1987 Indianapolis 500

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Results of the 1987 Indianapolis 500 held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 24, 1987.

[edit] Recap

After dominating the month (winning the pole position, pit stop contest, and leading the speed chart on nearly every practice day), Mario Andretti leads 170 laps until his Lola-Chevrolet loses blower-pressure with 23 laps to go. Earlier in the race, Tony Bettenhausen lost a wheel after a pit stop. Roberto Guerrero hit the wheel, and tragically it struck and killed a spectator in the grandstands. The ensuing damage to Guerrero's nosecone was a broken clutch master cylinder. After Andretti slowed, Guerrero took over the lead (a full lap lead over Al Unser), but had one final fuel stop remaining. Disaster struck on his final pit stop when he could not get the car out of gear, due to the damage. He stalled trying to pull away, and second place Unser blew past to take a lap lead of his own. Within a few laps, Guererro was able to unlap himself after a caution, but Unser holds on to become the second four-time winner, and oldest winner (47) in race history. Why Unser's win was amazing: His car was a year-old backup car being used as a show car at the Sheraton hotel in Pennsylvania. In addition, he used a Cosworth engine since Roger Penske had run out of Chevrolet engines.

[edit] Results

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Status
1	20	25	Al Unser	207.424	15	200	18	Running
2	5	4	Roberto Guerrero	210.680	5	200	8	Running
3	17	12	Fabrizio Barbazza	208.039	11	198	0	Flagged
4	22	30	Al Unser, Jr.	206.751	17	196	0	Flagged
5	15	56	Gary Bettenhausen	204.504	29	195	0	Flagged
6	6	22	Dick Simon	209.960	7	193	0	Flagged
7	26	41	Stan Fox	204.518	28	192	0	Flagged
8	12	11	Jeff MacPherson	205.688	23	182	0	Flagged
9	1	5	Mario Andretti	215.389	1	180	170	Ignition
10	27	16	Tony Bettenhausen, Jr.	203.892	30	171	0	Engine
11	8	21	Johnny Rutherford	208.296	9	171	0	Flagged
12	13	91	Scott Brayton	205.647	24	167	0	Engine
13	16	3	Danny Sullivan	210.271	6	160	4	Engine
14	21	33	Tom Sneva	207.254	16	143	0	Crash T2
15	19	77	Derek Daly	207.521	14	133	0	Engine
16	33	20	Emerson Fittipaldi	205.584	25	131	0	Lost Power
17	25	55	Josele Garza	205.692	22	129	0	Flagged
18	7	71	Arie Luyendyk	208.337	8	125	0	Suspension
19	4	14	A. J. Foyt	210.935	4	117	0	Oil Seal
20	11	81	Rich Vogler	205.887	21	109	0	Rocker Arm
21	30	98	Ed Pimm	203.284	31	109	0	Lost Boost
22	18	2	Gordon Johncock	207.990	12	76	0	Valve
23	3	8	Rick Mears	211.467	3	75	0	Coil Wire
24	14	15	Geoff Brabham	205.503	26	71	0	Oil Pressure
25	32	87	Steve Chassey	202.488	33	68	0	Engine
26	2	1	Bobby Rahal	213.316	2	57	0	Ignition
27	29	29	Pancho Carter	205.154	27	45	0	Valve
28	28	44	Davy Jones	208.117	10	34	0	Engine
29	9	18	Michael Andretti	206.129	19	28	0	CV Joint
30	10	23	Ludwig Heimrath	207.591	13	25	0	Spin
31	24	7	Kevin Cogan	205.999	20	21	0	Oil Pump
32	23	24	Randy Lewis	206.209	18	8	0	Gearbox
33	31	84	George Snider	203.192	32	0	0	Fuel Leak

Emerson Fittipaldi started the race from the 33rd position in a back-up car due to a crash in the final practice session.

Failed to Qualify: Jim Crawford (#2T), Sammy Swindell (#59), Phil Krueger (#10T), Rocky Moran (#76), Dominic Dobson (#17), Rick Miaskiewicz (#97)

[edit] Quotes

"And history is matched as the twin checkered flags come out for our second four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, Al Unser" - Paul Page described the finish of the race for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network.