Front Rows of the 1970s: 1971

In addition to the usual Month of May countdown, we’re also recounting the front rows of the 1970s, which included some of the most accomplished drivers in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

Photo credit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

1971 Indianapolis 500 front row: Peter Revson (pole), Mark Donohue, Bobby Unser.

1971: Peter Revson (pole), Mark Donohue, Bobby Unser

How it started: 1 Indianapolis 500 victory. Bobby Unser’s win 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 18 (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 was consistently lapping 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. Other sources say that Penske, always one for taking the long view, willingly offered set-up information to Team McLaren to remain in their good graces.

Of course, a great set-up 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.

On Race Day, Donohue shot away from the field and dominated the early going 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.

That left it to Al Unser to take home the Borg-Warner Trophy. 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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