After long last here it is!
It was finally the big day. After a month of preparations, 39 drivers were ready to fight each other to win the biggest race in the world. Everyone up and down the grid would strap in for 200 laps around the 2 1/2 mile track.
For Ayrton Senna, this would be his chance to prove that he can do amazing on ovals. He wants to show that he is the greatest driver of the times and win the biggest race in the world. He is a favorite to win and starts on pole.
Teammate Emerson Fittipaldi looks to get what eluded him last year, the 500 win. He had it until Mario Andretti ran him down and he never caught back up. This year,he is expected to dominate. Many think the race will be between him and Senna.
Lyn St. James qualified an impressive sixth. Every year she seems to get better and better here. She is a role model to many girls who one day want to race. For her to win this would be the one of the most historical things to happen in women's history.
Hideshi Matsuda has dreamed of being in this race for so long. The closests he's come was being a pit road reporter for Japanese TV. Now, his dream has come true. He's got a pretty good car from Dick Simon that was built for this race. He becomes the second Nippon driver after teammate Hiro Matushita to run in the 500.
Finally, Jeff Andretti was continuing his comeback. He has a surprisingly competitive ride from the new PacWest Racing team. Jeff could become the first Andretti not named Mario to win, but brother Michael and cousin John have better chances. Anyway, the future looks bright for Jeff in his fight to keep a career.
After the National Anthem and
Back Home Again in Indiana, the cars took off behind the Mustang pace car. One car however wan't moving; Mario Andretti still sat on pit road while his crew tried to get the car started. Fortunately they were able to and the crowd roared as he sped off pit road. After a few pace laps the green came out. Senna immediately took off leaving Emmo to defend for him. Boesel dropped like a rock and Al Unser Jr came up to third with Grouillard and Jimmy Vasser filling out the top five.
Early incidents included Dennis Vitolo spinning, but not crashing and continuing on. The same couldn't be said for Dom Dobson as he spun out and wrecked. Jeff Andretti and Scott Pruett were battling for position when Pruett came down on Andretti and ended their days. "He came down on me trying to block; I don't know why he couldn't keep his own line. Very stupid". During pit stops under the caution, Jeff's father's car stalled out again and this time the crew couldn't get it re-fired. The defending 500 champion was out. "It's a real shame, but I'll be back at Nazareth and I'll have one more chance next year to make it three" Mario told Dr. Jerry Punch. Fittipladi then led with Senna second. On the restart, Little Al suddenly slowed. Everyone was worried that he was out but soon regained speed and never fell out of the top ten.
Jeff and Pruett's crash.
Fittipaldi leading.
Fittipaldi continued to lead til halfway. Then, chaos ensued. Matsuda crashed in turn three. He was just outside the top ten when his car jutted up into the wall. From here, it got very stupid. Safety crews came to his aid, but not to remove a piece of debris still on track. John Paul Jr hit it and spun into the wall but we're not done yet. Paul Tracy found yet another way to choke having his Honda engine expire on him. Finally, Michael Andretti was heading down one of the warm up lanes when Dennis Vitolo struck him out of nowhere. Vitolo's wife cried in the pit box; she and her husband sacrificed everything to run this race. In the infield care center, they told Michael he had a minor concussion and should go to the hospital but he refused. "I just wanna go home, I'm not going to the hospital. You can ask Dennis why he should have his license revoked". Vitolo took the blame and wished the best for Andretti.
The rest of the race was all Emmo. He was able to lap everyone and cruise to his second 500 win. Senna was second, and Jacques Villeneuve rounded out the podium. Bobby Rahal and Wally Dallenbach Jr. rounded out the top five. Senna won 500 rookie of the year. In victory lane, he broke the tradition of drinking milk. Instead, he drank orange juice. He did this to promote the Brazilian citrus industry. ABC's Jack Arute was shocked:
Fittipaldi: "No, I'm not going to have the milk."
Arute: "Now there's a first! Emerson, you're not going to drink the milk?"
Fittipaldi: "Well, I'm going to drink the orange juice, that's my producer, and I'm going to help this time
orange juice. I produce orange juice."
Arute: "Back in São Paulo he produces orange juice, so he's going to go that way."
Fittipaldi even refused to even hold the milk bottle, pushing it away at least three times from the presenter. Afterwards, he finally did take a sip from the bottle of milk at the request of Roger Penske, however, not before a controversy boiled. Media and fans reaction was highly negatively to the snub, and they charged Fittipaldi with breaking the popular and long-standing Indy tradition for personal gain. A few days after the race, Fittipaldi apologized, and donated race winnings to charity. Senna came to his defense saying Emmo could drink whatever he wanted. "It's the stupidest thing I've ever seen people upset about. If I won I would've drank champagne like any winner would've. It's a free country."
The Honda engine had proven it's worth. They were a serious contender. Other teams were worried. They thought they had it all figured out and then they came in and suddenly everyone is playing catch-up. Both INDYCART and USAC, who officiates the 500, inspected the VTEC V6 and found nothing illegal with it; Honda has THE engine to beat now. The 39 car field experiment also went well and Tony George plans to have it that way again next year. "It's working" he said. "You saw tons of teams showing up to try to make the race. Some had ragtag equipment while others were better funded, but overall this definitely seems to be the way to go and I think they'll be more teams that try next year. This race just re-solidified itself as the biggest event in the world".
YOUR 78th INDIANAPOLIS 500 WINNER: EMERSON FITTIPALDI
