1987 Indianapolis 500 | Official Full-Race Broadcast 

This ABC announcing crew was magnificent. The 70s through the 80s ABC was in a league of their own.

The days when racing was the best along with the best sports network ever ABC. I remember when a longtime friend and i went to the San Francisco auto show near Thanksgiving we walk in and there is Al Unser sitting in a chair. we could not believe it he signed my program could not believe how nice he was. We were the first group into the show, and we were in shock that we were the only ones that noticed it was Al Unser sitting there. It was so sad when I heard he had passed away. A real good guy.

My seat as always was SW vista row 4. Grew up in Indy, lived in ABQ from 84 till 89. Ran into Al Sr a few times in town and at airports. Always a class act. RIP sir. Still have my matchbox Johnny Lightning Special Indy cars.

God I used to love this race. Idk maybe its me getting old, but the Indy 500 lost its luster for me after the mid 90s. I think it has for other people as well, which is sad, because the Indy 500 was bigger than auto racing. I remember being a little boy and looking at the starting grid in the front page of the sports section. In Pennsylvania lol. Such a spectacle in those days. I miss them.

1987. My favourite Indianapolis 500 of all time apart from many others.

I was there i loved it i was an al unser fan i turned 21 on june 1st a great birthday present

R. I. P. Al Unser (1939-2021).

Such a great race by Al Unser, hanging back just behind the leaders in what was for him a new car, and just patiently waiting for the faster cars to drop out. So much patience, and such a will to win.

I still remember watching that race. It was the second year that ABC started broadcasting the race live ( prior to 1986 it was shown tape delayed on Sunday night). I actually had to leave my apartment somewhere mid race to rescue a friend who ran out of gas and thought I wasn't missing anything because Mario was miles out front. I got back home literally five minutes before Mario broke down. And then Guerrero stalled in the pits and Big Al went on to win. That has to be the biggest underdog winner in the modern era of the race.

Interesting that when Guerrero pitted at about 2:20 (under green), he changed all but the outside rear tire, and when Andretti pitted at 2:23, he changed all but the inside front.

1987 was Jim McKay's last Indy 500 (sadly). But Paul Page turned out to be a great successor calling the 500 for ABC starting in 1988.

Big Al . Con esa edad y ganando las 500 . Un grande 👍

Al Unser quote “I got that checkered flag, & they said we can believe you won the race, I said me either.” Lol

02:16:48 Saudoso Luciano do Valle 🇧🇷

In retrospect, I’m glad Roberto didn’t win not because it would’ve denied Al Sr.’s fourth or Mario a deserved second, but because it would end up if he did win forever tarnished because the wheel he hit went up in the crowd and killed a man. Look at the replay (on youtube caught by non abc camera iirc) i’m also glad that it didn’t kill him which it could’ve easily done. -U10

Loved the story about how Al initially had no sponsor for the race and then entered with the yellow #25 car, which had been on display in a casino before being called into service. Had Danny Ongais not been injured, he might well have sat it out.

Al Unser May 29,1939-December 9, 2021 🏁🏎🥛🏆🥛🏆🥛🏆🥛🏆🥺😢🙏Rest In Peace

the 70's and into the late 80's where such a awsome time in history for Indy and nascar racing great group of guys that where in it to win it Alabama gang and so on love it Earnheart RIP never be no one like him. thanks youtube

05:44 Error!!! At that time, also Graham Hill and Jim Clark. Emerson Fittipaldi and Jacques Villeneuve will be added in the future.

I was there! Sandi patty, awesome singer! I sat in the first row in turn 1 SW vista, Most took off their hats and many bowed their heads during the prayer/invocation. This was the most perfect race day!

Best Indy 500 ever!

Just came from reading Adrian Newey page 122

The race starts at 51:30

Awesome stuff. I remember Sullivan's 'spin cycle' win in '85. Love those old turbo panzers.

Roberto Guerrero, great driver that he deserved more in F1 and Indy. Sorry about his near fatal accident testing at IMS in that year.

Isn't this the race where a tire come off one of the Indy cars and then another car struck it, the tire went flying into the stands and killed a man?

The errant tire that Guerrero hit killed a spectator. Guerrero himself was injured by a loose tire during testing not long after this race.

What a race!

The last Indianapolis 500 without the "Delta Force Theme" in 80s

Sam Posey during a modern Formula One pitstop: "In the first four sec...Oh Damn!"

A couple of interesting sidenotes: 1. Adrian Newey (yep, THAT Adrian Newey) was in the Indy Cars back then before winning 10 constructors' titles in Formula One. 2. ABC's Monday Sportsnite, a show which preceded ESPN2's Sports Night by seven years and the ABC comedy Sports Night by 11 years. Go figure! 3. The pit-stop competition appears to be the only time (except for flat-spotting tires) that pit crews would change all four tires. These days, four-tire stops are routine. 4. This race and the 1989 race were ones in which you could measure the intervals between Top 5 cars in laps rather than seconds. Today? Not so much.

3:25:05 Spectator death announcement, caused from a loose wheel going into the crowd. 🏁🏁

The content with Blane Chassey and Steve is so ❤

Yes

My first Indy 500,

Winner is Al Unser Sr. 1939-2021

Al Unser May 29, 1939-December 9, 2021🏁🏎🥛🏆🥛🏆🥛🏆🥛🏆🥺😢🙏

Amazing Brazilian Band TV team, great Luciano do Valle.

Someone actually said, "You suck AJ?" Seriously??? Foyt is a LEGEND

RAN OUT FUEL !!!!! sTp

Can Al Unser win his 4th today?

51:36 Race Start

Nice formation on the start. Things fell apart in that regard in the years that followed.

If I remember correctly, at 2:23:00 the nose cone of Guerrero's that struck the loose tire, the tire bounced into the crowd killing a spectator.

As great as a driver as Mario was, he had a very distinct way of driving that was too hard on the car to finish 500 mile races. Mario only knew one way to drive- flat out. The 500 mile races- particularly Indianapolis were also endurance races somewhat, and you had to be kinder to the car than on the shorter distance races. A number of retirements Mario had at Indianapolis and the other 500 mile races were often in the later parts of the races. Mario won in ‘69 he knew the car he was driving was fragile- because he had crashed his original race car- a brand new Lotus- and had to revert to a year-old Brauner Hawk. He knew if he wasn’t kind to the Hawk, and he didn’t think he was going to win, so he just took it fairly easy, some other people fell out, and he won.

What was the music that ABC used for the intros?

good race

Official Test and Research

1:05:35 And now inside Andretti's 200 mph go kart.

O problema de bater no muro é a oscilação do sistema nervoso central dentro do crânio causando problemas aos nervos cranianos.

Radiador de óleo?

heartbreaking about Mario

I watch and love all motor sports and there are some very very amazing races around the world but Indy has its own special magic. Just the entire atmosphere is incredible. I get a similar feeling from Le Mans and 24 hours of Daytona. Nascar has special races but it is far to gimmicky now days

2:16:36 2:16:46 Luciano do valle:estamos aqui transmitido pela rede Bandeirantes um grande abraço a todos você do show do esporte thank you Abc

Perder as pernas é o de menos como o Piquet escapou com as pernas trituradas.

I have to also say that they forgot about Al Unser leading all but 10 laps in the 1970 Indianapolis 500!

The race starts with 33 cars on it. The broadcaster's act as though the only car that matters one that's in front. There's passing for position all up and down the field for 500 miles and we don't see it because the producers have leaderitis.

2:56:05. 3:12:55. Bobby Unser, 1981 Indianapolis 500 WIINNER! First 500 I ever attended. Sat in the Paddock not far down the track from where Mario's car slowed down on him. With the exception perhaps of Michael in 1992, nobody deserves to win it More than Mario in '87.

1987 Al Unser Sr 🇺🇸 Won the 500 miles of Indianapolis and in the same year had the Pan American Games in Indianapolis and Emerson Fittipaldi 🇧🇷 Starting at Last and had the Italians 🇮🇹 Mário Andretti, Fabrizio Barbazza , Derek Daly 🇮🇪 Roberto Guerrero 🇨🇴 Arie Luyendyk 🇳🇱 Geoff Brabham 🇦🇺 Josele Garza 🇲🇽 And Steve Chassey 🇺🇸 was running in the Benetton Colors of Formula 1 ..and I saw a lot of advertisements on American TV and the call for Formula 1 on May 31st for the Monaco GP 🇲🇨 ..e Bobby Rahal 🇺🇸 Abandons Tom Sneva 🇺🇸 Josele Garza 🇲🇽 Emerson Fittipaldi 🇧🇷 Steve Chassey Gordon Johncock Michael Andretti AJ Foyt and Rick Mears Al Unser Jr Pancho Carter Danny Sullivan Ed Pimm 🇺🇸 e Mario Andretti 🇮🇹

cool

1987 indy 509 front row maybe the greatest front row indy 500 history

33 years later and the guy who interviews Guerrero face I would still love b**** slap after he says to Guerrero "your son here 20-month Marco. you want him to grow up and be a racecar driver and do you want him to be a racecar someday and go through what you just went through today?" whack! Next question. in defense of Guerrero, I think the key to what happened was hearing him say he had trouble getting it out of gear when he came to a stop. That tells me that the clutch was dragging. A dragging clutch is one that won't completely disengage. while they are working on the car you are sitting with your left foot pressing the clutch pedal all the way down and your right foot on the brake. holding the clutch pedal down should make the countershaft stop spinning but if the clutch is dragging the countershaft won't come all the way to a stop. So when you put it in gear it goes with a crunch because the clutch isn't fully disengaged and the drag killed the engine before he could get his right foot back to the throttle. That could explain the first time. As for the subsequent times, he tried to get it started maybe you can say that's where being a bit of a head case comes in. He panicked. He's not a calm self-confident guy. Take someone like rick mears who was know to be so calm hed dose in the car waiting for the race to start and that kind of thing doesn't happen.

While I did like the broadcasting team - the *direction* of this Indy 500 broadcast was awful. For example, 2:05:52 - Andretti and Guerrero are running nose-to-tail 1st and 2nd...and they promptly cut away from the on-track action for about 3 minutes. That's just plain stupid.

46:13 Marco Andretti sighting

Jim Lampley in the booth was bad idea

hate to be this guy, but this was already posted on indycar's page a year ago. kind of a waste of a throwback thursday.

Diplomata.

This is one of the worst tv announcement crews of all time. Especially Sam Posey. Guerrero stalled because his transmission only had top gear. Try taking off in the top gear of your car if it's manual and you'll know how hard it was for Roberto to get out of the pits.

So racing is strange where the news guys will worship drivers with the least talent. Like the Andretti’s they’ve had some of the best cars on the track but continuously get beat by a car that’s not as good. I’ve seen this my entire life in every series. I raced from 4-25yrs old. Dirt/asphalt both. My strong point was being honest about performance and not getting hung up on a guy just because he’s nice. When it’s performance based business.

The announcers could not be more annoying

Sam Posey was the dumbest commentaor in the history of the INDY 500. With any chef and a chief mechanic - what a dumb comparison. RIP to Uncle Bobby! 1934-2021

My Store Manager Wanted Me To Come Into Work This Day. 🌞 Sunday May 24, 1987. I Had Not 🚫 Got Hired Yet. So I 🤔 Being An Al Unser Fan Stayed Home 🏡 Watching This On My Father's TV 📺🏁🏎️🥛🏆 I Am Happy 😁 That I Did! My Grocery Store Manager Asked Me Where I Was. I Felt Like Telling Him I Was Home 🏡 Watching The Indianapolis 500. But I Really Wanted To Get Hired. So I Shrugged My Shoulders And Said "I Don't Know!"🤷 I Am Glad 😊 That I Got Hired. I Am Typing This On Monday Night 🌉🌃 At 7:58 p.m. , February 26, 2024.

How unreliable those cars were

Yuck, what shit Pace cars...🤮

What a great event!