In addition to the usual 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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Majeske collection The front row of the 1972 Indianapolis 500 had Bobby Unser on the pole in the Olsonite
Eagle,Peter Revson in the middle in the Gulf McLaren and Mark Donohue on the outside
in the Sunoco McLaren. |
1972 front row: Bobby Unser (pole), Peter Revson, Mark Donohue
How it started: 1 Indianapolis 500 victory, courtesy of Bobby Unser in 1968.
How it ended: 4 Indianapolis 500 victories – three from Bobby Unser (covered in the 1971 entry) and Mark Donohue’s from the 1972 race.
About the 1972 race: The 1972 front row featured the same drivers and same teams as in 1971, just scrambled a bit. Bobby Unser smashed the qualifying record by 17 mph in the gleaming Olsonite Eagle/Offy – a feat unlikely to be duplicated unless IndyCars start running on rocket fuel. Like Mark Donohue the year before, Unser took off at the start and dominated until he was sidelined by a broken ignition rotor, which is a rather odd mechanical malfunction. He wound up 30th, which was by far the worst result for a pole-sitter in the 1970s.
By then, Peter Revson, in the Gulf McLaren/Offy, was already out with a broken gearbox after 12 laps. Donohue’s Penske teammate, Gary Bettenhausen, led for 138 laps in his Sunoco McLaren/Offy before dropping out with what was officially termed ignition trouble. In an interview years later, Bettenhausen said he had a hole in the radiator that kept the engine from cooling down properly during yellow-light periods and that’s what led to his trouble.
After Bettenhausen faded, Jerry Grant, who was Unser’s teammate at All American Racers, took his striking purple Mystery Eagle/Offy to the front before pitting on Lap 188 because of a deflating right front tire. Dan Gurney, for whatever reason, directed Grant into Unser’s vacant pit to deal with the situation. The crew then (unwittingly?) hooked up the fuel hose from Unser’s pit tank and sent Grant on his way.
Donohue, in Penske’s other Sunoco McLaren/Offy, led the last 13 laps to secure the win. Gurney protested the result. But instead of Grant being elevated to victory, officials disallowed his last 12 laps for the refueling shenanigans, dropping him from second to 12th and costing about $72,000 in prize money.
With that, Donohue gave Roger Penske the first of his 20 (and counting) Indianapolis 500 victories.
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