1981 Indianapolis 500

65th running of the Indianapolis 500

The 65th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday, May 24, 1981. The race is widely considered one of the most controversial races in Indy history. Bobby Unser took the checkered flag as the winner, with Mario Andretti finishing second. After the conclusion of the race, USAC officials ruled that Unser had passed cars illegally while exiting the pit area during a caution on lap 149 (of 200). Unser was subsequently issued a one position penalty. The next morning, the official race results were posted, and Unser was dropped to second place. Andretti was elevated to first place and declared the race winner. Controversy followed the ruling. After a lengthy protest and appeals process, the penalty was rescinded, and Unser was reinstated the victory on October 8. Officially, it became Unser's third career Indy 500 victory and his final win in Indy car competition. Unser stepped out of the car at the end of the season, and ultimately retired from driving. The race was officially part of the 1981–82 USAC season; however, most of the top entrants participated in the 1981 CART PPG Indy Car World Series. Championship points for the 1981 Indy 500 were not awarded towards the CART title and the race was considered a non championship race for that series. The hectic month of May 1981 was interrupted several times by rain. Pole qualifying stretched over three days due to inclement weather, and several days of practice were cut short or lost due to rain. The 1981 race is also remembered for the horrifying crash of Danny Ongais, and a major pit fire involving Rick Mears. Ongais was critically injured, and Mears suffered burns, but both drivers would recover. A massive pit fire occurred later in the season at the Michigan 500, along with additional incidents, prompting new rules and standards to be put in place regarding the safety of fueling rigs.

Three years into the first open wheel "Split", the sport of Indy car racing began settling into a more stabilized environment by 1981. A joint sanctioning agreement known as the Championship Racing League (CRL) dissolved in mid 1980. USAC and CART went their separate ways, and actually awarded separate national championship titles that season. Johnny Rutherford happened to win both. Beginning in 1981, the Indianapolis 500 remained sanctioned by USAC, while the preeminent national championship was now the one being sanctioned by CART. The Indy 500 field would consist of the CART based teams, along with numerous independent, "Indy only" teams, some of which were USAC loyal holdovers. Indianapolis was designated an "invitational" race, and for 1981–1982, did not pay championship points to CART title. USAC kept alive their own Gold Crown championship, running Indy, the Pocono 500, and a few dirt races. A record total of 105 entries were expected to shatter the previous records for drivers on the track and qualifying attempts. Speed cutting measures were still in place, and no drivers were expected to challenge the track records in 1981. The biggest rule change by USAC during the offseason was the banning of ground effects side skirts on the sidepods. Mario Andretti, as he had done in previous years, planned to race at Indianapolis in between his busy, full time Formula One schedule. His plans included qualifying at Indy on pole day weekend (May 9–10), then flying to Europe for the Belgian Grand Prix (May 17). After Belgium, he would fly back to Indianapolis in time for race day (May 24). In response to a spectator fatality in the infield in 1980 (the result of an overturned Jeep), track management decided to take deliberate steps to curtail the revelry in the infamous "Snake Pit". For the 1981 race, bleachers were erected in the turn one infield. Over the next few years, additional capital improvements further scaled back the size of the area, and eventually the intensity of the rowdiness dropped substantially.

Practice started on Opening Day, Saturday May 2. The two most notable rookies of the field made most of the headlines for the afternoon. Young Josele Garza (actually 19 at the time, lied on his entry form to say he was 21) and Geoff Brabham both passed their rookie tests. On Sunday May 3, Al Unser became the first driver to practice over It marked the first time since 1934 that the venerable Offenhauser engine did not make the race.

On Thursday May 21, the final scheduled practice session was held. All 33 qualified cars, along with 2 alternates, took laps. Mario Andretti returned from Belgium, and practiced in his already qualified car. Jerry Karl was arrested during the week, but would be released on bond in time for race day. Bob Harkey practiced his car for him. The starting grid was altered slightly after qualifying. Wally Dallenbach, who qualified Mario Andretti's car 8th, stepped aside as planned, and the car moved to the rear of the grid. In addition, George Snider vacated his ride in favor of Tim Richmond. Bobby Unser continued his dominance of the month, and led the speed chart for the afternoon, with a hand timed lap of Later in the afternoon, hoping to sweep the month, his Penske Racing pit crew also guided him to a victory in the Miller Pit Stop Contest.

RowInsideMiddleOutside1 Bobby Unser Mike Mosley A. J. Foyt 2 Gordon Johncock Johnny Rutherford Josele Garza 3 Bill Alsup Gordon Smiley Al Unser 4 Pancho Carter Gary Bettenhausen Kevin Cogan 5 Bob Lazier Tom Bigelow Geoff Brabham 6 Tony Bettenhausen Jr. Steve Krisiloff Vern Schuppan7 Larry Dickson Tom Sneva Danny Ongais8 Rick Mears Sheldon Kinser Pete Halsmer 9 Michael Chandler Don Whittington Bill Whittington10 Dennis Firestone Scott Brayton Tom Klausler 11 Jerry Karl Mario Andretti Tim Richmond

The field accelerated as it came through turn 4, anticipating the green flag. To the shock of many drivers in the back of the field, the green flag wasn't waved until Bobby Unser crossed the start finish line, and many of the back row markers did not see the green flag until the front runners accelerated away through turn 1. Bobby Unser took the lead into turn 1, and pulled away from the field, with Johnny Rutherford moving up from row 2 into second place. Mike Mosley, who started 2nd, blew a radiator on lap 16 and finished in last place. Tom Sneva, with the fastest car in the field, charged from the 20th starting position to third place by lap 20. Unser pitted on lap 22 and Rutherford took the lead, only to go out three laps later with a broken fuel pump. Sneva led for a lap, then pitted under the yellow flag for Rutherford's tow in. Unser made a second pit stop on lap 32 when Don Whittington's accident brought out another yellow, which was extended when Gary Bettenhausen's car stopped on the backstretch. Sneva inherited the lead ahead of Gordon Smiley and Rick Mears, with Bobby Unser fourth. On lap 39, the field anticipated the green flag and started accelerating between turns 3 and 4. Just then, USAC changed their minds and ordered the pace car to stay on the track. By then, Tom Sneva had accelerated through turn 4 and passed the pace car. Realizing his mistake, Sneva slowed down and blended back behind the pace car, although two more cars passed it before also slowing down. Deciding that it was the result of their own mistake, USAC decided not to impose any penalties for the potential infraction. Sneva held the lead until the second round of pit stops began on lap 56. Sneva pitted first, but the car stalled as he tried to pull away. As Sneva's crew tried to re fire the engine, new leader Rick Mears pulled into his pit directly behind Sneva.

When Rick Mears pitted on lap 58, fuel began to gush from the refueling hose before it had been properly connected to the car. Fuel sprayed out over the car, into the cockpit onto Mears, and splashed onto some of the mechanics. It then ignited when it contacted the engine or the exhaust. Methanol burns with a transparent flame and no smoke, and panic gripped the pit as crew members and spectators fled from the invisible fire. Mears, on fire from the waist up, jumped out of his car and ran to the pit wall, where a safety worker, not seeing the fire, tried to remove Mears' helmet. Meanwhile, Mears' fueler, covered in burning fuel, waved his arms frantically to attract the attention of the fire crews already converging on the scene. By this time the safety worker attending to Mears had fled, and Mears, in near panic at being unable to breathe, leaped over the pit wall toward another crewman carrying a fire extinguisher, who dropped the extinguisher and also fled. Mears tried to turn the extinguisher on himself, but at this point his father, Bill Mears, having already pulled Rick's wife Dina to safety, grabbed the extinguisher and put out the fire. His mechanics had also been extinguished, and the fire crew arrived to thoroughly douse Mears' car. Thanks to quick action by Bill Mears and the fact that methanol produces less heat than gasoline, no one was seriously hurt in the incident. Rick Mears and four of his mechanics (including Derrick Walker, a future crew chief on the Penske team) were sent to the hospital, and Mears underwent plastic surgery on his face, particularly on his nose which caused him to miss the next race at Milwaukee the following week. The incident prompted a redesign to the fuel nozzle used on Indy cars, adding a safety valve that would only open when the nozzle was connected to the car. The pitside tanks were also modified to add a "dead man's valve", and were henceforth required to be anchored to the ground. Previously some teams would prop up the giant tanks (sometimes precariously) to angle them in order to increase the head pressure and speed up the fuel flow. Additional safety measures would follow, including requiring all participants in the pits (not just over the wall crew) to wear fire resistant uniforms, and for the fueler to wear a helmet. Later in the race, Bobby Unser also reported suffering a small fire during one of his pit stops. But he was able to extinguish the flames by pulling away. The 180 mph wind from racing down the backstretch fanned out the flames, but not before his uniform burned through on the left side. Gordon Smiley led lap 57, his first and only lap led in his career at Indianapolis.

Danny Ongais came into the pits on lap 63 as the leader of the race, but problems during the stop caused it to drag on for 46 seconds. After finally leaving the pits, Ongais approached a slower car at the end of the backstretch. Perhaps still upset about the long stop, he made a late pass going into turn 3. Carrying too much speed into the turn, the car drifted out into the gray area and the rear tires lost traction. Ongais tried to correct the slide by turning right, but the car hooked to the right and crashed nearly head on into the wall in turn three. (One year later, Gordon Smiley lost control similarly at the same location, but crashed directly head on and was killed.) The front end of the car was ripped away, leaving an unconscious Ongais completely exposed in the cockpit. The car continued to slide around turn three, and came to rest point forward in the north short chute. The back of the car was on fire, and a long trail of burning oil was behind. Safety crews quickly surrounded the car and used the Jaws of Life to extricate Ongais, who suffered a concussion and badly broken feet and legs. Remarkably, Ongais made a full recovery and raced again at Indianapolis just one year later. The caution stayed out for 15 laps to clean up the incident. Safety workers also tended to some spectators who were hit by debris outside turn three. Gordon Johncock was now the leader, with Bobby Unser and Mario Andretti in close pursuit.

After Unser's controversial move under caution, the race restarted on lap 152. Bobby Unser quickly established himself as the fastest car on the track since Sneva dropped out, taking a 5 second lead on second place. However, Andretti was able to catch up to Unser in spite of losing so many positions under the yellow. Andretti made a move on a lap 166 restart, briefly taking the lead from Unser in turn 1. Unser returned the favor into turn 3, passing Andretti and quickly establishing a rapid pace. By that point, Andretti started having a tire leak, which caused him to eventually lose second place to his teammate, Gordon Johncock. On lap 178, the drivers on the lead lap were Unser, Johncock, and Andretti. A yellow flag came out, which allowed Johncock and Andretti to catch a break. Pit stops were made, and Johncock emerged as the new leader. Johncock led the next three laps before he got passed by Unser. Johncock would later suffer a blown engine with 8 laps to go, handing second place to Andretti. Bobby Unser assumed the lead on lap 182, with Mario Andretti second, running over 8 seconds behind. Although Unser slowed his pace during the final two laps, he held on to win by 5.180 seconds, one of the closest finishes at Indianapolis to that point. Bobby Unser celebrated his third Indy 500 victory (also 1968 and 1975), while Mario Andretti was lauded for charging from 32nd starting position to a 2nd place finish. Unser made a total of ten pit stops, a record for the most ever by a winner. In victory lane a satisfied Bobby Unser made no mention of a controversy about his win when interviewed by ABC's Chris Economaki. Though it was not widely noted at the time, it is believed that Unser did not partake in the traditional victory lane bottle of milk.

Shortly after the race was over, rumblings over a possible protest or penalty were beginning to surface around the garage area. Andretti's team Patrick Racing, as well as other drivers, were voicing complaints over Bobby Unser passing cars under the yellow on lap 149. Word of the incident reached chief race steward Thomas W. Binford by mid evening. At the time, it was the policy of USAC to post official results for the Indianapolis 500 at 8 a. m. the morning after the race, and that any protest of that result could be filed after the race results were posted. In a taped interview with Chris Economaki three hours after the race ended, Binford announced that he would be reviewing the video of lap 149 with the board overnight and that based on what he saw, Unser was likely to get penalized for the passes.

ABC televised the race on same day tape delay at 9 p. m. EDT. At the time, it was the policy of ABC Sports to record live booth commentary of the race at the start of the race and at the end of the race. For the remaining portions of the race, semi scripted commentary was recorded during post production. Unlike the live radio broadcast, which did not notice nor mention the infraction, It was later revealed that commentators Jim McKay and Jackie Stewart had provided the lap 149 incident commentary in post production, and did so with the knowledge that a protest of Unser's actions was in the works. It was followed by the previously recorded interview with chief steward Tom Binford with Chris Economaki, with the assertion that video would be reviewed overnight, and that Unser was likely to be penalized. The overall broadcast was considered misleading, and biased against Unser, for several reasons:
It suggested that Unser's infraction was noticed by – and was immediately obvious to – ABC's broadcast booth at the time it occurred, based on the impromptu nature of conversation, and surprise, both McKay and Stewart emoted. Their remarks were recorded later, after they had knowledge of both Unser's win, and that a protest of Unser's infraction could in fact cost him the race win. The broadcast focused only on Unser's infraction, as it had earlier been relayed to them, and did not mention Andretti's. It was later shown on the official highlight film that as Andretti watched Unser in front of him passing a dozen cars, Andretti himself had passed one or two cars too, but A. J. Foyt (a lapped car) claimed that he had waved Andretti by – which was permissible under the rules – to allow Andretti to blend in closer to the lead lap drivers. That did not come to light until later, and was not considered reason to revise the official standings for a second time. ABC's race end coverage featured Andretti in the booth, live, announcing his intention to protest the results, while they stated that Unser was not available for comment or interview. However, Unser later disputed that, claiming he was at the Howard Johnson's motel down the street, and that the media was provided with a direct phone number in case they needed to contact him. Stewart, in the post produced coverage, singled out Unser for making a mistake that he could be penalized for, and suggested both that it was a severe infraction, and that he should have known better. Unser took ABC's coverage, and Stewart's in particular, personally. In answer to this, Stewart said, "Bobby was upset. He said that if it had not been for me and ABC, USAC wouldn't have had to take action. My job is not to advise officials, but it is to inform my viewers. Had I not pointed that out to illustrate an infraction of the regulations as I understood them, I would have done a great disservice to the audience."

USAC spent the night reviewing race tapes and scoring reports. At 8 a. m. EST Monday morning, the official results of the race were posted. Bobby Unser was charged with passing cars under the yellow, and was penalized 1 position (some erroneous reports listed it as a 1 lap penalty Roger Penske subsequently filed an appeal to the USAC Appeals Board. Bobby Unser refused to take a part willingly in the appeal stating (17):

"It's already been ruined for me. I'm very bitter. I'm not waiting for the decision either. The damage has already been done and I will paint racing out of my future if I was drawing my future."

The 1981 Indianapolis 500 was largely considered the most controversial running to date. and in some circles was "Undecided." Bobby Unser, who felt the entire ordeal was politically motivated by his USAC enemies, and took a sabbatical from driving. He sat out the 1982 Indy 500, and retired officially in 1983. Behind the scenes, the $40,000 fine for the win, other fines he faced in sponsorship, his attorney's fees, and importantly the inability to parlay his victory into valuable endorsements, ruined his finances. After being reinstated the winner, Bobby Unser was presented with the miniature Borg Warner Trophy, while Mario Andretti had already been presented with the winner's championship ring. In his May 8 column, Miller casually noted that Foyt had a trap speed measured at 214 mph on the mainstretch, about 8 mph faster than any other car. The report led some in the paddock to question the legality of Foyt's turbocharger "boost" setting. Foyt was angered by the report, and denied any accusations of cheating. During some downtime during Friday afternoon's practice session, Foyt hunted down Miller on the grass parapet along the pit lane, grabbed him and slapped him on the back of the head and threatened to "remove two of [his] vital organs." Foyt claimed his speed was due to engine development over the winter months, and quipped 'Is it a crime to go fast?' Miller accused Foyt of throwing temper tantrums, verbal and physical intimidation, and childish behavior. But more importantly, he tallied a lengthy list of USAC races in which Foyt allegedly had cheated in the past. The column sparked controversy, and Foyt immediately refuted the allegations. Foyt demanded the paper issue a retraction, and after they refused, he filed a $3 million libel suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The suit claimed the article was false, with intent to damage Foyt's reputation, as well as create animosity towards Foyt from the other drivers. The dispute simmered during race week, and over the summer months, but was soon largely overshadowed by the Bobby Unser/Mario Andretti controversy that occurred in the race itself. On November 1, 1981, The Star issued a retraction, acknowledging that Foyt's alleged unprofessional conduct "had never been proven nor protested," and at the time of the retraction, "remain[ed] unproven and unprotested." As a result, Foyt dropped the libel suit. The parties settled out of court for an undisclosed monetary amount, and Judge Carl O. Bue Jr. accepted the agreement and formally dismissed the suit on November 30.