1985 Michigan 500

The 1985 Michigan 500, the fifth running of the event, was held at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, on Sunday, July 28, 1985. The event was race number 7 of 15 in the 1985 CART PPG Indy Car World Series. The race was won by Emerson Fittipaldi, his first Indy Car victory. The race was delayed for one week over concerns about Goodyear's new radial tires. 42°03′58.68″N 84°14′29.18″W/42.0663000°N 84.2414389°W/ 42.0663000; -84.2414389

Background

As was the case in 1983 and 1984, Domino's Pizza offered a one million dollar bonus to any driver who could win IndyCar's Triple Crown of 500 Mile Races: The Indianapolis 500, Michigan 500, and Pocono 500. Danny Sullivan won the 1985 Indianapolis 500 and entered Michigan still eligible to win the million dollars.

Rick Mears suffered severe feet injuries in a crash in September 1984. Mears was only running oval races in 1985 and the Michigan 500 would mark his third race of the season.

Practice and Time Trials

Practice began on Thursday, July 19. Mario Andretti set the fastest speed at 215.253mph. Bobby Rahal was second fastest at 213.270mph. Andretti had two separate spins an hour apart in the session after hitting a bump exiting turn two. A. J. Foyt hit the turn two wall shortly after practice began when a right-rear wheel broke. Foyt had to go to a backup car. Roberto Guerrero spun exiting turn two but didn't hit anything.

In Friday's morning practice session, Bobby Rahal crashed in turn two after hitting the same bump that affected Andretti on Thursday. Rahal's team switched to a backup car.

Time Trials were held on Friday afternoon. After preparing his backup car, Rahal won the pole with a speed of 215.202mph. The speed was not only a track record, but the fastest speed ever in Indy car competition. Rick Mears was second fastest at 213.720mph. Joining Rahal and Mears on the front row was Danny Sullivan at 211.758mph. 27 cars posted qualifying speeds.

Goodyear Withdrawal

Early in Saturday morning's practice session, Roberto Guerrero cut a right-front tire and spun exiting turn two. Guerrero didn't hit anything. Shortly thereafter, Bobby Rahal cut a right-front tire and hit the turn two wall hard. Rahal walked away from the crash with a bruised elbow and headache. His team worked to rebuild the car he crashed on Friday morning. Because his pole-winning car was withdrawn, Rahal would have to start from the rear of the field.

While no definitive evidence could be found, some suspected that the failures might have been related to Goodyear's new radial tires. On Guerrero's car, Goodyear engineers detected a puncture but could not find any evidence of damage on Rahal's tire.

Goodyear PR Director Dave Hederich explained, "There was a razor-clean cut on the shoulder (of Guerrero's tire) that looked like a classic cut caused by debris. But unfortunately, when Rahal crashed, he went into the wall with the right front tire, which mangled it so badly that we were unable to reconstruct what happened."

A four-hour meeting was held to discuss options regarding the race. Out of an abundance of caution, it was decided that the race would be delayed one week and Goodyear would return with the bias-ply tires they used at Michigan in 1984. Goodyear had tires in storage but needed the extra week to produce 600-700 new ones.

The radial tires performed flawlessly during testing and the first two days of practice. Bias-ply tires had blown in the past and were viewed as a part of racing. There were questions over how the race would be handled if a backmarker crashed instead of Rahal. It was suggested that the rough surface of the Michigan track also might have contributed to the two tire failures.

After a laboratory analysis, Goodyear engineers found nothing wrong with the tires that experienced loss of air on Guerrero's and Rahal's car. They also tested 25 other tires used by fast teams and found "nothing out of the ordinary."

In the week that followed, Arie Luyendyk's team withdrew from the race. A. J. Foyt also withdrew to compete instead in NASCAR's Talladega 500, where he finished fifth. Pete Halsmer withdrew from the race to compete in an IMSA event at Portland. He was replaced by Chip Ganassi.

Practice resumed on Friday, July 26. Danny Sullivan posted the fastest speed at 211.846mph. Driving his repaired primary car, Rahal's fastest speed was 209.400mph. Spike Gehlhausen hit the wall but his car was able to be repaired before the race.

Race

For the rescheduled race, 70,000 spectators filled the stands. From his position on the middle of row one, Danny Sullivan took the lead from Rick Mears at the drop of the green flag. On lap two, Mario Andretti passed Sullivan and led the next 13 laps. Mears suffered from transmission troubles and could only complete 7 laps, finishing last.

The first caution came out on lap 8 when third-place car Geoff Brabham spun and hit the turn three wall. Al Unser took the lead for the first time on lap 31 and established himself as the fastest car, ultimately leading 102 of the 250 laps.

On a lap 82 restart, CART officials erroneously picked up Phil Krueger as the first car behind the pace car. When the green flag was waved, Krueger's slow vehicle created a road block for the faster cars. On the backstretch, Danny Ongais was clipped by another car and barrel-rolled his car four times. Ongais was unhurt.

Josele Garza led 22 laps and was running second on lap 110 when a suspension failure sent him into the wall. On lap 163, Pancho Carter blew a tire and hit the turn three wall. Carter was cut out of his damaged car but unhurt.

On lap 201, Emerson Fittipaldi took the lead for the first time. When he pitted on lap 211, the lead returned to Unser. Unser led the next 21 laps and pitted for fuel only with 19 laps to go, giving the lead back to Fittipaldi.

With 12 laps to go, Steve Chassey blew an engine and brought out another caution. During the yellow, Unser pitted for fresh tires, placing him at the back of the pack for the restart.

With seven laps remaining, Mario Andretti lost his right-front wheel assembly and crashed hard in turn four. Andretti suffered a broken collarbone and fractured hip in the crash.

The debris from Andretti's crash was cleaned up for a one-lap run to the finish. Fittipaldi had the lapped cars of Tom Sneva and Johnny Rutherford between himself and Unser. When the green flag was thrown, Unser quickly got around Rutherford but had trouble passing Sneva, who was under the impression he was on the lead lap. Fittipaldi led the cars back to the checkered flag to take his first Indy car victory. Unser was unable to get around Sneva and finished second. Sneva finished third, one lap down.

10 cars finished the race. A record 13 caution flags for 104 laps slowed the average speed to 128.22mph. Fittipaldi won $115,639 for his victory.

Box score

Failed to qualify

• United States A. J. Foyt (#14) – withdrawn
• Netherlands Arie Luyendyk (#61) – withdrawn

Race statistics

Broadcasting

NBC planned to broadcast the race live as they did the past four years. When the race was delayed, NBC reaired the 1984 race in its timeslot.

NBC was unable to broadcast the rescheduled race a week later as their local affiliates had already sold the air time. Attempts were made to air the race on a cable network but found it was impossible to get equipment to the track in time. The race had no television coverage.

NBC was displeased with CART's decision to postpone the race and the network incurred losses of $400,000. Rain delay losses were covered by NBC's insurance while tire-related delays were not. The matter affected their decision of broadcasting the 1986 season. 1986 was CART's final year in their TV contract with NBC, and NBC did not commit to televise any CART races until the spring of 1986, which included a now tape-delayed broadcast of the 1986 Michigan 500.

NBC considered legal action against CART to recoup the money lost. About the subject of a lawsuit, NBC executive Sean McManus stated in February 1986, "There were discussions about it but it was such a legal morass it wasn't worth going to court. The Michigan problem is buried and gone."

Paul Page served as the lead anchor of the radio broadcast.