1981 Michigan 500

Indy car racing's Triple Crown began in 1971 when Pocono Raceway opened and held their inaugural Pocono 500, joining the Indianapolis 500 and California 500. This continued for 10 years until late 1980, Ontario Motor Speedway closed and created a void in the Triple Crown where only two 500 mile races would be held.

In 1979, Championship Auto Racing Teams was created as a way for Indy car teams to have greater control over the sport. It led to a split between CART and USAC, where two separate open-wheel schedules were held. In 1980, the two series briefly merged as the Championship Racing League before once again splitting. As Indy car racing entered 1981, USAC retained sanctioning control of the Indianapolis 500 and Pocono 500.

For the majority of the first twelve years of Michigan International Speedway, the July Indy car race was a 200-mile event. On February 26, 1981, track-owner Roger Penske announced that the race would be extended to 500 miles.[2]

With NBC providing live coverage, the Michigan 500 would become the second 500-mile auto race to be aired live in its entirety, joining NASCAR's Daytona 500. At the time of the announcement, NBC's vice-president of sports programming, Dick Auerbach, said, "With the squabbles they've been having at Indianapolis recently, I think this race will be the 500-mile race of the future. It could supplant the Memorial Day race within a few years."[3]

Penske insisted the creation of the Michigan 500 was not an attempt for CART to supplant the Indianapolis 500, but rather just a chance to build a successful event. "We have the finest racing facility in the country today. With the proper presentation we can build this to be a major event. It's a good business decision. We have no conflict with Indy."[4]

Crowd enthusiasm was very high for the change in distance to 500 miles. Penske declared that ticket sales had almost doubled compared to the 200 mile event in July 1980. "The moment we announced we were going to have a 500-mile Indy car race here, it was like I had invented a new formula. The ticket sales jumped almost 100 percent over last year."[5]

Bobby Unser won the 1981 Indianapolis 500 for Team Penske but had his win stripped away due to a rules violation and given to Mario Andretti. While the win was returned to Unser through a USAC appeal in October,[6] as of July's Michigan 500, Andretti was still considered the winner of that year's Indianapolis 500.

USAC's Pocono 500 was held in June and was won by A. J. Foyt. CART teams boycotted the event and the field was filled with dirt cars.[7] Tom Sneva, Dick Simon, Roger Rager, Jim McElreath, Tom Bigelow, Geoff Brabham, and Dean Vetrock were suspended by CART for 60 days for competing in the Pocono 500, a suspension that would extend through the Michigan 500. The drivers filed a lawsuit against CART in United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia which was successful and overturned their suspension, allowing them to enter the Michigan 500.[8]

After not committing to join CART for two years, A. J. Foyt obtained CART membership on July 13, and entered the Michigan 500.[9] Mario Andretti skipped the Michigan 500 in order to run the 1981 British Grand Prix.

In Wednesday's opening three-hour practice, Johnny Rutherford and Tom Sneva posted the fastest practice speed when they ran identical lap speeds of 197.8 mph. Team Penske drivers Rick Mears and Bill Alsup ran laps at 196.7 mph, followed by Pancho Carter at 196 mph.[10]

The opening round of Time Trials was held on Thursday afternoon. Tom Sneva won the pole with a speed of 201.359 mph. Johnny Rutherford and Rick Mears posted the second and third fastest speeds to occupy spots on the front row.[11]

Salt Walther led second day qualifiers on Friday with a speed of 193.876 mph. [12]

On Saturday, July 19, Roger Penske exercised his "promoter's option" and expanded the starting field to 37 starters. Two alternate starters and the top-two finishers from a 10-lap qualifying race were added.[13]

Seven cars entered Saturday's 10-lap qualifying race for those not among the top-33 fastest qualifiers. The race was won by Steve Chassey. Chassey had a half-mile lead when Jerry Sneva and Jim Buick crashed on lap eight. Buick was transported to a local hospital after complaining of shoulder pains but was released later that day. Harry MacDonald and Phil Caliva were the only two other cars to finish. Chassey and Bill Tempero were added to the starting grid by posting the 34th and 35th fastest qualifying speeds. MacDonald and Caliva were added to the Michigan 500 by being the two highest finishers not added by speed.[14]

A constant rain marred race day on Sunday July 19. Once it became apparent the rain would not stop, the race was postponed until the following Saturday. While the possibility existed for the race to be run on Monday, (with NBC taping the event for later broadcast), Roger Penske decided to run the following weekend to retain spectators.[15]

"The best thing would be to run the next day, Penske said. "The decision was made because of the wonderful support we've had, from the press and from all of the fans. We felt we needed to give them the opportunity to come back. We're trying to help the fans, and I think you'll see most of them come back."[16]

A practice session was held on Friday, July 24, ahead of the rescheduled race. Polesitter Tom Sneva posted the fastest practice speed at 199.5 mph.[17]

When the race began, Tom Sneva pulled out to a lead. At the beginning of lap two, Larry Cannon spun in turn two and continued.

The restart came out on lap five and Johnny Rutherford quickly passed Sneva for the lead. In turn one, Gordon Johncock and Bill Whittington crashed.

On lap 25, Bill Tempero blew an engine in turn one. Larry Dickson lightly hit the wall after hitting the oil and Pancho Carter spun into the infied grass. Under caution, Herm Johnson's car caught fire while refueling. The methanol fire spread uncontrolled to other pit boxes as people fled. Tires exploding from the heat caused loud explosions. Heroic work from firefighters kept the fuel tanks from exploding. Track fire crews were unable to completely extinguish the blaze, firefighters from the Cambridge Township Department were summoned and were able to extinguish the fire in five minutes.[18]

14 people were injured in the fire. 12 were treated for minor burns at the track hospital, including Johnson who had minor facial burns. Graig Nelson, a Johnson crew member, was hospitalized with first and second degree burns to his feet. Jay Signore, a Team Penske crewman for Bobby Unser, suffered a cut leg and was hospitalized.[19] The race was red-flagged for 97 minutes while fire damage was cleaned and fire equipment was replaced. It was the third pit fire in two months, following a fire in Rick Mears's pit during the Indianapolis 500 and a previous fire for Herm Johnson at Milwaukee.

After the restart, Tom Sneva ran in close company with Mike Mosley. Mosley took the lead and extended his advantage to seven seconds over Sneva by the time he stopped for fuel on lap 76.

On lap 81, A. J. Foyt crashed hard into the turn two wall. Foyt was knocked unconscious in the impact and his right arm was nearly severed by the guard rail. He suffered a wound to his left leg and a compound fracture to his right arm along with severe lacerations to his arm. He was airlifted to the University of Michigan hospital in Roger Penske's personal helicopter where he underwent surgery.[20]

On lap 96, Sneva's car experienced gearbox failure with the car stuck in third gear. He retired from the race after completing 107 laps.[21]

While leading on lap 112, Johnny Rutherford ran over debris and blew a right-rear tire on the backstretch. The car spun 360 degrees and Rutherford continued back to the pits. Suspension damage knocked him out of the race. The misfortune for Rutherford allowed Pancho Carter to return to the lead lap.[22]

Suspension issues knocked Bobby Unser out of contention for the win. After leading 34 laps, Mike Mosley fell out of the race with engine problems.

On lap 144, Carter received a push start after stalling on pit road.[23]

Al Unser assumed the lead and paced the field for 46 laps. Unser's chances of winning ended on lap 196 when he blew an engine while leading.

Pancho Carter had battled Unser for the lead past the halfway point and led the final 55 laps, beating Tony Bettenhausen Jr. to the finish line by two seconds. It was Carter's first win in 78 starts. Only 10 of the 37 starters finished the race.[24]

Second-place finisher, Tony Bettenhausen Jr. filed an appeal claiming Carter's push start on lap 144 was in violation of CART rules. With an affidavit from Tom Sneva, who had retired earlier in the race, Bettenhausen appealed to CART stewards, seeking a penalty for Carter, but was denied later that evening.[25]

The Michigan 500 was the first time ever that a 500-mile Indy Car race was broadcast live in its entirety. NBC's broadcast was overseen by Don Ohlmeyer, who said, "We probably put as much effort into preparing for this telecast as we have ever put into any single sports event."[26]

Paul Page and Charlie Jones did the play-by-play coverage for NBC. Gary Gerould and Bruce Jenner served as pit reporters.

NBC aired a qualifying report and race preview on Saturday, July 18.[27] The car driven by Bill Alsup carried an onboard camera.[28]

Because of the rain delay, Ohlmeyer estimated it would cost NBC "a quarter of a million dollars" to bring its cameras and crew back to Michigan for the rescheduled race one week later.[29]