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This is the 62nd Indianapolis 500, run on May 28, 1978.
NOTE: While I use the host segments for the Indy 500: The Classics airing of the highlight film, this is, in fact, a combined version between the SpeedVision version and ESPN's Legends of the Brickyard series. Thus virtually the entire film is presented in one upload.
As the teams and drivers descended on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indianapolis 500 in 1978, there was a tinge of sadness, as Tony Hulman, who along with 3-time Indianapolis 500 winner Wilbur Shaw, rescued the track from ruin after World War II, had died the previous October.
When festivities began, there was also hope for the first official 200 MPH qualification. Tom Sneva had run two official laps over 200 MPH in 1977, but his average was just under 199. Not only would Sneva qualify at over 200 MPH, he shattered his own record with a lap of over 203. Sneva would be joined on the front row by Indy sophomore Danny Ongais and rookie teammate Rick Mears, the first rookie to qualify on the front row since Eddie Sachs in 1957. And while no previous winner qualified on the front row, three of them, 2-time winners Johnny Rutherford and Al Unser, as well as 1973 winner Gordon Johncock, would qualify on the second row.
However, Mother Nature also had her turn at bat, affecting both qualifying weekends, and that, combined with mechanical problems adversely affected the efforts of Bobby Unser and A.J. Foyt, who instead of starting up front (Foyt qualified with the identical speed that Danny Ongais qualified with), would have to start in the seventh row, and neither was ever a factor in the race. The weather also affected the efforts of Mario Andretti, who would likely have been able to qualify his car had weather not intervened on the first qualifying weekend. But because qualifying was delayed, Mike Hiss, who put one of Roger Penske's cars on the front row in 1974, qualified eighth, but since Andretti drove it in the race, he was forced to start last.
The day of the race was one of the hottest in Indy history, but the race itself was pretty non-descript, though the start was a bit crazy. Rick Mears missed a shift on the initial start, and just behind him, Sheldon Kinser slowed with oil pressure problems. He would bring out the caution flag twice in the race's first 10 laps. While Andretti, Foyt, and Bobby Unser were trying to charge from the back, Ongais and Sneva battle up front. On the 24th lap, Spike Gehlhausen hit the wall in turn two, the only crash during the race. During the ensuing caution, Steve Krisiloff grabbed the lead, but was penalized one lap for violating USAC's P.A.C.E.R. light rule on the 31st lap.
Andretti moved up to battle Foyt for 12th place, and eventually passed A.J., but just before the caution came out for Gehlhausen's crash, Andretti suffered magneto problems (and stopped FIVE pit stalls short before being pushed into his pit), costing him any chance to contend. Foyt later would suffer engine problems, relegating him to also-ran status in this one.
Meanwhile, Al Unser was moving up, due in large part to his pit crew, who were making 11 second pit stops, and on lap 76, took the lead from Ongais. A subplot to this battle was that Ongais was racing for what was Vel's-Parnelli Jones Racing, the team Al had raced for from 1969-'77. Ongais' car was faster, but Al's pit crew more than made up for what he lost on the track.
Just past the halfway mark, Rick Mears dropped out of his first Indianapolis 500 with problems unrelated to his slow start. Though never mentioned in the film, Gordon Johncock moved into contention before being penalized one lap for running over his air hose during a pit stop.
On the 144th lap, Ongais' car broke a turbocharger rotor, ending what would be his only real chance to win the race, seemingly handing Unser the race on a a platter. Then with 20 laps remaining, Unser hit a tire his team was planning to change on his last pit stop (not seen or mentioned), though his lead on Tom Sneva was big enough that he still scored an easy third Indy win.
Behind Unser and Sneva were Patrick Racing teammates Johncock and Krisiloff, their finishing positions not affected by their penalties, former Patrick Racing drive Wally Dallenbach, Bobby Unser, in one of his few bright spots of 1978, Foyt, George Snider, Janet Guthrie (who finished ninth with a broken wrist), and Johnny Parsons, Jr. rounding out the top 10.
Unser's third Indy win was the crown jewel of a great 1978 season, which saw him win the IROC title and then use his third Indy win to catapult him to the only sweep of IndyCar racing 500 mile races. Sneva would go on to win his second national championship, yet still get fired by Roger Penske at season's end.
22 фев 2022
