1986 Indianapolis 500
The 70th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Saturday, May 31, 1986. After being rained out on May 25–26, the race was rescheduled for the following weekend. Bobby Rahal was the winner, becoming the first driver in Indy history to complete the 500 miles (800 km) in less than three hours. At an average speed of 170.722 mph (274.750 km/h), it was the fastest 500-mile Indy car race to that point.
| Indianapolis Motor Speedway | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indianapolis 500 | |||||
| Sanctioning body | USAC | ||||
| Season | 1986 CART season 1985-86 Gold Crown | ||||
| Date | May 31, 1986 | ||||
| Winner | Bobby Rahal | ||||
| Winning team | Truesports | ||||
| Average speed | 170.722 mph (274.750 km/h) | ||||
| Pole position | Rick Mears | ||||
| Pole speed | 216.828 mph (348.951 km/h) | ||||
| Fastest qualifier | Mears | ||||
| Rookie of the Year | Randy Lanier | ||||
| Most laps led | Rick Mears (76) | ||||
| Pre-race ceremonies | |||||
| National anthem | David Hasselhoff | ||||
| "Back Home Again in Indiana" | John Davies | ||||
| Starting command | Mary F. Hulman Tony George (restart) | ||||
| Pace car | Chevrolet Corvette | ||||
| Pace car driver | Chuck Yeager | ||||
| Starter | Duane Sweeney | ||||
| Estimated attendance | 400,000 (Sun.) 5,800 (Mon.) 325,000 (Sat.) | ||||
| TV in the United States | |||||
| Network | ABC | ||||
| Announcers | Host: Jim McKay Lap-by-lap: Jim Lampley Color Analyst: Sam Posey | ||||
| Nielsen ratings | 8.8 / 31 | ||||
| Chronology | |||||
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Nearly the entire race unfolded as a three-way battle between polesitter Rick Mears, Bobby Rahal, and Kevin Cogan. Cogan, who was a key fixture in the controversial crash on the opening lap of the 1982 race, took the lead in dramatic fashion with 13 laps to go. Cogan, driving for Patrick Racing, appeared to be on his way to victory, and career redemption. But on lap 194, his lead evaporated when a spin by Arie Luyendyk brought out the caution flag. After a quick cleanup, the green flag came back out with two laps to go. Second place Bobby Rahal got the jump on the restart and grabbed the lead. Rahal pulled away and won the race, with car owner Jim Trueman, stricken with cancer, cheering him on in the pit area. Trueman died eleven days after the victory. At the time, it was the closest three-car finish in Indy history.
The race was sanctioned by USAC, and was included as part of the 1986 CART PPG Indy Car World Series. For the first time, ABC Sports televised the race live "flag-to-flag" on network television in the United States. The race celebrated the 75th anniversary of the first 500, but there was very little fanfare of the milestone outside of the cover art of the official program.