|| *Comments on the 1989 Indianapolis 500:* View the most recent comment <#30> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. RaceFanX posted: 04.04.2009 - 10:48 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Kevin Cogan ripped his car in half in a violent crash on lap 2 that saw him sliding the cockpit of car down pit road on its side 2. FHgrad99 posted: 04.07.2009 - 4:01 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Al Unser Jr. crashed while battling with Emerson Fittipaldi for the lead which caused the race to end under caution. 3. Pacer posted: 04.21.2009 - 6:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The pace car for this Indy 500 was a 20th Anniversary Pontiac Trans Am. 4. Unser1 posted: 05.11.2009 - 11:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Davy Jones best career CART finish, 7th. This was not Jones' best finish in the Indy 500, he'd take second in 1996 when the IRL took over the event. 5. Unser2 posted: 05.18.2009 - 2:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The late Rich Vogler's best career CART finish, 8th. It was his only top-10 coming in his next to last career start. 6. Darrell posted: 05.23.2009 - 2:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Failed to Qualify: Tony Bettenhausen, Jr. (#17/#24) Tom Bigelow (#66) Steve Butler (#61) Steve Chassey (#79/#97) Dale Coyne (#39) Dick Ferguson (#47) Stan Fox (#84) Michael Greenfield (#17/#63) Scott Harrington (#44) Phil Krueger (#77) Buddy Lazier (#35), Bobby Olivero Steve Saleen (#59) Johnny Parsons (#59/#69) John Paul, Jr. (#39/#79/#97) Johnny Rutherford (#98/#14T) 7. Unser2 posted: 10.18.2009 - 12:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Danny Sullivan broke an arm in a practice crash for this race 8. WillG46 posted: 11.08.2009 - 9:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Fittipaldi and Unser completely obliterated the field that day. They had a 6 lap lead over 3rd place before Unser crashed. 9. Steve posted: 12.02.2009 - 12:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) They were in a class of their own after Rahal, Unser, Mears, and the Andrettis had their troubles. Easily one of the greatest Indy 500 moments of all time. And they weren't mad at one another! 10. RaceFanX posted: 04.05.2011 - 3:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) For the first time ABC put a camera on the end of pit road for their race coverage. It got wiped out in Cogan's wreck on lap 2. Rick Mears earned a record 5th Indy pole with a 224 MPH qualifying run, breaking his own track record from the previous year. While the Penske cars were quick in qualifying mechanical woes doomed their chances for a victory on race day and all were gone by the 300-mile mark. On the start Emerson Fittipaldi shoot past Mears and his Penske teammate Al Unser Sr to put Pat Patrick's Marlboro car out front and start his dominant performance. By halfway only 3 cars were on the lead lap. Fittipaldi was dominant until Michael Andretii, making his first Indy 500 start for Newman-Haas, hunted him down. Andretti took the lead and looked like he'd be a factor but then a blown engine put him on the sidelines. Tero Palmroth lost the left-front wheel of his car to cause the caution that set up Elmo and Little Al's epic battle at the end. 11. RaceFanX posted: 12.09.2011 - 1:03 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) This race was recreated in the video game "Indianapolis 500: The Simulation," one of if not the first games to be a full-on simulation. "Indianapolis 500: The Simulation" was Papyrus' first full-on sim and one of the very first games ever to allow virtual racers to tune their car in a manner to improve, or damage, the handling. It paved the way for many great racing video games such as the NASCAR Racing series, Indy Car Racing and Grand Prix Legends in the 1990s and into the early 2000s. Rare for an 1980s game the field in the race was rather realistic and feature 32 of the 33 starters with only Rich Volger's last-place starting #29 missing, replaced by the player's fictional #17. 12. smrich223 posted: 06.17.2013 - 1:08 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) So let's play "what if" for a second...say Fittipaldi and Unser had BOTH crashed. Boesel's engine was blowing, so he wouldn't have been able to win. Since everyone else was so many laps down, they could have cleaned up the track in time to get a green flag finish. It easily could have been a Mario/AJ showdown for the win at Indy! 13. b4il3y posted: 12.03.2013 - 3:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 12. I have a feeling if that happened, Brayton would've won the 500 :) Those 2 would've knocked down the Berlin wall to win that race. 14. Unser1 posted: 11.13.2014 - 6:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQ entries: Tony Bettenhausen Jr.- #17 Federal Truck / AMAX (owned by Tony Bettenhausen, Jr.) Buddy Lazier- #35 Team Lazier (owned by Bob Lazier) Scott Harrington- #44 Holloway Ready Mix (owned by Todd Walther) Steve Saleen- #59 Saleen Auto Express (owned by Steve Saleen) Johnny Parsons #59, 69 Saleen Auto Express, Monarch / Andale (owned by Steve Saleen) Steve Butler- #61 Stoops (owned by Jeffrey Stoops) Michael Greenfield- #17, 63- Federal Truck (owned by Tony Bettenhausen, Jr.) Tom Bigelow- #66 Phil Krueger- #77 U.S. Engineering John Paul, Jr.- #79 Mayano / Kasle / Mistral Stan Fox- #84 (owned by A.J. Foyt) Steve Chassey- #97 Mayano / Kasle / Mistral Johnny Rutherford- #98, 14 Menards / Glidden Paint, Copenhagen / Gilmore (owned by A.J. Foyt) Dick Ferguson- #47 Lotto America / Wake Up To Missouri / Universal 15. Thomas posted: 01.16.2015 - 5:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To be honest, I think that if Michael's engine hadn't blown the drama between Emmo and Little Al wouldn't have been for the win as Michael had them both covered. Or if Emmo had gotten the handling fixed, it would have been a shootout between Michael and Emmo instead. 16. Schroeder51 posted: 06.14.2015 - 10:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First Indy 500 starts for Bernard Jourdain, Scott Pruett, and Didier Theys. Only Indy 500 start for John Jones. Last Indy 500 starts for Rich Vogler, Ludwig Heimrath, Jr., and Derek Daly. 17. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 02.01.2016 - 1:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Qualifying results: 1. Rick Mears-223.885 MPH 2. Al Unser-223.471 MPH 3. Emerson Fittipaldi-222.329 MPH 4. Jim Crawford-221.450 MPH 5. Mario Andretti-220.485 MPH 6. Scott Brayton-220.458 MPH 7. Bobby Rahal-219.530 MPH 8. Michael Andretti-218.774 MPH 9. Al Unser, Jr.-218.642 MPH 10. Tom Sneva-218.396 MPH 11. Raul Boesel-218.228 MPH 12. A. J. Foyt-217.135 MPH 13. Billy Vukovich III-216.698 MPH 14. Randy Lewis-216.494 MPH 15. Danny Sullivan-216.027 MPH 16. John Andretti-215.611 MPH 17. Teo Fabi-215.563 MPH 18. Gary Bettenhausen-215.230 MPH 19. Gordon Johncock-215.072 MPH 20. Arie Luyendyk-214.883 MPH 21. Kevin Cogan-214.569 MPH 22. Davy Jones-214.279 MPH 23. Derek Daly-214.237 MPH 24. Rocky Moran-214.212 MPH 25. Tero Palmroth-214.203 MPH 26. Pancho Carter-214.067 MPH 27. John Jones-214.028 MPH 28. Scott Pruett-213.955 MPH 29. Ludwig Heimrath, Jr.-213.878 MPH 30. Dominic Dobson-213.590 MPH 31. Rich Vogler-213.238 MPH 32. Didier Theys-213.120 MPH 33. Bernard Jourdain-213.105 MPH 18. Anonymous posted: 03.11.2016 - 1:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Some DNQ info ## - Driver - Owner - Chassis/Engine #4T - Geoff Brabham - Roger Penske - Penske/Chevrolet (Brabham was the designated relief driver for Danny Sullivan and practiced the #4T car. Sullivan did not need to be relieved for the race.) #7T - Tom Sneva - Vince Granatelli - March/Buick #14T - Johnny Rutherford - A.J. Foyt - Lola/Cosworth #14T - George Snider - A.J. Foyt - Lola/Cosworth #16 - Tony Bettenhausen Jr. - Tony Bettenhausen Jr. - Lola/Cosworth #24T - Tony Bettenhausen Jr. - Ralph Wilke - Lola/Cosworth #29/#29T - Rich Vogler - Andy Kenopensky - March/Cosworth (Vogler raced Kevin Cogan's T car renumbered to #29 -- but he was bumped out of the field in the #29 car) #35 - Buddy Lazier - Bob Lazier - March/Cosworth #37 - Kevin Whitesides - Two's Company - March/Cosworth #39 - Dale Coyne - Dale Coyne - Lola/Cosworth #44 - Scott Harrington - H&H Racing - Lola/Cosworth #47 - Kevin Whitesides - Enswick Racing - March/Cosworth #47 - Dick Ferguson - Enswick Racing - March/Cosworth #50 - Jean-Pierre Frey - Antonio Ferrari - Lola/Cosworth #50 - Davy Jones - Antonio Ferrari - Lola/Cosworth #59 - Steve Saleen - Steve Saleen - March/Cosworth #59T - Johnny Parsons - Steve Saleen - March/Cosworth #61/#61T - Steve Butler - Jeff Stoops - Lola/Cosworth #63 - Michael Greenfield - Tony Bettenhausen Jr. - Lola/Cosworth #66 - Tom Bigelow - Thom Burns - March/Cosworth #69T - Johnny Parsons - Bernard Jourdain - Lola/Cosworth #77 - Phil Krueger - Todd Walther - Penske/Cosworth #79 - Steve Chassey - ??? - Lola/Cosworth #84 - Stan Fox - A.J. Foyt - March/Chevrolet #86 - Dominic Dobson - Bruce Leven - March/Cosworth #96 - Gary Bettenhausen - D.B. Mann - Lola/Buick #97 - John Paul Jr. - R. Kent Baker - Lola/Cosworth #97T - Steve Chassey - R. Kent Baker - Lola/Cosworth #98 - Johnny Rutherford - John Menard - Lola/Cosworth 19. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 03.22.2017 - 12:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) First alternate: Johnny Rutherford Second alternate: Phil Krueger 20. Damon posted: 04.07.2017 - 2:22 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) AJ Foyt's 5th place finish was his best in the decade of 80's 21. Paul88 posted: 04.28.2017 - 9:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor update: #29 Pancho Carter - Hardee's/Ghostbusters II Source - IMS (http://d255vb63773d25.cloudfront.net/~/media/ims/photo%20galleries/1989/01/1989-indianapolis-500/2014/04/09/20/31/imsc5408.jpeg) 22. Tide1732 (Hamilin-Ed Jones Monday Day!) posted: 05.27.2017 - 5:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A 28 Years ago... A Classic duel. 23. RaceFanX posted: 04.02.2018 - 3:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pancho Carter ran a black #24 in this race instead of his usual blue #29 as part of a tie-in promotion between his sponsor Hardee's restaurants and the theatrical release of the new blockbuster movie "Ghostbusters II." Hardee's must have been real proud of its status as the "Official Ghostbuster Headquarters" tying in with the film as it fielded black Ghostbusters-themed cars on this day in both the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600, a rare instance of a special paint job this early on. NASCAR driver Dale Jarrett's day in Charlotte would mimic that of Carter's here, both of their entries were sidelined after their cars gave up the ghost with mechanical woes. 24. Ryan posted: 06.15.2018 - 12:03 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) @12 Now, that would have been epic. That would have been like Pearson and Petty in the '76 Daytona 500, but with more miles underneath them. 25. RaceFanX posted: 05.05.2019 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Veteran Gary Bettenhausen never even made it to the start line in this one as his bright blue-and-red #99 ATEC Environmental entry broke on the second pace lap, causing him to come to to a stop right on the front stretch. The crew recovered it and pushed it back to the pits but #99 could not be coaxed back to life to compete in the race. ABC profiled the Bettenhausen family during the pre-race show but overall it was yet another rough year at Indy for them as Tony Bettenhausen, Jr. DNQed even before Gary dropped out before the green flag ever dropped. 26. MSportRev posted: 12.28.2019 - 3:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQs: 34. Johnny Rutherford in a Lola / Cosworth 35. Phil Krueger in a Penske / Cosworth owned by Todd Walther 36. John Paul, Jr. in a Lola / Coswoth owned by R. Kent Baker Tony Bettenhausen, Jr., Michael Greenfield, Steve Butler were in a Lola / Cosworth Steve Saleen was in a March / Cosworth Steve Chassey in a Lola / Coswoth owned by R. Kent Baker Tom Bigelow was in a March / Cosworth owned by Thorn Burns Source: Ultimate Racing History 27. Shawn posted: 02.28.2020 - 10:44 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Johnny Rutherford would never qualify for the Indy 500 again after last years race & this year. He would be a staple on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio network during this race & the 90s. 28. SweetRich posted: 02.29.2020 - 12:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators for the race were Paul Page, Sam Posey and Bobby Unser. The pit road reporters were Jack Arute, Brian Hammons and Jerry Punch. 29. RaceFanX posted: 04.10.2020 - 2:05 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Bump day was always dramatic at Indianapolis in this era. Late in the day three-time 500 winner Johnny Rutherford found himself on the outside looking in as he, Phil Krueger, and John Paul, Jr. found themselves bumped out of the field as Bill Vukovich III put his day solidly in the field and Davy Jones, Pancho Carter, and Rich Vogler bumped in. Rutherford cut a last-minute deal with A.J. Foyt to attempt to qualify in Foyt's #14T backup car and practiced it briefly. Tony Bettenhausen, Jr.'s last effort to make the field came up short. With only minutes left on the clock Michael Greenfield went out to qualify but didn't have the speed in his #63 on his first lap so in a display of sportsmanship his team waved him off with only 90 seconds left in qualifying to give Rutherford the last shot at the field. Lone Star JR fired up Supertex's Copenhagen racer and zoomed out on the track just before the final gun for an all-or-nothing run. Rutherford went 217 MPH, fast enough to make it, on his warmup lap and took the green flag just seconds before the gun only to immediately blow the motor in turn 1 on his first lap and literally watch his bid for the 500 go up in smoke. Rookie Bernard Jourdain was on the bubble and watched on for Rutherford's last attempt. He leapt up in joy when he found out he would be in the 500. 30. Rich posted: 12.23.2020 - 6:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Along with being the play by play announcer, Paul Page was the studio host. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: