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1981 Indianapolis 500

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USAC Gold Crown Series race number 1 of 6
Sunday, May 24, 1981 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, IN
200 laps on a 2.500 mile paved track (500.000 miles)

Time of race: 3:35:42
Average speed: 139.084 mph
Pole speed: 200.546 mph

Cautions: 11 for 69 laps
Margin of victory: 5.22 sec
Attendance: n/a
Lead changes: 24

Glossary 1981 USAC Gold Crown Series results / 1981 standings

Pos	St	#	Driver	Sponsor / Owner	Chass./Eng.	Laps	Money	Status	Led	Pts
1	1	3	Bobby Unser	Norton Spirit (Roger Penske)	Penske / Cosworth	200	279002	running	89
2	32	40	Mario Andretti	STP Oil Treatment (Pat Patrick)	Wildcat / Cosworth	200	118611	running	12	800
3	18	33	Vern Schuppan	Red Roof Inns	McLaren / Cosworth	199	81945	running	0	700
4	12	32	Kevin Cogan	O'Connell Racing (Jerry O'Connell)	Phoenix / Cosworth	197	54675	running	0
5	15	50	Geoff Brabham	Mexico / Esso (Psachie Garza Racing)	Penske / Cosworth	197	51259	running	0	500
6	23	81	Sheldon Kinser	Sergio Valente / Longhorn Racing (Bobby Hillin)	Longhorn / Cosworth	195	40737	running	0	400
7	16	16	Tony Bettenhausen Jr	Provimi Veal (Jack Rodgers)	McLaren / Cosworth	195	40261	running	0	300
8	17	53	Steve Krisiloff	Mexico / Esso (Psachie Garza Racing)	Penske / Cosworth	194	36126	running	0
9	4	20	Gordon Johncock	STP Oil Treatment (Pat Patrick)	Wildcat / Cosworth	194	58867	engine	52
10	28	4	Dennis Firestone	World Oil (Pat Patrick)	Wildcat / Cosworth	193	32832	engine	0	150
11	7	7	Bill Alsup	A.B. Dick / Pacemaker (Roger Penske)	Penske / Cosworth	193	32212	running	0
12	25	74	Michael Chandler	National Engineering Co. (Warner Hodgdon)	Penske / Cosworth	192	30748	running	0	50
13	3	14	A.J. Foyt	Valvoline / Gilmore (A.J. Foyt)	Coyote / Cosworth	191	32385	running	0	25
14	33	84	Tim Richmond	UNO / WTTV (Robert Schultz)	Parnelli / Cosworth	191	30294	running	0	25
15	31	38	Jerry Karl	Tonco Trailers (William Compton)	McLaren / Cosworth	189	32285	running	0	25
16	29	37	Scott Brayton	Forsythe Industries (Lee Brayton)	Penske / Cosworth	174	29002	engine	0
17	9	88	Al Unser	Valvoline / Longhorn Racing (Bobby Hillin)	Longhorn / Cosworth	166	28533	running	0
18	19	31	Larry Dickson	Machinists Union (Andy Kenopensky)	Penske / Cosworth	165	27630	piston	0	20
19	13	35	Bob Lazier	Montgomery Ward (Robert Fletcher)	Penske / Cosworth	154	30752	engine	0
20	14	56	Tom Bigelow	Genesee Beer (Dick Hammond)	Penske / Chevy	152	27199	engine	0	20
21	27	90	Bill Whittington	Kraco Car Stereo (Maury Kraines)	March / Cosworth	146	28129	stalled	0	15
22	8	60	Gordon Smiley	Intermedics (Pat Patrick)	Wildcat / Cosworth	141	26369	crash	1
23	6	55	Josele Garza	Mexico / Esso (Psachie Garza Racing)	Penske / Cosworth	138	37392	crash	13	15
24	24	79	Pete Halsmer	Hubler Chevrolet / KISS 99 (William Alsup)	Penske / Cosworth	123	27850	crash	0
25	20	2	Tom Sneva	Blue Poly (Bignotti-Cotter)	March / Cosworth	96	35143	clutch	25	10
26	11	8	Gary Bettenhausen	Die Hard / Monroe Lighting (Lindsey Hopkins)	Lightning / Cosworth	69	25212	connecting rod	0	10
27	21	25	Danny Ongais	Interscope Racing (Ted Field)	Interscope / Cosworth	64	27455	crash	4
28	10	5	Pancho Carter	Goodyear / Alex Foods (Alex Morales)	Penske / Cosworth	62	24984	compression	0
29	30	51	Tom Klausler	IDS Ideas (Douglas Schulz)	Schulz / Chevy	60	25218	gearbox	0	5
30	22	6	Rick Mears	Gould Charge (Roger Penske)	Penske / Cosworth	58	25767	pit fire	1
31	26	91	Don Whittington	Road Atlanta Racing (Whittington Brothers)	March / Cosworth	32	26029	crash	0	5
32	5	1	Johnny Rutherford	Pennzoil (Chaparral Racing)	Chaparral / Cosworth	25	26861	fuel pump	3
33	2	48	Mike Mosley	Pepsi Challenger (Dan Gurney)	Eagle / Chevy	16	28536	radiator	0	5

Pos	Name	Nbr	Sponsor	Owner	Car
Failed to qualify, withdrew, or driver changes:
	Tom Sneva	2	Bignotti-Cotter
	Bill Tempero	15	Zamboni Electric
	Patrick Bedard	17	Escort Radar Detector
	Jerry Sneva	17, 74	Escort Radar Detector, Team California
	Johnny Parsons	18	Hopkins Racing
	Tim Richmond	21	UNO
	Dick Simon	22	Vermont American
	Spike Gehlhausen	23, 34	McElreath Racing, Wysard Motors
	Jim McElreath	23, 26	McElreath Racing
	Joe Saldana	24, 69	Leader Card, Great American / Michael
	Herm Johnson	28	Menard Cashway Lumber
	Billy Engelhart	29	Beaudoin Racing
	Vern Schuppan	33	Red Roof Inns
	Billy Vukovich, Jr.	42	Rattlesnake Racing
	Tom Bagley	43	Armstrong Molding
	Greg Leffler	44	Armstrong Molding
	Harry MacDonald	45	Armstrong Molding
	Rich Vogler	46	Armstrong Molding
	Phil Caliva	47	CHC / Intersec
	Chip Mead	49	White Castle
	Larry Rice	52	Rassey Engines
	John Martin	57	Metro Building
	Bubby Jones	58	Medlin
	Ken Hamilton	63	The Idaho
	Steve Chassey	64	Jet Engineering
	Jim Hurtubise	65	Luxury Racers
	Jerry Miller	65	Luxury Racers
	Roger Rager	66	Seymour Enterprises
	Phil Threshie	67	Mergard's 20th Century
	Dennis Firestone	70	Rhoades Racing
	Bob Frey	71	Spirit of Colorado
	Bob Harkey	71, 96	Roman Wheels
	Steve Kinser	78	Stanton Racing
	Jim Buick	86	Buick Racing Team
	Phil Krueger	89	Joe Hunt Magneto
	John Mahler	92, 93	Duke Racing
	Frank Weiss	93	PWS Racing
	Bill Whittington	94	Road Atlanta
	Dick Ferguson	95	Kraco Car Stereo
	Roger Mears	98	Agajanian
	Larry Cannon	99	Kraco Car Stereo
DC	Wally Dallenbach	40	STP Oil Treatment	Pat Patrick	Wildcat / Cosworth
DC	George Snider	84	Valvoline / Gilmore	Robert Schultz	Parnelli / Cosworth
WD	Steve Ball	85	B&G Racing

Condition	From Lap	To Lap	# Of Laps	Reason
Caution flag breakdown:
	1	4	4
	5	7	3	debris
	8	25	18
	26	29	4	#1 stopped on track
	30	32	3
	33	43	11	#91 accident backstretch
	44	66	23
	67	81	15	#25 accident turn 3
	82	129	48
	130	136	7	#79 accident turn 3
	137	139	3
	140	144	5	#55 accident turn 3
	145	145	1
	146	151	6	#60 accident turn 3
	152	156	5	#90 stopped on track
	157	161	5
	162	165	4	#56 stopped on track
	166	179	14
	180	184	5	#14 stopped on track
	185	188	4	debris
	189	200	12
Percent of race run under caution: 34.5% Average green flag run: 13.1 laps

Leader	From Lap	To Lap	# Of Laps
Lap leader breakdown:
Bobby Unser	1	21	21
Johnny Rutherford	22	24	3
Tom Sneva	25	25	1
Bobby Unser	26	32	7
Tom Sneva	33	56	24
Rick Mears	57	57	1
Gordon Smiley	58	58	1
Bobby Unser	59	59	1
Danny Ongais	60	63	4
Gordon Johncock	64	91	28
Bobby Unser	92	95	4
Gordon Johncock	96	96	1
Mario Andretti	97	98	2
Josele Garza	99	104	6
Gordon Johncock	105	112	8
Bobby Unser	113	118	6
Gordon Johncock	119	122	4
Mario Andretti	123	125	3
Josele Garza	126	132	7
Gordon Johncock	133	140	8
Bobby Unser	141	141	1
Mario Andretti	142	148	7
Bobby Unser	149	178	30
Gordon Johncock	179	181	3
Bobby Unser	182	200	19

Rank	Driver	Points	Diff
Points Standings after this race:
1	Mario Andretti	800
2	Vern Schuppan	700	-100
3	Geoff Brabham	500	-300
4	Sheldon Kinser	400	-400
5	Tony Bettenhausen Jr	300	-500
6	Dennis Firestone	150	-650
7	Michael Chandler	50	-750
8	A.J. Foyt	25	-775
8	Tim Richmond	25	-775
8	Jerry Karl	25	-775
11	Larry Dickson	20	-780
11	Tom Bigelow	20	-780
13	Josele Garza	15	-785
13	Bill Whittington	15	-785
15	Gary Bettenhausen	10	-790
15	Tom Sneva	10	-790
17	Don Whittington	5	-795
17	Tom Klausler	5	-795
17	Mike Mosley	5	-795