|| *Comments on the 1971 Indianapolis 500:* View the most recent comment <#27> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. RaceFanX posted: 08.20.2010 - 1:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mark Donohue and Roger Penske found a rules loophole before this race had a special rule-bending McLaren for this race which feature a wing that was not part of the car's bodywork. Peter Revson and the McLaren team had a similar set-up and took the pole with Donohue starting second. On the track, Donohue went on to dominate the early stages of the race before a gearbox problem took out car #66 on lap 66. Revson eventually finished 2nd and claimed Rookie of the Year honors With Mark gone, the race because a showdown between the two Parnelli Jones-owned Johnny Lightning cars as Al Unser led with teammate Joe Leonard pressuring him. Engine issues eventually sidelined Leonard but Unser went on to win, becoming the first Indy 500 winner to repeat since Bill Vukovich in 1953 and 1954. Unser had a new one-way radio system aboard his #1 Colt-Ford for this race, it paid off as Big Al was able to tell his crew about some radiator issues he had when his blue car sucked a piece of paper against the radiator and allow them to fix it. A major accident took place on lap 10 when a blow engine by rookie Steve Krisiloff trigged a multi-car incident that saw Mel Kenyon back the green #23 into the wall. Kenyon had just unstrapped from the Sprite car and was getting helped out of his wrecked car when Gordon Johncock spun and slammed into the nose of the #23 before richocheting off into Mario Andretti. Thankfully Kenyon saw Johncock coming and ducked back into the cockpit before the impact, while everyone was out of the race they were all okay. Rick Muther got loose on the frontstretch and collided with David Hobbs. Muther's car hit the wall and was damaged in such a way that the white #38 almost rolled because of the damage. Both drivers were uninjured by Hobbs was almost hit by A.J. Foyt as he ran to get off the track. Al Unser passed his brother Bobby for the lead on lap 111. Bobby eventually was taken out in a 3-car crash with Mike Mosley. The third car involved in the melee..the Penske #66 of Mark Donohue which had been left on the inside of the track where it had stopped after it dropped out earlier. Not a good day for Roger but the next year at would ease the pain greatly for him and Donohue. This was the first year after the Indy 500 moved from Memorial Day to the Saturday before Memorial Day and the first year women were allowed in Gasoline Alley. It was also the first year for airguns. 2. Anonymous posted: 03.04.2011 - 4:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) This is also the only time the pace car has crashed at Indy, I believe. No one was killed. 3. RaceFanX posted: 05.20.2011 - 11:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Future racing legend Tony Stewart was born nine days before this race. 4. Schroeder51 posted: 05.22.2011 - 1:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) In addition to #1...there were actually 4 cars involved in the Mosley crash. Mosley, Bobby Unser, the parked car of Donohue, and Bentley Warren's #95, who was also parked on the inside right in front of Donohue's car. 5. David posted: 06.22.2011 - 6:09 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) ABC's Chris Schenkel was in the pace car which crashed. The network also used a young Indiana native on its race coverage. Does the name David Letterman ring a bell? Thank you, Lyndon Johnson, for ruining a great tradition. The race had been held every May 30, save for rained out days, since the race began, but because LBJ felt those who gave their lives for our freedom did not need a fixed date to be honored, Memorial Day started falling the last Monday of May, and for three years, the Indy 500 had to move around the calendar. Fortunately, the Indy 500 organizers got sanity in 1974 and allowed the race to run on Sundays. I'm still waiting for Memorial Day to return to May 30 permanently. 6. RaceFanX posted: 07.25.2011 - 11:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dennis Zimmerman finishes 8th for his best-ever USAC Champ Car finish and he does it in the Indy 500! 7. Pacer posted: 07.25.2011 - 11:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The pace car for this 500 was a "Hemi Orange" Dodge Challenger Convertible. No car maker had offered to provide a pace car for the race in 1971 so the Speedway turned to local car dealer Eldon Palmer, owner of Palmer Dodge, to do it. Palmer drove the car on race day and was at the wheel when it crashed into and toppled the photographers' stand. During practice Palmer had placed a cone on pit road to tell him when to slow down but at the start on race day someone removed it. Palmer didn't realize it at first and when he did it was too late. Despite hitting the brake he still crashed into the stand, injuring 20 people. Thankfully no one was killed. 8. Schroeder51 posted: 08.01.2011 - 12:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Letterman actually interviewed Mario Andretti after he crashed out of the race. 9. cjs3872 posted: 08.22.2011 - 8:46 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) RaceFanX and Schroeder51, there were actually 5 cars involved in the Unser-Mosley crash. Aside from the parked cars of Mark Donohue (#66) and Bentley Warren (#95), Steve Krisiloff's car (#20), which had the blown engine that led to the lap 13 wreck, was also hit by Unser's or Mosley's car. While Donohue's and Warren's cars were mentioned on the ABC broadcast, Krisiloff's was mentioned in the speedway's official film of the 1971 race. By the way, 1971 marked the first of 15 consecutive years that the Indianapolis 500 was telecast in prime time the day the race was run. David, not only was Chris Schenkel in the pace car, so was speedway owner Tony Hulman and astronaut John Glenn. But I disagree with you that the race should be run on May 30 every year. No sporting event of this caliber should be run in the middle of the week, especially since no network is going to cover the event live in the middle of the week, and the crowds won't be as large either. The Firecraker 400 was moved off July 4 for the same reason in 1989. In fact, the moving of this race off May 30 every year was overdue. And RaceFanX, Al Unser was able to get that piece of debris off his radiator during the caution for the Muther-Hobbs crash, which he just barely avoided being a part of himself. In fact, USAC was considering bringing out the red flag, because the track was nearly blocked due to the debris from that crash. For a couple of laps, the cars had to slow to about 30 MPH or even less just to get by. And Al Unser got the lead for good when Bobby Unser stopped on lap 111 and Joe Leonard dropped out shorty thereafter. Bobby stopped during the 19-lap caution for the Krisiloff-Andretti-Kenyon-Johncock crash, putting him out of sync on pit stops for the rest of the race, and forcing him to make four pit stops, instead of three for the rest of the field, though Al also made four, including that emergency stop to get that debris off the radiator during the fourth caution. (There had been two very brief cautions early in the race. The first was for Denis Hulme's spin in the NSC and the second was for oil from Muther's car prior to the lap 13 crash. But from that point forward, the remaining caution periods, all of them lenghty, were for the three big wrecks that occurred during the race.) 10. cjs3872 posted: 08.22.2011 - 8:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And by the way, RaceFanX, McLaren molded the front and rear wings into the body so that they were an intergal part of the body. The rules back then stated that you could have areodynamic devices, as long as they were an intergal part of the body, which the wings and side pods on the M-16s in 1971 were. The wings on the two cars that A.J. Foyt ran were also an intergal part of the body. As a result, the rules regarding aerodynamic devices were changed for 1972, so that teams could bolt them on. By the way, this was sadly the final Indy 500 for Jim Malloy, who finished fourth in a great battle with Billy Vukovich. Malloy, who broke a radius rod prior to the start of the 1970 race, was killed in 1972 during a practice run. The same is true regarding Art Pollard, as this was final Indy 500. He qualified for te 1972 race, but was injured in a second-week practice run and was replaced by Wally Dallenbach. Pollard was killed in a practice run on the first day of time trials in 1973. Also, 1971 marked the first time that Roger McCluskey finished the race, doing so in ninth place. Just before Muther and Hobbs had their wreck, McCluskey ran out of fuel and pushed his car into the pits. Back then, if your car had to be towed in, it was out of the race, no matter if it could have gotten running again. That rule wasn't changed until 1974. And also, the car that Dick Simon started the race in was actually qualified by John Mahler. By starting the car, Simon was relegated to last on the starting grid. 11. Schroeder51 posted: 10.04.2013 - 4:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A more complete list of drivers who DNQed: #47 Larry Cannon #17, #97 Ronnie Bucknum #17 Tony Adamowicz #17, #78, #92 Jerry Grant #35 Bob Harkey #56 Jim Hurtubise #97 Bobby Johns #71 Bruce Jacobi #51 Dee Jones #19, #29, #30, #65 Arnie Knepper #71 Jerry Karl #26, #31 Al Loquasto #44 John Mahler (note: Dick Simon raced his car) #69 John Martin #42, #48 LeeRoy Yarbrough #8 Art Pollard #30 Bill Puterbaugh #78 Sam Posey #94, #97, #98 Bruce Walkup #77 Carl Williams #31, #35 Greg Weld #77 Salt Walther (note: Failed his rookie test) #28 Bill Simpson #50 Dave Strickland #65 Jigger Sirois #50 Les Scott #64 Jimmy Caruthers #14, #46 Jim McElreath 12. Schroeder51 posted: 10.05.2013 - 1:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) And some more teams that DNQed... #83 Donnie Allison #46 Gary Bettenhausen #68 Mark Donohue #14, #83, #84 A. J. Foyt #17 Gordon Johncock #44 Steve Krisiloff #98 Joe Leonard #29, #77 Jim Malloy #54 Rick Muther #94 Bentley Warren #10, #33 Dick Simon #31 Sammy Sessions #11 Bobby Unser #25 Lloyd Ruby #80 Mike Mosley 13. Schroeder51 posted: 03.14.2015 - 4:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First Indy 500 starts for Denny Zimmerman, David Hobbs, Bentley Warren, and Steve Krisiloff. Last Indy 500 starts for Jim Malloy, Donnie Allison, Bud Tingelstad, George Follmer, Denny Hulme, and Art Pollard. 14. Schroeder51 posted: 03.15.2015 - 1:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Add to the DNQs: Bobby Unser, #11 Gurney (Did not qualify) A. J. Foyt, #14 ITT-Thompson (Did not qualify) Jerry Grant, #17 Vollstedt (Did not qualify) Gordon Johncock, #17 Vollstedt (Did not qualify) Lloyd Ruby, #25 Gene White Firestone (Did not qualify) Arnie Knepper, #30 Saint Louis (Did not qualify) Al Loquasto, #31 Federal Engineering (Did not qualify) LeeRoy Yarbrough, #42 Olsonite Eagle (Did not qualify) Steve Krisiloff, #44 TraveLodge Sleeper (Did not qualify) John Mahler, TraveLodge Sleeper (Raced by Dick Simon) Gary Bettenhausen, #46 Thermo King (Did not qualify) Jim McElreath, #46 Thermo King (Did not qualify) Dave Strickland, #50 Navarro (DNS, too slow) Jimmy Caruthers, #64 Gilmore Racing (Did not qualify) Mark Donohue, #68 Penske Products (Did not qualify) John Martin, #69 John Martin (Did not qualify) Bruce Jacobi, #71 L. W. Gifford (Did not qualify) Jerry Karl, #71 L. W. Gifford (Did not qualify) Jim Malloy, #77 Dayton Steel (Did not qualify) Mike Mosley, #80 G. C. Murphy (Wrecked practice) A. J. Foyt, #83 Purolator (Did not qualify) A. J. Foyt, #84 Purolator (Did not qualify) Bruce Walkup, #94 Classic Wax (Did not qualify) Bentley Warren, #94 Classic Wax (Did not qualify) Joe Leonard, #98 Wynn's Kwik Kool (Did not qualify) Bruce Walkup, #98 Wynn's Kwik Kool (Did not qualify) 15. Schroeder51 posted: 04.06.2015 - 2:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yellow flags: 1. #85 Denny Hulme spin, turn 4 (Lap 5) 2. #38 Rick Muther stalled, turn 4 (Laps 9-10) 3. #5 Mario Andretti, #7 Gordon Johncock, #20 Steve Krisiloff, #23 Mel Kenyon accident, turn 3 (Laps 12-26) 4. #38 Rick Muther, #68 David Hobbs accident, frontstretch (Laps 113-122) 5. #2 Bobby Unser, #4 Mike Mosley accident, turn 4 (Laps 167-184) 16. indycar1 posted: 05.08.2015 - 10:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race had 4 cautions for 53 minutes. 17. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 01.30.2016 - 9:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Qualifying results: 1. Peter Revson-178.695 MPH 2. Mark Donohue-177.087 MPH 3. Bobby Unser-175.816 MPH 4. Denny Hulme-174.910 MPH 5. Al Unser-174.621 MPH 6. A. J. Foyt-174.317 MPH 7. Lloyd Ruby-173.821 MPH 8. Joe Leonard-172.762 MPH 9. Mario Andretti-172.612 MPH 10. Donnie Allison-171.903 MPH 11. Jim Malloy-171.838 MPH 12. Billy Vukovich, Jr.-171.674 MPH 13. George Snider-171.600 MPH 14. Gordon Johncock-171.388 MPH 15. Roger McCluskey-171.241 MPH 16. Gary Bettenhausen-171.233 MPH 17. Wally Dallenbach-171.159 MPH 18. Johnny Rutherford-171.152 MPH 19. Cale Yarborough-170.770 MPH 20. Sammy Sessions-170.357 MPH 21. Larry Dickson-170.285 MPH 22. Mel Kenyon-170.205 MPH 23. Dick Simon-170.165 MPH 24. Bud Tingelstad-170.156 MPH 25. Rick Muther-169.972 MPH 26. Steve Krisiloff-169.835 MPH 27. Dennis Zimmerman-169.755 MPH 28. Bentley Warren-169.627 MPH 29. Mike Mosley-169.579 MPH 30. David Hobbs-169.571 MPH 31. Art Pollard-169.499 MPH 32. George Follmer-169.205 MPH 33. Bob Harkey-169.197 MPH 18. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 05.24.2016 - 1:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrew: John Mahler, #44 TraveLodge Sleeper Mahler actually qualified the #44, but when Dick Simon was bumped out of the field, he took Mahler's place in the car and had to start from the rear of the field. Additional DNQs: Dave Strickland, #50 Navarro Jimmy Caruthers, #64 Gilmore Racing Bruce Jacobi, #71 L. W. Gifford Jerry Karl, #71 L. W. Gifford 19. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 03.21.2017 - 11:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Driver change: John Mahler, #44 TraveLodge Sleeper Mahler initially qualified the #44 but gave up the ride to Dick Simon after he failed to qualify. First alternate: Jim McElreath 20. J rizza posted: 05.04.2017 - 6:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) other records have Gordon Johncock's McLaren M15 having an Offy. anyone know which is correct? 21. SweetRich posted: 02.26.2020 - 1:55 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) The Commentators For The Race Were Jim McKay And Sir Jackie Stewart. The Pit Road Reporters Were Chris Economaki, Bill Flemming, Keith Jackson And David Letterman. 22. A.J. posted: 02.26.2020 - 2:48 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) David Letterman in 1971, are you sure you have the right year? Who had even heard of him back then, much less decided to put him on an Indy 500 broadcast? 23. RaceFanX posted: 02.26.2020 - 3:15 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) @22 Yup. Letterman was almost a complete unknown at the time and this was his first time with any national exposure. Famously he interviewed Mario Andretti after he was taken out in the multi-car wreck early on. 24. JSPorts posted: 02.26.2020 - 3:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I didn't know that. That's a cool fact. 25. Canadianfan posted: 02.26.2020 - 4:48 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Jim McCay mistakenly thinks he is Chris Economaki then later corrects it to ?Dave? Letterman saying they have 4 reporters stationed in the turns. The voice sounds a little more youthful but it is definitely him. He was 24 at the time and a anchor/weatherman for WLWI (now WTHR) a then local ABC (now NBC) affiliate. https://youtu.be/UU-PDAQWcXg 26. Rich posted: 12.25.2020 - 6:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Chris Schenkel was the studio host. 27. JollyMeanGiant posted: 03.03.2021 - 1:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 42 cars completed full qualifying runs. Jim McElreath in the #46 (34th), Dick Simon in the #10 (35th), Carl Williams in the #77 (36th), Sam Posey in the #78 (37th), Jerry Grant in the #92 (38th), Art Pollard in the #8 (39th), Bill Simpson in the #28 (40th), Donnie Allison in the #83 (41st) and McElreath in the #14 (42nd) were not fast enough to make the field. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: