had entered the tour- nament from the qualifying round. American Mel Purcell, the No. 16 seed, moved into the second round with a 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Gullermo Aubone of Argentina. Two rising teen-age stars also made it through their first outings yesterday. SWEDEN'S MATS Wilander, who has risen an astonishing 264 spots in the world rankings since 1980, posted a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Alejandro Cortes of Columbia. Wilander, currently ranked 18th, celebrates his 18th birthday in August. He was the French Open junior's champion last year and often has been compared to Bjorn Borg. A six-time French Open champion, Borg is not trying for a seventh crown this year. The 25-year-old Swede recen- tly cancelled his remaining Volvo Grand Prix trounaments, including Wimbledon, because of a dispute over how many events he should be required to enter in 1982. THE OTHER teen-age prodigy to ad- vance yesterday was American Jimmy Arias, who ousted Israel's top player, Shlomo Glickstein, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6. The 24- year-old Glickstein is ranked 30th, while Arias, a 17-year-old who is six days older than Wilander, is ranked 98th. Arias, who resides in Grand Island, N.Y., made tennis history last year when he teamed up with Andrea Jaeger to win the French Open mixed doubles title. The two American teenagers became the youngest team to win that crown in Paris. Romanian Ilie Nastase, who at age 35 is one of the oldest men on the circuit, played with some of his old magic yesterday in a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 elimination of Hungarian Zoltan Kiharszky. Nastase, the 1972 French Open champion, currently is ranked 83rd, while Kuhar- szky holds the 95th spot. Chris Evert Lloyd, the top seed among the women, sees action for the first time today. JIMMY CONNORS, SHOWN HERE in another tournament, easily won his first round match yesterday at the French Open. Connors, the tournament's top seed and the second ranked player in the world, upended Bruce Manson, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. The 30 year old Connors is attempting to become the first Maneria to ibthe Firti1OpetiWnearly30 yers.