In addition to what's mentioned in the info box, there are other things I simply had no room to mention there that I'll mention here: First, there are a number of inaccuracies in this film. The first is the number of previous winners that ran in this race. The narrator, Paul Page, said there were eight of them. In fact, there were seven. Another significant inaccuracy (in fact, two of them) dealt with Gordon Johncock in the latter stages of the race. The first of those inaccuracies was the timing of his last pit stop. Page mentioned that his last pit stop was on lap 162. In fact, he was on pit road when the caution flew for A.J. Foyt's stalled car on lap 180. The second inaccuracy dealing with Johncock running out of fuel with six laps left, when in fact, his engine blew. And still another inaccuracy was when it was stated that "Foyt called it quits on the 180th lap". While he did bring out the caution at that point by stalling in turn 3, his crew did get him back in the race, and he finished 13th, nine laps behind the winner, and was running at the finish. So this film is loaded with inaccuracies in the race coverage. Other things I couldn't highlight in the info box dealt with the fact that, in 1981, Gary Bettenhausen drove for Lindsey Hopkins, the car owner his father drove for when he was killed in 1961 (though the crash that killed Tony, Sr. was not in one of Lindsey's cars). I also couldn't mention some of the other high profile drivers that dropped out or had frustrating days. I mentioned Rutherford, Mears, and Ongais, but others I didn't mention included Al Unser, who suffered with a balky car (it was potent, given how well his teammate fared), Pancho Carter, who would score his only IndyCar win later that year in the inaugural Michigan 500, the elder Bettenhausen, and Tom Sneva, who touched off that bizarre series of pit stops from laps 56-63 when he couldn't get out of his pits, one lap before the Mears pit fire, ultimately leading to his own elimination from the race.
I had literally forgotten that there was several lead changes...several wrecks. "Uncle Bobby" won this event...amazingly? Should Mario officially won? Yeah...probably so. This episode of the '81 Indianapolis "500", I've never seen till today (7-10-2023) I've seen all the rest of the "500s" on TH-cam and when some were shown on ESPN "SpeedWorld" classic races. Back then, auto racing TV/Radio narrator, Paul Page did a grand job in calling many Indy Car races. Still miss his announcing delivery style that kept fans tuned-in.
One overlooked thing about the 1981 race was the fact that, because of the fact that, because there were two pit stop sequences after the Don Whittington crash (which is never mentioned or seen in the film), quite a number of drivers, including Tom Sneva (who's charge from 20th was also totally ignored in the film), Rick Mears, Gordon Smiley, and Danny Ongais all took brief turns in the lead during that very expensive series of pit stops from laps 57-65 that knocked all but Smiley out of contention. In all, the lead changed hands 24 times, which made it one of the five or six most competitive Indianapolis 500s ever run to that date, in terms of numbers of lead changes. One thing that this film covers that the ABC broadcast, done the night the race happened, ignored was the fact that, as Bobby Unser passed eight cars exiting the pits during the caution for Smiley's crash, Mario passed three himself, though he did let the third car he passed go back around him. However, there were so many cautions from that point (lap 149) to the end of the race for minor things (debris, stalled cars, etc.) that, had Bobby and Mario been penalized at the time, they would have been able to make the lost ground back up and would still have finished 1-2 after Johncock's engine blew with six laps left, with Bobby likely winning, given how much faster his car was.
In addition to what's mentioned in the info box, there are other things I simply had no room to mention there that I'll mention here:
First, there are a number of inaccuracies in this film. The first is the number of previous winners that ran in this race. The narrator, Paul Page, said there were eight of them. In fact, there were seven. Another significant inaccuracy (in fact, two of them) dealt with Gordon Johncock in the latter stages of the race. The first of those inaccuracies was the timing of his last pit stop. Page mentioned that his last pit stop was on lap 162. In fact, he was on pit road when the caution flew for A.J. Foyt's stalled car on lap 180. The second inaccuracy dealing with Johncock running out of fuel with six laps left, when in fact, his engine blew. And still another inaccuracy was when it was stated that "Foyt called it quits on the 180th lap". While he did bring out the caution at that point by stalling in turn 3, his crew did get him back in the race, and he finished 13th, nine laps behind the winner, and was running at the finish. So this film is loaded with inaccuracies in the race coverage.
Other things I couldn't highlight in the info box dealt with the fact that, in 1981, Gary Bettenhausen drove for Lindsey Hopkins, the car owner his father drove for when he was killed in 1961 (though the crash that killed Tony, Sr. was not in one of Lindsey's cars). I also couldn't mention some of the other high profile drivers that dropped out or had frustrating days. I mentioned Rutherford, Mears, and Ongais, but others I didn't mention included Al Unser, who suffered with a balky car (it was potent, given how well his teammate fared), Pancho Carter, who would score his only IndyCar win later that year in the inaugural Michigan 500, the elder Bettenhausen, and Tom Sneva, who touched off that bizarre series of pit stops from laps 56-63 when he couldn't get out of his pits, one lap before the Mears pit fire, ultimately leading to his own elimination from the race.
I had literally forgotten that there was several lead changes...several wrecks.
"Uncle Bobby" won this event...amazingly? Should Mario officially won? Yeah...probably so.
This episode of the '81 Indianapolis "500", I've never seen till today (7-10-2023) I've seen all the rest of the "500s" on TH-cam and when some were shown on ESPN "SpeedWorld" classic races. Back then, auto racing TV/Radio narrator, Paul Page did a grand job in calling many Indy Car races. Still miss his announcing delivery style that kept fans tuned-in.
One overlooked thing about the 1981 race was the fact that, because of the fact that, because there were two pit stop sequences after the Don Whittington crash (which is never mentioned or seen in the film), quite a number of drivers, including Tom Sneva (who's charge from 20th was also totally ignored in the film), Rick Mears, Gordon Smiley, and Danny Ongais all took brief turns in the lead during that very expensive series of pit stops from laps 57-65 that knocked all but Smiley out of contention. In all, the lead changed hands 24 times, which made it one of the five or six most competitive Indianapolis 500s ever run to that date, in terms of numbers of lead changes.
One thing that this film covers that the ABC broadcast, done the night the race happened, ignored was the fact that, as Bobby Unser passed eight cars exiting the pits during the caution for Smiley's crash, Mario passed three himself, though he did let the third car he passed go back around him. However, there were so many cautions from that point (lap 149) to the end of the race for minor things (debris, stalled cars, etc.) that, had Bobby and Mario been penalized at the time, they would have been able to make the lost ground back up and would still have finished 1-2 after Johncock's engine blew with six laps left, with Bobby likely winning, given how much faster his car was.