Paul Tracy 2002 Indy Controversy 

To be honest, if anybody steps on the brakes as soon as they see a caution light, they are asking for an accident. I do think that the fact Tracy drove for a CART team may have influenced their decision.

I still have the photo showing Tracy in front of Castroneves with the track light showing green.

If I remember correctly, Tony George's explanation was that the yellow flag became active the moment the decision was made to go "yellow" and not when the track lights and yellow flag were displayed. I personally wrote Tony George a letter saying that by his logic, Greg Moore was officially dead the moment he lost control of his car and not when he impacted the wall or when he was legally declared dead at the hospital.

The only thing I wish Tracy would have done differently is instead of boycotting the Indy 500, he should have returned the next year and won the damn thing!

Tracy got hosed, he won. no doubt about it. The pass was clean , irrefutable video evidence but Tony George couldn't let a CART guy win.

One of the things that caught my attention is something that nobody has mentioned here: Tracy's interview after the race. He claimed that he passed Helio on the backstretch going into turn three, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The drivers had already started to make the turn, and Tracy was barely, if at all, alongside Helio. He didn't pull ahead of Helio until halfway through the turn. His explanation of what had just taken place wasn't accurate at all. I'm not saying this hurts his point, but it definitely doesn't help it.

I watched this live on TV and I was right with his team when that,"Yeah baby yeah!!!" came over the radio. Helio has been good for the sport, but this was a continuation of the race control bungling that goes back to the USAC days.

Caution also is signaled inside the car and on the radio. Hello appears to have slowed as soon as the wreck happened. I believe caution was signaled in the car and in his ear before the light on the track had gone yellow.

I've read a lot of the transcripts of the appeal and to my understanding it was proven and acknowledged by tony george that the pass had been made. but since there was no other governing body than the irl there was no institution to file the appeal at. at that time the war between the irl and cart was white hot, team green was still a cart team so the irl just went on with the call that the race director made and gave the win to castroneves and poor team green had nobody to take their case to.

This was the only Indy 500 I ever went to. I remember how drunk and pissed people were while leaving the stands about the outcome.

I don't even like Paul Tracy and even I think he rightfully won the 2002 Indy 500.

The next year in the run up to the 2003 500, Bob Jenkins was interviewing Dario and asked if he thought Helio could win three in a row. Without missing a beat, Dario said, "Well, he didn't win it last year, my teammate Paul Tracy did." You could almost hear the gears grinding in Jenkins' head.

They ripped Tracy off that was a horrible political call they should all be ashamed

Paul was always a favorite of mine during his career, #1 is any of the Andretti's. Allentown local but respect to PT, he got screwed hard on that one.

is there anything that Tony George has not fucked up

Hello is a 4* winner now.

If it weren't for tony George and the split, this would've been waaaaay less of a controversy than it is.

It's amazing that people are still arguing about this.

Most tend to forget that in 2002 they introduced a new method to communicate to the drivers of yellow flag conditions... With a warning light on the dash. But this wasn't official. The official timing still went by the lights/flag stand warning the drivers. The accident between Redon and Lazier didn't cause the flag to instantly coming out. The lights on the dash came on before the track condition went yellow. The pass was made before the flag stand switched the condition lights to yellow. Helio lifted the moment the lights on the dash came on. BUT THIS WASN'T THE OFFICIAL YELLOW. The declared winner should have Tracy. Why wasn't it? Politics, that's why. Heaven for bid a CART driver won the 500. Penske was back under the IRL banner.

Paul was right on Helios rear wing before the accident even happened . He had him set up and there’s no way he doesn’t make that pass without that accident . When did the yellow lights turn on? I don’t know myself but I believe Paul

Blame Tony George it's his fault !

I think Paul made the pass after the yellow SHOULD have been out... However, I don't know if it WAS out.

I spoke to Big Al Unser about this race a few weeks later at the Goodwood FOS... He was absolutely 100% adamant Helio was the rightful winner...🙄🤔😓

In my opinion, Helio let off when he saw the yellow. Clearly when he lifts, you can see his speed change in comparison to Paul. At that point, Paul was clearly ahead. So Helio's actions, by lifting, indicates when the race went yellow. At 4:01 of this video, watch, as Helio lifts. Tracy was clearly ahead at that point. Also at around 3:41, Tracy clearly completed the pass, indicating he was already ahead prior to that time frame as it took time to complete the pass.

I don't think this was as much about Tracy being cheated as it was about having very bad luck. If the crash had not happened at that moment, he would have passed for the lead because Helio was conserving fuel. But that's racing.

From all the footage I have seen, Tracy had passed Helio before the yellow flag but I must admit that the angles shown are not 100% reliable. IMO, Tracy won the race with or without a penalty. He was on his way to passing Helio.

4:53 he’s absolutely spot on about that and nowhere is 2nd place the first loser more than the Indy 500

"At 3:45 of this video, or 13:57:17:06 according to the times in the video, you can see a Tracy around Castroneves. You can also see a caution light on the fencing in the other video. And the light is NOT on." That's actually not true. If you have a chance to look at a higher resolution version of the same video, you will see the yellow light by Lazier's wrecked car already blinking. But that still doesn't "timestamp" the exact moment the light came on.

We were sitting at the front of T3 grandstands when two men wearing what looked like those Honeywell, cap-mounted dielectric ear muffs and holding hand-held radios walked to the front and one of the guys tossed a large can of Fosters beer onto the track. The other guy radioed something back and they turned and walked back toward the exits. That large can of beer came to a rest at the apex of T3 which caused an extra lap of yellow on lap 180 - might have been a concerted effort to extend the fuel window of #3. It always struck me and my two brothers attending the race as very suspicious.

What exactly did the rules say on the matter? Tony George claims the yellow is deemed thrown when the decision to throw it is made, not when it is actually thrown. If that is true, then PT was indeed behind at that moment. If TG's claim is not true, then we would need to check the rules as to when the yellow is deemed to be thrown. Is it when the flag is a shown at the startline, or when the lights come on? They won't be at precisely the same moment, therefore the fact that the yellow lights were not on when PT had made the pass may not be conclusive, as the flag may have come out first.

Tracy got absolutely shafted here, Tony George didn't want a CART winner.

Tracey will be racing in Tony Stewart's SRX series again this year. He was the most exciting driver to watch in the series last year. It would be nice to see them add Jimmy Spencer & Robby Gordon too. Although it may look more like a crash up derby mixed with a wrestling match than it would a race

they didn't go to the last timing loop in '02. If PT was in front when the yellow flag dropped, he deserved the win.

Lol everybody getting this in their recommended now, I wonder why 😂🤣

FTG. The only reason Tracy lost this race is because Tony George presided over the 2nd appeal of the race result.

@ilikehotchix The time of the crash is NOT the same time of the yellow. Your thoughts on what happened on the radio, is not what happened. You may be able to count to SEVEN but you do not see the pass occure before the yellow. Frame by frame video showed PT won. On top of that, Helio's own admission on the radio was that PT passed before the yellow (radio transmission to his team immediately following the yellow that will never be replayed & we all know why).

People can bash PT all they want, but the bigger issue in this race was Champ Car vs. IRL. Champ Car drivers had won the two previous Indy 500's and there was no way TG was going to be embarrassed again.

Paul Tracy I will believe til the day I die he got screwed here but that's just me

Paul Tracy wouldn't be in contention without Franchitti blocking for him as a lapped car.

Tracy won that race ! Shake and Bake .

20 years later, I still say, Tracy won it!!!

I feel anger when i watch this. I was only 10 when i saw this, and it made my blood boil back then...my how some things don't change

How hollow that victory must be for Helio, knowing full well that he was beat. But I guess one can convince himself of anything if you want it bad enough.

Only reason Penske won is because they're Tony George's favorite team! He just couldn't stand a smaller team beat his golden child team!

Did Tracy get a penalty for passing under yellow? Or they confused him with Dario who stayed behind Helio? Maybe Tracy would have won if he didn't go by Helio on yellow?

PT argument based on the yellow flag, while race official based on time of accident. If u see the accident in front of you, for sure whether yellow has been raised (there's delay) or not, you won't pass. But this accident happen on the other side of the track so there's no way you can see them, so he purely based on yellow flag which raised late. I don't know what is the rule for this. Based on final decision, it looks this's based on time of the accident....even though it's happen on the other side of the track.

I guess IRL couldn't let CART take it 3 years in a row...

Question: Does the yellow track light flash or is it constant? If it is constant, there is no question whatsoever that Tracy passed Helio before the light came on (ie: full race footage). Yup, he probably got burned. Helio was an IRL driver for Team Penske (also beloved by fans and indy community), whereas Tracy was a Champ driver and a known hothead with a ton of wrecks. This could have and should have been easily resolved by officials before the drivers even reached the pits.

The George family was a train wreck,they almost put an end to Indycar racing.

Before the start that day Vince Welch said it takes a little luck to drink the milk. I believe right call made but Helio lucky the crash and yellow wasn't 3 seconds later

People I feel sometimes forget how great a driver Paul Tracy was. In 1993 with Penske he was mixing it with drivers like Mansell and Fittipaldi was a title contender as a young driver in what was a golden age of CART. Obviously he got cheated of this 500 win in 2002. I wonder how much more successful he would have been had Penske had kept him on board. Either way he had an awesome career.

I've always thought that Tracy shouldve won this race but if they're scoring it from the previous lap then it doesn't matter how many replays we see of the timing of the pass, it means nothing. And i hate it. Is it anything to do with him being a champ car driver - or was this the reason he was in champ car and not irl?

Paul Tracy learns what racing is.

Apart from being a Brazilian Citizen, I am strongly sure that Tracy deserved that Race, however, like 1981 Roger Penske has shown how powerful he is behind the scenes

My left arse cheek, too late. Video evidence proves that, at the moment the yellow flew (which is all that should matter), Tracy had a nose in front of Helio. It wasn't much, but it was enough. Or at least, was supposed to be enough.

Well as a Bourdais fan, Paul Tracy doesn't have all my sympathy but the fact is that the decision to penalize him his a complete non-sense. I can't even find an example of what it's like because there's absolutely no logic in this decision.

I watch this every year before the 500.

It doesn't make any difference because according to USAC rules when the yellow came out the finishing order would go back to the previous lap..end of story.....

LOL at the fan at the end :)

That was the most disgusting call to take that Indy victory from Paul Tracy he passed Helio under green and it was a complete political call against CART and their drivers by Tony George period and me being a life long Open Wheel racing fan I will never attend an Indy 500!

Yet he became controversial in the SRX for his overly aggressive racing.

The version I’ve seen of the race, Paul Page almost immediately declares that scoring goes back to the previous lap. If that was the written rule back then. Tracey doesn’t win. I know other racing organizations go back to the drivers position at the exact moment the yellow light comes on. So apparently the rule was the previous laps scoring?

Race that was dominated by a IRL rookie. Tomas Scheckter.

The IRL rules at the time automatically set the field back to the prior lap at the time of the caution. Don't blame some 'bad blood' between CART and IRL, blame shitty rules.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong (goes without saying here in the comments ;) After examination of the relevant facts, I believe it was determined that the disparate nature of the existing system to initiate a yellow indication was the issue that created this mess. This resulted in the cockpit yellow illuminating prior to the catch-fence yellow. 1.) Accident occurs 2.) Local trackside officials observe the accident and call for the caution. 3.) Officials in Race Control concur and initiate the "Indication of Caution". 4.) In-car Yellow indicators illuminate. - - - 4a.) Helio sees his cockpit Yellow and lifts. - - - 4b.) Tracy passes Helio 5.) Fence mounted indicators change status from Green to Yellow. And if I recall correctly Race Control stated that there was a brief physical latency between the two types of indicators due to two separate steps or buttons, mouse clicks, etc. They stated the Delphi In-Car indicators were a separate system than the fence mounted Track Status lights. Anyone know or remember any differently? fwiw; I was seated in 3 row 1 sec 1 when this occurred. I'm a big PT fan as well, and this ordeal sucked. Barry Green took quite the hit, ... however it ultimately created the path into team ownership for Michael. And at the time I clearly remember being so happy about the few Champ Car drivers/teams returning to IMS.

I read a comment from Tracy somewhere that he thought at the time Roger was behind it since they had some bad blood for all of his days at Penske.

they crashed when tracy was not passed castro

Lol, I love it when karma works. Glad that fucker didn't win, yellows set the order to previous lap right? I was always worried he would kill someone in his career and was so glad when he quit.

PT won that race. It was the 3rd year that CART teams were allowed to compete and the 3rd time a CART team won the race as sanctioned by the IRL. Little known is that PT was going to decline the milk and have a Big Gulp from his sponsor, Seven Eleven. CART volunteered and provided the attorneys for Team Green. Tony made a deal for Barry to buy his yacht. By Mid-Ohio Andretti-Green was already a part of the IRL. The IRL, a sad day for the IMS and AOW. Tony George's billion dollar blunder.

This reminds me of the F1 Abu Dhabi 2021 controversy

this is ridiculous, no matter what motorsport it is, you have to back off under yellow flags. A great example of the opposite on top of this is Fernando Alonso at the 2003 Brazilian GP. Ahead of him, Webber had a big crash on the start/finish straight leaving debris across the tracks. yellows had been out for at least 15 seconds, yet Alonso didnt slow down. He hit the debris and crashed out, injuring himself, and forcing himslef to miss the next race

That's what I think. Tracy was clearly ahead of Castroneves by the time the light came on. If I can see that, anyone can see it.

Such bullshit. Exactly what Senna referred to as “politics”

Tracy won that race,I was in the crowd,right where he passed,lights were green,just sayin'

If only Redon didn't crash at that instant? What a Merry Christmas it would be

Who’s here in 2023

i would say that tracy won but to be fair giafone got royally screwed by francitti but thats racing. Also for everybody that says the wreck happen before the pass your right but the yellow was not out at the time.

I want a Paul Tracy fan then. But he won, and was screwed.

I LOVE HOW THERE IS MUCH PROOF PAUL TRACY BEAT HELIO STRAIGHT UP.........But he doesnt get the milk....thats ok......2003 gave hime somthing Helio will never get......"CHAMPIONSHIP".......

2 Canadians screwed by the yellow PT for sure the winner and Scott Goodyear. Although SG’s pit told him “Green” with the pace car way ahead and SG came flying around 3 and couldn’t slow. I was between 1 and 2. SG’s Honda was the class of the field. Also saw Stan Fox and Cheever terrible crash. At least Canuck J Villeneuve won

helio should have conceded at the end .the racers code of "no quarter given , and none taken".paul had beaten him,and he knew it.helio surfed on the wave of burocracy,and took it.where theres smoke,theres fire.that we still talk about this means something. you rock p.t. p.s. i made nine of the trophies p.t. won in champ car .i'd like to make a tenth to commemorate the true winner of the 2002 indy 500.

Boy did Castroneves get a whole bunch of free shit from faster Canadian drivers...

He got screwed.

In my mind Helio is still a 2 time winner of the race. Much like the New Hampshire indycar race in 2011, apparently race control has the ability to time travel.

Indy 500: Paul Tracy people's champion!

my friend was his crew chief in cart

Doesn't matter when the acident happened it matters when the yellow cautions appear. Video CLEARLY shows Tracy ahead at the point the caution came out = PT is the real winner.

It Is Just Like The Rules In NASCAR!!!!!

can not stand the curtain crawler

Tracy was unlucky, no question. Had the race run its course he surely would have won ... but, when the crash occurred he was clearly behind Helio. Racing is not always fair, but you cannot pass under yellow in any racing series.

i thought helio won in 2001

@AndreyCWB O i'm so sorry sir. I take back everything I said.

la situación es clara: cuando ocurre un accidente, de inmediato sale la bandera amarilla, no puede haber bandera verde teniendo un accidente en pista, es inentendible por qué los dejaros correr esos segundos demás. Para mí, el ganador es Helio Castroneves. Punto Final.

PT was robbed.

My first 500 when I was just out of high school. I was all over this, insisted that Tracy won. Tonight, I'm here again for my 9th!

So this not appealable but when Bobby Unser illegally passed 15 cars out of the pits after the race ends with Bobby 1st they then give it to Andretti, Roger Penskie I'm sure had deep pockets he appeals & they fine him $250K when Bobby clearly broke the rules & the gave Bobby the win again.

The only reason he was able to pass is that Helio was slowing due to the in-car flashing light indicating a yellow and radio communication about the yellow.

PT got fucked over by the knock off league.

Bret Favre apparently drives racing cars

Penske did it to Mario too.