man I love these old cars, they were so much more raw and brute compared to new cars and successfully getting your car to survive the whole race was much harder. Everything was on the knife edge of blowing up/failing, it was intense.
I couldn't believe I was actually seeing his whole body. Legs and shoes sticking out where the front of the car should've been. One of the worst I've ever seen. Thank God he survived.
I think you'll find a lot of people who agree with you on the "controversial" part. After all was said and done, Bobby Unser was the winner, but the fight over whether or not he was subject to a penalty left such a bad taste in his mouth that he retired from racing (well, driving _in_ races; he did later go into the commentary booth). Can't say I blame him.
That was also my first Indy 500 that I sat through from start to finish. I watched only a small part of the 1980 race. A bit of my back story: In order to watch the ‘81 Indy 500 (I was very young at the time) I decided that I needed to pick a favorite driver from the year before, so I picked Mario Andretti; because it turned out that my AFX racing set had his 1978 John Player Lotus that he won the F-1 title in. I miss that AFX track.
@@moonytheloony6516Me too! I had some of the G Force cars, or whatever they were called, with the strong magnets to keep them held down. I also had a couple of the grand stands that made "engine noise" but they sounded more like a chainsaw! LOL! But, all in all, those race tracks and cars were awesome! I remember I had some Porsche 917 CanAm cars, a bunch of NASCARS, the aforementioned F1 GForce cars. Life was good as a kid. Thanks for triggering some nice memories!
32:58 Sam Posey explains ground effects. This is great. (ahem) I was 12 when this race happened. Didn't know I loved racing yet. Nobody in my family saw anything interesting "watching a bunch of cars drive around in a circle." If I could have been put in front of the tv at this moment, I would have been hooked a lot earlier. This is high education in a 90 sec format. (or however long). Really cool, love watching this old indy 500s! p.s. didn't recognize the intro song, but it was NOT Jim Neigbors.
I don't know what the deal was with that guy. They didn't even have the Purdue band accompanying him. He must have thought he was good enough that he didn't want the band taking anything away from his performance. 😂
What a wild race and a raw and real ABC broadcast: the terrifying Mears pit fire, the disputed results, the appalling Ongais crash and the sight of his limp limbs hanging out of the wreckage; the unglamorous, blue-collar Economaki hustling through the pits with the energy of man half his age, a peeved Al Unser swatting him away, a taped segment with that wily rooster Bobby Unser pronouncing himself "the best", the late night comments from the protesting Mario and the exhausted Dr. Trammell. A spectacle. As good as it gets.
I going to watch this many times over. The cars -engine sounds, crowds.....listened to the race with just the audio....those were the best times and races. ABC and the announcer s.
My grandmother was a nurse. She worked at Methodist Hospital (now IU Health). She treated various famous drivers, such as Danny Ongais. She also treated Landon Turner. She worked with Dr. Terry Trammell.
Safety workers used up a lot of fire extinguishers in the Rick Mears pit fire. In later years, they would douse the fire by throwing buckets of water to dilute the alcohol. That was more effective at putting the fire out quickly. They also added a man with a water hose to spray around the fuel receptacle to dilute any alcohol that may have spilled when the refueling hose was pulled out.
In fact, the foam from the fire extinguishers completely blocked the main straightaway to the point that the any drivers going on the main straightaway would have been completely blinded for a lap or two, which is one reason the caution flag should have been thrown for that pit fire (another is the number of safety personnel and equipment that were used in the fighting of that fire).
Ongais`s crash traumatized me when I saw this live, as a kid. It`s also spooky seeing Gordon Smiley race and crash here, knowing what happened a year later.....
@@saltybildo4415 "Saw", not "Seen" ... but your comment is right on. No racing fan goes to the track to view carnage. It's the most "real" sport, in that the prospect of death is always present. Respect to all those who put their lives on the line.
@@saltybildo4415 Just so everyone knows; Stan Fox was not killed in that crash. I saw that crash on TV, and thought "another Indycar driver with major leg trauma". But it turned out his legs were OK. He did have a concussion.
"33:00" - "35:10" Sam Posey has a very informative and easy to understand explanation,for the layman, about Ground Effects. A little insert for anyone who doesn't know about the effect......like his demo!!
@@brandond5209 Reading your comments I can see you're a connoisseur of this stuff,so I'd like you to tell me something about what issues did the ground effect bring into driving on oval raceways, especially on banked curves.Thx a lot.
And just as amazingly, in the 33-car field in 1981, there were 11 different chassis in the field. Of course, you had Penskes, Wildcats, the Eagle and the Chaparral, but also in that field were McLarens, two Longhorns, a Schkee driven by Tom Klausler, a Lightning driven by Gary Bettenhausen, a Phoenix chassis from Jerry O'Connell's team, the Coyote of A.J. Foyt, the Parnelli driven by Tim Richmond (Foyt's other team car), Interscope Racing's self-built car, and two teams, Bignotti-Cotter and the Whittington Brothers Racing, brought a preview of the future with the Indy debut of the March, with Sneva being the fastest qualifier and Bill Whittington being the fifth-fastest qualifier in the field. In fact, among the top six finishers, there were five different chassis makes, Penske (B. Unser and Brabham), Wildcat (Andretti), McLaren (Schuppan), Phoenix (Cogan), and Longhorn (Sheldon Kinser).
Sir Jackie Stewart, awesome. One of my favorite F! racers. He won, back when cars were much harder to drive. Hamilton has it soo easy compared to the older generation pilots. RU-vid has footage of Stewart racing at the old Nurburgring. Incredible footage.
I remember watching these ABC broadcasts of the Indy 500 when I was a kid. It always amazed me, as it does today, how the cameraman would zoom in on the first car in line when the two cars behind were side-by-side entering a turn. I mean this is not an occasional accident, it was years and years and years of terrible camerawork. But great upload of real racecars!!
My Dad and I both sat in Bobby Unser's (eventual) winning car a couple years later and had our pictures taken in it after the car had been repainted in different colors. I still have the Polaroid.
@@ikshields It's not exactly the same design as 1981, but Simpson's "Bandit" series still has a very similar design. simpsonraceproducts.com/images/products/620.png
@@ikshields actually Mr Shields, it's not a Darth Vader, it's a Storm Trooper helmet. I raced Go-karts thru the 70's-80's & had a Trooper helmet, then sold it to buy the new Simpson. I've been kicking myself for doing that the last 38yrs! 😭
Its palpable how the broadcast was targetted to a much more knowledgeable, mature and interested audience, they are keener to explain technical elements are do not shy away from telling hard truths and hard-to-watch images. Just shows how much we are devolving as a species.
I remember how we left the race track thinking Bobby won. Then we got home and started getting the news that it was being contested. It sure tainted my memories of it...as sparse as they are now.
For those who believe Mario is the rightful winner: The rules, as they were written in 1981, declared that the apron was an extension of the pitlane. Cars exiting the pits under a yellow flag were told to take their position at the end of the yellow line in Turn 2 (seen clearly when Rutherford's car drops out early). According to Johnny, Al, and A.J., these cars were allowed to pass any car except the pace car and the car immediately behind it, as long as they stayed under the yellow line. Yes, on the face of it, this is a stupid procedure. USAC rules were dysfunctional and outdated (think about how many guys were hit with a black flag for "passing under yellow" when the other car had a puncture, or just after the blend line like Raul Boesel). There's no way the apron should be an extension of the pitlane under yellow. But that was the rule at the time. What Bobby (and Mario) did was certainly not ethical by modern standards, but it was legal at the time. There was no stated penalty in the rulebook for that action. Penske & Unser were absolutely right to call BS on being moved back to 2nd. With all due respect to Mario, Uncle Bobby is the rightful winner.
The problem is that the commercials were "racked" to play in a certain order. With it being 1981, there may not have been time to slip that spot to a later time.
@@almostfm And of course, the first thing that played during that particular break was a promo for ABC's Monday Night Baseball, and of course, MLB went on strike shortly after the race (the original strike deadline was for five days after this race was run, but was extended two weeks to June 12, when the MLB players went out on strike). For some strange reason, the Indianapolis 500 always seemed to reflect the times, and 1981 was certainly right on cue, whether it was the post-qualifying controversy involving Jerry Sneva and Jerry Karl, Karl getting arrested at IMS on Carb Day, resulting in veteran Bob Harkey having to practice Karl's car (Karl was released and drive in the race). Then of course, before the two major controversies, there was the botched start, when seven cars passed the S/F line BEFORE the green flag came out, and then during the caution for Don Whittington's crash, both Tom Sneva and Bill Whittington passed the pace car in anticipation of a restart that never happened (neither driver was penalized because they let the pace car repass them, so no advantage was gained). And that was all before the Mears pit fire, which should have brought out the caution, but didn't, and the controversy regarding Bobby Unser and Mario Andretti both passing cars leaving the pits during the caution for Gordon Smiley's crash (Unser passed 8 and Andretti passed 3, though Andretti did appear to let the furthest forward of the 3 cars her passed repass him).
Of note, 1981 was the first year that Gordon Johncock ran the Richard Petty STP paint scheme, which made his win in the following year's race in the first NASCAR-style finish Indy ever had more than a bit ironic. He had been sponsored by STP from 1973-'77, but ran the red paint scheme made famous by Andy Granatelli, who was still a part of the operation when Johncock won the 1973 race, but when STP returned to sponsor Pat Patrick's team in 1981, Johncock's #20 carried the paint scheme Richard Petty made famous.
Spot on bud! I've often wondered if "The King" was/still is abit miffed at Patrick's use of Petty-Blue on they're racecar's. However, Ol' King Richard wasn't no country bumpkin, so he probably was compensated in some manner 💪😎👍
@@Slinger43 I believe that was actually a tribute of some kind to Petty that they ran what was effectively a version of his paint scheme on an IndyCar, especially considering that both Petty and Johncock won the biggest races in their form of the sport in 1973 with the STP sponsorship and then Petty won the Daytona 500 again in 1974. And when Johncock came out of retirement in 1987, he ran that exact same paint scheme, even though he was driving for another team.
@@cjs83172 Yes, I think you're right about that 👍 I absolutely know this much for sure, it is without a doubt the most iconic paint scheme in the history of Motorsport. Gordy did it proud & I'm sure "The King" was pleased when his colors won at Indy!😎
@@cjs83172 Actually Johncock's ride in 1987 was by extension a Patrick ride since he inherited what was originally supposed to be Patrick's car for the winner of the ARS series, but when the winner Fabrizio Barbazza took a ride with Arciero, it then went to Jim Crawford's whose practice wreck then opened the door for Johncock.
Unser clearly jumped the start, little did anyone know that because of this, the ensuing rule change for the pace speeds would indirectly lead to one of the all-time infamous crashes ever at IMS a year later. And the irony of it was that it was Unsers replacement, Kevin Cogan who would instigate the crash.
The IHRA was running on alcohol fuel also. They added a contaminant to color the burning fuel. Bobby legitimately won this race folks. Years after, they went through the rules as presented to the drivers before the race, and found that a driver had until the start/finish line to "merge", and Bobby did so at the very last second, which was within the defined rules. Bobby should never have been fined. And even if it had been against the rules (which it wasn't), Mario and Vern also passed cars under yellow. So Bobby would have won regardless. Plus Bobby Unser is the greatest Indycar driver ever so just go suck it LOL.
Mario just gave Uncle Bobby the finger. Bobby won the Fast Masters series (in Jaguar XJ220s) in 1993 against the likes of David Pearson, Derek Bell, Parnelli Jones, and Bobby Allison - had alot of hubris about how good he was vs. everyone else racing in the series.....but hey, that was Bobby.
After all the smoke cleared............ Bobby Unser was declared the winner! Those that make the decisions at the IMS upheld the finishing order. Mario finished 2nd. Quit the sniveling people, it was almost 40 years ago. Let it go already!
No, actually Bobby was penalized enough time to put him 2nd & Mario was declared "The Winner" the next day. Then Penske sued & the case went to court. Almost 6-months later, that decision was reversed (I don't recall by a court decision, or if Indy just threw in the towel) and Bobby was declared "Winner" once again. In the end, just follow the 💰 cause Penske had more than the other guys. The fastest car won the race, so I don't have a problem with it 🤷🏻♂️
Even if you took the young'ns, with they're i-phones, to Indy, they still wouldn't truly experience one of those fire breathing monster's screaming past them at 240mph, because they would STILL be looking at they're i-phones! 🤬 Truly a shame they have no clue what wonders of life they're missing 😣
He has an open fracture on hi right leg. Broken left hip. Chest injuries. Possible internal injuries. A concussion. He was on fire. "His condition is fairly good" If you say so Doc...
Bob Frey missed qualifying......I remember that...He was my uncle ....He was married to my Mom's sister they're long since divorced ......Great race driver !
422,000 paid attendance! The Golden Age of Indy is behind us, Rest in Peace Bobby Unser. (Bobby was always a better commentator than Jackie I thought.)
As a new fan, this was very educational. Quite an interesting "dark" chapter of Indycar, in my opinion. I can't believe the USAC gave the win to Bobby Unser (with a $40K fine) even though there was indisputable evidence that he had broken the rules. Ignorance of the "blend in" rule should not have been a valid excuse. Besides that, this particular video is a reminder that just surviving this race is a win for the drivers' families.
The thing is, both Unser and Mario passed under the yellow when they shouldn't have. So even if they penalized both of them equally, Bobby still would have won.
Not necessarily so. Based on the procedure, had that been the case, then third place finisher Vern Schuppan would have been declared the winner. The penalty imposed, which would have been in accordance with the rules at the time, was a one POSITION penalty, not a one lap penalty, so if both Unser and Andretti had been penalized, Schuppan would have been declared the unofficial winner, despite finishing one lap behind Unser and Andretti. One overlooked thing that helped set that whole post-race controversy off may very well have been Gordon Johncock dropping out just before the finish, because he was actually running in second place and was never part of that controversy in any way. Had Johncock finished in second, he likely would have been declared the winner.
Mario Andretti is my favorite driver of all time but Bobby Unser won this race. Mario passed cars as well so they both should have been given a one lap penalty and Bobby Unser would still win the race. From time to time you see a dominant car here like Mario in 87 or Mears in 88 but this car is the furthest away from the wall I've ever seen a dominant car run. How much more did Uncle Bobby have if he ran the typical line out to the wall? Bobby had everyone covered and he wasn't even pushing the car. Besides as a Mario fan it wouldn't be a true win and would have an asterisk in people's minds
@@raymonddionne5088 More importantly, what Bobby and Mario did was not against USAC rules. No penalty was stated for that supposed infraction. There should've been, but that was one of many examples of USAC's incompetence as a sanctioning body.
@@raymonddionne5088 So very well put Mr Dionne! That is exactly how I've felt about it since the race ended in 81. Bobby Unser is my all-time favorite & Mario became "that guy" for me after Bobby U's retirement. I was a fan of Mario even then, but you know your guy is YOUR GUY, so was happy Bobby won & really, rightfully so, he absolutely had the DOMINANT CAR 👍
The announces stated that Sneva being a "brides maid" might have cost him his Penske seat. he won the Drivers Championship in 1977-78. That pit fire still freaks me out 41 years later.
After watching this over & over & reading up I feel like it's Mario's fault he shoulda stayed right behind Unser... Bobby passed 12 to 14 whatever it was cars & Mario only passed a couple before getting in line...
Not a factor. According to AJ, Johnny Rutherford, and Al Unser, the USAC rulebook at that time stated that, exiting the pits under yellow, you can take a place in line anywhere as long as you don't pass the pace car or the leader. Uncle Bobby didn't do that, so he was not worthy of a penalty as the rules were written.
From a nowadays viewpoint, yes. Different times. Even though ovals are still insanely dangerous nowadays. Funnily, they talk about how safe the sport now is in the video. It's all a snapshot in time.
Here is the video for the broadcast of Bobby's memorial service: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-E85__L70yyI.html Only fitting to have his rival Mario start it off with a brief video tribute for a fellow racer.
