1981 Indy 500 "Unser vs. Andretti"

Bobby Unser Mario Andretti discuss the 1981 Indy 500.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Indy
• 500
• Indianapolis
• 1981
• Mario
• Andretti
• Bobby
• Unser
• controversy
• blend
• rule

[rockypc24]

cograts Vern Schuppan 1981 indy 500 champ

[tvspnd1228]

amazing how they're still fighting about this

[3338MAN]

Vern had a great race but he was MORE than a lap down to Unser and Andretti. That was part of the problem for USAC. Had he been on the lead lap, USAC would have awarded the victory to Vern. But Unser and Andretti were still "in front", in theory, if their had been a penalty for both. That made the thing hard to decide. Someone said Vern would have been a "forgotten" Indy 500 champ. He wouldn't have cared, happy to have won like he did in everything else he drove in his career.

[PeterMayer]

@altroval the best thing that happened to Indy because USAC was mickey mouse. the 80s up to 95 were killer years until the idiot grandson fucked it up. "Indycar" is bore and I won't go back.

[altroval]

@cyberob12

Not true at all. USAC *despised* Roger Penske because he was the real motivator for the CART breakaway in 1979. Bobby Unser was a very outspoken critic of USAC and very much "persona non grata" with the officiating body.

While it's true that Pat Patrick (Andretti's car owner) was also a founding member of CART and Mario was an outspoken critic of USAC - Mario wasn't on USAC's shit list because he was overseas in F1 when the breakaway happened.

[Porygonseizureman]

@maxearl and Vern Schuppan if the rules were followed properly.

[Porygonseizureman]

Schuppan would have won if the penalties under Penske's appeal only partially worked. But then Vern would have been the equalevent of Buddy Rice, a forgotten winner in that case.

[Dogman36]

I thought it was funny how they counted the cars Bobby passed with a buzzer. Just sayin'

[altroval]

At the end of the day, Bobby was clearly faster than Mario.  In fact, Mario's teammate - Gordon Johncock - easily passed Mario for 2nd with about 15 laps to go.

Yes Bobby broke the rules - but he would have dealt with Mario on the track easily enough after the caution.

[Annook12]

The rules are very clear, you're not suppose to pass under yellow. Someone like Bobby Unser has been around long enough to clearly know what the rules are. He got caught and now he's trying to justify it and he can't. End of story. Mario should be the 1981 Indianapolis 500 champion.

[FrodothePuppet]

"No one can convice you that black is white better than Bobby Unser", Rick Mears once said.

It's a GOOD thing that Mario and Bobby still disagree about the 1981 Indy 500. Their disagreement means that it mattered.

It also showed the inept nature of USAC, who Robin Miller called "the kings of screwing things up".