Consider the circumstances of that day. Andretti was driving toward his first CART season championship and was already a 14-time race winner in the series. In a few months, he would sign to become a Formula One driver for McLaren, the mightiest team in Grand Prix racing.
Prior to the late-race slugfest with Mears, Andretti had led 96 of the race’s first 183 laps. Andretti might have led even more laps had he not incurred a flat tire that necessitated a quick but unscheduled pit stop. The time lost proved to be significant.
“I was ready to put Rick a lap down, and his day would have been over,” Andretti said. “That’s the thing that changed the race.”
It wasn’t like Mears had a slow car. Penske Racing’s star had won the pole for the third time in four years, giving him a record six for his career. But falling a lap down midway through the race certainly would have put his last best chance to win a fourth “500” in danger.
RICK MEARS - 30 YEARS
It was two laps to remember. Two laps that stand as some of the most outstanding in the history of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Two laps that defined the career of Rick Mears and his historic fourth Indianapolis 500 win in 1991.
“That was one of the finest pieces of driving, one of the hardest pieces of driving, I’ve seen.” – Bobby Unser of Michael Andretti’s outside pass of Rick Mears for the lead late in the 1991 Indianapolis 500.
Unser, the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, made that comment on the television broadcast of the 1991 “500” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he could have repeated it on the ensuing lap when Mears executed an almost identical Turn 1 pass of Andretti to regain the lead.
Those were the 187th and 188th laps of the race staged 30 years ago, and they continue to represent two of the most thrilling laps in Indianapolis 500 history.
Andretti was trying to win his first Indianapolis 500, Mears eyeing his record-tying fourth. When they came off Turn 4 coming to Duane Sweeney’s waving green flag at the end of the 186th lap, a shootout for the ages was at hand.
– Michael Andretti
Bobby Unser reckoned that Mears didn’t expect Michael Andretti to boldly take Newman/Haas Racing’s No. 10 Kmart/Havoline Lola/Chevrolet to the outside completely through Turn 1, but Mears figured anything was possible, and he was defenseless anyway with four wheels below
the white line.
The sold-out crowd roared with excitement.
“I’m dead in the water,” Mears remembered thinking.
“It’s very difficult to pass a car like that, especially when it’s just as fast,” Bobby Unser said.
Responded Sam Posey, “Sheer virtuosity.”
“Just unbelievable racing.” -- Bob Jenkins on the IMS Radio Network
As Mears cleared John with a run alongside the inner pit wall, Michael jumped into the gap between his cousin and Mears, creating a side-by-side duel approaching the Speedway’s iconic Scoring Pylon. The race for a spot on the Borg-Warner Trophy
was on.
“I had a great restart,” Michael said. “I was lucky I had my cousin John (in front of us), and I knew he was going to help. I just kept my foot in it, (and) I got a good tow off Rick. John kept high, and I went right through the middle of him and Rick.”
The grin on Michael’s face confirmed
the gratification.
Sometimes overshadowed in a sports moment of this magnitude are the competitors who let the stars shine.
Coming to the restart to begin Lap 187, the lapped cars driven by two veterans – Al Unser Jr. and John Andretti – were positioned in front the leaders. They did their professional best to stay out of the way, although John was used as a pick.
Coming off Turn 4, Unser took the outside lane, which gave John the inside. For a split-second, Mears, who was the race leader, was stuck in traffic, giving Michael the opportunity to virtually crawl into the Penske gearbox.
• Rick Mears is known as a Californian from Bakersfield, but he was born in Wichita, Kansas.
Rick Mears Fun Facts :
• He shared Rookie of the Year honors with Larry Rice in 1978, but Mears had made two qualifying attempts in 1977.
• Mears’ Indy debut in ’77 was in the No. 90 Sugai Eagle/Offy sponsored by Eastside Café.
• Mears’ first Indy teammate was Teddy Pilette, who never qualified for the race but his grandfather, Theodore, did, finishing fifth in 1913.
• Mears won all four of his “500s” from a front-row starting position, three of them from the pole.
• His six poles at Indy could stand as the event record for years. Helio Castroneves is the closest among active drivers with four, Scott Dixon and Ed Carpenter have won three each. No other current driver has more than one.
Mears, who had incurred his first IMS crash during practice two weeks earlier, made sure passing Andretti on the outside was the last of his thrills for the month. On the restart at Lap 195 that followed Mario Andretti’s stranded car, the driver of Roger Penske’s No. 3 Marlboro Penske/Chevrolet delivered his best jump of the day and left Andretti and his pushing car behind.
Mears had his fourth “500” victory in hand, and Andretti was the only other driver to finish on the lead lap.
Thirty years later, no one else has joined A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Mears in Indy’s exclusive four-time winner’s club, although Helio Castroneves came close in 2014 and 2017 as he finished second to Ryan Hunter-Reay and then Takuma Sato. The Brazilian is set for another chance May 30.
With the lead cars traveling 220 mph, there was no time to breathe. When Mears passed Andretti in the same position on Lap 188, Unser, in his classic tone, almost couldn’t contain himself.
“If you’ve ever seen racing better than that -- I’d certainly like to know where it’s going to be,” he said.
Now a word about the science behind the passes and the late Mears charge that defined the 1991 “500,” and thus his career.
Mears said the car’s telemetry showed several of those laps were faster than his four-lap qualifying average of 224.113 mph. Remember, that speed had earned him the pole!
Mears said his winning pass of Andretti was the fastest he ran through Turn 1 all month. He called it “unknown territory.”
– Rick Mears
– Rick Mears
WHERE TRADITION NEVER STOPS
RICK MEARS –30 YEARS
GIF
Bobby Unser reckoned that Mears didn’t expect Michael Andretti to boldly take Newman/Haas
Racing’s No. 10 Kmart/Havoline Lola/Chevrolet to the outside completely through Turn 1, but Mears figured anything was possible, and he was defenseless anyway with four wheels below
the white line.
The sold-out crowd roared with excitement.
“I’m dead in the water,” Mears remembered thinking.
“It’s very difficult to pass a car like that, especially when it’s just as fast,” Bobby Unser said.
Responded Sam Posey, “Sheer virtuosity.”
“Just unbelievable racing.” -- Bob Jenkins on the IMS Radio Network
Now a word about the science behind the passes and the late Mears charge that defined the 1991 “500,” and thus his career.
Mears said the car’s telemetry showed several of those laps were faster than his four-lap qualifying average of 224.113 mph. Remember, that speed had earned him the pole!
Mears said his winning pass of Andretti was the fastest he ran through Turn 1 all month. He called it “unknown territory.”
Consider the circumstances of that day. Andretti was driving toward his first CART season championship and was already a 14-time race winner in the series. In a few months, he would sign to become a Formula One driver for McLaren, the mightiest team in Grand Prix racing.
Prior to the late-race slugfest with Mears, Andretti had led 96 of the race’s first 183 laps. Andretti might have led even more laps had he not incurred a flat tire that necessitated a quick but unscheduled pit stop. The time lost proved to be significant.
“I was ready to put Rick a lap down, and his day would have been over,” Andretti said. “That’s the thing that changed the race.”
It wasn’t like Mears had a slow car. Penske Racing’s star had won the pole for the third time in four years, giving him a record six for his career. But falling a lap down midway through the race certainly would have put his last best chance to win a fourth “500” in danger.
Coming off Turn 4, Unser took the outside lane, which gave John the inside. For a split-second, Mears, who was the race leader, was stuck in traffic, giving Michael the opportunity to virtually crawl into the Penske gearbox.
As Mears cleared John with a run alongside the inner pit wall, Michael jumped into the gap between his cousin and Mears, creating a side-by-side duel approaching the Speedway’s iconic Scoring Pylon. The race for a spot on the Borg-Warner Trophy was on.
“I had a great restart,” Michael said. “I was lucky I had my cousin John (in front of us), and I knew he was going to help. I just kept my foot in it, (and) I got a good tow off Rick. John kept high, and I went right through the middle of him and Rick.”
The grin on Michael’s face confirmed the gratification.
Sometimes overshadowed in a sports moment of this magnitude are the competitors who let the stars shine.
Coming to the restart to begin Lap 187, the lapped cars driven by two veterans – Al Unser Jr. and John Andretti – were positioned in front the leaders. They did their professional best to stay out of the way, although John was used as a pick.
– Michael Andretti
“That was one of the finest pieces of driving, one of the hardest pieces of driving, I’ve seen.” – Bobby Unser of Michael Andretti’s outside pass of Rick Mears for the lead late in the 1991 Indianapolis 500.
Unser, the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, made that comment on the television broadcast of the 1991 “500” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he could have repeated it on the ensuing lap when Mears executed an almost identical Turn 1 pass of Andretti to regain the lead.
Those were the 187th and 188th laps of the race staged 30 years ago, and they continue to represent two of the most thrilling laps in Indianapolis 500 history.
Andretti was trying to win his first Indianapolis 500, Mears eyeing his record-tying fourth. When they came off Turn 4 coming to Duane Sweeney’s waving green flag at the end of the 186th lap, a shootout for the ages was at hand.
It was two laps to remember. Two laps that stand as some of the most outstanding in the history of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Two laps that defined the career of Rick Mears and his historic fourth Indianapolis 500 win in 1991.
Rick Mears Fun Facts :
• He shared Rookie of the Year honors with Larry Rice in 1978, but Mears had made two qualifying attempts in 1977.
• Mears’ Indy debut in ’77 was in the No. 90 Sugai Eagle/Offy sponsored by Eastside Café.
• Mears’ first Indy teammate was Teddy Pilette, who never qualified for the race but his grandfather, Theodore, did, finishing fifth in 1913.
• Mears won all four of his “500s” from a front-row starting position, three of them from the pole.
• His six poles at Indy could stand as the event record for years. Helio Castroneves is the closest among active drivers with four, Scott Dixon and Ed Carpenter have won three each. No other current driver has more than one.
• Rick Mears is known as a Californian from Bakersfield, but he was born in Wichita, Kansas.
With the lead cars traveling 220 mph, there was no time to breathe. When Mears passed Andretti in the same position on Lap 188, Unser, in his classic tone, almost couldn’t contain himself.
“If you’ve ever seen racing better than that -- I’d certainly like to know where it’s going to be,” he said.
Mears, who had incurred his first IMS crash during practice two weeks earlier, made sure passing Andretti on the outside was the last of his thrills for the month. On the restart at Lap 195 that followed Mario Andretti’s stranded car, the driver of Roger Penske’s No. 3 Marlboro Penske/Chevrolet delivered his best jump of the day and left Andretti and his pushing car behind.
Mears had his fourth “500” victory in hand, and Andretti was the only other driver to finish on the lead lap.
Thirty years later, no one else has joined A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Mears in Indy’s exclusive four-time winner’s club, although Helio Castroneves came close in 2014 and 2017 as he finished second to Ryan Hunter-Reay and then Takuma Sato. The Brazilian is set for another chance May 30.
