1983 Indianapolis 500

67th running of the Indianapolis 500

The 67th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday, May 29, 1983. After finishing second three times (1977, 1978, 1980), winning the pole position twice (1977–1978), and being the fastest qualifier one additional time (1981), Tom Sneva finally shook his "bridesmaid" status and won his first and only Indianapolis 500. The win also represented the record seventh Indy victory that chief mechanic George Bignotti was involved with. In the final twenty laps, three time winner Al Unser Sr. was leading Tom Sneva. Unser was seeking his record tying fourth Indy victory. His son, rookie Al Unser Jr., was several laps down, but was positioned right behind his father. Al Jr. created a firestorm of controversy when it appeared that he was blocking Sneva intentionally to aid his father. Unser Jr. admitted to running interference for his father, claiming he was trying to create "dirty air" and turbulence for Sneva. He stopped short, however, of calling it "blocking". After several anxious laps, Sneva finally slipped both Al Jr. and Al Sr., using lapped traffic to his advantage. Sneva opened up an 11 second lead, and took the checkered flag for his long awaited Indy victory. Rookie Teo Fabi headlined time trials by winning the pole position, and on race day he led the first 23 laps. Fabi's day was short, however, as he dropped out with a bad fuel gasket. The effort earned him the rookie of the year award. Fabi would go on to win four races during the season and finished second to Al Unser Sr. for the CART points championship. The 1983 Indy 500 ushered in a new era of civility and stability in the sport of Indy car racing. After four years of conflict and organizational disputes between USAC and CART, the two sanctioning bodies came to an amicable truce. The Indianapolis 500 would be sanctioned singly by USAC, and officially would be part of the ceremonial Gold Crown championship. However, the race was now recognized on the CART schedule, and counted towards the 1983 CART PPG Indy Car World Series points championship. The field for the Indy 500 going forward would consist primarily of CART based teams, along with numerous one off ("Indy only") entries. Despite various squabbles and minor technical differences between the sanctioning bodies, this arrangement would remain in place, with relative harmony, through 1995.

The USAC technical committee issued a rule change for 1983, scaling back side skirts and declaring that "all bodywork or aerodynamic devices must be at least one inch above the bottom of the car's tub." During time trials, a total of 15 cars in the qualifying line would fail pre qualifying technical inspection, raising tempers and drawing the ire of competitors. Some teams charged that USAC was inconsistent in their enforcement and their measuring, since they used a different (and possibly less accurate) tool than the CART series officials utilized at other races. In addition, some teams claimed the first several cars in line were not scrutinized as heavily as those deeper in line. The evolving aerodynamic rules coincided with the emergence of the Robin Herd designed March chassis becoming the vehicle of choice for the mid 1980s. Coupled with the widely used Cosworth DFX engine, the "customer car" era began to dominate the sport of Indy car racing. Penske, among other teams, elected to scale back, or even abandon their in house chassis programs in favor of the English built March for the next few seasons. The March's aerodynamic advancements, downforce, and affordable cost were among the reasons it emerged as the favorite among the competitors. The "customer car" era also was popular with the smaller budget teams, as it allowed them access to top equipment, leveling the playing field, and shrinking the differences between haves and the have nots. The 1983 race would be the first of five consecutive Indy 500 victories for March Engineering.

Pole day time trials was scheduled for Saturday May 14. Rain, however, kept cars off the track nearly all day. At 4:15 p. m., the track finally opened for practice, but it was brief and interrupted by several yellow lights. Officials closed the track at 5:49 p. m., without a single car making a qualifying attempt. On Sunday May 15, rain washed out the entire day. It was the first time since 1978 that not a single car qualified on the first weekend. Pole day time trials was moved to the second weekend. Three time winner Johnny Rutherford was sidelined after two major crashes. On May 8, he crashed in turn one, suffering minor injuries. On May 18, he suffered a more serious crash in turn 3. He broke his left foot and left ankle, and was forced to sit out the 1983 race.

Pole day started with Mike Mosley (205.372 mph) taking the top spot early on. Rick Mears, a favorite for the pole, had his effort fall short, and he qualified at 204.301 mph. Tom Sneva was the next shot at the front row, but his speed of 203.687 mph was only third fastest at the moment. The next car out was rookie Teo Fabi, who had raised eyebrows during the week, posting practice speeds near the top of the speed chart. Fabi set a new one lap track record of 208.049 mph, and set a four lap record of 207.395 mph, securing the pole position. Fabi became the first rookie to win the pole since Walt Faulkner in 1950. A very busy day saw 42 attempts and 33 cars complete qualifying runs. For the first time in modern history, the field was filled to 33 cars in one day. On a sad note, Tony Foyt Sr., the father of A. J. Foyt as well as his former chief mechanic, died after battling lung cancer. After qualifying on Saturday, A. J. Foyt flew to Houston to visit his ailing father. At 8 p. m., Tony Foyt Sr. lapsed into a coma, and died at 10 p. m.

The day opened with John Mahler (180.022 mph) on the bubble. Rain again hampered time trials, and the track did not open until nearly 2 p. m.

Phil Krueger wrecked during a practice run, and Gary Bettenhausen waved off a run after one lap over 193 mph. At 4:14 p. m., Dennis Firestone completed a run of 190.888 mph, with heavy rain beginning to fall on his last lap, bumping Mahler, and the track was soaked and closed for the day. The 6 o'clock gun fired with several drivers, including Bettenhausen, Bill Alsup, and Dick Ferguson all left sitting in line.

RowInsideMiddleOutside1 Teo Fabi Mike Mosley Rick Mears 2 Tom Sneva Al Unser Jr. Bobby Rahal3 Al Unser Roger Mears Tony Bettenhausen Jr.4 Gordon Johncock Mario Andretti Howdy Holmes5 George Snider Pancho Carter Bill Whittington6 Chip Ganassi Patrick Bedard Josele Garza7 Steve Chassey Dick Simon Danny Ongais8 Kevin Cogan Johnny Parsons A. J. Foyt 9 Chris Kneifel Geoff Brabham Don Whittington10 Derek Daly Scott Brayton Mike Chandler11 Steve Krisiloff Chet Fillip Dennis Firestone

Rookie Teo Fabi took the lead from the pole position and led the first 23 laps. A. J. Foyt, who earlier in the week had attended his father's funeral, dropped out early with a broken transmission u joint linkage. At almost the same time, George Snider, Foyt's other team car, dropped out with ignition failure. Both Foyt cars were out just beyond the 50 mile mark. After showing speed early, Fabi dropped out with a bad fuel gasket. During an early pit stop, the refueling mechanism failed, and fuel spilled around the car, but it did not ignite. On lap 81, Johnny Parsons spun in front of Mario Andretti in turn one. Both cars crashed hard into the outside wall. It was Andretti's first ride at Indy with Newman/Haas Racing, and yet another misfortune for him at the 500.

First half contender Bobby Rahal dropped out with a punctured radiator. The lead in the second half was maintained by Tom Sneva and Al Unser Sr. Sneva's teammate Kevin Cogan, as well as Geoff Brabham were also running near the top five. On lap 172, Tom Sneva led with Al Unser Sr. second. Sneva was right behind the lapped car of Mike Mosley when his pit crew put out the sign board for him to make his final pit stop. Seconds later, Mosley spun right in front of Sneva coming out of turn one and crashed into the outside wall. Mosely suffered a bruised foot in the wreck. Sneva veered to the inside and narrowly avoided the incident. Mosley's notable "Indy jinx" continued, and it would be his final lap at the Speedway he was killed in a traffic accident less than a year later. With the yellow out, Sneva pitted the next time around, his final scheduled pit stop of the day. Al Unser Sr. was also in the pits. Unser had a much faster pit stop, electing not to change tires, and came out in the lead. Sneva was now second.

The green flag came back out on lap 176 with Al Unser Sr. leading and Tom Sneva in second. As the cars were going through turn four, the 10th place car of rookie Al Unser Jr. (five laps down at the time) jumped the restart. He passed both Sneva and his father Al Sr. One lap later, Al Jr. allowed his father by, and settled in between his father and second place Tom Sneva. Over the next several laps, it became clear that Al Jr. was attempting to run interference for his father. Al Jr. was known to openly root for his father, and incidentally it was Al Sr.'s 44th birthday. As the race hit lap 180, officials started displaying Al Unser Jr. the blue flag. While many feel Al Jr. did not actually make many onerous and intentional "blocking" moves, he did create a significant amount of "dirty air" for Sneva, and did not yield the preferred racing line. Despite the impedance, Al Sr. was not pulling away nor seemed able to extend his lead. The three cars continued to run very close together. As the laps dwindled, the controversy began to grow. With 13 laps to go, Sneva pulled alongside Al Unser Jr. on the frontstretch. The two cars went side by side into turn one, but Al Jr. refused to give up the ground. With ten laps to go, the three cars caught up to lapped traffic. Al Jr. got stuck behind the car of Dick Simon, and Sneva immediately pounced on the moment. Sneva veered down low, passed Al Jr. and Simon in consecutive corners, and set his sights on the leader. Down the backstretch, Sneva set up his pass and easily got by Al Unser Sr. going into turn three. He passed two more cars before the end of the lap and immediately began building a lead. With an open track ahead of him now, Tom Sneva picked up the pace and put considerable distance between himself and Unser. Sneva cruised to victory, by a margin of 11.174 seconds. It was Sneva's first Indy 500 victory (after three previous runner up finishes) and chief mechanic George Bignotti's record seventh Indy 500 victory. After stirring up controversy, Al Unser Jr. ran out of fuel on the final lap. He stalled on the course before reaching the finish line, and was scored six laps down at the finish.

In post race interviews, Al Unser Jr. admitted to running interference for his father, claiming he was trying to create "dirty air" and turbulence for Sneva. He stopped short, however, of calling it "blocking." Al Jr. was highly criticized for the actions, by both competitors and media. However, after the race USAC examined the incident, and issued no penalties for blocking, After the race Al Jr. was issued a two lap penalty for passing two cars before the green light, but the penalty did not cost him any positions. Unser still finished in the top ten as the highest finishing rookie. However, he lost out on the rookie of the year award, which went to polesitter Teo Fabi.