NEW STAR VERSUS WILY VETERAN

“MEARS DREW ALONGSIDE AND STALLED THERE, WITH NO OPTION BUT TO BACK OFF”

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Most people remember the 66th running of the Indianapolis 500 for one of three reasons – Gordon Smiley’s fatal accident in qualifying, the startline shunt that wiped out the two biggest names in US racing, and the fact that 1973 Indy winner Gordon Johncock edged Rick Mears in an incredibly close finish for his second 500 victory.

The Penske PC10S of Mears and Kevin

Cogan lined up 1-2 on the grid, but the race had barely started when Cogan lost control and impaled the March of third front-row starter AJ Foyt before being collected by the fast-starting Pat Patrick-run Wildcat of Mario Andretti. Both legends were furious, but at least Foyt was able to restart, albeit in a now ill-handling car; Andretti, like Cogan, was eliminated on the spot.

At the restart, Foyt surged into the lead and remained in contention for the first third of the race, but would later slow with transmission problems, resulting in iconic images of Foyt setting to work on his car in the pits with a hammer.

On track, the race distilled to a straight battle between Mears – already an Indy winner in 1979 and two-time champion – and the tenacious, brave and fast veteran Johncock in the second Patrick Wildcat.

With 40 laps to go, there was a restart in which Mears retained his lead only until the back straight, when Johncock moved ahead and the pair continued in tandem. Mears was able to run anywhere in the turns as he probed Johncock’s defences, but the 1976 USAC National champion’s superior top-end speed allowed him to legitimately cut down from the outside to the apron and take the perfect racing line, cutting off Mears and disturbing his downforce. It was a quite brilliant duel.

A late-race fuel stop was required for both, with Mears first in on lap 183. But not only did he tag his left-front wing on the tail of a backmarker, but he was also given more than a splash, which would hurt his dash. After Johncock stopped three laps later, he was more than 11s to the good.

Mears gave full vent to his Penske’s potential and slashed the deficit. Coming off Turn 4 to start the last lap, Mears was so much faster it looked like a change of lead was inevitable. But, as per pre-pitstop, he drew alongside and stalled there, and with no option but to back off as Johncock (above) came down to take his normal line for Turn 1.

Mears gathered it up, moved up onto Johncock’s tail as they entered Turn 4 for the final time, but crossed the yard of bricks 0.16s short. It would remain the closest finish in

Indy history for 10 years.