Indianapolis 500

1989

By Dean Spiros

Chicago Daily Herald Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS- Nobody blinked and when it was over, nobody cried.

It was an old-fashioned showdown between Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser, Jr. History teaches that only one would survive. Let the record show that he did it fair and square

There were less than four miles to the checkered flag in the 73rd Indianapolis 500 Sunday afternoon when Fittipaldi and Unser threw down the gauntlet into Turn 3. They went with nothing on their minds but being the first to cross the finish line.

To set the scene, two cars going into a corner side by side at 220 miles per hour in traffic.

"Only one car was going to come out of that," Unser said.

It wasn't his.

A collision between the two leaders sent Unser into the wall and Fittipaldi into Victory Lane (video).

Fittipaldi was able to steady his car after the bump and take the checkered flag under a yellow caution.

“I had more luck, " Fittipald said. "I won the race."

Neither driver would fault the other for what happened. Neither driver would do anything different

"I had the inside line,” Fittipaldi said "There was no way I was going to back off.”

“We were both flat out," Unser said, "I wasn’t going to lift off (the throttle). You don’t lift off the throttle with two laps to go in the biggest race in the world.”

Unser, who was not hurt, stood on the apron, clapped his hands and gave the thumbs up sign as Fittipaldi circled the track following his victory.

"I was saying, ‘Man, you’re impressive.' That was some impressive driving. I wanted to congratulate him. Emmo and his team deserved to win. They led all the way.”

Fittipaldi, starting on the outside of the front row, raced out ahead of  pole sitter Rick Mears and Al Unser, Sr. in the first turn and quickly  opened up some daylight.

While Mears, Unser, Bobby Rahal and a slew of others were dropping out due to mechanical problems, it appeared Fittipaldi might be on his way to an easy victory.

But up came Michael Andretti fighting his way into contention from the seventh row. Andretti moved into second place before the race was half over, temporarily taking the lead when Fittipaldi went in to refuel.

Then Andretti made his move, passing Fittipaldi on the 153rd lap. Andretti held the lead for eight laps only to have his engine blow on the straightaway.

“It was a real bummer.” Andretti said. said. "We would have had it. I was very confident we would have won. It was time to make our move and I did. At the end of the race my car was better than Emerson's."

The only one left who could give Fittipaldi a race was Unser Jr. Unser closed in on Fittipaldi with six laps to go and took the lead on lap 195.

Fittipaldi took the lead back on lap 198 when Unser got caught in traffic. Unser was in the middle of his counterattack when his hopes came to a crashing halt.

"I'm disappointed, not because of the way I lost, but because I lost," Unser said. "Winning means everything to me. Nothing meant more to be than going into that corner first and coming out first."

Winning the Indianapolis 500 meant more to the 42-year-old Fittipaldi than anything else he has accomplished in his distinguished racing career. Fittipaldi, who finished second in last year's Indy 500, adds this victory to his two world championships on the Formula One circuit.

"I feel like I've achieved my biggest race event," the native of Brazil said. "I've said all month that the car was set-up beautifully."

The irony was that Fittipaldi won in a PC-18 purchased from Roger Penske, while all three of Penske's drivers- Mears, Unser Sr. and Danny Sullivan - were unable to finish the race.

"I'm happy to have a PC-18," Fittipaldi said. "I feel sorry for the Penske team because I know how hard they have to work to get three cars in the field. We were afraid we were going to have the same problems they had."

In the end, Fittipaldi had something else to worry about.

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