1991 Indy 500 Full Race

[Music] the following is a special presentation of abc sports [Music] there were 3 million paving blocks in 1911. today only a yard of brick remains the two and a half mile path is surrounded by steel and concrete silent sentries to the history made here it is a legacy of speed between these walls the risks are great emotions come from both ends of the spectrum the indianapolis 500 mile race is quite simply a spectacle a celebration of technology and humanity today it celebrates the diamond anniversary running it was no different when the trap was first planned the first 500 was the spectacle of its day the giant track beckoned the best of the age and 80 000 fans many arriving by horse and buggy ray haroon won the first challenge since then the lineage has raced on men who share a special look the brotherhood of the best down the years they have sought a common goal victory in the indianapolis 500. in 1925 pete apollo averaged 100 miles an hour today 220 is the standard in the 30s the cars led the technology cast iron and shaped sheet metal today titanium and carbon fiber defined the ultimate racing machine space age electronics now help tame the raging horsepower danger has always been a passenger like the track and the speed it is a constant ever present it too is a part of the lure without that risk the men are just ordinary in a flash a skilled drive transforms to disaster but man can and does survive the machine [Music] this spring has proven no exception the fates strike at random rick mears one of the best mark dismore one of the rookies [Music] or veteran randy lewis each spent his moment over the edge but man triumphs as did rick a day later in a new car to take the pole at over 224 miles an hour [Music] now the heroes of this age wait they weigh the odds consider the risks and they pray the dream today will be theirs as much changes over 75 races much stays the same skilled hands still lovingly caress and copes the ultimate performance 34 years ago aj point was an apprentice today he is a master starting in the center of the front row in 61 tony bentonhausen died chasing a victory today his son may fulfill his father's dream 26 years ago the rookie stripes came off for mario today there are four andrettis now the 500s first african-american and first japanese will join the line jewel goo drank six bottles of champagne on his road to victory today it's a frosty bottle of milk that awaits the eventual winter that and so much more the yard of bricks have witnessed the high-speed passage of history in just a few hours 500 miles from now a 75th story will have been written a new likeness will be added to a timeless silver cup and a new name will set atop the lineage of the greatest spectacle in racing the indianapolis 500. live from the world's greatest race course the indianapolis motor speedway abc sports presents the 75th running of the indianapolis 500 mile race it has been raining in indianapolis early in the morning but as you can see the track is drying the start might be delayed by just a few minutes but it sets the scene for what should be a spectacular day and already the giant crowd has begun to fill this giant stadium rick mear's race car he sits on the pole they've just refueled that machine and then of course back in the garage area all the cars being prepared at this moment ready to roll out to the line and his garage this car number 14 aj points will start in the center of the front row aj making his 34th consecutive start in the indianapolis 500 and they work too in the newman haas stable on the andretti cars michael and mario as they are ready for their running of the 500 and mario having a last-minute conversation with michael perhapson strategy before they are ready to begin their ride 500 miles on a sunday afternoon in indianapolis well this giant crowd is waiting now for the engines to roar into life and the 500 mile ride will be underway welcome to race fans around the world i'm paul page this race is a pinnacle meeting in motorsports when carl fisher first envisioned the speedway he saw a test facility a crucible in which to forge the growing automobile industry i wonder if fisher had any idea of what his foresight would bring 80 years and 75 races later now each 500 is unique it's filled with stories that feed a soaring spirit or pull at the heart each journey leads to greatness what will today hold well there are so many facets to the diamond anniversary race a.j foyt rick the andrettis here the extraordinary is commonplace we have so many great stories to share with you as we move toward the start of the engines we'll spend some very special minutes with aj foyt and gary bentenhausen the fastest man in the field and we'll meet the 33 men who are ready to start the 500. just outside the speedway the crowd is still moving in on 16th street pouring toward their seats ready to see the anniversary the 75th of the indianapolis 500-mile race runnings we'll be back with more right after this [Music] one of the great advantages to this slight delay in the start of the indianapolis 500 is we can elaborate on many of the wonderful stories that are occurring at the speedway this year one of those is the defending champion ari lyon dyke here's jackaroot we're standing with ari linedick a defending champion of the indy 500 and arya a lot of flurry this morning because of the weather in the area now you're back in row five that famous row five with gary bettenhausen and mo how will the start of the race come off a lot of people expecting you to make a big move early well it all depends how the start develops i think we can only you know make it make a decision on what happens and we'll just play by ear if the track opens up and there's room for me to go to the front i'll go to the front if i need to take my time i'll take my time it's hopefully going to be a 500 mile race today and not a shortened race and with 500 miles to go we have plenty of time some of the crew were saying there's not a patient bone in ari's body that's why we like him so much he's aggressive remember 88 when you started back in row five what happened on lap one well basically went from 15th to 7th place in one lap but you know i had i didn't have the equipment i have now i know that my equipment i can win with my equipment back then i wasn't sure if i could win so i had to do the best i could and it's a whole different ballgame this year i think i have one of the best crews out there the rca car is running great and with cng as a new backer we should be doing really well this this year the defending indy 500 winner ari lineback back in row 5 alongside him is a guy standing with jackaroo and jerry this man has been beaming all month he is the fastest man in the field with buick v6 power gary bettenhausen who has such a long historic relationship with the indianapolis motor speedway this has been your month gary well yes jackie you said i was the fastest driver in the field i think i'm just driving the fastest car in the field the race car has really been fantastic all month and uh you know i owe thanks to a lot of people my car owner john menard mainly for having faith in me last year and our sponsors glidden crestline and ruin it's just been fantastic to me but you're back in that fifth row now that makes the start a little hairy we've seen some crazy starts here are you at all concerned and how will you approach it no i'm not too concerned because i think everybody that's starting in the first five rows or well every there's all the race drivers in this field are good race drivers and i don't think uh anybody's gonna do anything foolish at the start now with the weather back and forth the way it has been the last couple of days we've had intermittent rain showers and does that change your strategy at all the possibility that this race may not go 500 miles do you look at it differently no it sounds like the window is going to be long enough that we can get the race in and we'll naturally we'll have our crew in contact with the weather and we'll watch what's happening around the area and we're going to have to stay close to the leader so that's for sure you're beginning to tighten up a little bit you were real loose the last couple of days but there seems to be a little tension brewing no not really i uh this place i know it's a job and it's a business and i've been here many years and i don't change just because it's race time paul gary bentenhausen has done it so many times before of course he referenced the start it's one of the most spectacular moments in sports but all of the drivers study it carefully because when things go wrong they can go very wrong as it did in 1973 [Music] doesn't look like a repeat of last year's star now it's a good one and here they come bobby answer going for the lead johnny rutherford [Music] [Music] somewhere this is what everyone is feared this is why there's been such a terrible atmosphere of fear here all weekend long it's a shame there's a driver maybe he might be on fire that man the way he's waving you can't see an alcohol those explosions are not cars those are the bombs overhead that are normally set off during the start of the race there is a report already that there may be spectators hurt not confirmed the wire fence right here on the straightaway was ripped apart it was very fortunate that a car did not come into the crowd because one of these standards holding up the wire screen has also been broken in half right here at the most crowded part of the grandstand we almost had an automobile going to the crowd and it appears definitely that uh there are spectators injured but here's a replay of what happened here he was back in the sixth or seventh row in this car that it might have been salt water but watch there's a car going starting to the right right there look at this incredible explosion fuel spraying out over the spectators in the first few rows that could mean real trouble another explosion and like a pinwheel or a garden sprinkler all the fuel is being sprayed out of the car that could be a good thing for the driver if he has survived this crash car upside down coming to a rest another view of this from a head-on camera and again you will see how this the cable cables inside this screen are the only thing to stop this car from flying into the crowd there watch now the screen itself is completely destroyed the cables flinging him back out on the race course upside down and again that fuel spraying on the crowd that's a matter of great concern and hear that pinwheel effect the alcohol-based fuel spinning out of the car upside down another car leaked coonsman i believe number 16 barely missing the crash it's soft water who is under the car terrible terrible accident on the start of indianapolis only seven seconds after the start of the race no serious injuries as a result of that 1973 accident but you can see since then they have reconfigured the seating along the main straightaway to account for that possibility in the future another aspect too is we saw fire in that accident and since that time the research and safety development with the indy cars has been so excellent that fire is almost not a factor in accidents any longer while we continue to move toward the start of this race a little delayed because of a rain shower early this morning so many wonderful stories another one is willie t ribs and he right now is with gary gerald indeed it's been a tremendous story the emotion of qualifying day for willie t ribs i know this has been a lifelong dream to make this race the moment is almost here it's been delayed a bit what kind of emotions have you gone through this morning leading now to your first ever indianapolis 500 well um it was raining so i got a little extra sleep and just took it easy you know when when it's time to race you go race but prior to that you relax nah don't worry about anything nothing's gonna change other than the weather willie have you been at all surprised at the reception because there was a lot of cynicism five years ago and the opportunity wasn't right you elected to turn away now you're back and suddenly you have become like the the hero the champion of the underdog so to speak because the people here have really been caught up in the saga of no sponsorship until just before the race well before you know before we got here before qualifying we were struggling and we were very limited with our budget uh and everything worked out we qualified and qualified well and the support after that has been tremendous for mcdonald's and and uh and the other sponsors that we have acquired it's been tremendous i can't thank everyone and as well as the people uh that have supported me uh and fans and friends i can't thank them enough we wish you safety this day have fun and you're first we hope there are many more thank you all right paul well the track crews have been very very effective in drying this track and it looks like we are moving very close to the start of the race when we come back though we'll have a chance to look at the closest finish in history as we approach the start of the 75th indy 500. some of the preliminary ceremonies are underway already on the main stretch the purdue all-american band making their two and a half mile an hour tour you saw the 73 start at the end of that race gordon johncock won the 1973 run right now he's with jackaroo and gordon johncock was on a a sabbatical for the last couple of days you weren't feeling well gordon but now you are going to run starting 33rd well i'm going to run i've ran when i'm a lot worse shape than i am right now seem like when you get out there and adrenaline gets flowing you get started and go you forget about being sick you talk about adrenaline there was a lot flowing when you had that close close victory over rick meers what are your memories of that well i just remember him coming on a second in a lap you know i was watching him in my mirrors and my car just kept getting worse and worse every lap you know and i didn't think i'd really be able to stay out in front and hold him off now you're the second oldest driver in this field of course the oldest aj foyt will you keep coming back till you beat aj's record that's very possible but i don't know aj says it's last year but i myself i don't i don't really believe it you're going to tell us how old you are 54. yeah he may be off by a year or so though paul gordon johncock very likable two-time winner of the indianapolis 500. 1982 one of the closest finishes in history and john was a key player [Music] sam we've got a trophy dash to the finish line if this stays this way there's never anything like it the closest finish in the history of indianapolis in 1937 2.16 seconds there's dena her man is the man that's closing on the leader yep look at me ears pour it on jim i know when you're this close i mean you can reach out you can feel that guy ahead of you and and look at me here's here's john cox taking a fairly moderate line and fears is catching look at his speed off that turn i've never seen anything like it there they go two laps to go there's time to catch him if he can do it [Applause] i don't have to tell you what's going to happen if he catches him it's going to be i mean this is extremely dangerous business right here i i don't think i've ever seen an open-wheel car race with people this close at the finish no and never and never so fast i mean these laps in the high 190. look at this cena there all right he may do it yeah he may he's that close look at that shallow shot they're going to get the right flag there'll be one left to go by the left [Applause] this is straight champion two turns to go now mirrors behind and he's again trying to slip stream john cox did a good job of staying ahead of him in turn one when he made that move there good that was brilliant not played over jungkook still with the lead here it comes from the finish line he's still closing that's his wife it's too late now you only got to pray look at that here you see them can he make a move at the finish he's making a move no no no not tight has won the indianapolis 500 he wanted by less than a car lane after 500 miles the disappointed wife of rick pierce there [Applause] the jubilation in the pit for pat patrick picks gordon johncock has won it he held on in the closest finish in the history of the indianapolis 500 66 races never anything like this that's roger penske's wife kathy consoling deana beers well what could you say to somebody i guess we did get carried away sam but well somebody else might be able to help it i could yeah unbelievable jim it's the victory of a great racing driver who made a great craziness let's look at that finish again all right well here here is it looks like he's beaten at this point right yes yeah coming out of the last turn yep there's nothing but frustration there now watch this making the move as they come to the finish line there's meers moving up moving up and it was just a little over a car lane about 20 feet [Music] and of course all of this history weaves together there's emerson fitipaldi a winner two years ago and roger penske the winningest car owner at the speedway and in the field of course rogers other driver rick mears starts on the pole jordan john cox starts in 33rd position now there are the corporate suites that overlook the fourth turn there are many ways to view the indianapolis 500 you could sit up there as a vip guest general norman schwarzkopf is up there for example today or you can buy a ticket into the massive grandstands here about 300 000 of those available or you can come like so many do and just join us in the infield which is full of mud today and a little bit tougher to see the race from now let's go back down trackside danny sullivan is with gary gerald he's been in the garage area paul just 15 minutes or so came over from the speedway motel and the golf cart has now gotten dressed and the waiting game continues and we were just talking about how difficult this is on the emotions because regardless of what any driver says this is a whole different environment at indianapolis well it's true of course we've been here you know for three weeks the build up the parties everything the testing every day that just keeps swelling and swelling until now and you're you're ready to go we were ready two days ago and you're ready to run and now with this rain you know it's on it's off they say there's a cloud behind this one you know you don't know really what to do with your butterflies and your emotions what kind of a game plan do you have for this race because we know that it's been an ongoing struggle to get the horsepower to get the straightaway speed to be competitive with some of the other front runners who grabbed the headlines this month well for us i think the big thing particularly with the weather is we've got to try to stay on the leader lap we've got to try to try to stay there because come 101 laps this race could be called if it rains anytime after that we've got to try to stay there and hope that we're in contention when it gets close to the end of the race you've been through this drill so many times in the past any special or unusual emotions on this race day not really i think a little bit different because as you said we haven't been one of the guys setting the pace so we're not the contender in the way we have been in years past and uh we just got to keep trying to work on it and get just consistent and run on the leader lap the whole race danny sullivan from row three as we go back up to paul page and as danny sullivan will tell you no one ever does it alone it takes the work of a top flight crew to win at indianapolis there's also a chance for the crew to shine for just a bit earlier this week on thursday the miller pit stop contest was that moment following thursday's final on track practice a huge crowd packed the tower terrace grandstands for the 15th renewal of the miller genuine draft pit stop championship the first semifinal pairing matched aj foyt's crew against the patrick racing team backing danny sullivan at the drop of the green each team was free to go each six-man crew electronically timed from the moment the car enters the pit box to the time it leaves the designated pit area each team was required to change four tires and connect their fueling equipment sullivan had no trouble advancing to the finals despite a five-second penalty for having a man over the wall too soon sullivan's crew got the break it needed when problems with a stubborn right front wheel left point fuming in the cockpit in frustration eventually the stop was completed but the only consolation for the fight crew was a five thousand dollar prize in the hope that there'd be no reoccurrence of such problems race day the second semifinal matchup had bobby ray hall and the gallus craco team going against mario andretti and the newman haas crew as each team came over the wall into action it looked like a classic showdown each crew flawless completing their assigned tasks in a fraction over 13 seconds but as the cars came down off the jacks and ray hall pulled away mario's car stalled and the jubilant ray hall crew was on the way to the finals against sullivan much to the dismay of mario's backers at stake in the finals twenty five thousand dollars to the winners fifteen thousand dollars to the runners-up at the drop of starter dwayne sweeney's green flag sullivan was away quickly and into the pit box well ahead of rehaul but keep in mind that the separate timing of each team didn't start until the car tripped the timing light entering the pit sullivan's crew that had survived preliminary competition against 10 other teams completed their work in 13.1 seconds barely holding off a gallon late bid by rahul's crew that proved to be just two-tenths of a second slower for sullivan the victory was his fourth a record for the miller competition but the first for the patrick racing alfa romeo team and of course that um miller pit stop contest is just part of the many festivities both here at the track and with the 500 festival to continue throughout the week before the running of the race the track is drying very nicely now let's take this time for another installment in our continuing series on what's new in sports science and technology we're back live as emerson fitipaldi who's a physical fitness fanatic is making his final preparations before the start of the race with the help of a trainer now let's go to jack root who is with our pool center man is rick mears and rick you're waiting out this rain delay as they continue to dry the track inside the confines of your garage what are your concerns though as the concerns changed now that you know we've had some wet no not really i think you know we ran in so many different conditions this month so far i think we've uh found the car seems to handle all of them fairly equal so really the only thing i think today so far other than the rain if it rains some more would be the wind blowing the wind's blowing pretty hard which would make turn three and four a little sensitive now what will that do to you inside the race car if you do hit that wind well basically it'll make the car understeer push and turn three try to blow the nose out from under you and then turning into turn four where you're turning back into the wind it'll kind of pin the nose of the car and make the car loose so it's gonna you're gonna have to have a little bit broader setup on balance you're gonna have to live with a little bit more one way or the other to help cure those problems a terrific front row year on the pole what will be your first lap strategy well we're gonna try to get a jump if we can and uh you know we always want to try to get the jump and if we get it that's great you know we'll try to lead it if not we're gonna fall in line like normal and uh you know just kind of sit there and bite our time see what the track conditions are like stay in the hunt and hopefully be ready at the end a lot of people saying you might let aj floyd lead that first lap well we're good friends and everything and i'm tickled for aj but uh racing's racing and i'm sure he'd do the same thing paul let's remember too that every time he's been on the pole he has never led the first lap general norman schwarzkopf boy the crowd is pleased that he is here today visiting the 500 mile the race for his first time and just before the rains began to fall here dampening the track some 3 000 troops that served in the gulf war marched around this track and despite the rain the crowd came out and watched that well you can see that track is drying very quickly just a little bit of moisture down inside toward the pit wall itself now let's go to gary gerald he's with mario andretti and paul it's funny that you mentioned general schwarzkopf because mario andretti had dinner with the general last night i'm sure that was a great experience well it was a lot of quite a bit of quality time with him at uh mary holman's party last night and um just uh to me it was uh just an incredible pleasure to be able to meet him and uh and he's everything that i expected it just uh he just portrays the confidence that all of us know already that you know from the job that the troops have done over there in the persian gulf mario of course starts outside in the front row and over the years many have said that that's the best place to start this race you've got aj to your left and rick muir is on the inside a lot of speculation about the first lap how much have you really thought about lap number one of this 500 mile race well you think about it of course because uh you want to get it right but obviously just uh you can't speculate with yourself too much because you just don't know what the other guys are going to do so uh it's gonna be a matter who really gets the so-called hole shot out of turn four and uh what gear ratios are so whoever gets into that first corner first obviously will get the corner a lot of experience this is the 26th time that mario andretti has been through this drill he's hoping that for the second time he'll end up in victory lane paul what a wonderful moment mario and this man general norman schwarzkopf as he now makes a tour of the speedway apparently the officials here are very confident in the drawing of the track because they're sending these celebrity cars out onto the racetrack and look at the crowd everyone on their feet the cheers are magnificent now mario andretti one driving for andy granitelli granatelli was known for innovation here at the speedway and in the middle 60s that event innovation was just incredible let's go back and look at the turbine-powered cars this is the woosh mobile designed for three years in secret by andy granitelli it was called wish mobile because of the distinctive sound made by its power plant a pratt and whitney aircraft turbine the car was ultra modern all-wheel drive a monocoque chassis and even a flap in the back that would jump up and air brake the car whenever the driver touched the brake pedal the driver was the great parnelli jones and in 1967 with this car he dominated most of the 500. the turbine was without question the talk of gasoline alley with its unique features many of the drivers complained about the air brake jumping up at the back of the car and frightening them as they headed into the corners still each time out to practice the fear of this magnificent machine grew in gasoline alley parnelli jones would start sixth on the grid with a qualifying time just over 166 miles an hour mario andretti would sit on the pole at nearly 169 miles an hour but as the green flag came out it became evident that nothing could match the brute speed of granitely's turban jones motored into the lead halfway down the back stretch of the opening lap the only person that could slow parnelli down that day was the weatherman heavy rains hit the speedway after 19 laps and the race was postponed jones picked up where he left off the following day a number of wrecks depleted the field wally dullenbach was the victim of an accident as was leroy yarborough george snyder and johnny rutherford the caution light would flash for over an hour but then the unthinkable happened in the waning laps an inexpensive rear-end bearing broke and the turbine was powerless the despondent stp crew headed by andy granitelli kept looking northward for the appearance of their car finally they saw the machine creeping at a snail's pace obviously destined to go no further after leading 172 laps parnelli's day was done andy granitelli could only stare in disbelief at his silent and failed dream aj foyt moved into the lead now with just four laps to go but his path to a third victory was momentarily blocked when bobby grimm chuck hulse carl williams and bud tinglestead along with larry dixon crashed on the final lap aj suspected trouble and slowed down and was able to snake his way through the wreckage and take the checkered flag to join the elite list of three-time winners at the indy 500 the turbine would come back to try again only to eventually be rendered ineffective by changes in the rules and while that winner in 1967 may have changed just a little bit the intensity still burns so great 34 years aj foyt and now you're you've had to delay your final start at the indianapolis 500 by half hour or so what are your thoughts right now well i just hope we have a real fast race a good safe race and just may the best man win and i'm looking forward to it's first race i've been back since i've been injured and kind of looking forward to get back in the seat again middle of that front row though that leaves you in a position where can you dictate the start or do you have to follow what rick mears does well i like to be able to dictate to start but you got to follow the pole man he sets the pace and actually mario's got the nice slot on the starting position but a lot depends on how we all celebrate you know a lot of times these guards celebrate good sometimes they don't and a lot depends on how we come up we celebrate good we'll be right there if we don't we just fall back and wait what eight months ago when you were just starting your rehabilitation did you ever really in your own mind believe that you could be here well i've always felt like when i put my mind to doing something i can do it uh i know a lot of people didn't think we'd be back but i said i'd be back and that was my goal and i raised it well congratulations aj paul isn't it incredible how calm aj looks before the start of his race emerson finapoli won two years ago he's with jerry punch emma was extremely relaxed here as always in the garage area it's a two-time national champion world champion m.o starting back in row five you're not accustomed to being back there concerned at the start of the race well i'm sure it's going to be a much more difficult where i'm starting i i'm starting good company with varelinda and gary batten house but it will be a lot of traffic will be you know difficult i would say the mainly the first 20 laps you have to be careful more conservative than if i would start on the front now we saw you moments ago with jim landis back there doing some stretching some movement to what was that for well you know i think the stretch always help you know i'll be sitting in the cockpit for three and a half hours possible and uh you know it's nice to be relaxed next nice to be you know stretch up and warm up to go and do a good race now it's difficult enough to focus on the task at hand 500 miles but your wife theresa eight and a half months pregnant will be sitting in the pits uh you're gonna have to wander a little bit and think about her well i told her to wait after the race and uh like last night i said don't make sure the baby don't come tonight i have to have a good night's sleep now she has to hope for the race the crew said they made this radio mo during one of the laps and say ammo it's a boy back to you paul emma would like to be in the car much shorter time two hours 41 minutes the record time here set last year so many wonderful stories so many great drivers in this 500 mile race the 75th running so now let's begin to meet the drivers in the 75th running of the indianapolis 500. the field is the traditional eleven rows of three we'll start in the back with position 33 and move toward the front in the 11th row from the inside out is randy lewis pancho carter and two-time winner gordon johncock it was just two weeks ago that gordy was working his farm when he got a call to come and drive the indy 500 in 1982 he won by 16 100th of a second the closest 500 ever the 10th row is made up of three very persevering men roberto guerrero willie t ribbs and dominic dobson dominic crashed hard two weeks ago chipping a bone in his leg but the team bought another car and now with a knee brace on his leg he's ready for his fourth indy history was made when willie t ribbs became the first african american to join the field in 1987 roberto guerrero's engine stalled while leading to give the race to al under in the ninth row john paul jr in his third 500 finland's terrell palmeron and scott pruitt it was just a year ago march when scotty was injured in a testing accident at west palm beach florida since that time he has been in constant rehabilitation just to prepare to drive in this race the eighth row has two rookies and a veteran jeff brabham in his ninth race buddy lazier and hiro maschusta mashusta is the first japanese to drive in the 500 he relaxes shooting pool buddy lazier is a skier and operates a resort with his indie driver dad jeff brabham sits in his dad's number 17 the first successful rear engine car from back in 1961. the back four rows have one former winner three rookies and the slowest car in the field and we'll meet more of the starting field in just a little bit still cloudy over indianapolis but the track for the moment is very very dry we will start right on time you know almost every profession or craft uses a shortcut in language to describe very complex things racing is no different [Music] [Applause] here are some simple terms that express much more complex ideas for example we may say a car is pushing push or understeer is the tendency of the car to continue straight after the wheels are turned the best example of push came in 1988 with danny sullivan now watch his hands as he turned the car went straight and he pushed into the wall [Music] the opposite of push is loose or oversteer when the back end tries to slide out once the wheels are turned three years ago scott brayton got loose in the indy 500. the back end swerved out he over corrected bought the car and lost to the loose condition [Music] we also refer to the stagger setting stagger is making the right rear tire slightly larger in diameter than the left rear it helps the car turn left easier because the right rear is driving the car into the corner the short shoots are straights that link between the first and second and third and fourth turns in the race itself we'll refer to the move over flag the starter will display this flag to advise another driver another car is following closely now sometimes a driver will be black flagged that means you report to your pit where a race official will either check your car for safety or reprimand you for a violation over in the third turn a card section and the american flag patriotism rampant in this country at this time and the celebrities continue to circle the track and the officials of this race getting more and more confident have already begun their countdown to the start of the engines they say just 43 and a half minutes away and the 75th running indianapolis 500 will be underway stay with us it should be a most exciting afternoon [Music] floating over the speedway now the airship america it travels about 20 miles an hour the race cars a good 200 miles an hour faster the goodyear blimp about a thousand feet up there's the shot down as we count down to the start of the engines well this has been a most emotional year at indianapolis and many of the emotions have focused on a single man here's the story as told by sam posey to his son john [Applause] dad who's the greatest racing driver ever well a long time ago when winning depended more on the driver than the car the very best was a man from texas named aj foyt aj floyd did he win the indy 500 you bet he won it four times well what was he like his dad tony owned a garage so aj grew up around cars and the first time he drove he was just eight years old he took a out the garage and running around in the backyard out there until he hit the side of the house with it and set it on fire i was out of town at another race aj loved driving dirt tracks where you have to really wrestle with your car the other drivers were afraid of him sometimes he'd get into fights and beat them up but when he went to indy he knew it was a big step knew it was his turn to be afraid that race morning i was a nervous wreck saying is this what i want to do for a living or not and they dropped the green flag and if you recall that's when they had the bad accident on that very first lap a driver was killed a driver who was one of aj's friends i'd be truthfully guys very nervous and very scared and i saw a good friend of mine pat o'connor lose his life you know and which i respected highly and i said to myself this might be too rough of a game for a.j foyt it was rough in those days 13 of the drivers who started in aj's first indy would be killed racing so aj decided it was better not to have too many friends but he had his dad so he wasn't lonely and then he won indy and he beat a great driver named eddie sax three years later aj won indy again but it was a black day two drivers got killed and one of them was eddie sax aj foyt was tough a.j foyt survived in his third win he came from way behind refusing to give up [Music] in those days aj would drive anything and he won more races and different kinds of cars than anyone ever had the fans loved him he was what racing was all about the danger the speed the glory aj won his fourth indy driving a car he and his dad had built themselves engine and awe they had won but racing was beginning to change and soon the things aj was so good at wouldn't matter so much the new idea was to build cars a lot like airplanes which made them very expensive car owners such as roger penske wore suits not t-shirts and they had computers in wind tunnels they built cars in factories while aj and his dad had only their shop aj didn't want to raise money and wear a suit he wanted to race i'm just gonna do whatever aj wants to do and i guess i'm a little bit hard-headed a little bit stubborn uh and got a lot of pride and it's either a lot of times my way or the highway and i i don't think i'll ever change from that did aj ever crash oh lots of times but once in 1965 he crashed so bad he broke his back and had to spend weeks in the hospital really while he was in the hospital that time his dad got into thinking about having a ranch a place to go to relax between races together they cut down the trees built the fences and aj got his son to help raise horses horses for racing of course by the early 1980s aj was winning less often his dad had died his mom too he'd been happiest when his dad was proud of him suddenly he was lost i'd have to say after he died i was there but i really wasn't there i guess what i mean by that i got in the car i had no enthusiasm about winning i didn't care if the crew worked good and i let myself get way behind i just did it because it was just kind of a job just couldn't realize they were gone and then once i woke up and said they're gone they wouldn't want me to act like this and i've changed my attitude a lot did he stop racing no but he was planning to trouble was aj wanted to race one more time the way he used to you mean like when he was the best yeah but then a terrible thing happened it was late last summer aj's brakes failed and he smashed into a dirt bank his legs and feet were crushed and in his pain he had a dream and he thought his dad was with him even though he knew his dad was dead when i got hurt i felt like i talked to my father i know that sounds crazy but like he come there he talked to me said everything's going to be all right and then he just disappeared again pins and screws held his legs together [Music] then a strange thing happened aj realized getting better would be a challenge a lot like the old days when he was able to do the impossible although he was by now 56 he amazed his doctors with his tolerance for pain and the more people said he wouldn't be ready for indy the more he wanted to prove them wrong come on you gotta go now come on that's a better poll come on push it was a race against time and he won the track is open for qualifications for four laps he made time stand still he reached into the past for the greatness that had been his but that he had lost maybe he thought his dad was watching and that made him try even harder racing has really been my whole life i love racing it's going to be hard to leave i just want to be remembered just aj and that's about it you know nothing special i mean just aj [Music] since 1958 much of the history of this great race has revolved around this man a.j foyt he's seen it all here today perhaps he will see a fifth time in victory lane the countdown continues to the start of the indy 500. [Music] he's the vice president today but of course he's also a hoosier and like so many hoosiers as a boy he started coming to this race now he circles the track we take a look now as we continue with the starting field some of the fastest cars will actually start in the mid pack of this field [Music] continuing to look at the fastest field in history in the seventh row from the inside to the outside are midwesterners scott brighton and tony bentenhausen outside mexico's bernard jourdain the sixth row inside is kevin cogan in the center of the row is stan fox and outside the fastest rookie mike groth drop loves to restore old cars and old homes in his spare time wisconsin's stan fox is a top racer and californian kevin kogan drives a buick today but he flies his own plane in his other life as a real estate developer row five is the fastest in the field with the fastest driver gary bentenhausen the defending champion ari lyon dyke and the 89 winner emerson fitipaldi emo works out daily he adds to his health regimen by keeping to a special diet that includes seaweed today he drives a penske chevrolet ari lion dyke won the first race of his career here last year earning a million dollars now the man from holland is able to pursue his second love by opening an art gallery ari drives the number one lola chevrolet gary bettenhausen lives in rural indiana his family has dreamed of an indie win for two generations today is his best chance in the number 51 lola buick so gary bentenhausen may in fact have a chance here today now of course the story of gary bettenhausen is the fastest car in the field is so much more than just that it's a story of a legacy here at the indianapolis 500 sam posey has this report gary bettenhausen's father tony raced at indy in the 1950s but tony would die at the speedway and the legacy he left his three sons was his unfulfilled dream of winning the race the family's luck however has been all bad gary led but his car broke down his brother merle lost his arm in michigan and gary's arm was crushed in this sprint car crash two weeks ago the bettenhausen's strange destiny again hung in the air gary made the fastest qualifying run of the year but the result was bittersweet the run came a day too late to put him on the pole and it fell exactly on the 30th anniversary of his father's death my wife and i talked about that on the way in but it's a better day today what would it mean to him to win the race unbelievable i can't even explain it i don't think you know it's i'd have to wait and if it ever happens then i'll tell you what it means one of the many wonderful stories as we look back through gasoline alley those are the garages back on the other side of that grandstand the drivers have begun to move to the track there's gary bentonhausen along with his brother since 1946 of bettenhausen has made this walk through gasoline alley 44 times it's the 19th time for this man gary benton of course he drives today with still some paralysis in his left arm as a result of a sprint car accident years ago [Music] so gary bentonhausen starts on the inside of the fifth row the fastest row in the field but then there is that marvelous veteran front row simposie [Music] well it almost seems that paul fate must have stepped in to create this fabulous front row of mirrors foit and andretti a kind of mount rushmore of racing it's hard to believe they were once kids rick with his long hair out in the desert with a dune buggy aj getting into brawls in the pits mario the young immigrant from italy sailing past the statue of liberty today they are legends but each knows that much of his fame rests on his exploits here and today's race is as important as any he has ever run now because of its importance this race becomes more difficult each year doesn't it bobby unser well sam there is no place in racing that puts pressure on a driver like here in indianapolis in racing a driver realizes if he wins indy he'll be immortalized and the pressures come from everywhere a driver's hometown the vast world media approximately 500 000 fans here at the track and many millions of people watching tv and listening to the radio all over the world a lot of people ask me do the drivers really get butterflies before the race now i don't care whether you're a rookie or a 34-year veteran it's solid knots in the stomach at least until the green flag drops well in the state of indiana the speedway is the second largest city on race day a crowd approaching nearly half a million people the cars have begun now to make their appearance in the pit area the crews laboring over them and here comes the 85 winner danny [Applause] sullivan [Applause] [Music] [Applause] danny will drive one of the two alfa romeos in the race and from the marion county sheriff's office here in indianapolis the drill team and danny's teammate roberto guerrero already well down the pit road with his lovely wifey very special moment to these drivers move now toward joining their teams and cars 10 wins have come from the first rower rows in the 500 as we continue our look at the starting field the front four rows all qualified on the first day of time trials in the fourth row on the inside is eddie cheever jeff andretti in the center and canadian scott goodyear to the outside with the addition of mario's younger son jeff plus michael and their cousin john 12 of this field are named and ready eddie cheever sweated the last month here in indianapolis preparing for this race his wife rita chose instead to stay at their monaco home but she's here today to watch him drive in chip ganassi's number eight lola chevrolet in the third row on the inside john andretti jim crawford in the center danny sullivan to the outside in 1985 danny sullivan spun and then won his first indianapolis 500 he is a modern man of many personalities the real danny sullivan will start this race in the number 20 alfa romeo driving for the pat patrick racing stable [Music] last year jim crawford took flight in practice here the transplanted scotsman still limps from a crash in qualifying in 1987 that forced him out of racing for a year but jim is back driving again for drag racer kenny bernstein in alola powered by buick john andretti and his father aldo share a love of racing history aldo is mario's twin brother john won his first indycar race in march driving the lola chevy for the hall vds team 14 winners have come from the second row today inside is bobby ray hall then michael andretti and al unser jr outside little al is an avid outdoorsman the defending ppg cup champion is the sole representative of the unzip clan today he drives alola chevrolet this may be michael andretti's last 500. he began testing for the mclaren formula one team this year and if he has his way he'll drive only in f1 for the next several years his best finish here his fourth in 1988 he hasn't finished the last two years but today he drives the newman haas lola chevrolet bobby ray hall is on a fitness campaign cycling with friends daily the 1986 500 winner has finished second in every race this year he carries maury crane's blue and yellow livery on his number 18 lola chevrolet 71 indy 500 starts are in the veteran first row pole sitter rick mears four-time winner aj foyt and mario andretti who drove to victory here in 1969 for andy granitelli a year and a half ago mario took up golf as a counterpoint to the tensions of the track in the last 11 years the former world champion has only finished twice he starts in his 26 500 in the newman haas lola chevrolet anthony joseph boyd jr the first four-time winner a record 67 championship wins the only man to win here in both front and rear engine cars the oldest driver in the field at age 56 aj starts his number 14 in his 34th straight 500. away from the track bakersfield california's rick mears loves the water it relaxes him while he plans even greater victories he starts on the pole for a record sixth time but it was just two and a half weeks ago that rick meers slammed the first turn wall in the only wreck he's ever had at indianapolis twice in 1979 and 88 he's won from the pole he starts today driving a penske chevrolet [Music] in the front four rows there are four former winners and four members of the andretti family and so appropriately they all walk out into the pit area together there's john his wife nancy michael and mario mario holds hands with his wife sandy as they prepare for the 500. counting today the andretti family has 39 collective starts [Music] family michael's younger brother mario's youngest son [Music] the vice president continues to make his rounds on the track itself in these times of renewed patriotism the country is still concerned about the troops abroad danny sullivan and scott pruitt visited the aircraft carrier theodore roosevelt still on station in the eastern mediterranean [Music] the tr cvn 71 and its squadrons have been at sea since last december there is a close relationship between race drivers and jet pilots similar attitudes danny and scott fit right in for the ship's captain a gift of danny's helmet with scott following up with a presentation to the group admiral to a man the crew was thankful the drivers would take time to visit as the tr still stands vigil over troops in the middle east the theodore roosevelt will remain at sea for another month but today they were focused on the indycar drivers the drivers focused on their high-tech equipment these crews are proud of their planes their ship and the role they played in the gulf war that'd be just like a pothole the morning's flights launched they cleared the flight deck to stage the tr 500 a race among the crew's rc cars afterward it was cheers for the indy car drivers [Applause] the crew of the cvn 71 play hard and work harder here danny and scott were spectators to the most advanced technology of all a u.s navy nuclear carrier and its squadrons in two days aboard they added 5 000 new fans to the indy 500. [Music] what a marvelous trip that was for those racing drivers emerson fitipaldi went along as well as they visited the sigonella naval air station in sicily the crowd for the most part in their seats and many of them are soldiers that served in the gulf war over 3 000 of them they were all part of a march down the main straightaway a little bit earlier looking forward to the running of the 500 miles the crowd despite the rain at that time stayed right out next to the track so they could applaud these heroes as they moved around the speedway so appropriate on this the memorial day weekend you can see that most of the people are in their seats but there's still quite a line that's 16th street just outside the indianapolis motor speedway still quite a line there vice president dan quayle has completed now his tour of the track and there's an important moment for willie t ribs as he meets the vice president what a marvelous month of may it has been for willie t so difficult in so many ways and now the rewards are here a place in the 500 field a historic spot the cars are still in the pit area they have not yet moved the machines out into their positions the eleven rows of three on the grid danny quayle still talking with willie t ribs you know this race on this weekend memorial weekend is a part of the american fabric here's our sas jack whitaker some more thoughts thank you paul as a matter of fact the indianapolis 500 is america's memorial day it is the day when all of us americans take time out to celebrate the passionate sometimes unrequited but always deep love for the automobile where the fourth of july has firecrackers labor day has speeches memorial day has the indy 500. these exquisite vehicles you're going to see today are the far edge of an exotic technology an exotic technology that's gone to exotic costs and it's a technology that has some people worried that perhaps we're taking the sport out of this event as personified by the driver well not quite not as long as we have men like a.j foyt to remind us that it's always been men who have designed and men who have driven these magnificent machines since way back in 1911 and as long as they keep saying gentlemen start your motors it will always be america's memorial day thank you jack the indianapolis 500 is not only the greatest race in the world but it may in fact be the world's largest party let's look at yet another view of this american tradition the sights and sounds of the indy 500. so [Music] to take all their vacations spend their entire month of may here that's not on my mind ready to move out he's still back we'll talk about that away from his team how are you doing there he is [Applause] in this starting field that were not even born when a.j foyt began driving do they love a.j floyd joe walks with a bit of a limp after seeing those x-ray x-rays it's surprising he walks it off [Applause] his shoulders come on give me some room yep he sticks with people they stick with him [Music] is this indeed the last time around [Applause] foreign what must be going through this man's mind [Applause] that's pretty nice aj he said he'll retire this year perhaps not only aj knows that's a good song paul some athletes define what is great about their sport to people who rarely follow the sport arnold palmer babe ruth rocky [Applause] marciano [Applause] strikes up on the banks of the wabash [Music] [Applause] [Music] now aj is by that famous number 14. [Applause] that he will race today's running to the 500. and the challenge that aj and the 33 face well it's the same it remains unchanged since the track was first built back in 1909 mario and michael sit waiting in the pits the start of course delayed but it will be coming very shortly now three reporters will be covering this race for us from the pits on the track florence henderson renders america the beautiful [Music] america god shed his praise on thee [Music] see [Applause] his grace [Music] [Music] see [Music] [Applause] [Applause] in addition to some of the early ceremonies brazilian emerson fidapaldi his wife theresa the winner two years ago of course these are vast pits on the inside of the main straightaway in indianapolis we use three reporters to cover them gary gerald jerry punch and jackaroot let's meet them now all engine reliability always a major concern in this race even for the chevrolet the dominant power plant the undisputed champion of today's indy car racing because of some engine failures by several chevy teams and problems they've had this month there's concern that the chevy the champion may be vulnerable jerry well gary the contender is this v6 american-made stock block buick which boasts the quickest qualifying laps of the month here now by virtue of 10 inches of extra boost allowed only in this race the buick engineers feel they have the reliability problem solved there are 10 drivers in today's field who hope they're right jack another story we'll be watching tires remember in last year's race many of the front runners encountering severe blistering problems due to high speeds and intense heat well goodyear went to work they've brought a tire here that's less heat sensitive but teams report only getting 35 to 40 laps so that means they'll be changing all four tires on each and every stop you can count that those will be three very busy men during the running of the 500 as they cover from the pits and they have begun now to roll the cars out to the racetrack there's aj's car and they will put them in position on the main straightaway in their 11 rows of three the crews already beginning to huddle around many of them making those final checks the defending champions car that's ari lyon dyke's number one machine number one of course signifying his win here last year there's rick mears the pole sitter his wife chris the designer of his car nigel bennett stands just behind i wonder what goes through a designer's mind in a moment like this wondering what piece in that car as we've seen with the turbine cars it could be the smallest the most inexpensive that might make the difference i'm sure that nigel wonders what possibly could go wrong here today what hasn't been tested richmear's car on the pole in the field beginning to take some formation out on the main straightaway the skies are still heavy with clouds but there is no rain immediately and of course this 11 rows of three will be led down to the green flag by the traditional pace car this year is a bit unconventional a very special car a dodge viper here is jack root with the story [Applause] for only the second time in indianapolis 500 history a prototype vehicle will be pacing the field now in 1941 it was a chrysler newport feigen in 1991 it's a dodge viper a one-of-a-kind automobile that will eventually see full production by 1992. now the viper is equipped with a v10 engine that puts out over 400 horsepower and one point to remember is it already meets all of usac's stringent performance requirements such as being able to go zero to 90 in less than a quarter of a mile special high performance brakes well it all comes standard on the viper even when it becomes its production counterpart now as you look at the viper if it looks reminiscent of the cobra there's a major reason why one of the key men in the design scheme and production of the dodge viper is carol shelby the father of the cobra carol is this a signal that we're returning in america to the high performance muscle car era i think so i think that was a great era of of the automobile i think this has a lot of nostalgia in it of the 60s and yet it has a lot of the technology of the 90s so it's kind of a blend now when you get behind the wheel and pace the indianapolis 500 it has another historic significance you'll be you didn't even expect to be here this year this time last year i was laying with 15 percent of a heart waiting for a transplant i didn't think i'd be uh i didn't think i'd be alive this time much less driving the pace car i thought i'd never see another indianapolis race so i'm a very lucky man well carol shelvin becomes the first man in history to pace the indianapolis 500 with a heart transplant [Music] the crowd continues to wait for the start of the race abc sports coverage of the 75th indianapolis 500 will return after this message and a word from our abc stations [Music] race driver actor paul newman who is a co-owner in the newman house racing team their drivers paul heads out towards the car four drivers from the same family it's a first at indianapolis here's sam posey andretti and company capital assets for racing drivers annual earnings well into the millions nature of the business very high risk very high reward glory and making your mark on history indy 500 history the family patriarch mario won the race in 1969 making the name andretti synonymous with speed but within months of this scene in victory circle the family would take a terrible loss aldo andretti mario's twin brother in a sprint car crash broke virtually every bone in his face mario went to see it i was prepared for the worse and i saw the worst you know it's shocking of course and when it's there one of your own your own blood you know and it's you know sometimes devastating really over the years a second generation has joined the firm mario's son michael wanted to raise even as a kid his brother jeff took longer to decide and runs indy for the first time this year aldo's son john perhaps closer to racing risks than his cousins earned a degree in business administration first all three made the decision to race by themselves we're all going into this thing with our eyes wide open and you must understand it's something that from my standpoint i didn't present this to the kids or i didn't even suggest that this is what they should do uh they've been exposed to it it's their choice entirely it would be highly hypocritical obviously if i wouldn't support them sport has been my life the andrettis love to compete against each other like here in portland when mario beat michael do you want to say anything to your dad right now on national television well happy father's day dad the andrettis have had good days many of them but they've also had terrible days like this one at pocono john caught in a savage accident his car ripped apart his dad aldo standing by the scene a reminder that if your name is andretti your business can be very frightening i'm not going to dwell on that no i mean just the same as someone you know sitting in a corner oh my gosh someday i'm going to die i'm gonna deal with that you know somebody around is gonna die i mean you just can't do that in life you know in life as i say you just uh you analyze certain things and uh and certain things uh conceivably have a price and you say okay i'm willing to to take the risk mario andretti the patriarch that great racing family of course uh that's not the only family here at the indianapolis motor speedway that's little al unser he is the sole representative of the unser clan in the field here today and gary gerald is close by indeed we are paul al is on the wall here patiently waiting shelly is alongside and just a few feet away to his right is his dad it's gotta seem a little strange that big al is not in this race today yeah it is it's very strange to see dad in civilian clothes and not in a driving suit but uh you know we knew this day was coming it's just a shame that it happened so soon unlike a year ago so much of the spotlight because of the 89 finish was on you in 1990 this year it's been a fairly quiet month for your team and with foyt and andretti and uh mirrors in the front row it's been a little quieter have you enjoyed that oh a little bit yes it's something that uh the month can wear on you and and all the pressures and so on and this year it's been a lot more quieter than it was last year for sure and uh battling cars ready to go all right well we're going to see if we can swing over here and maybe just get a quick word with big out we'll turn this way but this has got to be so tough for you and i don't know how you handle it not being in this race al well it makes it difficult but you know it's a choice that if you you know by like i've said if you're not competitive there's no use doing it so it's hard will we see you in this race in the future oh i hope so no i plan on coming back no i'm not through yet you can't get rid of me yet we're glad of that paul al unser we're time winner but it's an international event there's hiromashusta the first japanese in the 500 mile race field he is very happy about that the purdue all-american band is assembled on the grass strip between the pit area and the main straightaway the cars are in their 11 rows of three silent at this moment the dodge viper pace car sits just ahead of the field the officials are now all in place tom stewart sam benford the chief steward from the united states auto club as the moment's countdown each and every crew reviewing within their minds the preparations that they have made and the strategies that they face the traditional ceremonies are among the most emotional in sports we now begin the traditions that lead to the 75th running of the indy 500. next with a special salute on this memorial day to our troops who fought so valiantly in the persian gulf please join indiana's own sandy patty for our national anthem [Music] oh what so proudly we stripes and bright stars [Music] streaming [Music] [Applause] [Music] the is that our flag was still there oh silly does that start good yeah [Applause] [Music] sandy patty ladies and gentlemen attention on the track attention on the track drivers to your machines for the invocation once again given by the most reverend edward t o'mara archbishop of the catholic archdiocese of indianapolis for the 75th time throngs of people are gathered here in mid-america for what we firmly regard as the race it is race weekend once again but also for all americans memorial weekend above all else it is god's weekend as conscience in freedom dictates to each of us we offer to you oh god and lord of all our homage our thanks and our praise there will be no larger gathering of members of the human family for recreation anywhere on this earth these 12 months in solidarity with our sisters and brothers everywhere we proclaim our thanks for what you o god have made us and make our own both the pains and the joys of all humankind on memorial weekend we remember that we were this year a nation at war now become a nation of peace once again good god bless this peace as you alone can and make it grow both in nations and peoples we give you great thanks that so very many of our fellow americans and allies too have returned safely to their homelands and to the normalcy of their lives we pledge to them our ongoing gratitude in agony of soul we mourn those who have not come back and we acknowledge our need to hold these men and women in perpetual remembrance as well as all who have ever died in the service of our country we pray for our hostages still held in such cruel captivity for all refugees for those living under tyranny for those made poor by famine and calamity because it's the day of the race bless this speedway and our 33 courageous and skillful drivers their mechanics and their crews as they press to the edge of endurance keep them safe from harm finally bless our being together this day and return us safely to our homes our work and our lives and please too dear lord some sunshine and good weather amen [Applause] again drivers in your machines drivers in your machines and also clear the track in the front two rows all of those not associated with the race car move behind the yellow lines as the pre-race ceremonies continue with a salute again to this great nation here's jim phillippi would you please remain standing on this memorial day weekend we pause here in a moment of silence to pay homage to those individuals who have given their lives unselfishly and unafraid to make it possible for us to witness as freemen the world's greatest sporting event we also pay homage to those men who have given their lives unselfishly and without fear to make racing the world's most spectacular spectator sport [Music] hey [Music] hey [Applause] scheduled a-10s performing a flyby here they are from the 45th tactical fighter squadron assigned to the 930th tactical fighter group usaf reserves at grissom air force base indiana this diamond formation is led by colonel kurt guertin the squadron commander the other pilots are major dale inman lieutenant parker pennies and in the slot lieutenant colonel gerald worth the a-10 affectionately known as the warthog was designed as a tank killer and has become a combat proven performer in the persian gulf war here they are race fans as you know the indy 500 is all about traditions this year with our troops returning home each and every day from the victory in the persian gulf their special meaning to the singing of back home again in indiana and it's my pleasure and honor to introduce to you mr jim nabors [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so back home again and it seems that i can see the gleaming and the light still burning bright through the single most [Music] through the fields i used [Music] how i long for my [Music] [Applause] we now direct our attention to the head of the starting field as we await the time for those magic words ladies and gentlemen we are at that time of the day for the command that will start the 75th running of this event here to give the traditional four words is chairman emeritus of the indianapolis motor speedway board mrs mary fendrick hallman get your arm get your leg over this way which way i can [Applause] say it now gentlemen start your engine [Music] and just as it was 80 years and 75 races ago the roar begins to build on the main stretch the 33 already the sound forced the chairs of the crowd 80 years ago it was 80 000 now nearly half a million people to watch 33 of the finest ready to race on a sunday afternoon in indiana emerson fit epauldy two years ago he won this race becoming the first man to earn a million dollars in doing so aj boyce begins to roll away for the 34th time willie t ribs staring into history [Music] for a moment danny sullivan's car did not fire now they're trying to get him rolling let's go down to the main stretch gary gerald paul in all of the frantic activity you never get tired of this moment it's pure magic in sports it's hectic it's frantic but yet if there's a quiet confidence going into this 500 if there can be such a thing it may be with a bobby ray hall team unheralded very quietly they've had a terrific month they have been consistently fast they have had few motor problems remember he was second in this race a year ago he's been second in every race thus far this year he starts in the second row he and his team think this could be the day he gets his second indy 500 win paul so we'll keep an eye on bobby ray hall but danny sullivan in the number 20 car alfa romeo powered is not started so they push the car to the end of the pit area and they will roll it back trying to get it started he has three laps before the green flag to try to get it into position our on-board cameras al unser jr you look over his right-hand shoulder back from the viper the dodge pace car looking at the front row and the giant crowd all around the track the usac officials that looks back over the field and of course at the wheel it is carol shelby very much part of the design of this machine what a spectacular view to the front row as they present a similarly spectacular view to us here's what could be a factor today the key information there is 50 chance of showers the team's strategies no doubt will revolve right around that and there is gary bentonhausen one of the big stories today here's jackaroot paul 51 weeks ago gary bettenhausen was resting in a hospital in california with three broken ribs a separated shoulder and extensive burns gary bettenhausen has not driven a car since last year's indianapolis 500. you've heard him tell us this is the best ride he's ever had he's never won this race he'd like to win it for his family can he do it today see him back there on the inside of the fifth row and aj the center of the front row he searches ahead let's go down to jerry punch when you consider the mutilation and their amputation of aj floyd's feet occurred just eight months and three days ago even those in the medical profession marvel at how far he's come and there are those that believe that his still swollen very sensitive feet could pose a problem today with the vibration of the chassis that will elicit pain pain that he has felt all month long but with prolonged immobilization none of this could sit in when aj has a solution he'll simply bang his feet against the pedals yes the pain will come back but so with a feeling paul aj foyt with a long battle ahead now on the line here today for floyd and the 32 others 200 laps around the two and a half mile track 500 miles in this malveline race analysis the average speed record set last year by our illinois 185.9 miles an hour the field here the fastest in history at 218 and a half miles an hour we'll have plenty of valvoline statistics for you throughout the running of the 500 miles danny sullivan's crew patrick racing team they work on his car trying to get that engine to fire one of those already running of course is rick mears the pole sitter you look ahead to the viper pace car from the inside of the front row here's gary gerald all seven times team penske at indianapolis has gone from a spot here on pit road to victory lane and they've got two great contenders of course in mirrors and fittipaldi today mirrors setting the pace out there now from the pole after a violent crash the day before qualifying his crew worried about those mechanical unexpected failures could it happen again as for fitopaldi he's starting in row five the concern of his crew how many risks will he take from row five getting through traffic to battle for the lead knowing ammo it could be very exciting paul the engine's in this race dominated by chevrolet but it will be a fight throughout the day between the chevys and the buicks cosworth judd alfa romeo the one out for a male with its trouble already on board with michael andretti as he maneuvers into his starting position and chassis is in the race well dominated of course by lola the true two sports entries are both made right here in the united states and the penske cars of course looking back from our lion dykes car as the defending champion moves around this field they've completed the second of two warm-up laps and now we're beginning the pace lamp let's take a look at the starting field the pool sitter for six times rick mears then aj foyt mario andretti bobby ray hall michael andretti and al unser jr in the second row john andretti jim crawford 85 winner danny sullivan the fifth row made up of gary bettenhausen arie lion die gamers in fit of paulie the fastest row in the field hogan fox and the fastest rookie mike broth the seventh row scott brighton tony bettenhausen and bernard jourdain of mexico in the eighth row jeff gravel buddy lazier hiromashusta the first japanese john paul jr finland's terrell palmeroth and scott pruitt the tenth row roberto guerrero willie t ribs and dominic dobson in the final row randy lewis pancho carter and gordon john in the pit area they begin to slide the cover back on danny sullivan's car as the field approaches turn three on the pace left and indianapolis tradition tends to rule the field should go green at the conclusion of this left and danny sullivan will start the race rolling from the pits michael andretti as the pace picks up they're off to the fourth turn the paul center rick mears brings the field down carol shelby rick mears comes to the lead and there is an accident coming off of the fourth turn coming off of one coming off of one there is an accident the equipment rolls and the yellow flag flies already the start is so perilous here the track is only 50 feet wide in the straight 60 in the turn rick pierce slows the field and brings it under control those loud reports that you hear are not part of an accident they are aerial bombs that are fired over the top of the track to indicate the car's positions as they move to the different turns rick mears has not led a lap here since 1988 he's about to lead the first lap of this race under yellow who could ever have predicted that and this is the 400th lap that mears has led here at indianapolis the first since he's won in 1988 and here is gary bentonhausen rolling for the pits already first report is is that buddy lazier is involved in that accident and as information filters to us we'll pass it to you in the pits mommy just a change of tires a matter of safety maybe ran over some debris well he very easily could have but of course uh it could be buddy lazier's accident could cause him to lock him up just for a minute too they did make a handling change to the front end let's go to jack root gary bettenhausen came in took on four new tires and he's back out on pit road paul he was involved in an altercation with buddy lazier but he looks as if he's going to be all right you're looking at buddy lazier's car the nose has been taken off and the crew is trying to decide now what they can do about it buddy just 23 years old lives in vail colorado all right here is a shot of that situation as the field came through there is rick and you saw gary bentenhausen lose it to the inside lazier caught the wall with a nose and was able to continue on so gary benton house and bobby looked like he's part of that yes he did you know from the rain washing stuff down he was very low let's look at it right here gary's very low completely below the white line what happens he's in the turn the water from all the rain has wasted all the debris down there made it extremely slippery now gary really should have known that he's been here enough years for that paul and so the changing surface already affecting the indianapolis 500 gary bettenhausen spins first and then to avoid gary buddy lazier decided to throw his car sideways as well gary bettenhausen and lazier both got their cars back under control no effect look at all the paper and debris that's on the track in that area see lazier did a complete spin around right there on the left you can watch his nose hit the wall took the nose right off probably gonna put him out of the race because that's where the brake master cylinders are both well that damage to his car really shouldn't be a problem as far forward as it is bobby there it is you see the 51 car that's benton housing you can see that lazier as a rookie in turn one of his first race is confronted with a spinning car right in front of him tough assignment the entire front end's going to be bent on buddy's car uh it's not going to be safe to run even if they attempt to it's going to be out of alignment and everything because he hit pretty hard well let's get an update on danny sullivan situation here's jerry punch well the bad news was they did not get to make the start of the race on the track the good news they found the problem it was a drive cable that goes to the fuel pump that they have repaired here in the pat patrick team i spoke to patrick they haven't repaired and danny will be able to race now but unfortunately he's lost some time but this yellow will really help at least they're not rolling laps away at high speed while we're under yellow here at the start of the indianapolis 500. at indianapolis the green flag is out as racing resumes leads mario andretti but mario comes to the inside to challenge beers that's michael lined up in third place just behind mario kevin kogan in the short time that we were green just from 16th to ninth place lately on oval courses rit meers has had a pattern he started from the pole he's had six poles in opposite the last two years and then fallen back however today it looks very different i think the pittsburgh and me are very hungry for this race well sam everybody [Music] i think he's out to prove a point right now but remember he is one of the smartest oval drivers that there is michael andretti challenge rich highlighting back and forth places aj as the field for the most part has struck out that owing to the fact of the accident early on now remember danny sullivan is out and running and because of this yellow he was able to join the race on the leader lap so everyone runs with the leader rick muir right now you can see that like with mario there then he's using a lot of track he's going way underneath the white line and willie t ribs comes in into the pits kind of mechanical problems that look good when they go to the zoo's fascinates on that calling they're going to take the top of the car off and usually the first thing they do is change the electronics on the car because it's easy to change often it's the problems when they change it as a matter of course stool here little al and bobby ray hall right now you notice all the guys are running clear down to the grass well it's a little early to be doing that it's because without for all the rain they're not exactly sure how the track is going to be it's going to take a little getting used to for a while ray hall you who you see there in the center of the screen in the blue and white car has of course finished second in every race so far this year and he had five seconds last year including a second here at the indianapolis speedway [Music] alexander jr being chased by his teammate bobby ray hall ray hall has had a very quiet efficient month of may three times this year the only three races leading up to indianapolis ray hall has finished in second place [Music] touches above 220 miles an hour you know it's possible with this strong south wind they're going to be hitting 230 there as we see them go down the end of the back stream but sam is the wind's got to blow which is certainly a glowing right now and there's no rain that's good and it's going in the right direction in indianapolis moving all the flows of one end to the other and it's pretty nice it's one of those across the track that's really messing the driver up a lot exactly the effect that rick mirrors described to us before the race began was that the car would under steer a little bit as they went into turn three so far that has not caused anybody any trouble we continue to watch this fight for big plays aj foyt sits ahead by their natural instincts by the drivers being smart and especially after gary bettenhausen's and buddy lazier's accident early on they're all just being careful right now they're really feeling out a brand new green racetrack and they're feeling out the aerodynamics or the wind buffing from the other cars right now gary bettenhausen after that first lap spin that brought out the yellow giosian 26th place while buddy lazier is being pushed back toward the garage area perhaps he is out of the race it certainly seems so yes he's definitely out of the race you could look right at the front of his car right there and see pieces are missing paul the master cylinders and all are gone and already the leader rick muir begins to close on the back of the field they just went around randy lewis rick mears who started racing here in 1978 had never even spun out much less had a crash here at indianapolis he had the first one this year broke a long string and of course he came immediately back from that accident and set the car on the pole now aj boyce being pursued by al unser jr they both come past randy lewis little al tries to move to the inside aj holds him off in turn one [Music] he slides across the short shoot mommy rayhawk pursuing little owl aj can be a little superstitious and he remembers that he has never led the first lap of a race that he went on to win so everybody talking so much about his leading that first time i'm not sure he really had his heart in it paul sam i don't really think he can uh i think he's taking points a lot smarter than maybe people giving credibility 34 years hitting the first lap is not important not having an accident obviously by looking at gary benton house it wasn't important and al unser jr closing now on aj point little al battles with them things are a lot different most of the drivers have the car set up for a really hot slippery racetrack which means that they put a lot of downforce in their wings [Music] and here is michael or mario andretti who has just picked up the lead from rick muir mario andretti picked up the lead [Music] so we're seeing some tremendous action here at the start watching one battle for fourth suddenly mario is able to slide past rick and rick begins to fall backward a bit now is that a problem with rick or is that rick setting his pace well it's been kind of a normal thing i think it's it's big mirrors leading the race this early is not important to him as we know historically he will come in pip crew will change his car and he'll be good again but now mario mario is the charger he's the charger for the start with the charger till the end so i would have expected this paul an analysis of the qualifying time suggests that mario's car is set in such a way it has very little more top speed than it has turn speed he spent all month setting up for this moment when the race would begin and he had a car that really felt stable underneath him obviously he's using it for full advantage so very early on plenty of fights here on the course rick pierce now moving around the traffic that's terrell palmeron the finland line just ahead and michael is coming up to challenge rick they both come out to the inside on the back stretch wow so close together and michael can you hold on down the inside oh it's going to be tight rick holds on you never used to see him do that run that high groove to defend himself incredible driving rick mirren so very early in the indianapolis 513 laps complete now we're with michael he darts to the inside out into clean air he's alongside that was a good draft [Music] these guys are going you know like 225 230 into the turnpike they can't change their weight too fast it's incredible isn't it bobby he never flinched though and he ran that secondary line that wider line and made it work for him these are the best there's no question about it right with rick mears for that very wide fourth turn because there's the pit lane down to the inside [Music] and gary bettenhausen has just been lapped by mario andretti and he lies just ahead of rick mayer it's a big difference in the way the cars are set because of this rain too paul i just wanted to mention because a lot of the drivers set their cars for a lot of downforce thinking that there was going to be a hot sun shining on the track track could be real real slippery now what it's going to be is it's very cool outside there's clouds over there's going to be no sun the track is going to be extremely fast guys that are better for straight away to be probably going to do better at least at the early part of the race [Music] is michael andretti as we keep an eye on aj boyd john is ready just got around aj as john charges forward yeah and these four andrettis are hardly clones of each other they're very different different looking they have very different attitudes one thing mario talked about around there moving past aj the one thing that mario said an example for is mental toughness these guys and paul it's not a physical problem with aj point it's a car problem he's radioed into his crew chief phil casey the car has a terrific push to it he says he's having a great deal of difficulty keeping it on the track in the corners aj foyt struggling with the problem mario andretti leads he led the 1966 500 at age 26. now he is the oldest leader of the race at age 51. and i'll tell you one thing mario can see the spectators from where he is and he told me often he gets a terrific reaction from them they're rooting for him it's fabulous to see mario lead this race and he knows the spectators are pulling forward willie t ribs went into the pits a bit ago he has remained there since that time jerry punch you have an update paul the lifelong dream may be over for willie t ribs on the restart they lost a cylinder in his buick v6 he currently has five cylinders the derrick walker crew now with changing the plugs trying to figure out what the offending cylinder is possibly can fix it but it looks very doubtful paul now for over eight and a half minutes willie's car has been silent in the pits but if there's a crew that can do it directed by derrick walker that team certainly can what a terrible moment for willie how horrible it must be to sit there and watch the rest of the field spring pass but not this car eddie cheever who just made that brilliant pass a moment ago is rolling very quietly down to the edge of the course this could bring out a yellow flag if that car remains in a precarious position well as long as he's still rolling they'll keep it green but he's just about to stop as we can see right now that's awfully early too many cars dropping out this early early in the race now 18 laps into it bobby uh are we in as there comes emerson fit apolly passed aj he was still struggling with that car if they go yellow wouldn't this be an opportune moment for a stop well it really was this is putting within the window for certain sure in fact i think it'd be foolish not to do it right now and the yellow flag in fact does come out slowing the field and in doing so it comes at a most opportune moment for the cars to come into the pit now all of the crews you can see them begin to lay out their equipment ready for a pit stop paul remembers it came the yellow came when they were coming off a turn four so they've got to really complete a lap before they come in take advantage of it gordon johncock who started 33rd is one of the first of those to make it back into the pit area he actually was able to anticipate the yellow on the back stretch the leaders past the line now and coming around ready to make their stops both of the andretti's come in together rick mears comes in together in fact most of the field will probably take advantage of this yellow and make a stop al unser jr makes his stop [Music] very dangerous moment too because so many cars are in the pits at the same time kevin cogan who made a spectacular move to the front also comes into the pit so most of the key players in the field have come in under the second yellow of the day he will be back with more from indianapolis roberto guerrero climb down to the car these cars can take some incredible punishment they are designed with so much safety in mind that's one of the alpha cars now one of the two alpha cars in the race reporter was driving and of course the other one is driven by danny sullivan so a store-crossed day for the alfa romeo team and a.j floyd stand up into he was in the crash look look at the uh left front the car is not making contact with the road not at all damage that suspension and that looks to be rather permanent damage yeah bobby can that be repaired at all no there's no repair there that's going to be that's going to be permanent uh pulse like you said that's probably going to put him out gary benton house back in under the last yellow he made a stop with 16 seconds in and out and aj is waiting is he saying goodbye yeah i think it might be that crowd saluting one of the greatest drivers ever in the history of the sport is this the last moment what a terrible way for aj to end in indianapolis career with this day held so much promise you can see it's been pretty bad because the left front tire doesn't turn pulse off of the ground when he's going straight unless they want to do a real long repair job that's the only way they can get him back in the field leaves aj behind the crowd stands to salute the grand champion as he rolls down off the fourth turn and into the pits for sure the car would have to have at least an entire left front corner there had been so much speculation before the race but his success in qualifying caused him to decide to come back perhaps for the 35th year i think the signal that you see him making from the cockpit right now suggests no this is the farewell of aj sam i don't think it's bothering him all that bad i think he's he's made this race a 34th start you can see floyd is never this happy i've never seen him drop out of her race and been happy before [Applause] he was the oldest man 56 year old aj [Applause] lifting back to the pits on the 25th lap of the 75th indianapolis 500 to a standing ovation anthony joseph white jr [Applause] and aj rolls past the entrance to gasoline alley as they come down to the south end of the pit area will there be a valiant effort to put that car back in the race it's difficult from his position for aj to determine how much damage is there but i feel rather certain that he's convinced yes he unstraps and it's the end of it they continue to work with kevin cogan at that accident site after he was involved causing this yellow with roberto guerrero [Music] aj the master mechanic himself looks down at the mangled hearts in the left front no doubt wondering is there a part is there something i can do but i'm sure there's not well you know paul he's the one that's going to make the decision believe it or not when he takes his helmet off he'll look at a little bit more and if he decides to fix it believe me the guys will [Music] [Applause] it began with a spin in 1958 it ends after a crash in the pit area as aj foyt climbs out for the last time the car now starts its lonely trip back to the garage area and gasoline alley you see that little rod sticking up there you can see that's part of the steering wheel now aj out of the car is with jack rooney point the car is battered and bruised but you've come back here and you waved to the crowd as you went around was that a special moment for you were you saying goodbye well i don't know i was very sad i thought we'd do good but we had something malfunctioned in the pitch or we wouldn't have been back there we was kind of playing it cool we tried for the lead and didn't get the lead at first so we just wanted to run the race where we had it planned and everything was going good till we had our pit stop i don't know what happened well that was an air wrench that malfunctioned on the left front of the car and they were working on it but you maintained your composure and you went back up what are your thoughts right now when you see this the possibility is it the end for you i don't really know what i'm going to do uh it's everything's going through my mind right now when you had a chance back in 1961 to talk to ray haroon you asked him when did you know that it was time to quit because he quit when he was in his mid-30s he said it would come to you has it come to you well not really but i make a statement or commitment i usually try to live with it paul he wants to keep the option open and i'm sure were he to commit to retirement the fans would not hold him to that promise willie t ribs out of the race as well here's jerry punch well paul ironic two of the men who got the biggest applause when they qualified for aj foyt and willie t ribs and both of them have climbed out of their cars here almost simultaneously willie what happened well jerry right after the green flag started the car was fine and then we had a yellow and then when we restarted again we developed a misfire and we can't detect it and it's just dropped the engine right off so you know it's you know it was a great month and i thank mcdonald's and i thank all the support and all the fans and everybody that motivate me to get here and i'm just sorry that we didn't get to run the whole race will you be back next year absolutely i think that you know we we want to be back and i know the fans want me back and i support and i thank you errol a lot of courage a man who may be beginning a long career at indianapolis motor speedway willie t ribs let's go up pit road to gary gerald well jerry while a.j point was limping toward his pit in his car the defending champion harry liondyke was in his pit and the chances now of repeating a 500 championship have certainly been dimmed some type of electrical problem took off the body work they changed spark plugs they've been trying to make adjustments they've got him back on the track but he was in here unfortunately a very long time paul but the good news gary gerald is that that lengthy pit stop didn't bother him that much he came back in in 19th place only a lap behind the leaders we are still under yellow the reason for the yellow of course is an accident that involved aj foyt roberto guerrero and kevin cogan who is now out of the car but you can see the usac safety crews and the indianapolis motor speedway safety be very careful with kevin we'll keep a close track of this situation with kevin cogan look in the upper right hand corner here as we look back toward the situation that set up this yellow both cars hard into the wall long before they were into the corner corner bobby well they certainly did and of course we didn't see it soon enough right there in that shot to be able to make a call on it why it happened but well guarantee they both hit the wall hard and obviously from all the damage we could see that anyway but there's colgan behind and you know the the new cars cars dodging everywhere repair the guerrero in the foreground kevin kogan in the upper part of the screen yeah coke and uh coke and you know something might have gotten into the cockpit uh the car didn't look like it was been up super super bad so probably one of the rods came through or something probably maybe that last replay will give us the most information on what happened to kevin cogan there it is now let's look at the cars that are running just behind imagine the guys trying to dodge all the tires and aj was caught by debris he actually had the car well down under control take a look now all right now watch aj points guards the black car on the inside [Music] and sam a piece of debris right there and see that debris bouncing in front of aj's car that debris is a tire oh he hit a tire hit it hard paul it's almost too small bobby to be a tire looks like another part of the wheel assembly perhaps the brake caliper or something whatever it was it was heavy and it did incredible damage to the front end of aj's car kevin hogan caught the wall on both sides of the car he is now in the ambulance and going back to the hannah emergency medical center here at the track one more look both cars hard against the outside wall the most unusual place i've not seen an accident in that area of the track in a very long time they ride the wall and then they come off the wall with the rest of the field coming down and you know what bobby said about it seemed as if kevin might have been hit in the head he didn't seem to be sitting forward in the cockpit as he crossed the track they cheer aj as he leaves the track abc sports coverage of the 75th indianapolis 500 will return after this message an award from our abc stations back at the indianapolis 500 which was delayed because of rain the caution flag is out at the moment but we expect to go green anytime and will do so with mario andretti leading his son to the line as the green comes out now we've already had a series of incidents in this race on the very first lap we had a spin from gary benton houston and look at up battle for the lead as mario and michael fight it out and mario mario gives way to his son michael has the lead of the race bettenhausen's fun that sent buddy lazier into the wall [Music] it's amazing to see a bothered son so close so hard as i said before they don't cut each other any slack we had a caution then for eddie cheever who's already out of the race with a problem and rick mears began sliding backwards from his pole position then the yellow flashed on again as roberto guerrero and kevin kogan got together on the north shoot and as they ricocheted off the wall debris plummeted down and hit the left front of aj point's car and aj boyd is out of the race this race is only 34 laps old we're approaching the first 100 mile mark now you can see rickman's working a little now right tells now that he made an adjustment to the rear end of the car when he came in for his pit stop like we thought he would probably put a bigger wicker bill on the back of the wing paul now you can see him start working a little out so his car is definitely gaining and whatever they did has obviously helped rick as he comes up inside a little now i think ricky look at how it came off that corner though seem to push coming off the corner let's keep an eye on rick mears he's definitely pushing paul there's no question about it that means the adjustments that he made so it's too much because there comes ray hall by him now grejo gets him on the inside so rehaul saw whatever it was with rick now rick's going to come right back at rehab no he isn't look at the desperate trouble he's in paul when he goes down that low look at him down he will be almost on the grass when we get around to turn one that's turn four there that means he's got a real bad pushing condition that's the line you see him take with the front end just will not bite as you go through the turn he's in a lot of trouble he's going to lose a lot of ground in the next few laps look at him down onto the ground he's gone to the ground using a tremendous amount of the quarters we're accustomed to seeing rick nears drive with precision that's not what we're seeing now he is obviously struggling with that car all he can do now is slow down on the turns because with the front end pushing like that he would just soon hit the wall or wear out the right front tire so he just got to slack off he can't come in now it's too early to come in after the last stop you'd have to put some lamps on hold for another yellow a run out of approximately 33 to 35 flats of green point remember the last time rick won this thing he fell a full lap behind and was able to make it up he knows how to save the car [Music] brick down inside [Music] we keep watching certainly not the driving style that we're accustomed to out of rick but for the moment at least it appears that he's comfortable with it but still it's put him back in fifth place just ahead of him is bobby ray hall jack you have an update on rick i think we're seeing a brand new line for rick mears because he reports to richard bucke's crew chief that everything's fine they seem very very pleased with the car right now [Music] i think the ladies don't want to talk right now greg beers is going backwards and getting past there's something wrong with him i promise you all right lion dyke we've mentioned have been in out of the pit several times with an update here's gary gerald well paul they were able to locate the problem it was a broken spark plug they replaced them as you mentioned it was under the luxury of the yellow so they lost just one lap but they feel the problem is corrected he's back at speed on course well back in the middle of the pack all right running back in 14th place but in the last few laps he's been able to move up he came back off that stop in 19 position there's emerson finn equality working with john andre right now working up another good race right there paul there's number five emerson fit of quality somebody yeah we expected to be a lot faster early on in the race that's the battle for sixth of course bobby and rick meers who's running fifth is right ahead of them you could if you look just up this road there there's rick there he comes and john andrew and then emerson fit a ball that john andreas working up on mirror pulling up on him so back again rick is definitely in some sort of a handling problem comes up behind andretti emo has led 286 laps during the past two years as he works his way to the front he tries to lie not this similar from that being run by rick don't you think bobby well he's uh keeping up uh a center line but father all going down to the bottom and all coming out remember to retain that several years ago the rule here was that you couldn't drive with four wheels below that line that is no longer the case no they had to give up on that to manage but then at least temporarily until they could do something else about the track ball because when it's easy to run down there the guys are just going to do it and that's human nature and talk about the andretti family well they dominate the top 10. michael is first mario is second they also occupied sixth place with john and tenth with jeff everson fede just went by john andretti john's run into some handling problems watch him slowing down the turns a little bit there too paul most people most of the drivers stay at the speedway motel on the grounds emerson fit a quality on the right of the screen here now pursuing rick mears here challenging his teammate little al so two battles between teams right now paul and i'm sure neither owner really entirely happy with it as we're just crossing the 100 mile mark you don't want to see your team battling itself this early on that's for sure paul because you know there's nothing worse than for a team owner to have his car get into an accident together and i'm not saying it would happen but it could it's never a good feeling he watched bobby ray hall the numbers on the center of his steering wheel tell him when his flow gauge on the dash reaches those numbers that it's time to come into the pits for refueling bobby ray hall sticks [Music] because if he does the turbulent air will cut the air off that he needs to get the grip he needs on the track and run just slightly to one side of it that's tony bettenhausen that they work down underneath well what you can see there it'll be a little bit contrary to what sam said it's that how important that the drafting the smith streaming is here watch ray hall right there [Music] 43 laps into the record book michael andretti lead his father mario runs in second place al unser junior is third place with bobby ray there comes rick pierce 5th [Music] the indianapolis 500 now begins to settle down just a bit the 75th running chaotic at first to the yellow flag right on the very first path so out in front it's the andretti family and that seems to have become the story at least for the moment the run continues though there's still over 400 miles to go bobby ray hall and his teammate allenger jr have been dicing it up for third place that fight continues there's plenty of sports this afternoon here on abc sports and it's auto racing the international race of champions scott pruitt rusty wallace bill elliot are in the lead as they head into the second challenge of the iraq and that comes up right after the indianapolis 500 here on abc spreading through traffic now there is ray hall fighting with little al and rahul brings it down low trying to take advantage of that car that may in fact block his teammate and that is jeff andretti just ahead of him let's race it in the short shoot paul that's kind of rare especially for two cars and running as stats as these two are but what happened was greyjoy will be able to graph they'll fit get a run a little [Music] in the meantime michael andretti stretched his lead over seven and a half seconds over his father you're on board with bobby ray hall as he comes alongside of jeff andretti waves thank you for the recognition that he was there and giving him a clean shot jim crawford's car has been retired as a crew member puts one of what's a helmet away and jim crawford's day is done driving here for kenny bernstein there's a lot of courtesy it's all rahul's little way there to jeff edgerty a lot of courtesy between the drivers out there on the track they really owe their lives to each other another great story here scott brayton has a strong run going he's managed to move up into seventh place now let's get an update from the emergency medical center here's jerry fine dr henry has come out of the medical center henry what's the status on the roberto guerrero and kevin cogan berna guerrero has suffered a small bruise to his right shoulder and he will be released from the hospital here shortly kevin kogan is complaining of some right arm pain and some right leg pain however he remains awake and alert that is very good news kevin kogan makes a trip to the hospital but that's a much better report than we may have expected considering the length of time it took to get him out of the car here comes bobby ray hall alongside of emerson a bit of quality ray hall runs the high line here vitipalti keeps down low and then dials off the low side of the corner so that baldi is able to keep ray hall back in an ongoing fight for fourth place there's a there's a deal where instead of quality had about four cars making a draft for it boy it was just like a vacuum cleaner it just sucked him right on by it ray hall of course got caught in the traffic slowed down that was it for him as sports illustrated sam once wrote great hall is the indy driver who just doesn't look like one he's bald and he wears glasses he fights his nails he used to chain smoke managed to give that up see him there on the right of the screen of a hypnotist he's a 38 year old who really could be 50 except for the way he performs in a racing car i'll tell you what he's been in a lot better shape more recently though he has stopped smoking he really seems to have settled his life gaining confidence from his true championship and his indy win in 1986. now as we mentioned earlier he cycles every day medipaldi comes past jeff prabham in the second of the true sports injuries approaches tony bentenhausen and comes down inside ray hall takes the low line as well and continues his pursuit but finipaldi turns off into the pits so mario andretti just ahead a bit of baldi too there's mario heading for the pits we're on lap 53 and mario with what appears to be a routine stop but it will take him out of second place in equality the penske crew working on that car who will come out first the pit crews battle one another now mario has a little trouble re-engaging the clutch as he comes out bitter quality is still in the pits hard to get these cars going people probably wonder sometimes why but they only make about 135 150 horsepower till the turbocharger's height let's go to jack a root in the pits we've had a problem with emerson emerson fittipaldi's uh problem on the pit road was a left front tire when they exchanged it they put the wheel lug back on the pneumatic wrench failed they couldn't get it to tighten it properly it cost a valuable time on fit road and that accounted for michael andretti being able to make up valuable time on pit road mario and ready in and out michael and freddie just made his stop as well so under the green flag on the 53rd lap the leaders all took a look at the pits and now the gallus craco organization is waiting for the arrival of al unser jr and bobby ray hall now paul the reason a lot of them are making the stops maybe a little bit earlier since the last time they had fuel would simply be because they haven't had a chance to check their mileage under the green yet that's little al stopping bobby ray hall comes past the stop as well all four tires everybody's coming in now remember they haven't had a lot of flap under the green and that's the only way that they can check their fuel mileage after this stop they'll be able to run a little bit longer let's go to jack well rick mears now in order to make this stop they're trying to correct a tough condition a handling condition where the car was pushing they said they were going to add a little bit of wind they drop all four tires and he is off and away but remember gentlemen they went through 43 sets of tires to come up with 10 good sets for this race also if you're looking and saying wow they look like they're way down the track much closer to the pit exit than in past years you're absolutely right remember with accidents like dominic dobson's and mark dismores they have moved several of the pits and back three of them down south of the gasoline alley entrance and closer to the exit to the pitch to kind of clear up the north end of the track al unser jr came out of the pits the leader of that battle but now it is michael andretti that after the pit crews made their stops as the lead of the race and the valvoline race summary after 50 laps mario andretti was the leader started in the third position led for 10 laps the average speed nothing to brag about just yet three caution flags brought the average down to 164.7 miles an hour bobby ray hall has been involved in a rather constant fight with his teammate alexer jr and under green here is the leader of the race remember for the race to be official it must run half distance plus one it's 101 laps and the clouds continue to be incredibly thick up there the drivers cannot be oblivious to that they have a good view of the weather rolling in from the south of the track as they head down the main street michael andretti is out in front we mentioned all the varied stories of this race and among them have been the story of the tires remember last year tires blistered there was even some concern this week bobby unser but it doesn't seem that given the cool conditions that's going to be a problem paul i checked all these tire stories out yesterday there is no right front tire problems on the wearing out we heard some rumors that there might be but there isn't and especially with the track as cold as it is today with no sun beating down on the surface the tires are literally going to be heaven for all the guys today believe me michael andretti for example is generally so far 56 57 laps into that race he said about the best handling of the fastest car on the track let's go down to the pits now here's gary gerald and paul jim crawford is on the wall on the wrong side of the racetrack was it electrics or what happened jim well we're not for sure yet we'll take it back and have a look it lost the cylinder for some reason so that was the thing so much hope but so many questions about the reliability of the buick and you did a tremendous amount of testing yeah uh what can you say a race is a race uh things happen in shame for the quickest day people are all out there cheering me on well at least he didn't go to the hospital this year let's go to dr jerry punch well that's where roberto guerrero just walked out of roberto it's good news that you're okay what happened up there uh we were uh racing together in fact we were side by side for a whole lot before that and you know i left exactly the same room that i had left in all the other corners all of us when i felt a little bump in the back and that was it i don't know if maybe his car just understeered a little bit into me or something it was just one of those things we were racing really well you got the alpha right here what's in the future for roberto guerrero well at the moment uh you know pat patrick has promised me that he's going to try and do michigan and another race maybe laguna seca so that's really the only hope i have at the moment i don't really have anything anything for sure roberto guerrero fortunate to walk away from this one paul defending champion ari lyon into the pits making his stop in and out in just under 17 seconds later in the race is still michael andretti and a good fight beginning to develop now between the 18 car bobby ray hall and the five car of emerson fit equality that's jeff and ready just ahead of bobby ray hall jeff andrade paul has really been looking good for a new driver for a guy that hasn't got an awful lot he's been doing a tremendous job ray hall fighting with gary bettenhausen trying to catch both gary and jeff andrenny and lined up just behind them the penske organization and the person of emerson holding right behind him and then rick emerson finapoli arrived this morning on a motor scooter from an indianapolis suburb where he rents the house boy look at this there's benton house and lady ray hall ray hall slides to the inside rahul tries to get benton house and can't get it jeff andretti stays in the fight nobody's giving up on this one this battle now because ben now's of course has the few against it which is supposed to be so powerful and regal has the chevrolet benton house wants to race him he can turn the boost up and be very fast on the straightaway keep ray hall at bay but he can't run the whole race that way i run out of fuel well sam he won't turn the boost up believe me but what he will do is to know that the buick probably has 100 more horsepower unless the chevy gets a good run at him down there straight away he can't pass the ball bobby uh gary told me yesterday that he would make boost adjustments somewhere between 52 and 55 inches in heavy traffic he would go to his engine a little more like a jockey kind of whipping his horse a little bit rick mears challenging his teammate emerson fittipaldi an ongoing fight for fifth place bobby the two different engines the buick the chevrolet they make horsepower in different ways and have widely different ranges in terms of rpm they certainly do paul because one has an awful lot of power at low rpm or stay at 9 hundred the other one goes up to twelve thousand four hundred chip away so two entirely different engines battling here in indianapolis 62 last to the 200 complete michael [Music] andretti it's a lead gray sky over the indianapolis motor speedway michael andretti leads this race but rain could yet be a factor and we had hope that we could give you from time to time a complete rundown through the entire 33 cars in the field we do that with the assistance of the computers that generate the scoring of the race over in the united states auto club timing and scoring section the report is that the primary computer let go very early on in the race and so as a result we can't give you that rundown now we'll try and help you with it as best we can ongoing battle for six plagues emerson fit apolly rick mears john andretti paul as i looked at the speed on michael andrews a little while ago 215 miles an hour that's slow for the people that don't understand the track mean or mean that the track is very slippery they should have been running about 218 to 220 right now i'm sure it'll clean off a little bit later just because bobby as we saw michael driving from the indoor onboard camera his car wouldn't you judge seems to be handling very well yes it is my glad ready by the way is just behind this he's about four seconds back from lapping those penske cars let's get an update from jackaroo well it seems that everyone is having a great deal of difficulty getting the handle as they say on this racetrack they keep chasing it at one minute it tends to be a little loose then the car tends to push both of the krakow gallis team cars are now reporting that they've got a slight push after they made the last series of pit stop they just haven't been able to find the right combination yet so they still struggle to find the track as michael andretti comes up behind hari lyon dyke who was running in ninth place and gets past him michael was fourth in indy three years ago he's broken down in the last two years but both times he was contesting the lead and he knows how to win 500 milers as his two victories in the michigan 500 a test well you could just see how slippery it is michael turned four as we watched he went clear down to the yellow line very seldom we see the car that low michael and ready of course with now a long history at the indianapolis 500 he leads this race we asked him are you still as intense in your approach to racing as ever i think the intensity's always been there and i think it's the same uh you know the only difference is the experience you know i feel a lot more comfortable now than i did you know back when i started um you know i was very fortunate my first year here in 84 where i had a really good car and i felt confident the whole month but the reality struck the following year in 85 when the car wasn't right and it was a very long month that's the year that i really came to respect this place you know it's those type of experiences that make you feel comfortable today because you know what you pretty much expect i think that's that's good and look how michael comes up and tries to handle his cousin john john doesn't want any of it he pulled alongside on the back stretch now they work into three paul just look how low john was running it would make you think by looking at a dent and he was going to the pit today look they're running so low i don't believe in all the years i've been here i've seen it run this low on the racetrack so obviously it's very slippery out there for whatever reason no dropping oil water debris you know dust things like that the guys are really to the bottom rick mears comes inside gary benton house but not a pass from position but mirrors is trying to keep away from michael andretti who is just behind and of course that's the battle of the buicks we've been talking about but how are the buicks faring well jim crawford is out willie t ribs is out kevin kogan is out with a crash gary bentonhausen is running two laps down you can see that everybody is running very very tight here at the speedway the speed differences have been a concern because the two different engines the production-based buick and the chevrolet racing engine tends to make horsepower in a different way as bobby told you and that means that there's a slight difference in the speeds you know the big advantage of that paul is is that more rpm the better because it's the rpm produces horse parts of the rear wheels a lot more that like lower rpm would feature the rear wheels it's just a simple thing of multiplication 73 laps of the 200 are now complete michael andretti is out in front of the indianapolis 500 which started a little bit late we were delayed here on the start because very early in the morning and then on the very first lap gary benton house lost control he spun buddy lazier spun as well buddy's car was too heavily damaged to continue gary bettenhausen is in the fight but he's two laps behind the leader then an achiever fell out of the race and that brought out the second caution of the day and then roberto guerrero and kevin cogan got together heavy damage to both cars kevin cogan has been taken over to methodist hospital of indiana they're going to have a look at some pain that he's complaining about and arms and legs roberto guerrero is all right but that accident also took out aj foyt debris from the accident hitting the left front of his car and to a giant ovation aj point walked back into the garage area so the indianapolis 500 continues michael andretti is out in front abc sports coverage of the 75th indy 500 will return after this message and a word from our abc statement on board with michael andretti the leader of the lace race but he comes over to the left into the pit area and makes yet another pit stop this on lap 78 and gary gerald waits for him indeed we do paul we're wedged in between tires fuel stank i've never seen it as crowded in the pits but now we see the nose of the car building hose is engaged he reported on the radio that everything was good we see a tremendous amount of heat being generated from the brakes and the right rear smoke coming there no major problem still up on the jacks mario came in he wanted more stagger because he had a push now he's down and away we've got it right around 16 seconds on the michael and ready stop he was happy with the way the car was working prior to this stop paul right on the money good work for the team the timing is right gary gerald but not fast enough to keep little al from coming past in the first corner as michael was coming back to speed and now alexa jr has the lead of this race paul the one thing i notice it's really strange is they're pitting awfully early on fuel i think we're going to have to check out their fuel mileage and see if it's as bad as it looks like it is right now let's go to jackaroo paul let me tell you what the teams are going to do they're going to adjust the handling through the use of tire pressure in the right rear tire normally a right rear light doesn't carry 45 pounds of pressure there haven't been any tire wear problems what they're going to do is they're going to increase by two pounds the pressure now they're radial so they can't adjust the stagger what that's going to do is change the spring rate in the right rear and free up the car that's what al junior is going to do and bobby ray hall in this pit stop sequence yeah and they can afford to do that jack i believe because it's a relatively cool day last year that was the problem they wanted to use more pressure and it blistered the tire allen jr completes the 80th lap the 200th mile he is the leader of the race bobby ray hall is second then fit apolly then michael andretti rick mears runs in fifth john andretti is six scott brayton is seventh eighth is mario andretti as they wait for emerson finapoli to pit in ninth is ari lion dike 10th is jeff brabham 11 is gary benton house and they are now jeff brabham benton house and two laps behind the lead of the lent race let's go to jerry punch scheduled pit stop for emerson finally rick bronerman and the crew will change all four tires the fueling will take place and of course fiddle pawley running his own race rhino said they were hoping to get the car a little bit quicker they make no significant adjustment on the car a little trouble now with the left rear they finally get the tire back on off the jackson final is away and the roar of that engine has vitipalti comes back to the fight and gary bettenhausen makes his stop and here's the leader of the race al unser jr [Music] here's jack teammates come down pit road al junior comes to a stop as the dallas crico teammate bobby ray hall also comes in on pits pit road tearing away a tear away now we told you they were going to adjust tire pressures to free both cars up they have completed their work on al junior's car as they continue to work on bobby ray hall's machine and it is a drag race by police teammates down pit road franco callus doing a fine job with those two cars little al leads ray hall out of the pits though you know that's kind of interesting paul because they do all their pit stop practices together the dallas motor company right in albuquerque so i was kind of interested to see who was going to get out first i think we're starting to see some rain on the uh lens of our onboard camera on ray hull's car well we've completed 82 laps that is 19 short of a full race the clouds are very dark to the south that could definitely figure into the race in fact these teams will do some incredible up terrell pomeroth has a fire in the engine compartment he's not in danger but he wanted to get it stopped as quick as he could now they're trying to get his helmet which is snap he's in a little tether to the side of the car to help keep his head upright one of the he's one of the biggest drivers too in the in the race it's hard to get him in and out of a cockpit and we go yellow with this situation as the tarot is out and free of the race car when you're in that and you're stuck in it and you don't in the panic of the moment you don't know why you can't get out you could just be terrified now we're approaching the halfway point of the race the halfway point being 100 laps that's 15 laps away now we are under yellow because of this situation but as suggested the crowds overhead are getting much darker there is the possibility of the rain that will figure into the race as well [Music] paul newman co-owner with carl haas on the newman haas team his car michael andretti at the wheel is in the lead and just over his shoulder there a million dollar operation they use a number 10 can to help keep the vent covered over in case of moisture newman of course has been the co-owner of this team since the early 1980s there's terrell palmeros car being carried away he's in good shape we saw him wave to the crowd newman would desperately like to see a victory today it would confirm and all of the years of waiting paul newman bored with the yellow flag roger penske he's keeping an eye on his cars next saturday at three o'clock two o'clock central on abc's tour the sports best pair up and take aim at the 142 500 purse in the beaumont pba doubles classic live and then at 4 30 3 30 central time on wide world of sports it's the broadcast premiere of the controversial mike tyson and razer ruddock heavyweight war and what award is plus the advil mini marathon from new york city it all begins saturday here on abc sports well they cleaned the track up still under yellow from terrell palmeros fire in the engine compartment let's get an update on michael from gary gerald paul of course he's been battling up here with the lead just as he came in for that last pit stop he was on the radio hollering loose loose loose they made the stop they found a puncture in the left rear that's why the car was loose but the critical thing is they made a slight wing adjustment on the stop so now how is the car going to react when they go back to green will they have to go back to the earlier setting on the next stop that's the question the michael andretti crew has right now michael andretti of course runs at the lead there's terrell palmeros number 23 sitting by the edge of the course this is what happened you can see some puffs of smoke coming out of the back apparently something broke in there and set fire to the engine compartment looked at me like an oil fire bobby well it could have been an oil fire could have been fuel paul because once the fuel gets the burning also it'll burn some of the materials around there most likely though it's an oil fire darrell himself forgot about that tether he was so anxious to get out of that car you can well understand that the driver's biggest fear is naturally fired but you can just see with him he doesn't want to negotiate this deal he wants out of that car if that name sounds a little unfair he's from finland where he worked in the shoe business that made his family so prosperous very nice man but like so many others here his dream has been to drive the indianapolis 500 well as we run under yellow you've seen so much running in traffic we ask a series of the drivers what is it like to drive in traffic at indy traffic is uh pretty tough because of the fact that that the air dominates the car so much when you're running over 200 miles an hour when you're behind another car you're losing 15-20 percent of your aerodynamics that you've had to hold you down on the track and that's throwing you all over the place the car is moving around your head's moving around if you're following just one car is one thing when we are found a group of cars it's like a storm out there and it's not the eye of the storm you're on the outside i mean you're where it's tough where it's heavy when i'm driving alone and there's not many cars around me i i think it gets a little boring and then once i get a group of five six cars in front of me then i kind of say yeah you know i've got something to do i got something to get my way through and it can be very exciting traffic but you have to think for the other guy the guy in front of you if he's slow there's a reason for that he might have a problem and he might be so busy concentrating on the turn and trying to keep his car underneath him that he might not be paying attention to you so you have to think for the other competitor while you're trying to pass him or laughing and so there is no misunderstanding the yellow is for tarot palm ross fire we had mentioned that there was a drop or two but nothing really to affect the speedway in fact it's lightening up over the speedway right now 87 laps are complete now the race is official at 101 laps just past the halfway point so should it start to rain you could call the race and all of these teams are absolute expert at trying to predict the weather there it is not necessarily predicting the weather around here paul everybody has to be a weather man the way it's been this month matter of fact i remember one time and maybe he's done it today pat patrick sent his airplane up to try and find where the leading edge of some of the storms are now you can't do that because we're not talking storms we're talking a general overcast and there could be water in any of them the weatherman is definitely part of the indy 500 as the green flag is ready to face the field they come on for the fourth turn michael andretti leads them down emerson finapoli is in second place in third place is al unser jr [Music] in fourth place coming back to the line bobby [Applause] and then mario is ready now by now paul most of the guys have adjusted their cars once why sometimes three times some of them they should be having their handling down a bit pat now we'll see if they change the groove where they run the track just a little bit or not that will tell us how slippery the racetrack is get an idea here how the changes to michael's car have affected his handling that should improve last year al unser jr you see him on the left of your screen in the blue and white car seriously considered formula one as michael andretti has but he reached a quartz point late last july when car owner rick gallis pressured him to sign a three-year contract he did sign that contract went out and won that race that day and began a string of four victories which carried him to the indycar championship bobby ray hall closes up behind his teammates who begins a battle for third place that'll be the time to see on their pit adjustment both of them change the cars they came in let's see how they end up on the track this time the last time you'd have to say they were not even paul michael pulls away just a little bit this is how to put a second and a half lead over the second place car emerson fit a baldi little allen his ninth indeed with the feeling he's passed due i remember his first race back in the early 1980s he was so excited he'd often take his car after practice and not even bother fastening the seat belt the most laps that michael andretti has led in any one indy 500 was 45 back in 1986. today he has already led 55 laps in this race 91 laps are complete the andretti jinx is really part of the speedway will it strike here today both andretti's running well as are both team gallus cars who you see here on the screen so two teams of the three really heavyweight teams peskys being the third are contesting the lead right now this is the fight at the moment we're keeping track of the leader but the battle is between these two cars i gotta watch bobby ray hall paul i can just see that he's really working little al over in the way that he's trying to figure out what he's doing or where he has the weakness like going in there now to keep him going his front wings he carries the house and slows down bobby gary bettenhausen the story at the start one of the buicks the fastest man in the field let's listen to that engine if it's there at all well that's sad paul i i think we've all kind of root for the underdog a lot of ways and of course that's another buick engine going out of the race and we don't know that it's a viewing engine fault right now but we don't see any other problems with a car we just assume that that may be it gary bettenhausen was running in 11th place two laps behind the lead of the race his crew waits for him that's how they mark so he knows exactly where to pull in usually he's in here much faster than he is now the bet in the house and dream it looks as if we'll have to go another year unfulfilled let's go to gary gerald paul the first thing they do now is they clean the radiator intakes in the front they're unsnapping the the body work and that's the ominous sign they're going to have to go down underneath so it's going to be a long stop then housing has raised the visor that's all he can do just wait and see if the crew can identify the problem as soon as we have word we'll let you know you can tell it's a little bit more serious than just maybe a possible electrical problem because nobody's hurrying as much as they normally would that's kind of a telltale right there the tough benton house in luck his brother by the way tony is in 18th place so he at the moment at least is not a factor the fight continues between little al and bobby ray hall for third i started to say obama goes ray hall's work a little out over pretty hard every time little al looks at his pair he sees that blue and yellow card back there he also realizes that their chassis setups are virtually the same it's just the question how do they adjust the car as the race goes on or each other's cars way down into the corner early i don't know if he was darting away from something he saw or what that's to keep the front wings working really good paul we know it's the track look at that clear down the yellow line coming off the number four turn that's to keep the front wing so the front end doesn't push or he doesn't lose the grip on the front tire still that line surprised me uh dad michael talked to me about their lebanese heritage we're afraid of failing more than anything else last year bobby ray hall see on the right of the screen failed to win a single race for the first time in eight indycar seasons but he's really set himself [Music] there's john andretti he runs in seventh place and right now he finds himself between the leader of the race michael andretti and the second place car of emerson pitifully but he's keeping pace with the leaders michael andretti seems to be staying out in front in other words not losing ground so it looks like the adjustment that he made really didn't hurt him that much in the pit stop well back at the front of the field again you can see him a bit of paulie trying to close in on john andretti john not a factor in this fight but bitter pawley has moved the gap from almost the full two seconds behind the leader i plan ready where now he is just running just under a second behind don't fit a bomb well he is again should be a lot faster he's been going all day and pit adjustments or adjustments pissed off should help but maybe i just now noticed myself the demo is gaining a little bit on michael so maybe michael does have a little bit of a problem contrary to what i just said and can emerson fit a paldi take advantage of john andretti here's penthouse and he's climbing out of his car now is they obviously done normally a driver would say stop strapped in that cockpit if there was any chance of the car working at all 14th time in 1985 that gary bentenhausen has failed to finish the fastest car qualifying for this race that's really kind of a sad deal and especially for somebody's been around as long as gary bettenhausen to go through that spin that he did early not hit anything to be able to continue with mechanical problems driving for the john menard team gary benton house who climbs out of the race with kevin cogan back now watching it's hard to believe that only one year ago little won his first open race the race that follows this is by a week the grace of milwaukee just a year ago he never won an oval up to that point little al runs in fifth place rick mears coming up to do battle with little al there's rick there and at the front of the field it's still michael 98 laps are complete so we're coming very close to the halfway point in this race bobby ray hall he still runs in third chase emerson county with michael andretti out in front we'll be back for so many years in indianapolis we followed the fate and fortune of the benton housing family gary bentonhausen has just climbed out of the car it apparently seemed to be engine related gary yeah gary we had a problem with the chassis early in the race and the car was very loose and then we finally got the car working good and i was running fifth gear trying to make up for lost time and uh you know i just i guess it just didn't like to be turned that hard but i think it broke a valve or a rocker arm and that was because of that first lap incident yes well i i i don't know what happened the car just turned loose on me it hasn't done that all month long and uh early in the race the car was just really loose when i was when i was behi when i'd be behind somebody but we finally got the car where it was pretty decent for about the last 30 laps will there be a 20th year at indianapolis for gary vettenhausen i'm sorry gary i can't hear you will there be a 20th year for you at this famed racetrack if john menard and glenn will have me i'll be back all right let's go back to the booth and paul page and we have now passed the 250th mile we're actually at last 104 averaging 169 and a half miles an hour but should rain become a player now the race could be officially called if in fact the track is drenched there's no indication that that may be happening at this time and into the pits here comes mario andretti mario is running in fifth place as he rolls down to the newman haas team mario into the piss right now i just noticed that emerson said paulie just turned the lap 220 miles an hour the price of poker is going up boston please stop because of the [Applause] [Music] in the starting field became known reporters flocked to the speedway from japan [Music] his grandfather of course founded the panasonic company here's that name but he insists as he falters away that he doesn't have a great deal of backing from his family he says that's a different tradition in japan than it is in america he must make his own way you can certainly imagine the japanese may be coming to indianapolis enforce the manufacturing capacity and he would lead that wave they're the cars out of the race in this valvoline race summary buddy lazier willie ribs eddie cheever roberto guerrero with his accident kevin hogan in the hospital now we'll try to get a further update a.j floyd not injured in that accident scott goodyear jim crawford mike roth the fastest rookie in the field out with a radiator problem you saw terrell palmeros engine fire and you just saw gary bentenhausen retire from the race now we've been talking a lot about the different engines here and the strongest report that we're hearing from the track here though still labeled only as high grade rumor is that within the next few days perhaps even tomorrow night that the indianapolis motor speedway may announce a new engine formula and that that formula will be non-turbocharged engines a 3.5 liter formula which would match some other engines in the world bobby under i think everybody's been looking forward to that happening there's been a lot of rumor of it for a long time paul and i think uh what it amounts to is that they're just they just don't want to see one one company like chevrolet have such a big control over competitive racing michael andretti's crew is ready for the leader of the race on lap 108 to dart into the pitch refresh the fuel tank and pick up some tires of course who would then have the advantage in the indy cars well that engine is very much like the formula one and it's known that roger penske is working on his formula one engine now as michael comes to the pits here's gary gerald drew anxiously waves now goes to a big knee and they weight the nose of the car remember they made a wing adjustment the last time but it was a puncture in a rear tire that caused the car to go loose michael now wants them to make the adjustment back to the original setup they've recorded no problems with fuel that was early concern but the yellow flag certainly helped that situation ready to come off the jacks and boy does he line it up once again as usual he is strong out of the fence michael andretti what may be his last year for some time at the indianapolis 500 if he takes his formula one ride a very quick stop in and out on the 108th lap [Music] good work by that newman haas crew and the new leader of the race of course becomes emerson fit apolly as they were running so very close together in second place now as bobby ray hall then rick mears and allen sir junior ever since teresa is pregnant with a boy due in late june but appalled he was the first man to earn a million dollars for winning the 500. he did that two years ago duplicated defeat last year how much money will they have the eventful winner of [Music] emerson and uh it's funny this thing is emerson time because he becomes so involved with whatever is happening at the moment he's often linked to whatever is next he's too much of a gentleman to rudely whoever he has been with but hence the idea of emerson time he is however never late to races and sometimes not even late to winner's circle the penske crew waits for emerson fit apolly we mentioned bringing the car down under the line in the corners well mario and andretti the officials say he's been doing it too much and using it to pass and they have penalized mario one lap as fittipaldi heads for the pitch [Music] do you want any changes in the car he said no car okay car okay that's all he said on the radio very pleased with the way the car is handling they've had no tire problems he's off the jacks and away in and out in just over 16 seconds the stops will take a little longer the further you go into the race because there is less fuel in the pit side tank and it takes a little longer to run out mario andretti was charged with one lap for driving below the yellow line between three and four well that's the first time that i've seen that happen here and i'm not saying it's not justified that's for certain it is they've been worn enough time bobby ray hall coming into the pits now rey hall picked up the lead of the race and so now here is ray hall in as the stop begin to cycle through and jackaroot is there and rahul finds his thoughts very nicely comes to a complete stop now they are not going to make any changes to bobby ray hall's handling package i asked barry green the crew chief what they were going to do they said four new tires and then we'll be back after it they've dropped the air and his teammate al junior has come in now they're going to put brand new tires on junior's car rael's team went for scuffs now junior taking on the full load of fuel but here's the problem they asked him what kind of changes he wanted on the car he said how about a little bit more boost once more horsepower al unser junior is out rick mears was in and stop as well and emerson fit equality rick's teammate is out in front of the field averaging now up to 172.1 miles an hour with 113 laps complete abc sports coverage is the 75th indianapolis 500. we'll return after this message and a word from our abc station back in indianapolis 118 laps complete by the leader emerson fittipaldi he's turning laps up in the 213 mile an hour range the average speed of the race 172.7 miles an hour now there's the leaderboard michael andretti is chasing it michael's about five seconds left about five seconds back behind bitter quality then ray hall rick mears and allens are junior now they have shown a black flag to mario andretti because apparently he's continued to pass under the line and they're afraid that he doesn't understand what they're going to penalize him for let's take a look too at the race summary as we're at this point in the race the leader of course is finipaldi there's michael though who has led much of this race and this is the summary of 100 laps the average speed then 168.127 and at that point we had four caution lines now let's kind of review that back at the beginning of the race it was gary bentonhausen that spun in the very first corner he spun and recovered went on but buddy lazier wasn't so lucky he tapped the wall with his nose and his car but it wasn't nearly nearly enough to be able to continue in the race so he retired and then we went to caution for eddie cheever we had an accident involving roberto guerrero and kevin kogan but the debris from the accident caught aj floyd and took aj foyt out of the race guerrero's okay and kevin cogan was taken to the hospital but he's believed to be in satisfactory condition gary gerald now has an update on the mario andretti situation paul we saw him come in on the pit stop we're in the commercial break he was violently shaking his head tony cecalli and the crew over the wall are on the radio to him they were black flag we are told to bring him in because of that penalty as you mentioned passing down under the yellow line we only learned from one radio comment mario simply said i cannot believe that but the manner in which he was shaking his head as much emotion as we've seen from mario on the cockpit on a race car in years but paul i find it very hard to understand how if what we hear is true that mario got penalized for running under or running too low on the track right there as we see that car going and all the other cars in other words every car we've seen on the track is running under the under the white or the close the yellow line the equal for all i would think the actual word was though passing under that line maybe that's where the distinction lies oh they're all doing that we watched we've watched many passes where the guy goes under the white line like that right there that gimbal is right there and then as he goes across the short shoe we watch the passing going on i think that's the difference on how officials are reading it or maybe they're not seeing it all roger penske watches as his card with emerson fittipaldi fairly quick laps from the lead above 215 miles an hour now that's fit apolly just came andretti and there's michael but michael comes across the line about eight seconds behind the leader of the race for the moment the battle is not joined at the front the main thing of course is for mario to try to contain his anger he's got to be very angry about what has happened but he cannot let that affect his driving just too dangerous so at the front of the field it is emerson pittipaldi averaging 173.8 miles an hour to this point as we take you down through the top 10 121 laps complete [Music] you're right with michael andretti he's in second place the leader of the race is emerson fittipaldi the nepali has been running just above 215 and a half miles an hour the average speed of the race is down at 174.9 that owing to three caution periods thus far and the 75th running of the indianapolis 500 and they're showing michael that he's nine seconds behind emerson fittipaldi there's tracer fidapaldi do any day now but she's still here supporting emerson as best she can and for the moment she's taking a rest on the back of the pit wall there's fit of palti look at that remember back in 1989 when these two battled with one another right up to the closing laps of the race and then they touched and finally went over a million dollars and little al climbed out of a wrecked race car and saluted finapoli as he came past on that final lap did that happen here today out in front started 15th and is in the top position now and you look back for michael andretti who runs in second place and there he pull is seconds back third place is bobby ray hall he's 19 seconds behind the leader and then rick mears runs in fourth place right now the race here beyond the midpoint of the 128th lap has settled down just a bit everyone seems content to study to watch and to realize the cars have to make it to the 200th lap the 500 mile now next sunday at 1 o'clock eastern it's a world league top teams as they battle out for the chance in the season's grand finale london who is undefeated in a titanic battle of the oceans will take on new york and then right after that we will be back with you as kart's best return to hit the track for another test of speed in the miller genuine draft 200 that's all next sunday on abc sports now let's uh get you up to speed on kevin cogan remember he was involved in that accident with roberto guerrero it took some time to get him out of the car as michael andretti is alongside of his cousin not a battle for position they took him to methodist hospital of indianapolis and now here is the report he has a fracture of his right arm ray hall ray hall with smoke at the back of the car and he pulls her down careful the watch behind that car but that certainly looks and it's coming out of the exhaust on both sides look like ray hall's done as we wait for ray hall let me continue with the condition of kevin cogan he has a fractured right arm a fractured right forearm and a fractured right thigh dr terry trammell will operate on him this afternoon let's go to jackaroo well probably the most simple way to describe the the reaction by the crew here was when they took their hands and made the signal like they had broken something the engine has expired on bobby ray hall's car they're just waiting for him to come down to pit road to confirm that but let me update you on his teammate his teammate al junior is also having a problem they've got wastegate problems and they are losing valuable horsepower from the turbocharger [Music] array hall the engine silent now rolls down through the pit area and he will come to the craco galas operation right there while they take a look at it to decide if there's anything they can do about it but i don't think ray hall is too convinced they can ah there's nothing to be done paul the engine broke uh you know when they break turning 12 000 and a half rpm hey that just blows everything up that's it bobby ray hall climbs out now there's been a lot of talk about the formula one and the indy cars a lot of the formula one drivers are in the united states now in fact are here at indianapolis and the vip suites keeping track of this rate remember how prominent they were in the 60s and 70s perhaps we'll see that return debbie ray hall gives bobby a hug as he climbs out of the indianapolis 500. so ray hall the 1986 winner becomes a spectator here today while emerson fitipaldi continues to lead at 176 miles an hour the average speed to this point mike landretti is 10 seconds behind back in indianapolis the 92 car is two-time winner gordon johncock who started in last place he now runs in 15th place so he's more than half the way up on the field and there's a quick stop for michael andretti he run under the green flag michael runs in second place that would seemingly predict with a 16 and a half second stop that emerson fittipaldi is doing any time you ride with rick mears meers runs in third place we run him down quickly for you bit of paulie and michael and ready before the stop rick mears al unser jr then a lap behind ari lyon dyke scott brayton john andretti mario andretti danny sullivan is now in ninth place with alpha power scott pruitt and then the 86 car of jeff andretti then bernard tourdain then stan fox gordon john cox tony bentenhausen and hiro maschusta dominick dobson randy lewis pancho carter and jeff brabham that's the lineup at the moment and here comes the leader emerson pitipaldi [Music] here's jerry punch again a scheduled pit stop for emerson fina paulie rick ronaldo and the crew have just asked him again do you want anything changed on the car he said no it is perfect perfect obviously the lapses turning over 218 miles an hour now trouble with the left front if a crop with a left front wrench the car off the jack [Music] not knowing what might have gone wrong up front did you notice just as he came out of pit lane he gave it a little wiggle right to left just making sure for himself that that left front wheel is on and now rick mears rattles her down below the line but that's been the line that brick has been using and let's see if he decides not he's going to stay out there rick pierce continues running on the circuit 138 laps are complete remember following his 1984 crash rick meers was in the hospital for three months wheelchair for six after that and as uh writer rich taylor once observed he's someone who knows what racing can cost and yet can still keep the throttle down these cars are all scored electronically as we rate for rick mears they received the signals of those transponders all around the racetrack we'd hoped as that would grow more and more that we'd be able to give you more information but a primary computer and usac system having failed they're running on the backup system as rick mears turns down for the pits that means that things like the whole rundown of the 33 and some fascinating other information we had is not going to be available to you including the time on pit road [Music] picks the lead back up as rick mears patiently on the radio directly throughout the entire stop back roger and rick crocker constantly on board the defending champion at 146 live laps ari liondyk though is two laps behind the lead of the race right now trying desperately to catch up as many of the teams have cycled through their pit stops really should only see one more stop in this race if all goes according to their plans ari did make up one lap though he was three laps back so he is a fast moving car on the track at the front of the field it's emerson fittipaldi being chased by michael andretti michael is just five seconds back and rick nears you see michael come off the corner that's number five car just crossed the line that's fini still five seconds back now four seconds now four seconds back as michael they're both running 212.7 miles an hour danny sullivan 1985 winner in the pits remember his teammate roberto guerrero fell out we've got another car in trouble [Music] yeah it's a lot of smoke coming out of there what's the bad look going to bring out yellow he's parked right on the racetrack he wants out of the car he's feeling some heat from under there he hasn't disconnected his uh [Music] so he's been sprayed with some very hot water and he's feeling the effects that's nothing laughs about that's got to hurt scotty terribly so the yellow flag comes out in indianapolis 148 laps that means this yellow may in fact help some of the teams that have not stopped it'll certainly help danny sullivan who is still in his car but they're working on the back of his alfa romeo at the front of the field is still emerson pitta paulie sports coverage of the indy 500 will return after this message and a word from our abc stations mexico's bernard jourdain is under tow while scott pruitt's disabled car is on the hook and we are under yellow at the indianapolis 500 with emerson fit appalling there's scott pruitt's car leading michael andretti but we run under the yellow and this is bringing the average speed down now this was finipaldi's problem in the pits earlier look at the left front of the car there as they struggled to get that air wrench off and that burned up some valuable seconds now at first plus you would think that it doesn't matter too much how much time you spend one second here or there but let me tell you it makes a world of difference we have a little animation for you sam posey that is because now let's set up this situation you see two cars essentially traveling at the same speed around the track but one of them chooses to come into the pits now watch what happens as he slows now this would be hypothetically under green and stops at the pits notice how far around the car that continues at full speed is getting now remember the car coming out of the pits does not instantly resume full speed and in fact it takes at least a lap for him to get up full speed bobby unser's described it brilliantly is the flywheel effect and it takes a while to get that flywheel to go now the point of all this is to understand as you can see right there how nearly the man that goes into the pits is left because he makes that pit stop if he has a long pit stop a 21 second stop instead of a 15 second stop he does get laps it's very critical let's go down to jack arute with a further update on fidapaldi well this is rick reineman who calls a lot of the shots for emerson vinobaldi and rick you got a report that a clutch is going on the car yeah emerson told us the clutch was slipping when uh he left the last time and now it uh he has no clutch now so our next stop we're gonna end up having to push him out what about is it slipping it all out on the racetrack right it doesn't seem to be our speeds are still up so um we're gonna play this one by ear now they're only allowed 17 men in the pit box they're only allowed so many over the wall what they're gonna have to do is try and ensure that he can get that thing going as quickly as possible you'll have people on the back wing pushing we'll have to have them pushing very carefully though that they don't uh tear the wing off got to get them out of here paul well that's happened before the crew getting a little overzealous and actually capable of pushing the wing off the car and that wouldn't help here bobby now what they're going to do paul is when he comes into the pit he's going to have the car neutral he's back in his pits bobby try to let it idle as slow as he can they'll push him as fast as they can get him going then he'll chunk it into first gear and the gears are not like we know in normal transmissions there are two dogs that have to go together so if he can keep the engine running it'll work from high above the speedway the blimp america from the goodyear tire and river company captain aaron jenkins of spring texas giving us some of the overhead view you saw scott brayton out of the car just a moment ago there's the america and you can see the skies behind her are much lighter than they were earlier the leader of the race is fina here is the defending champion ari landing for a stop and they are working at the back of that car underneath the rear wing as well bobby what do you think they're doing they're putting they're taking the wing out of the front end of the car putting wing into the back you can see that speed range that adjusts the angle of the rear wing all of all the cars have that so it's a big chassis adjustment now he's pointing to the left front trying to tell him something right there now the wing wasn't adjusting properly [Music] moving up steadily he runs in fourth place right now ironically paul he's been very fast all day at that broken spark plug early in the race that cost ari a lot otherwise he'd be up with the leaders so the dodge viper pace car begins to accelerate and we should see a fight for the lead when they come back between fittipaldi and michael andretti i also thought i was doing a little bit of calculation and i think we're going to have one more pit stop for sure but it looks like they're going to have to go to about 1 lap 162 maybe they're going to excuse me one lap 167 but now because the yellow is probably the 1-7 as they come back to green rick mars comes way over to the inside but michael andretti comes up to challenge the leader of the race emerson finnebaldi mike right at the front of the field and michael takes him michael takes it going into one remember that before the yellow person dramatically on emerson then the yellow came out reshuffling now he's showing that speed again now one of the things that happened right there is remember emma has no clutch michael does michael's been adjusting his car still campbell but he almost got a problem so you have to start that race and shift the gear [Music] a little careful because he has no clutch to help him shift plus bobby we know that emerson is going to lose time on the remaining pit stop that you referred to that's coming up in about 10 laps no doubt about it sam it's going to hurt him for sure he knows that too vitibaldi chases michael andretti and falls about two seconds now about eight tenths of a second behind as it comes across the line there rick mears runs behind his team mate in third place so rick mears while he fell backwards in the early going of this 500 mile race is very definitely a factor as well the penske cars run second and third with finally in second michael andretti back in the league in this race throughout the day 150th are now complete so we're three quarters of the way you would have seen the rain here this morning you would have guessed that there was no chance of running the race let alone get this far here's the valvoline race summary at the end of 150 laps then it was fittipaldi was the leader that's changed now he started back in 15th the average speed was 177.3 miles an hour with 11 lead changes and five caution periods sandy andretti watches her husband in the lead 155 laps are actually complete now with emma running in second place right now i think the main problem that he's going to have is not so much because of a pit stop coming up that he'll have trouble with it's not going to be michael andrade right here it's going to be the guy behind him who's rick mears that's the guy that's going to work on emma hart let's get an update on michael now from gary was interesting watching the newman hosh crew just before that last yellow in four laps michael was getting just over a second lap chasing fittipaldi so the crew was confident that he'd have a chance to jump emo on the restart that's the way it turned out he liked the setup remember they made that wing change and they also went to a little bigger stagger they were saying on the last set of tires said he liked it a lot and obviously it's now paying off in performance well michael's been picking the pace up 219 000 in the last lap but bit of quality and mirrors are staying right there they certainly are powerful [Music] [Applause] [Music] the guys will get their cars adjusted the best for the conditions they're running in under plus the tracks will be nice and clean bit of quality trimmed another four tenths of a second off as jeff andretti has his engine problems and pulls to the side he's the highest running rookie at this point he's had a great month and is a sure candidate for rookie of the year honors when the media votes on those rather subjective vote that they have not based on position at all cosworth engine too paul i might mention that that jeff andretti has in his car and jeff was able to get the car down into the pit area so that enables the racehorse to stay under green conditions jeff andretti has been the most consistent finisher among the andrettis this year but what look at michael but look at fit of haldi benipaldi is now well that separation is a tenth of a second and rick meers is right behind him two years ago emerson fit a polity battle with the other great second generation driver al unser jr owls having problems but now he's taking up the battle with the other great second generation driver michael andre [Music] danny sullivan who you last saw in the pits is back out in action running ninth right now and by the way rumors about alfa romeo we're leaving now they say they'll stay we're back we're staying at the front of the field because that's where the race has been all day michael andretti leaves it but there are two stories now beginning to develop indications are that just any time now michael andretti will come into the pit perhaps within the next two laps there's the third place car rick mears we're armed lap 163. bobby undress tends to feel that you should get to at least 167 to make it to the end of the race on the other hand the second place car is emerson fittipaldi and fittipaldi has a troublesome clutch that will make it very difficult for him to roll out of the pit so we may have here brewing what we saw in 1982 and that is one incredibly close finish with michael ammo and rick mears all involved they're all on the same straightaway together now and they've just called michael in one lap but let me tell you sometimes they use the board to say one thing and the two-way radio to say another thing it's all part of the intelligence game that is played between the crews here at indianapolis i don't really think so paul i think that michael's going to have to come in and uh i really think he's going to be close to his last stop he's going to make a story for the end of our race with the fantasy the 75th running of the indianapolis 500. ray haroon won the first year 80 years ago the last time andretti led a race an indianapolis race this late in the game was in 1987 when mario who led almost the whole way got to laugh 180 and then broke down we are at lap 166 now you see michael andretti michael the number 10 on the back stretch he's been told to bring the car to the pits on the next lap that will give the lead to emerson finally and bring his mirrors up to second place but of course bit of aldi and mirrors will all have to stop they are the only ones that run on the lead lap right now and they run together on the straightaway michael andretti peels off and heads down to the pits and gary gerald waits for it [Music] as you've indicated we don't think he can go the distance without making another stop i don't know that they're gambling out of yellow we do know that his father mario was having a fuel problem we were not aware of a fuel problem for michael but right now they change the rubber they pour in the precious fuel he'll have 33 laps plus to go to get there and of course the guy in the cafet would seem to be mirrors because of the clutch problem for finabali he's down and he's away and it wasn't particularly fast okay one of the things they'll do paul is that make double sure that they had that thing as full of fuel as they could possibly get there's elmo coming right there across the start finish line the red white car that's him the new leader yes he is and then what's going to happen with michael he has two options that he can do one of them is he can shift the engine to a higher gear providing ammo has the problem getting out of pits and we think he's coming up yeah you can turn the boost back a little bit and these are all options provided he doesn't wait too long to do it now if they bring him in at that point that should put emerson to the quality within striking distance of the 200 clap for 500th mile and don't forget coming up next on abc sports scott pruitt rusty wallace bill elliott they're in the lead as we head into the second round of the international race of champions that's next right here on abc we wait for fittipaldi he has a clutch problem they've asked him to come in on the 169th lap by radio that's one lap away but the stop should see him struggle to get out of the pits and if it goes wrong bobby he could damage that clutch and it could all be over well he won't have a clutch paul what's happened to the clutch you can tell that the clutch itself is not bad it's the hydraulic part of it that actuates the clutches fat so he really doesn't have a clutch problem as most people would think it's just the clutch working so what he's going to have to do is just be able to get it into the first gear leaving the pits which we'll see in just a minute now though emerson pitipaldi rolls down the pit lane and rolls toward jackaroot for what may be his final stop and paul this is when the butterflies become big not only in the driver but also on every crew member they bring the car to a stop he's complaining of severe understeer so they are going to change all four tires he's trying to keep the engine rep they are going to take every ounce of fuel left here because they have figured it down to having a two lap margin to finish the race with the fuel available they've completed the work on the tires they're waiting to take on all the fuel they dropped down and you can hear them having the difficulty getting out [Applause] did you hear that clunk that bobby uh described and now so slowly he motors out mommy you had [Applause] there he knows now that fit appalling from they had a problem now with the air jacks getting the car up to no concern though they'd already taken the tires off jerry brian is the first one completed richard buck and the rest of them are done they're going to take on all the fuel on this side too taking a long time to bring it in mirrors is off and away and michael comes back to the front sandy andretti knows that michael is now within striking distance of the indianapolis 500 victory flag but what they also know is that he stopped the last time right on the edge of the envelope and i'll say beyonce watches his driver hari lyon dyke the defending champion he runs in fourth place now keep in mind paul if emma and if rick beers keep pushing michael is hard [Music] still terribly slow roger penske is on the radio to rick chuck sprague stays on the radio to emerson finale jackaroo the problem is trying to get out of the pits he stripped the gears he's got literally the gearbox and shreds and they are very disgusted here very disgusted the crew was just totally devastated by this they knew and they were worried and it seems to have come true fitipalty will not win the indianapolis 500. well that salute i think indicates that fidipaldi is rolling back to the pits and will roll out of the race the leader as he came in for his stop it was a difficult maneuver here's mario in the pits now this race traditionally changes in the last 10 laps we're approaching that area now the green flag is back out and rick beers around john andretti he's no factor whatsoever but michael is right there with him michael moving to the outside can he keep in the high proof phoenix can he do it here michael takes the lead away from him toughest i've ever seen a short shoot pass with two cars running nearly the same speed i'll just bet you that rick pierce thought that would have been impossible and i just can tell you he never ever looked for michael to go that way that is sheer virtuosity by michael andretti bobby finest pieces of driving one of the hardest pieces of driving i've seen very difficult to pass somebody on the outside like that and especially a car that's just as bad and from bobby andrew's point of view a position on the but he was not expected but here is rick mears now in the same position as mirrors who has been driving a very quick line this way 187 laps into the record book the fight is at the front [Music] now if you ever see raising better than that i'd certainly like to know where it's going to be that's rick's wife chris mears as rick is back out in front what i was going to remind you of in the last 10 laps the league tends to change here in 89 bit of pauldie taking the race away from al unser in 86 bobby ray hall taking it away from kevin cogan the two wives pray their husbands around in 83 tom schneva took the race away from al unser bobby young here [Applause] rick mears has driven for roger penske at the speedway here winning three of those races an incredible record he's literally pulling away from michael right now there's something has gone wrong with michael because i don't know what it is but he's definitely falling back a little bit rick is just sailing away i didn't think that rick's car would be that much better just all of a sudden well rick meers joined the list of four-time winners at the indianapolis 500. [Music] [Applause] this is this year the first year that rick mears has ever hit the wall on this track also the first year during the month of may earlier this week he went down to his new home in florida to supervise the construction he came back that's a different kind of brick mirrors rick mears at 39 starting to look toward the end of his career what a way to start the end of his career the front of the race belongs to rick mears you saw his wife chris on the radio not to rick but passing information to the board man and here's your third place driver right now the defending champion hari lion dyke he and ari has never given up and that's a great point because with the two leaders dueling it out he might be in a very good position jose is the true champion sam because he's ripping hard all day even though he got behind but the thing is is you watch meers and michael two fine drivers today at the front of the field is rick mears but the yellow flag comes out there is a car sitting on the entrance to the pit lane and apparently they've decided to bring the yellow out and it's none other than mario andretti what an irony the yellow flag would prevent his son from having any chance to counter attack against rick mears but then it might give him a chance because it will put michael right up next good point good point for a restart and what happened on the last restart michael was able to rip by rick so the face of this race came again as the yellow is out and it will be a definite sprint to the finish with nine laps to go [Music] at the 75th running of the indy 500 193 laps complete let's go back and take a look this was the last restart [Music] at 185 laps into the race and look at how the two of them battled coming back into the corner and michael andretti went around on the outside but seeing it could be done just a laugh later rick mears did exactly the same thing and as a result of that here we get a a look at that once again spectacular little piece of driving as john andretti wisely got out of the way and michael just swept by to the outside we should be going back to green lights are out on the pace bar indicating we should come back to green flag rick mears has won three indy 500s but he's lost to the closest in history to john by 16 100 of a second in 82 and by two seconds [Music] the point is he is no stranger to close finishes [Applause] [Music] when it it counts now six laps to go rick really got to run out at that time at the restart uh ball he wasn't going to let michael sneak up on him he didn't have any traffic to worry about nor did michael look at that there are so few cars left in the race rick has a completely clean racetrack ahead of him and will for probably three to four laps i think what happened during that passing if they did back and forth that you'll find that they found a new groove on that racetrack big speeds that picked up like over 220 miles an hour we started with 33 cars only a third of the field is left heavy attrition here today in indianapolis rick was the fastest qualifier remember he ran the four best laps when it counted on pole day he was the whole sitter [Applause] [Music] rick mears right now is doing what he does best but rick mears once told me that in 1982 he made a mistake in the last corner of the last lap that gave the race to gordon johncock where not for that split second then rick mears might be driving for his fifth indianapolis victory let's get an update report on michael andretti as the laps run out for michael paul he reports on the radio uh under steer condition that means push that means you've got to bully that race car through the corner that may cost him the opportunity to challenge mirrors because mirrors as he flies buys us toward turn one looks like he's got a great balanced setup and a grim look you saw it from sandy andretti as she watched michael come by and it's privy to the conversations that go on between the driver and its room rick mears 196 laps complete the push in michael's car is just going to kill his speed it bogs him down the corners absorbs up horsepower feels a strainway speed hurts him all the way around but rick pierce has got to really like it right now though there is no other contest through the field except for the lead everyone else is set out laps actually separating them there's second place you saw rick come through penske team has won in 72 and 79 in 81 in 84 there's carl haas owner of michael andretti's car chris meers of course is communicating with her husband sandy andretti those are the players waiting in the pit helping themselves at this point to do anything about it 2.3 seconds separated rick mears and michael and ready on the last pass at the start finish line they're averaging 175.7 miles an hour not near the race record set here last year at 185.9 miles an hour by ariel landing all right lion dyke is still in this race he runs in third place a lap behind the leader but he does in fact have the leaders in sight should anything happen in these last two laps ari lion dyke is definitely within striking distance and could pick up his second win rick mears on the back [Music] [Applause] threat the crowd anticipates a potential four-time win for rick michael andretti in a desperate drive to try and catch him on a day that sees what maybe the retirement from competition by the great four-time winner aj point we may see another four-time winner crowned in rick mears and the white flag has been thrown to rick near indicating one lap to go now less than two miles for rick mayer if he holds on he will become the third four-time winner of the indianapolis 500 here on the 75th running of the great ranks chris beers [Applause] left to go one corner left to right just ahead of him [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] what only two men have before he is now a four-time winner of the 500. as he waves to michael andretti who's alongside the crowd the race has been run for the 75th time and rick mears picks it up third place is this car arie lionzig now we're going to be giving our stations a station break in just a few moments here but the action of this race has been incredible well there's one thing that shows rick beers got it up and it was really necessary did a fine job nikolicondike roger penske walked down the pit we'll return to the 75th indianapolis 500 after this work from our abc station [Music] and rick mears has come into victory lane he's being hoisted on the indianapolis motor speedway podium getting the congratulations first of his wife chris then of his crew chief richard buck jerry brian now roger penske has moved in to congratulate this man who now has four likenesses on the borg warner trophy rick mears follows in the footsteps first of the legendary aj foyt and then al unser senior rick hey peter rick congratulations chris it is absolutely crazy up here today rick congratulations on that restart not the last one but the one before michael andretti blew by you and then it was like just another lap and you said nothing doing what was going through your mind well it was a it was the last that's that last laugh i usually talk about it last end of the race that's when you do it when it's necessary and we got down there and you know we had a run in him and from a little toe on the straightaway and i said oh there's nothing to lose now we got to go or not and so i just went ahead and ran it up on top and went around the outside and uh we were thankful that the car was working just absolutely great and it just you know everything everything went our way when's your day it's your day what can i say you have been so close in several of your victories that you were denied the gordon john cox one comes to mind you have said before that if you hadn't maybe made a mistake there this could have been your fifth indianapolis 500. well that's you know we found out we one lap too early on that race and uh and it caught us out short uh we should have had it but it wasn't our turn so i mean i do i'm tickled to death i never i never dreamed of getting one here let alone three let alone four so i'm just telling that to tell you the marble guys the team did a tremendous job i mean this is this is our backup car it shows you how good our backup car is and uh they just did a hell of a job the goodyear tires were great along and obviously the chevy was strong we got to run at michael so we're just excited i don't know what to say well we're going to let you take the customary gulp of milk and we're going to talk to chris here for a second chris unlike years past you and rick went back to florida back to your home here and you decided to get away from the speedway is that was that going through your mind thinking hey we've got to get away from this madness after he crashed during practice and then came back to sit on the pole actually rick's the one that decided that he he just said hey i got to get away this month's getting to me and i said fine whatever you want to do this is your month let's do it maybe that was our good luck charm i don't know but the crew did such a great job and i'm so proud of him you have run the gamut of emotions this year you saw your husband crash in the day before pole position qualifying you showed the concern on your face then you came back and watched him put it on the pole and today you ran the roller coaster i was down there and saw you when they first reported the car was loose you've been up and down all month this month has been the toughest month that i've known in racing it really has you know every year it just seems like it gets more and more competitive and more and more and more and more harder and i'm just so happy i really am paul when you think about it only three men in the 75-year history have won the indianapolis 500 four times first as we said aj foyt who says this is the end al unser jr and now this man rick mears yeah but it took aj foyt 20 years to start to get his fourth win took al unser 22 it only took rick 14. don't forget there'll be more racing later with the international race of champions and more from the indianapolis motor speedway there's the unofficial order right now carrie gerald alongside michael andretti and it's hard to gauge the emotion you come so close to the greatest possible victory in motorsports what a showdown on the last 15 laps with rick mears well we gave it everything we had but we just came up a little short the car was running really good but rick just had probably about a mile per hour or two of on us and straightaway speed and just couldn't defend myself your dad brought out the yellow late in the race you were able to close back up on rick what kind of thoughts flashing through your mind then keeping in mind also you got a break with a yellow flag earlier they got you the splash of fuel you needed yeah well i was hoping that uh you know i'd be able to get a jump on rick but uh he played the last last uh start a little bit better than he did the one prior to that so uh you know i couldn't get a run on him he just uh again he just was very strong in a straightaway and we just couldn't do anything but uh you know the kmart howling guy is a great job in the pits and the car ran great but not good enough will we see michael andretti in an indy car at this racetrack next may i wish i could answer that right now i can't maybe maybe not we hope we do thank you michael thank you paul his best finish ever here michael andretti best before was fourth he now finishes in second and rick meers takes the win we'll be back with more let's go back and look at the fight here in the 75th indianapolis 500 as they came to the restart on the 187th lap this is from michael's point of view that is rick just ahead and rick started everywhere he could to get around john andretti but then michael nailed the throttle and look how high up he runs all the way up he's got to be careful of that wall to the right and then sweeps across rick now this is the way it looked as michael came around from outside to track to the fans point of view boy he just wept across the front of rick mears and then pulled away but one lap later rick pierce was already closing back in as fast as he could into turn three rick chasing michael rick closing on michael and this was the moment in the 75th running that made the difference as they came onto the main stretch joining the 188th lap [Applause] set michael up took the lead and drove on to the win and for michael andretti he was in front flashed across the line at the 188th class and then there was rick and the race was over third place ari liondyke now he is with jerry punt a number of smiling faces here paul of course vince granatelli and bob t zach the car owners and re line dike ari you had a great run today but one miscue one one pit stop early on cost you yeah we had to make another schedule pissed off to replace the spark plugs and it put us a lot down it was hard for the crew to get that done within time so we basically fought that all day but the car pretty much ran good and i'm just really excited you know for my crew for my new sponsors uh rca uh the mesa corporation with cng and total petroleum and you know if you can't win it's it's still a little bit of a disappointment but i'm really happy with it anyway you had the best seat in the house for that battle between michael and rick mears i mean did you think that michael may have had a shot at him i was hoping michael was going to get real aggressive there at the end but he didn't so you know i still had a chance because of that but no i think rick was pretty much in control i think the guy who could run up in front today was the guy with an advantage because it was really tough running behind other cars with the windy conditions the flying dutchman last year's indy 500 winner the man who wanted phoenix finishes third here today paul by the way that finish moves him second behind rick mears in epg points coming out of this race abc sports coverage of the 75th indianapolis 500 now won by rick mears will return after this message in a word from our abc stations [Music] race drivers hope that a helmet like this will fend off oil and grease and grime and provide them with the protection that they need to drive home to victory lane or a fifth place finish like john andretti did john when you don't win but you have a good run what does it make a driver feel like well you don't win you don't feel very good um i know that this team the pennzoil team is is more than capable of winning they prepared a car that was um very reliable and and i was pleased the handling went in and out but um you know that's not the whole story and um and i'm pretty disappointed at um you know some of the things that happened on the track the reason like what well the reason why we lost two laps and um you know i'm not sure i understand completely why why we got put in that predicament when the pace card you know pulled out but um i'm i'm sure i don't understand and i'm sure um you know somebody will explain to me but you know at this point um you know we got taken out very early um we got put down lap down and i mean we were we're out there running we're not running too bad either i mean i could see him at the end of the straightaway and all of a sudden we're lapped down it's um when you go a lap down that way versus if it was a mechanical problem that's that's got to really make it for a long afternoon for someone well you know you fight you fight to keep it there and then you fight like hell to try and get it back and and i tried like hell to get around michael and i just couldn't get around him and i ran right behind him and then we got caught in traffic my car started jumping around a little bit and i just couldn't hang on that anymore well there's another man that hopes to become the oldest driver to run in next year's indianapolis 500 he finished this one and he's with gary gerald jack we're talking about gordon johncock nine years ago he won this race for the second time gordy at age 54 started 33 you end up sixth congratulations on just a terrific day well thank you gary we're very pleased you know we really didn't run that quick all day but we stayed in and stayed steady we run between 195 and 200 had some great pit stops from the guys you know and just everything went our way today and we were able to stay in there and you've been sick all this week you had the flu you spent some hospital time and and any ill effects at all in the race car no uh i've been a lot sicker than this in climbing a race car before and once you get in the car and the green flag drops you don't think about being sick what's the next race we're going to see you compete in well i really don't know i have no plans well we hope we get a chance to see you do it again well we hope to be back uh i think i'm going to beat floyd i'm going to be the oldest driver to ever run here you heard it gordon johncock sneaking up on super tex paul feisty little gordy well the results are unofficial until 8 30 tomorrow but rick meers looks to have won it [Music] rick mears has scored his first win in over a year but it's the biggest one in his career the 75th indianapolis 500 with some reflections here's jack whitaker thank you paul i think there was a certain beautiful symmetry here today in this indy 500 the first four-time winner aj foyt bowing out early with a curtain call and the coming of the newest four-time winner in rick mears rick mears and the penske team wrote another glorious new page in indy history and it was quite another great indie celebration a relatively safe race and a dramatic and emotional day the speeds here although they weren't record today is something you can't see on television it's something almost all the five senses can appreciate you see it obviously you hear it it's an elegant wine you'll never forget and you can literally almost touch it and these drivers that climb into these tiny little cars are either the bravest men in the world since the fellows that ate the first oyster or the most fearless there's talk now about a change in the formula here and perhaps it will be a good thing to open up the competition but they'll never change the fact that you're going to find fearless men like this to drive them the race goes on here at indy to find safer cars and i expect most people hope some cheaper cars paul and brave men to own them as well jack this is roger penske's 65th career win a.j boyd perhaps he's retired we'll be back [Music] when rick mayer started this race he had earned more than any other man at the indianapolis motor speedway over three million dollars maybe tomorrow night when they award the purse here he'll take home another million to add to that in the valvoline race summary of course the winner is rick mears he started from the pole it's now the third time that he has won from the pole the race speed not nearly a record 176.4 miles an hour but a great race with 18 lead changes you can also take a look at the unofficial results they're official tomorrow morning mirrors michael andretti ari lionday kalancher junior john andretti gordon johncock with a tremendous drive mario andretti stan fox gary bettenhat tony bentonhausen then moving to 11th emerson fit apologies scott pruitt dominic dobson randy lewis and jeff andretti hiromashusta scott brayton bernard jourdain bobby ray hall jeff brabham pancho carter gary bentonhausen finland's terrell palmeroff rookie mike groff and john paul jr jim crawford scott goodyear the great aj point kevin cogan we wish him well roberto guerrero eddie cheever willie t ribbs and the first accident of the race buddy lazier don't forget we've got the international race of champions still coming up this afternoon on abc sports the terrible disappointment of the andretti's perhaps this year was their best chance and for rick mears rick raven mears of bakersfield california has scored his fourth indianapolis 500-mile race win so now the planning begins because the lineage continues on for sunday may 24th 1992 and the 76th running of the indianapolis 500 we thank all our racing team who did such a superb job here today i'm paul page so long from indianapolis

Channel: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Views: 76,211

Keywords:

Id: RTiuFA--XNM

Length: 228min 8sec (13688 seconds)

Published: Thu May 20 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/sucks_at_usernames]

The "Does Michael need a yellow?" race.

[u/Turbomattk]

The 1991 race had the greatest front row of all time and nothing will ever come close.

[u/ThyOwie]

If I'm not mistaken that's Ron Dennis talking to the Andretti's at 4:25, interesting knowing Michael would be driving for him albeit briefly 2 years later.