1992 Michigan 500

After years of Chevrolet engine domination in IndyCar, the 1992 season marked the return of Ford to the Indy car ranks. The Ford Cosworth XB was introduced to replace the aging DFX and the lesser-used DFS. It quickly became an engine of choice, and for 1992, was the powerplant for Newman/Haas Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing. For 1992, Ilmor introduced an updated motor (the 265-B), badged as the "Chevrolet-B", and it was fielded by Penske Racing singly. The rest of the Chevrolet teams utilized the existing Ilmor (265-A), now being referred to as the "Chevy-A".

In the 1992 Indianapolis 500, Al Unser Jr. beat Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds, the closest finish in Indy history. At Indianapolis, Rick Mears suffered a broken wrist in practice.

The first day of practice on Thursday, July 30, was canceled because of rain.[2]

Rains again delayed track activity on Friday. A shortened practice session before qualifying had Michael Andretti as the fastest speed at 230.2 mph. His father Mario Andretti was second quickest at 229.9 mph.[3]

52 year-old Mario Andretti won the pole for the Marlboro 500 with a speed of 230.150 mph. It was Mario's first Indy car pole since 1987 and set the record for oldest driver to win a pole. Second place was Michael Andretti with a speed of 230.056 mph. Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Eddie Cheever and Arie Luyendyk completed the second row. 19 cars posted speeds in round one.[4]

Saturday's second round of qualifying saw only one driver post a speed. Jon Beekhuis qualified in the 20th starting spot. Without setting qualifying speeds, Steve Chassey, George Snider, Ross Bentley, and Eric Bachelart were added to the starting field based on practice speeds.[5]

On Saturday, the International Race of Champions competed at Michigan. Geoff Brabham won the 100 mile race. Al Unser Jr., Scott Pruett, and Arie Luyendyk were the only three drivers to compete in IROC and the Michigan 500.[6]

An estimated 55,000 spectators attended the race,[7] a 10% increase from the year before.[8]

At the start, Michael Andretti took the lead from the outside of the front row. The caution came out on lap two for debris. Andretti led the first 48 laps.

Running second on lap 36, Eddie Cheever crashed in turn two. Leading the race on lap 49, Michael Andretti slowed and entered the pits. He retired from the race with ignition failure. The lead was assumed by his father Mario, who led for the next 38 laps.[9]

Scott Goodyear climbed from the ninth starting position and passed Mario Andretti for the lead on lap 87. Running two laps down on lap 92, Rick Mears pulled into the pits and retired from the race, suffering severe pain from his broken wrist suffered at Indianapolis.[10] It was the last race of Mears' career, as he soon underwent surgery to repair his wrist and retired from auto racing in December 1992.

Running a part-time schedule for Team Penske, Paul Tracy took the lead for the first time when Goodyear was slowed by lapped traffic on lap 101. After green flag pit stops, Goodyear repassed Tracy on lap 110 and led for the next 65 laps. After leading 38 laps, Mario Andretti retired from the race after 122 laps with engine failure.

Paul Tracy retook the lead on lap 175 and held it for the next 58 laps. Tracy extended his lead over Goodyear to 13.2 second by lap 220. At that moment, Scott Brayton crashed in turn three.

After the debris from Brayton's crash was cleaned up, the race restarted on lap 231. Two laps later, Goodyear pulled to the outside of Tracy in turn two. They raced side-by-side down the backstretch before Goodyear pulled ahead in turn three.[11]

Goodyear led the final 18 laps and won by 5.932 seconds over Tracy.[12] The win was the first for Scott Goodyear and also the first for the team owned by Derrick Walker.[13]

Immediately after the race, fourth-place finisher Al Unser Jr. went to confront Tracy over blocks he deemed dangerous. "I just wanted to tell Paul that he can't move over on anybody down the straightaway at any of the ovals. He moved over on Scott (Goodyear) and tried to block him and then tried to block Boesel and tried to block me. I wanted to teach him and make him learn that you can't do that at 200 (m.p.h.) on these ovals because you'll end up hurting somebody very badly. It's a closed issue. I think Paul understands now."[14]

The Michigan 500 was broadcast live on television by ABC. Paul Page was the lead announcer and was joined by Bobby Unser and Sam Posey as color commentators.[15]