|| *Comments on the 1987 Indianapolis 500:* View the most recent comment <#24> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. b4il3y posted: 04.04.2009 - 1:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Poor Mario. Absolutely DOMINATING this race with over a lap lead before halfway..breaks with 20 laps to go. Then, Roberto Guerrero has the race won with a lap lead over Big Al, stalls in the pits giving big Al his 4th Indy 500 win. 2. RaceFanX posted: 04.07.2009 - 9:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Al Unser's fourth and final CART victory and his fourth Indy 500 win Unser did not orginally have a ride for this race, Penske gave him the ride in the #25 after its regular driver Danny "Flyin' Hawaiian" Ongais was injured in a practice crash. 3. Neal posted: 04.10.2009 - 12:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RaceFanX - Not only that but Al's car was a year-old show car that had to be taken out of a hotel lobby in Reading, PA. 4. Pacer posted: 04.21.2009 - 6:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The pace car for this Indy 500 was a Chrysler LeBaron Convertible. 5. Unser1 posted: 05.07.2009 - 5:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Davy Jones' CART debut Stan Fox' first CART race in nearly three years and its his best career finish, 7th. 6. Darrell posted: 05.23.2009 - 6:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Failed to qualify: Jim Crawford (#2T) Sammy Swindell (#59) Phil Krueger (#10T) Rocky Moran (#76) Dominic Dobson (#17) Rick Miaskiewicz (#97) 7. Unser1 posted: 10.22.2009 - 9:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Fabrizio Barbazza's best CART finish, 3rd 8. Wayne posted: 02.26.2010 - 3:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The cause of Roberto Guerrero losing the 500 on the final pit stop was he had no use of the clutch. Around the midway point of the race, Guerrero hit a loose tire with the nose of his car and launched it high into the air and into the grandstands, which tragically killed a spectator. As a result, the clutch master cylinder was damaged and as a result it made it difficult for him to leave the pits. And that last stop was the fatal blow to his chances of sipping out of the frosty mug of milk. 9. RaceFanX posted: 04.05.2011 - 3:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Third-place finisher Barbazza was the reigning champion of the CART American Racing Series/Indy Lights series at the time of this race. The series had only begun the year before. The Penske cars were all supposed to run Chevrolet engines for this race. They had issues getting the new engines to work with their new car and resorted to to their year-old March chassis minus Unser's show car that eventually won the race with a Cosworth engine. Guerrero was leading by a lap before his final pit stop issues. Unser hadn't led the 500 since 1983 before this race. 10. Unser1 posted: 11.26.2011 - 5:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) This race as is tradition was run the same day as the 1987 World 600 for NASCAR. While father Al Unser won this race with his son Al Unser Jr in fourth in an ironic twist at Charlotte it was Kyle Petty winning with his father Richard Petty finishing fourth. 11. b4il3y posted: 01.20.2013 - 12:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carl Haas was a major a**hole during this race to a pit reporter for ABC. He was being interviewed about his first pit stop, and he gruffly says "I'm talking to Mario I really can't talk to you."... only time I've ever heard an owner/crew chief do that. Thought you were supposed to be good to the media. Haas was a crook anyway. 12. Unser1 posted: 11.13.2014 - 7:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQ cars: Jim Crawford- #2 STP (owned by American Racing Series) Phil Krueger- #10 Raynor Garage Door Dennis Firestone- #10 Raynor Garage Door Dominic Dobson- #17 Intersport (owned by Dobson Motorsports) Dick Ferguson- #19 Los Angeles Drywall Danny Ongais- #25 Panavision / Holset Turbo (owned by Roger Penske) Spike Gehlhausen- #35 J.P. Racing Sammy Swindell- #59 Center Line Rocky Moran- #76 Walther Johnny Parsons- #81 Kentucky Fried Chicken / Living Well Rick Miaskiewicz- #97 Pizza Hut / WENS In addition to Ongais Jim Crawford was also injured in a violent practice crash. Crawford was still walking with a cane a year later when his comeback at the 1988 Indianapolis 500. Gordon Johncock came out of his two-year retirement to sub for Crawford. This was the first year in the Indianapolis 500 history that NONE of the entered cars were built in the United States. That's been pretty par for the course every year since. As Bobby Rahal raced to a second-place qualifying run a beach ball got loose on the track. It stayed low and didn't hinder Rahal. 13. joebev910 posted: 04.23.2015 - 6:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) a fan die from a tire 14. Schroeder51 posted: 06.14.2015 - 10:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First Indy 500 starts for Stan Fox, Davy Jones, Ludwig Heimrath, Jr., and Randy Lewis. Only Indy 500 starts for Fabrizio Barbazza and Jeff MacPherson. Last Indy 500 starts for Josele Garza, Ed Pimm, and George Snider. 15. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 02.01.2016 - 1:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Qualifying results: 1. Mario Andretti-215.389 MPH 2. Bobby Rahal-213.316 MPH 3. Rick Mears-211.467 MPH 4. A. J. Foyt-210.935 MPH 5. Roberto Guerrero-210.680 MPH 6. Danny Sullivan-210.271 MPH 7. Dick Simon-209.960 MPH 8. Arie Luyendyk-208.337 MPH 9. Johnny Rutherford-208.296 MPH 10. Davy Jones-208.117 MPH 11. Fabrizio Barbazza-208.039 MPH 12. Gordon Johncock-207.990 MPH 13. Ludwig Heimrath, Jr.-207.591 MPH 14. Derek Daly-207.521 MPH 15. Al Unser-207.424 MPH 16. Tom Sneva-207.254 MPH 17. Al Unser, Jr.-206.751 MPH 18. Randy Lewis-206.209 MPH 19. Michael Andretti-206.129 MPH 20. Kevin Cogan-205.999 MPH 21. Rich Vogler-205.887 MPH 22. Josele Garza-205.692 MPH 23. Jeff MacPherson-205.688 MPH 24. Scott Brayton-205.647 MPH 25. Emerson Fittipaldi-205.584 MPH 26. Geoff Brabham-205.503 MPH 27. Pancho Carter-205.154 MPH 28. Stan Fox-204.518 MPH 29. Gary Bettenhausen-204.504 MPH 30. Tony Bettenhausen, Jr.-203.892 MPH 31. Ed Pimm-203.284 MPH 32. George Snider-203.192 MPH 33. Steve Chassey-202.488 MPH 16. JRacingFast posted: 05.25.2016 - 7:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race is currently airing on ESPN CLASSIC 17. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 03.22.2017 - 12:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) First alternate: Sammy Swindell Second alternate: Dominic Dobson 18. RaceFanX posted: 12.10.2017 - 11:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) What a run for Barbazza, as noted this was his lone Indy 500 start and he finished a career-best third to claim Rookie of the Year honors. He only attempted the 500 one other time in 1992 but didn't make the field that year. 19. RaceFanX posted: 04.04.2018 - 12:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dennis Firestone's DNQ marked the end of his CART career. After neither he nor Phil Krueger could get the Raynor Garage Door #10 up to speed to get it into the field the team hired Derek Daly to take over the ride starting at Milwaukee. 20. nascarman posted: 06.08.2018 - 9:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) While the fan, Lyle Kurtenbach, was killed by the flying tire, it could've easily killed Guerrero as well. Tony Bettenhausen was limping around on the apron of turn 3 with a right rear wheel that didn't have a lug nut on it. The loose wheel finally slipped off the hub, it rolled onto the racing surface, directly in front of Guerrero traveling at 200 mph. Roberto hit the wheel at full speed with the nose cone of the car, the wheel just barely going over his helmet. It was Incredible that he was able to continue, but as has been said, the incident cost him the race, damaging the clutch. Ironically, the friendly Columbian WAS struck in the head by a tire in a testing crash at the track months later in September and spent 17 days in a coma. Doctors initially gave him less than a 5% chance of making a full recovery but he miraculously returned to racing at the beginning of 1988. 21. Burl posted: 12.26.2018 - 11:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) RG was never the same driver after that tire test incident. Good, but not great. It took toll. 22. Pacer posted: 05.16.2019 - 11:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Owing to the last minute nature of the sponsorship Al Unser's winning #25 Cummins entry did not have a perfectly symmetrical paint scheme. The Cummins logo was done in the usual font and style on the left side of the car but the right side instead spelled in it in all caps as "CUMMINS" on the right side. 23. SweetRich posted: 02.26.2020 - 12:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Commentators For The Race Were Jim Lampley, Bobby Unser And Sam Posey. The Pit Road Reporters Were Jack Arute, Jerry Gappens And Al Trautwig. 24. Rich posted: 12.22.2020 - 10:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The studio host was Jim McKay. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: