In addition to the Month of May countdown, we’re also looking back at the front rows of the 1970s, which included some of the most accomplished drivers in the history of the Indianapolis 500.
Faithful readers of this space know that this decade is part of my personal golden age at the Speedway. I’m grateful I got to witness much of it first-hand as a boy.
Here’s a statistical look at the front-row drivers of the 1970s:
Driver | Indianapolis 500 poles (career) | Indianapolis 500 wins (career) |
Al Unser | 1 | 4 |
Johnny Rutherford | 3 | 3 |
A.J. Foyt | 4 | 4 |
Peter Revson | 1 | 0 |
Mark Donohue | 0 | 1 |
Bobby Unser | 2 | 3 |
Wally Dallenbach | 0 | 0 |
Mike Hiss | 0 | 0 |
Gordon Johncock | 0 | 2 |
Tom Sneva | 3 | 1 |
Danny Ongais | 0 | 0 |
Rick Mears | 6 | 4 |
Totals | 20 | 22 |
For each year, we’ll have the front row, how many Indianapolis 500 wins were represented on the front row at the start of the race, the number of Indianapolis 500 wins in the drivers’ respective careers, and a brief recap of practice, qualifying and the race.
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Penske Entertainment/Indianapolis Motor Speedway Peter Revson was a surprise pole-sitter for the 1971 Indianapolis 500 in his McLaren. Mark Donohue, also in a McLaren, started second, with Bobby Unser in an Eagle on the outside of the front row. |
1971 front row: Peter Revson (pole), Mark Donohue, Bobby Unser
How it started: 1 Indianapolis 500 victory. Bobby Unser’s triumph in 1968 accounted for the only 500 win before Pat Vidan’s green flag that year.
How it ended: 4 Indianapolis 500 victories. Bobby Unser became the first to win the Indianapolis 500 in three different decades (and with three different teams) when he splashed to victory in Dan Gurney’s Jorgensen Eagle in the rain-shortened 1975 event and won in Roger Penske’s Norton Spirit in 1981 in what turned out to be his final 500 start. That meant Unser was last in his first 500 and first in his last 500. (His win in 1968 came with Leader Card.) Donohue, expected to dominate the 1971 race, got his redemption the following year, earning Penske’s first of 20 (and counting) Indianapolis 500 victories.
About the 1971 race: Before getting to the race, let’s recap practice and qualifying. Donohue’s performance in practice was literally off the charts as he consistently lapped above 180 mph – a speed that wasn’t on at least some of the lap time-and-speed conversions. In qualifying, Donohue did shatter the one- and four-lap qualifications marks (178.607 mph and 177.087 mph, respectively) in his Sunoco McLaren, but fell short of the 180 everyone expected him to hit.
Revson, also in a McLaren (part of the McLaren works team with Denis Hulme), topped Donohue’s marks with 179.354 mph and 178.696 mph. Some sources indicate that Donohue was not happy with how his car was set up and either willingly or off-handedly provided McLaren’s Teddy Mayer some insight on what went wrong and how to correct it. Other sources say that Penske, always one for taking the long view, willingly offered setup information to Team McLaren to remain in its good graces.
Of course, a great setup works only if you have a talented driver, and certainly Revson must be given credit for doing an outstanding job to edge Donohue for the pole. This gave him a bit of retribution as Revson felt that his performance in 1969 merited Rookie of the Year honors instead of Donohue. (Revson started 33rd and finished fifth, two spots better than Donohue, who had started fourth.)
On Race Day, Donohue shot away from the field and dominated before dropping out after 66 laps with a shattered gearbox. Revson stayed in the fight most of the race, while Bobby Unser was eliminated when he crashed trying to avoid Mike Mosley, who hit the wall coming out of Turn 4 on Lap 164.
That left it to Al Unser to take home the Borg-Warner Trophy for the second straight year. In typical Al Unser fashion, he stayed near the front all day, drove a heady, steady race and beat Revson to the checkered flag by 22.48 seconds.
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