1981 Indianapolis 500

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.[10]

On Sunday May 3, Al Unser became the first driver to practice over 190 mph (310 km/h).[10] A day later, his brother Bobby Unser pushed the speeds over 197 mph (317 km/h).[10] The first incidents of the month occurred Monday, when Gordon Smiley spun, and Pete Halsmer crashed in turn 4.[10]

Tuesday (May 5) was completely rained out, and Wednesday (May 6) was windy, keeping the speeds mostly down. A record 50 cars took to the track on Thursday (May 7), with Mario Andretti fastest of the day at 194.300 mph (312.696 km/h).

On Friday, the final day of practice before pole day, Penske teammates Bobby Unser and Rick Mears were hand-timed just a tick below 200 mph (320 km/h). Mario Andretti was a close third over 198 mph (319 km/h).

On Saturday May 9, rain delayed the start of pole position time trials until 3:34 p.m. An abbreviated session saw only 9 cars finish qualifying runs. A. J. Foyt was the fastest of the nine, sitting on the provisional pole at 196.078 mph (315.557 km/h). Rain stopped qualifying for the day at 5:49 p.m., and pushed pole qualifying into the next day.

On Sunday May 10, pole position qualifying was scheduled to resume. Rain fell all afternoon, however, and canceled all track activity for the day. 27 cars were still eligible for the pole position, and the resumption of pole day qualifying was scheduled for the following Saturday.

Among the cars not yet qualified was Mario Andretti, who was due to be in Belgium for the Grand Prix the following weekend. His plans to put the car safely in the field on pole weekend were thwarted, and a contingency plan would have to be made.

Rain continued to fall, and washed out practice on Monday (May 11). On Tuesday May 12, the 200 mph (320 km/h) barrier was finally broken in practice for the month by Danny Ongais. Mario Andretti took his final practice run of the week, and departed for Belgium. Two major crashes occurred, involving Phil Caliva and Phil Krueger. Tim Richmond and Larry "Boom Boom" Cannon both were involved in spins, but suffered no contact.

On Wednesday May 13, Rick Mears pushed the fastest speed of the month to 200.312 mph (322.371 km/h). Retired veteran driver Wally Dallenbach climbed into Mario Andretti's car, and began to take some shake down laps. Due to Andretti's absence for the rest of the week, the Patrick Racing team decided to have Dallenbach qualify the car for him. On race day, Andretti would take over the cockpit once again. Dallenbach was quickly up to speed, over 191 mph (307 km/h) on his first day.

Rain closed the track on Thursday. On Friday, Bobby Unser upped the speed even further, turning a lap of 201.387 mph (324.101 km/h). A record 63 cars took to the track on the final full day of practice. World of Outlaws star, and Indy rookie Steve Kinser crashed in turn 1.

Pole day time trials resumed on a sunny Saturday May 16. About a half-hour into the session, Bobby Unser took over the pole position with a four-lap average of 200.546 mph (322.748 km/h). Meanwhile, Wally Dallenbach put Mario Andretti's car safely in the field at over 193 mph (311 km/h). Mike Mosley squeezed himself into the front row posting a 197.141 mph (317.268 km/h) run. Moments later, Rick Mears took to the track. After a lap over 200.9 mph (323.3 km/h), his car developed a vibration, and he was forced to wave off, giving up his chance for the pole position. Pole qualifying continued until 2:00 p.m., when the original qualifying line was finally exhausted. Bobby Unser was awarded the pole, and the next round of qualifying began.

After pole qualifying was over, Tom Sneva qualified his car at 200.691 mph (322.981 km/h). It was the fastest speed of the month, but since it did not take place in the pole round, he was not eligible for the pole position. Later in the day, Rick Mears took a back-up car out to qualify, but had to settle for a slower speed, and 22nd starting position. A very busy day saw the field filled at 5:00 pm and two drivers being bumped. A total of 53 qualifying attempts were made on Saturday, breaking the previous single day record of 45.

On Sunday, bump day time trials were very busy. Ten cars were bumped during 25 attempts. The last complete attempt saw Jerry Sneva bump Jerry Karl. However, after being tipped off by another driver, Karl protested and Jerry Sneva was disqualified for using too much boost during his qualification attempt.[11] 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 197.6 mph (318.0 km/h). 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.

• Car of Mario Andretti qualified 8th by Wally Dallenbach (moved to 32nd on grid for race day)
• Car of George Snider qualified 29th, sold to Tim Richmond (moved to 33rd on grid for race day)

• First alternate: Herm Johnson  R  (#28) – Bumped
• Second alternate: Bill Engelhart (#29) – Bumped

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 connected to the car. Fuel sprayed over the car, Mears and his mechanics, then ignited when it contacted the engine. 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 Deena to safety, grabbed the extinguisher and put out the fire. His mechanics had also been extinguished, and the pit fire crew arrived to thoroughly douse Mears' car.(19)

Thanks to quick action by Bill Mears and the fact that methanol produces much 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 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 Indycars, adding a safety valve that would only open when the nozzle was connected to the car.(20)

Meanwhile Gordon Smiley led lap 57 to lap 58, his first and only lap led in his career at Indianapolis.(19)

Only minutes later, 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 and the rear tires lost traction. Ongais tried to correct the slide by turning right, and the car hooked to the right and crashed nearly head-on into the wall. (A year later, Gordon Smiley lost control at the same turn in the same way, 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 as the car continued around turn 3, a long trail of fire from burning oil. 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.

On lap 131, Tom Sneva, who fell 35 laps down after his engine stall on lap 58, was eliminated when his engine failed. He stopped his car in the infield grass of turn 1 and climbed out. Sneva, after having the fastest car, was frustratedly out of the race with a blown engine. In an interview with Chris Economaki minutes later, Sneva said that the engine stall happened because he couldn't get the car in gear and once the problem was fixed the engine began to have problems and finally came apart on Sneva's 96th lap.

Pete Halsmer crashed out of the race on lap 135 and the caution waved again soon afterwards for Josele Garza's accident. He was uninjured. Despite crashing, Josele Garza's effort in the race won him the 1981 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award. After three laps of caution, the race resumed with Mario Andretti as the race leader and Bobby Unser in second.

On lap 146, Tony Bettenhausen Jr. had a tire going down, which he at the time was unaware of. Approaching turn four, the tire deflated, and Bettenhausen attempted to move out of the groove and out of traffic. In the process, he touched wheels with Gordon Smiley, sending Smiley's car spinning and into the wall backwards in turn 4. Three laps later, leader Mario Andretti and second place Bobby Unser went into the pit area for service. Unser finished his pit stop first, and was the first out. Andretti followed a few seconds behind.

While the two cars were exiting the pits, the pace car was leading the field at reduced speed through turns 1 and 2. Bobby Unser stayed on the track apron, below the painted white line, and proceeded to pass 14 cars. He took his place in line as the fifth car immediately behind the pace car, still the overall race leader. Mario Andretti himself also passed two cars before he blended into the field in the south short chute. Both drivers' actions went largely unnoticed at the time. Andretti claimed that he immediately called his pit crew on the radio and told him that Unser had passed cars under the yellow.[12] A couple of the lapped cars ahead of Unser subsequently pitted, thus Unser took the green flag on the ensuing restart as the third car in line. Unser quickly dispatched of the lapped cars by turn four, and took a commanding lead into turn one.

• The race stewards investigated Andretti's claim, but no track observers had witnessed Unser's infraction. No penalty was considered for Unser passing under yellow while the race was in progress.[13]
• No announcers in the live radio broadcast made note of any yellow flag passes, nor was it reported that any penalty for doing so was under consideration.[14]
• The ABC television broadcast, a delayed broadcast that aired later in the evening, was later found to have its commentary recorded in post production. As a result, broadcasters were made aware of the incident during post production as commentary was being recorded. They noticed Unser's passes as they occurred while viewing the video in the session, then expressed astonishment at them.[15]

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,[16] 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.[17][18]

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.[12][19][20]

Unlike the live radio broadcast, which did not notice nor mention the infraction,[14] the television broadcast focused heavily on the incident, and reported it as it was being aired.[20][21] 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.[12][20]

Jim McKay: "Bobby, out again – and Bobby, going out, very – passed a car – What's he doing? He – oh look at that! He's passed about half a dozen cars."

Jackie Stewart: "Oh, James, that's a – !"

McKay: "Under the yellow. You can't do that!"

Stewart: "That is a no-no! He has accelerated probably in the haste of leaving the pit lane, he's certainly overtaken these other cars; I'm not sure why he did that. I know that you're certainly not supposed to do it. The regulations say that under yellow flag conditions you must not pass any other cars, and that certainly has been the case here..."

McKay: "...but you're supposed to blend into the traffic, right? Let's see if he did that at all."

Stewart: "Yes, you are supposed to...but certainly he's accelerated all the way down below the double yellow line there, and simply overtaken a lot of cars there; I'm sure Bobby must know the regulations, I'm sure he knew what he was doing, whether his mind was somewhere else I can't say, but he shouldn't have passed these other cars, Jim."

— ABC 1981 Indianapolis 500 coverage of the Unser lap 149 incident

After the end of the race and Unser's victory lane interview was aired on tape delay, a live segment of broadcast concluded ABC's race coverage at approximately 11:45 p.m. EDT (10:45 p.m. IST). At that late hour, Mario Andretti sat with broadcasters Jackie Stewart and Jim McKay in the broadcast booth, and announced that a protest was in process:

"Well, there is a protest in process, mainly because we're talking about an unusual infraction of the rules. The one particular rule we dwell on quite a bit during the private and also the public drivers are passing under yellow. This one instance where Bobby and I were exiting the pits, I was right behind him... I just lost sight. He went about 7...8...9 cars in front of me..."[22]

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.[12] Furthermore, according to Robin Miller in a 2017 interview, television had little excuse because it was well-known around the paddock that Unser stayed at the hotel in question because he was a 'cheapskate'.[23]
• 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."[24]

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[25]) for the infraction. The penalty dropped Unser down to second place, and elevated Mario Andretti to first place. Andretti was declared the victor, and for the moment it made him a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner.

That night, the traditional Victory Banquet was held at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis, with Andretti the new guest of honor. The mood was subdued, and the event was overshadowed by large-scale media attention (Bobby Unser did not attend the banquet). The winner's share of the purse was announced, but the pay envelope presented to Andretti was empty. Andretti was presented with the official pace car but was not given the keys. Ted Koppel's Nightline focused the evening's program on the controversy and included a live interview with Andretti who compared the situation to the 1978 Italian Grand Prix, a race in which he won on the track, but was stripped of victory when officials deemed he jumped the start.

Andretti stated in an interview during the banquet: "I am glad the officials did the right thing but it still is sad. When Bobby won he went through all the hoopla and got to experience victory lane and the other things a winner gets to experience in victory lane...then it was taken from him and given to me. And I will never get to experience that myself."

Penske Racing, Bobby Unser's team, immediately filed an official protest of the decision. On the Wednesday (18) after the race, a five-person panel of officials (led by Tom Binford), denied the protest.[26] 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."

During practice, a controversy erupted between Indianapolis Star journalist Robin Miller and A. J. Foyt. For the first time, handheld radar guns were being used to measure trap speeds of the race cars along the straightaways.[39] 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.[40] 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.[41][42] 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[43] and threatened to "remove two of [his] vital organs."[44] Foyt claimed his speed was due to engine development over the winter months, and quipped 'Is it a crime to go fast?'[42][43] Foyt also demanded that the radar guns be turned off.

In response, Miller wrote a scathing column that was published in The Star on Sunday May 10.[45][46] 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,[47] and Foyt immediately refuted the allegations.[48] 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.[49] 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.[50] 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.[51]

The race was carried live on the IMS Radio Network. Paul Page served as anchor for the fifth year. Lou Palmer reported from victory lane. Darl Wible departed, and Bob Jenkins moved to the fourth turn position, where he would remain through 1989. Larry Henry joined the crew for the first year, stationed on the backstretch. This was Larry's only year on the Backstretch, he moved to Turn 3 the following year. This was Doug Zink's last year in Turn 3.

The reporting location for Turn 2 shifted slightly, although still on the roof of the VIP Suites, the station was moved southward towards the middle of the turn. Howdy Bell, the longtime turn 2 reporter, celebrated his 20th year on the crew. This was Howdy's last year in Turn 2 until 1985. In Turn 3, the reporting location moved to a platform on the L Stand.

The race was carried in the United States on ABC Sports on a same-day tape delay basis. Sam Posey rode along and reported live from inside the pace car at the start of the race.

The broadcast has re-aired on ESPN Classic since 2003. On May 24, 2003, the race was featured on ESPN Classic's "Big Ticket" series, hosted by Jack Arute featuring interviews with Bobby Unser and Mario Andretti. On July 30, 2003, an expanded edit of the "Big Ticket" version aired.

• The controversial 2002 Indianapolis 500
• 1981-82 USAC Championship Car season

48. "Racing Board Refuses To Hear Andretti's Plea", NY Times, Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/04/sports/racing-board-refuses-to-hear-andretti-s-plea.html

49. "Racing Board Refuses to Hear Andretti's Plea", NY Times, Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/04/sports/racing-board-refuses-to-hear-andretti-s-plea.html

General

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EORP8qYwKA8
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwmfBp3U2Os
• https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/29/sports/mears-back-after-indy-fire-wins-twice-mears-back-after-indy-fire-wins-twice.html

• 1981 Indianapolis 500 Day-By-Day Trackside Report For the Media
• Indianapolis 500 History: Race & All-Time Stats – Official Site
• 1981 Indianapolis 500 Radio Broadcast, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network