1982 Indianapolis 500 Finish

[m4550]

Poesy and mackay called the race in tape by the way. They knew the outcome as they called it. Johncock emmo and mears birthday THE BEST

[altfactor]

This year (2011) may have been the only more dramatic finish in "500" history!

(And I wonder how Jim McKay, Sam Posey, and Jackie Stewart would have called the 2011 finish!)

[hunterjumper32]

Why did ABC have to show Mears' wife with that great action on the track? There's a reason why ABC stands for Always Bad Coverage...

[Flynnsox]

One of the best 500s ever. shame this was ruined by the fact the ABC director had a hard-on for Rick Mears's wife. seriously, missing Rick's attempt to pass at Turn 1 because we just HAD to see Dina Mears cheering?

[HALFSQUASHED]

'what were you thinking of when your mirrors started to fill up with Mears' ha ha that is a great line.

[60jwboy]

one of the best calls ever by Jim McKay and Sam Posey

[jennifersman]

@60jwboy There'll never be another McKay, he was the best, had such enthusiasm for whatever he covered

[psKESEY56]

I was in the 1st row on the first turn for that race. Indy used to be such a great place. I think that IRL finally has the leadership and desire to kick it up a little. Looking forward to the 2011 season!

[psKESEY56]

I was in the 1st row on the first turn for that race. Indy used to be such a great place. I think that IRL finally has the leadership and desire to kick it up a little. Looking forward to the 2011 season!

[Dogman36]

I noticed these cars advanced along side formula one until about 1988. See here, johncock's car bears striking resemblance to the Lotus 86 that Mansell drove.

[cartain12]

Subtitles. Johncock: i am so gonna win Mears: oh ill catch up to you

Johncock: what's wrong mears am i gonna go the wrong way

Mears: yes Johncock: tough Mears: not yet it's not over yet

Johncock: here's the finish line Mears: oh yeah move it Johncock: too bad Mears:plz dont win i am cool johncock:almost to the finish line Mears: im almost in 1st place johncock: oh yeah how about my powers Mears: oh get out of the way

johncock: never Mears: 5 4 3 2 1 your car is blown Johncock: i won

[BlueFox284]

That was a helluva charge by Rick. . .

[Ultegra10]

It was always good to see Gordy win what many say was the greatest, most exciting 500. Considering he had to suffer the indignity of winning perhaps the darkest 500 in '73. -R

[xpander2k]

0:32 Shouldn't Johncock have gotten a black flag for passing a car under the white line, or did that rule not exist then?

[CGFootball5307]

@xpander2k It didn't exist, that was actually the preferred line for some guys back when the aprons existed at Indy

[BSNFabricating]

If that run to the finish doesn't give you cold chills, check your pulse. And the way the crowd was hollering...gives me a big ol' lump in my throat.

Indy has never stopped being Indy, but I'd love to see that enthusiasm come back...

[sir945]

Jim Mckay and Sam Posey sound better even all these years later and they were so worried about Dina Mears what about Linda Johncock abc showed the wrong wife at the checkerd flag

[pajasa62]

I always thought the Jim McKay/Sam Posey announcing of the Indy 500s were great. The '82 race was there first together after Jackie Stewart left.

You have to admire the sportsmanship of Mears and Penske...I wonder if you'd get that today.

[soylentteal]

Fantastic finish and I did see it 28 years ago, but then as now, I wanted to slap the director when he swiched the shots to Mears' wife, because the viewer missed some of the best moments. Save the spousal reactions for AFTER the checkered flag. Thanks for sharing thie with us.

[SAMMYJS991]

In my honest and true opinion, THIS RACE is the #1 best finish in the history of the 500 - even better than Al Unser Jr.'s win over Scott Goodyear by 0.043 sec. AND YES, those cars back then sound so sweet even by today's standards.

[Flynnsox]

@SAMMYJS991 Agreed. Goodyear just had a real nice run off the last corner to make it close. I first watched this on ESPN Classic and even knowing the winner I still expected Mears to get past him.

[volley151]

Damn even these thirty year cars look and sound better than the crap they run today.

[wpsracing108]

Gahhh! The wife! THEY SHOWED THE WIFE MORE THAN THE RACE.

I....do not care.. about.. the ..fucking... wives!!!

[AutoRacer5]

@wpsracing108

The only time ABC did show the wives correctly was 1989.

[dd1985]

At 3:14- upper left hand corner:

That's the guy with the rainbow wig and the John 3:16 signs, Rollen Stewart

[missycoco123]

funny thing is the TV announcers, Jim Mackay and Sam Posey, did the play by play of taped video. They KNEW the results. With about 10 laps to go, Jim M, said, "there's no way Mears can catch him" Made for great drama. Same thing occurred with the 1976 Men;s Downhill. Announcers knew the results befor they telecast he event.

[bduddy55555]

They recorded the commentary for the first few and last few laps live, AFAIK...

[dalebshelton]

I was 10 years old, they had talked about this race the days lading up to it, Mears had injured 3 fingers....I didn't get to see this race live....ABC actually rebroadcast this race that night...and I beg my parents to watch it, This singular race is the race that started to bring me deep into the sport, before I discovered Ayrton Senna, this is the race that I discovered Rocket Rick

[Seth6Strummer]

Amazing that I can find this! My dad was right rear tire changer of Don Whittington's car. Pretty amazing I can show him all this.. Thank you SO much for putting this up to be able to share these memories with my father.

[smcnew97]

how in the world did johncock hold him off?

[Swartzie6]

Gordy early in his career drove Super Modifieds.Oswego Etc..

[dalebshelton]

because he basically cut in front of mears...rick had no choice but to lift.....

[rpminc12]

Pure driving skill and talent

Gordy is the only driver in the world that could have pulled that off the last 2 laps

[bduddy55555]

They just completely ignore the blown engine (it was at Tom Sneva) at 0:40...

[Swartzie6]

then gordy would have still won as the race would have ended under yellow..they dont have that green white checker stuff

[bduddy55555]

I was talking about the commentators, not the race officials. Too bad they wouldn't make a non-call like that these days...

[Swartzie6]

Your right...strange they never even mentioned it

[1more4theroad]

champcar4ever...You have some great posts on here! Thank you for sharing great memories with all of us, especially those of us that recall the CART era, when stands were full of fans and the track was full of slicing and dicing.

The crowd was just fanatical that day! This was a great call by Tom Carnegie...."And it's...it's....Gordon Johncock!"

We were blessed to be a part of the great CART/Champ Car reign!

Thanks for posting all of your great films!

[champcar4ever]

You are welcome! Yes it's too bad it didn't continue but like you I'm glad I had a chance to see when CART(and open wheel) was at it's zenith in the U.S.

[childofthemarshalsea]

@champcar4ever The major problem with Champ Car was that it became too technology-driven and dominated by wealthy teams just like Formula 1. That is why, as someone who has been following Indycar racing for more than 30 years, I supported what the IRL tried to do when it tried to be a driver-oriented series like NASCAR is. Unfortunately, since the Champ Car-IRL merger, Indycar is making many of the same mistakes it made before. I wish it had remained an all-oval series.

[rcoers99]

@childofthemarshalsea - teams with $ always win, been that way forever. At least CART filled the stands. IRL was a joke

[childofthemarshalsea]

@rcoers99 Not necessarily. One of the reasons NASCAR is so popular is because it's a driver's series. IRL made some good decisions in the beginning like only allowing two types of chassis (G-Force and Dallara) and two types of engines (Honda and Chevy) for their cars. It lowered the cost of operating a team from $10 million to $3 million which is one reason why low-budget teams were successful. Now Penske and Ganassi are dominating every race. The only competition now is who will finish 2nd.

[belcherman]

@1more4theroad

i live n baltimore and just found out today that baltimore will have its first ever race with indy car through the streets. It is suppose to be in 2012 and i cant wait.. the grand prix of baltimore. .. never thought i woudl hear those words said.

[altfactor]

The race was shown on tape by ABC that night (the network wasn't allowed to air it live until 1986).

While much of the commentary of Jim McKay and company was recorded as the edited tape aired, the commentary of the first few laps and last few laps was recorded as they happened.

[kyo90leap]

Just a question Ultegra10 who is your favorite INDY racer?

[kyo90leap]

Another thing is Mears had another close finish with Michael Andretti in 1991 by a 3.150 second margin. I know it's not as great as in 1992 or 1982, but still Mears had the upper hand not wanting the 82 race to repeat. Also Mears by this point was more experienced then Michael, much like in 1982 *only flipped* when Johncock was the more experienced Rick Mears.

[PinkRob0t]

Rick Mears finishing second: "No complaints whatsoever". Good guy.

[tiburon0676]

I love how the commentators put their heart and soul into the race. You can hear their passion for the race, passion for the drivers and passion for Indy's great history in their voices. That type of magic sadly is gone today.

[indigoblue555]

Is there available a complete video of the last lap ? The camera is spotted on Mears's wife (I suppose she was) and

the response of Johncock on Mears is missing....

I can't get how could Johncock attack on the outside.Did Mears back off or what ?

Thx.

[mightycowhero]

some jabrony i was arguing with had the gall to say indy is suckish and the most uncompetitive racetrack in the world. "oh really?" i said. i gave the 82, 92, and 2006 indy 500's as reason why indy is anything BUT uncompetitive.

[snag66]

It was good to see gordy win again since everyone (including himself) wanted to pretty much forget 73 when he was declared the winner in the shortened race.Sadly, 82 was the year Gordon Smiley died horribly. Another tragic Indy.

[kyo90leap]

the 1992 finish was even better then 1982.

[Ultegra10]

92 was the closest, but only the 3rd best finish. 2006 was a great show. but you could debate 92 and 06, which is better all day...

...if not for 82. its the best. period

[kyo90leap]

In 2006....Sam Hornish Jr. had the best take over against Marco Andretti without any doubt......Sam just had a great come back in the final lap overall.

Yet I still believe the 1992 race was better...one because I meet Little Al Unser and I'm an Unser racing fan. But Al Unser beat Goodyear by just 0.043 seconds. The race between Gordon Johncock and Mears in 82 was about a 0.160 second interval.

[ClubWago]

Greatest 500 Finishes in my opinion,

1st '89, Emo dominating, Unser passing him with a few to go, heavy traffic Emo gets back along side Unser, Unser crashes, Emo has an amazing save to win

2nd '82 Mears running down Johncock in a hurry, gets along side of him on the last lap, Johncock with a masterful move to hold him off, Mears with one last run but it's not enough

3rd '06- an actual last lap, last turn pass, it was amazing how fast Hornish caught Andretti on that last lap

4th- '92

[mightycowhero]

400,000 fans! going hoarse!!

LOL.

[mightycowhero]

SUBTITLES. JOHNCOCK: ack! how is he able to catch me so fast?? MEARS: HEH HEH! score another win for penske! JOHNCOCK: damn this ill handling car! it's not over yet.... MEARS: the faster car always wins hee hee!! (mears comes alongside) JOHNCOCK: he's mad!! two cars can't go side by side in the turn! MEARS: give up gordy! my car is way faster. back off or crash! JOHNCOCK: NEVER! MEARS: SHIT!! (backs off) JOHNCOCK: final lap. come on, baby. MEARS:I HAVE YOU NOW!! JOHNCOCK: NO SIR!! YOU LOSE!!

[afannell]

@mightycowhero

Nice little story.

[FrodothePuppet]

I'm sad to report that Jim McKay has passed on. He had so many great calls like this one.

[reidmustang88]

I'm from Coldwater, MI (where Johncock's from) and he used to live down the street from me when i was a kid, this would have been in the late 80's and early 90's

[e521soediv]

i like the way those indy cars engines sounded back then now days they dont sound as good.

[BlueFox284]

Made possible by those lovely lil' gizmos they call turbochargers. :-) hopefully they'll make a comeback.

[e521soediv]

i hope so

[afannell]

And it was an Offy 2.65 Liter 4 cylinder bad boy that was through over a 1000 horsepower. Something right now the IndyCar Series is exploring in for the 2011 season.

[TheMarioBros]

What a great ending. Gordon Johncock is one of my all-time favorites.

[altroval]

GJ had a car that was going away on him and he had to hold off Rick Mears in the absolutely awesome PC-10. A superb win.

Most people don't realize it, but GJ totally outclassed Mario Andretti in the '81 race and were it not for a lot of trouble pit stops and losing his engine at the very end; he might have had enough to challenge Bobby Unser. GJ did set the race's fast lap at 193+ that year.

[csampang1]

Don't forget 1977 also as another time Gordy should've won it, and didn't due to mechanical problems.

[rpminc12]

OOOOOH so true

A magor heartbreaker !!!

[SIGMAMAN69]

That win sure didn't have that unfair asterisk like the 1973 win, that's for sure.

[wpsracing108]

i hate to bring it up all the time but, such a good way to move on from the tragedies of smiley's crash. motor racing has a nack of moving on at the perfect times.

[cgbazar]

Just got my ticket in the mail today . . . TT Sec 43. May 25 can't get here fast enough!!!

[BlueFox284]

chills up my spine everytime I watch, for real.

[VampireYoshi]

If you play the Delta Force music at the 2 3/4 lap to go mark ("Sam we have a trophy dash...!"), it literally follows the battle perfectly, for the whole rest of the way.

[racermac1988]

Dude, you weren't kidding!!! I did it! Goes along perfectly!

[THEkingjaymz]

If only they'd finished the same way that they crossed the line on the 199th lap

[eviltman]

high 190's in the turns...

i'm thinking probably 197mph off the corners, 200+ on straights.

[buffunkel]

Gordy was the man!!! Most other drivers

would have crashed with such an ill handling car. A brilliant performance!

[racermac1988]

What's even cooler is when the footage is sinked up to the IMS radio network broadcast.

Paul Page, Bob Jenkins, Jerry Baker, and the rest of the greatest team covering "The Greatest Spectacle In Racing"

[BlueFox284]

everytime i watch this, I keep hoping Mears would get by Gordy. . .lol

[msufr99]

The announcers didn't know what to think!

[johnnystir]

I'm not going to dive into the IRL/Champ car debate, but you have to love the Indy 500...whether it's 33 big wheels or 33 racing machines. This is an awesome finish. I remember seeing it live to tape in 82 during the rebroadcast, but I was only 7.

[dalems672]

I saw that same rebroadcast in 1982 at night. It was a mears fan forever after that. I rememeber mears having a 3 broken fingers as well.

[RJG1971]

Last night on ESPN Classic I saw most of the footage of the earlier laps before the last pit stops. For what ever reason, Mears simply could not finish off a pass attempt against Johncock. Mears made muliple attempts at passing in the last 20 laps, and Johncock's car simply had more speed at the end of the straight away.

[RJG1971]

Probably the best job ever of saving an ailing car, while holding off a faster car at the end of a race. Another lap and Johncock wasn't going to be able to hold off Mears. This was the win that really allowed Johncock to call himself a 500 Winner. For Mears it was a happy ending compared to the previous year, where he had to leave the race early due to a pit fire. If there was a single drive who was responsible for Mears not winning five 500's, you'd have to say it was Johncock in '82.

[BlueFox284]

Last I saw, when watching the ESPN Classic telecast of this race, which had both drivers being interviewed, Johncock mentioned he was in the timber business

[zomgjabroni]

25 years and they still haven't learned to stop showing retarded shots of drivers' wives.

[VampireYoshi]

Because to the networks, the Human Drama is more important than the raw race itself. I.e., the networks are not populated by actual race FANS, who watch because of the racing, not the humanity.

[champcar4ever]

Yes Milka Dunno to the rescue! Danica couldn't do it and Sarah before so now we have Milka. This year will be the strongest field ever. Not!

[VampireYoshi]

Champcar, Danica is not a bad driver. She is CERTAINLY not "God's gift to open-wheel" as many in the rather idiotic media seem to want to make her out to be...but she is not bad...JUST LIKE KATHERINE LEGGE isn't. They're okay race drivers, but not in the top, #1 tier; who, may I point out, settled it between themselves this year; ...once again. Indy is still Indy...if only the politics would allow them to all run together again.

[IRLIndyCar]

Johncock/Mears. What a drive. It doesn't get any more classy than that.

[gumbidave]

Wow!! The way you can hear the crowd over the engines... Awesome stuff - just a shame that the 500 is not what it was.

[BlueFox284]

He may of lost in 82', But Rick Mears was one of if not *THE* best driver at Indy period. I wish he hadn't retired after the 1992 season. He could of quite possibly taken a 5th Indy 500 win. . .

[OWfan]

Not only a great driver, but a great sportsman, too.

[BlueFox284]

Too true.

[g4l4e]

Gordon Smiley died the day before the race. R.I.P.

[HossGhoul]

I believe this is now the 3rd closest finish in Indy history...following 2006 and 1992.

[anaducksindcoltsfan]

I have this video on my group "classic highlights." Feel free 2 check my group out.

[VampireYoshi]

Indianapolis in 2006 is still Indianapolis: Wheldon pulled out an eleven second lead, and probably would've beat Hornish if he hadn't been bottled up in the pack with only four to go. 1982 was the most exciting ever, though...and thank you, champcar4ever, even if I disagree with hating any form of open-wheel at all, for 4:15-6:12...was born in '84, and have never seen it before.

[gregster84]

what made this so amazing is that it was the closet margin in history to that point

[GoJohjimaJihad]

Exciting, but not as exciting as the finish ten years later, with Al Unser Jr and Scott Goodyear.

[indyfan2]

Second Closest Finish of the Indianaplois glory. Gordon Johncock beats Rick Mears. This is better than today's indy-500.

(Please don't Refer 2006-indy-500 as second closest finish)

[OWfan]

Except that it was. Even so, the Johncock-Mears battle owns.