1989 Indianapolis 500

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The 1989 Indianapolis 500 was held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 28, 1989. It was the 73rd running of the event.

1 Race events
2 Race results
3 Quotes
4 Trivia
5 External links

[edit] Race events

The front row for the race was Rick Mears, Al Unser, Sr. and Emerson Fittipaldi. Mears, in a Pennzoil-sponsored Penske-Chevrolet, qualified for the pole with a speed of 223.885 mph. Unser, Jr. was the driver of the Valvoline-sponsored Galles Racing entry while Fittipaldi was the driver of the Marlboro-sponsored car owned by Patrick Racing.

In the first laps, Kevin Cogan had a large crash with the inside frontstretch wall, rebounding into the attenuating barrier at the pit entrance, practically disintegrating his car and slicing it in half as it came to a stop in the pit area. Amazingly, Cogan climbed out unhurt.

After a less than memorable first half, Emerson Fittipaldi dominated until the three-quarter mark. Michael Andretti came to the lead, but lost an engine while leading. Fittipaldi regained the lead, with Al Unser, Jr. second. The remainder of the field ran at least six laps behind. A late-race caution came out, and Fittipaldi pitted for fuel. Gambling on track position, Unser, Jr. stayed out and decided not to pit for fuel. Team owner Rick Galles decided not to pit, as their fuel calculations were close, and even if Unser, Jr. ran out of fuel on the final lap, they would still finish no worse than second since third place Raul Boesel was six laps behind.

On lap 196 Al Unser, Jr. took the lead from Emerson Fittipaldi. With two laps to go, Unser, Jr. approached slower traffic. Fittipaldi closed in, and on the backstrech, pulled inside Unser, Jr. Running side-by-side in turn three, the Brazilian’s Penske drifted slightly high and the cars touched wheels. Unser spun around into the turn 3 wall. The pace car escorted "Emmo" to his first Indy win. In the a post-race interview Unser, Jr. was asked whether the accident could have been avoided, he believed not as both he and Fittipaldi "Both wanted to win it badly."

[edit] Race results

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Status
1	3	20	Emerson Fittipaldi	222.329	3	200	158	Running
2	8	2	Al Unser, Jr.	218.642	9	198	5	Crash T3
3	9	30	Raul Boesel	218.228	11	194	1	Flagged
4	5	5	Mario Andretti	220.485	5	193	1	Flagged
5	10	14	A. J. Foyt	217.135	12	193	0	Flagged
6	6	22	Scott Brayton	220.458	6	193	0	Flagged
7	31	50	Davy Jones	214.279	22	192	0	Flagged
8	33	29	Rich Vogler	213.238	31	192	0	Flagged
9	20	69	Bernard Jourdain (R)	213.105	33	191	0	Flagged
10	17	3	Scott Pruett (R)	213.955	28	190	0	Flagged
11	25	65	John Jones	214.028	27	189	0	Flagged
12	30	81	Billy Vukovich III	216.698	13	186	0	Flagged
13	18	71	Ludwig Heimrath	213.878	29	185	0	Flagged
14	28	33	Rocky Moran	214.212	24	181	0	Flagged
15	24	10	Derek Daly	214.237	23	167	0	Flagged
16	16	56	Tero Palmroth	214.203	25	165	0	Spindle
17	21	6	Michael Andretti	218.774	8	163	35	Engine
18	29	86	Dominic Dobson	213.590	30	161	0	Engine
19	4	15	Jim Crawford	221.450	4	135	0	Drive Train
20	19	12	Didier Theys (R)	213.120	32	131	0	Engine
21	15	9	Arie Luyendyk	214.883	20	123	0	Engine
22	32	24	Pancho Carter	214.067	26	121	0	Electrical
23	1	4	Rick Mears	223.885	1	113	0	Engine
24	2	25	Al Unser	223.471	2	68	0	Clutch
25	12	70	John Andretti	215.611	16	61	0	Engine
26	7	18	Bobby Rahal	219.530	7	58	0	Valve
27	22	7	Tom Sneva	218.396	10	55	0	Pit Fire
28	26	1	Danny Sullivan	216.027	15	41	0	Rear Axle
29	11	28	Randy Lewis	216.494	14	24	0	Wheel Bearing
30	13	8	Teo Fabi	215.563	17	23	0	Ignition
31	23	91	Gordon Johncock	215.072	19	19	0	Engine
32	27	11	Kevin Cogan	214.569	21	4	0	Crash FS
33	14	99	Gary Bettenhausen	215.230	18	0	0	Valve

Failed to Qualify: Tony Bettenhausen, Jr. (#17/#24), Tom Bigelow (#66), Steve Butler (#61), Steve Chassey (#79, #97), Dale Coyne (#39), Dick Ferguson (#47), Stan Fox (#84), Michael Greenfield (#17/#63), Scott Harrington (#44), Phil Krueger (#77), Buddy Lazier (#35), Bobby Olivero, Steve Saleen (#59), Johnny Parsons (#59/#69), John Paul, Jr. (#39/#79/#97), Johnny Rutherford (#98/#14T)

[edit] Quotes

"They're side-by-side, Emmo on the inside, Al covered traffic goes high, they touched wheels, Al Jr. hit into the wall hard, Emerson Fittipaldi keeps on going, they touched wheels, Al Jr. into the wall and Emerson Fittipaldi will lead them back to the yellow flag" - Larry Henry described the crash involving Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi on Lap 198 for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network.

"Fittipaldi comes inside Little Al! A drag race on the back side again... Slower traffic moves to the right... Can Fittipaldi get past? Little Al brings it down low... They touch! Little Al into the wall, Fittipaldi continues on! Little Al slams the wall, as Emerson Fittipaldi screams toward the white flag - the yellow flag comes out!" - Paul Page on ABC television.

[edit] Trivia

The field for this race is replicated in the video game format in the 1989 release Indianapolis 500: The Simulation.

The 1989 race was the best Indy 500 result for Rich Vogler (8th place). It also was the best finish for Raul Boesel (3rd place) among his many Indy 500 starts.