Al Unser Jr. held off Scott Goodyear in a cold, crash-strewn race, while Michael Andretti's late fuel pump failure handed the lead to a driver who had not expected to win.
The 1992 Indianapolis 500 was the 76th running of the race, held on 24 May 1992 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before 400,000 spectators. Al Unser Jr. won by 0.043 seconds from Scott Goodyear in a cold, crash-strewn race.
Al Unser Jr. won the seventy-sixth Indianapolis 500 on Sunday 24 May 1992, holding off Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds. The race was run in cold, windy conditions before 400,000 spectators, and it was marked by crashes, injuries and a late fuel pump failure that ended Michael Andretti's dominant run.
Why is the 1992 race remembered?
The race is best known for its finish, when Unser Jr. held off Goodyear by 0.043 seconds. It was also the thirty-fifth race under USAC sanctioning, and a day of heavy crashes, bitter cold and serious injuries, with Michael Andretti's late fuel pump failure the most dramatic turn.
Unser Jr. was the first second-generation driver to take the checkered flag, a family step that followed his father Al Unser Sr. Before the race he had told the broadcaster Paul Page that he feared he might never win the 500, which made the result a long-awaited breakthrough.
Lyn St. James became the second woman to qualify for the race, after Janet Guthrie. She finished eleventh, the only rookie still running, and she was voted Rookie of the Year.
A fuel pump failure with eleven laps to go, a 0.043-second finish and a victory lane line that nobody forgot.
What changed for the 1992 field?
Ford returned to Indy car racing with the Cosworth XB engine, which replaced the ageing DFX and quickly became the engine of choice. Ilmor also introduced an updated Chevrolet motor, the 265-B, known as the Chevy-B, which Penske Racing ran as its single supplier.
Galles-Kraco Racing unveiled the Galmer chassis, and Al Unser Jr. took pole for the season opener at Surfers Paradise, finishing fourth. Truesports ran its own All American chassis, the 92C, with a Chevy-A engine after previously using a Judd engine.
Team switches were headlined by Bobby Rahal and Danny Sullivan, who swapped rides between Galles-Kraco and Patrick Racing. Pat Patrick then sold the Patrick Racing assets to Rahal and Carl Hogan, creating Rahal-Hogan Racing, and Rahal's new team won its first race at Phoenix, leading from start to finish.
A. J. Foyt had talked of retiring in 1991 but returned to the cockpit. The race was his thirty-fifth consecutive Indianapolis 500 start, although a crash at Phoenix had fractured his shoulder earlier in the season.
How did May practice shape the race?
King Racing's Jim Crawford and Roberto Guerrero set the pace in Lola V-6 Buick cars, an engine that many thought was finally showing its potential. Guerrero also set the early test pace, which hinted at what was to come. Their pace made them the early favourites.
Practice was dangerous. Rick Mears crashed on Wednesday 6 May, when a fluid leak sprayed water over the rear wheels in turn two, leaving him with a minor foot fracture and a wrist injury. The next day Nelson Piquet hit the turn four wall head-on, suffering serious leg injuries that required surgery and nearly a year of rehabilitation.
Other crashes hit Pancho Carter and Hiro Matsushita, who broke bones in separate incidents. Mears crashed again during the race, and rookie Jovy Marcelo was hurt so badly in practice that he later died.
What new pit rules were introduced?
USAC introduced new pit rules for 1992. At the onset of a caution, pit road closed immediately, and cars had to queue up behind the pace car. The pits reopened only once officials judged the field properly bunched up, and a speed limit applied in the pits during caution periods.
The rules echoed NASCAR experiments from 1991 and were meant to improve safety for drivers and crew members working on the pit road.
How did pole day go?
Pole Day on Saturday 9 May was delayed by rain until noon, and yellow flags for moisture and debris stretched practice into the afternoon. Roberto Guerrero then broke the one-lap and four-lap track records to take pole, while Arie Luyendyk had briefly held the provisional top spot.
Luyendyk was the first car out, and time trials turned frantic as drivers rushed for a run. Once he had taken the flag, Guerrero's tank ran dry and the car stalled on the backstretch.
Mario Andretti squeezed onto the front row, while A. J. Foyt's engine quit on the final lap of his run. On Sunday, Eddie Cheever secured a front-row spot and Michael Andretti qualified for the second row, while Crawford's crew ran out of time to finish a new engine.
What happened on Bump Day?
The final qualifying day on Sunday 17 May was decided by bumping. Tom Sneva qualified on his third and final attempt at 2:45 p.m., and Gordon Johncock bumped Jimmy Vasser at 3:50 p.m. Those moves set the final line-up for the race.
The last change came when Ted Prappas bumped Scott Goodyear by 0.089 seconds. Goodyear's bump meant he would start from the back of the field, a position that would later make his race remarkable.
What tragedies overshadowed the month?
Jovy Marcelo, a rookie, died after a practice crash on 15 May, with a basal skull fracture recorded at Methodist Hospital. It was the first driver death at the Speedway since Gordon Smiley in 1982, exactly ten years earlier. Those losses shaped how the series viewed safety that year.
Piquet's injuries and Jeff Andretti's crash in the race made the month one of the worst for injuries in the event's recent history. Several drivers spent time in hospital, and others needed lengthy rehabilitation before they could race again.
How did the race start?
At 10:51 a.m., the starting command was delivered by Mary F. Hulman, with the field in cold, windy conditions. Pole sitter Roberto Guerrero spun into the inside wall on the second parade lap while trying to warm his tyres, and his race was over before the green flag.
Eddie Cheever led the field to the green, and Michael Andretti took the lead on the first lap ahead of his father Mario, who was second. On lap 12 Tom Sneva slid out in turn four and hit the outside wall hard, in what would be his final 500.
During the yellow that followed, Buddy Lazier nearly ran over the safety worker Steve Wissen, missing him by inches. Wissen was shaken but was not hurt, and the race settled into a long caution period while the debris was cleared.
How did the race unfold after the restart?
Michael Andretti dominated the early laps and held a 30-second lead by lap 60, with only three cars on the lead lap. His pace ended on lap 62, when Gordon Johncock's engine failed and brought out a caution. Attrition was heavy, and the leaders pulled away from most of the field.
On lap 75 Jim Crawford lost control in turn one while trying to pass John Andretti, and he collected Rick Mears. Emerson Fittipaldi also hit the wall in turn one in the same incident, and Mears missed the following race in Detroit.
On lap 84 Mario Andretti crashed in turn four after losing the rear of his car, and he was taken to hospital with broken toes. Scott Brayton's engine failed on lap 94, and the cautions kept piling up.
What happened in the second half?
Jeff Andretti's right-rear hub failed in turn two, sending his car into a violent spin and head-on into the wall. The wheel bounced high across the track and struck Gary Bettenhausen's suspension, which left Bettenhausen out of the race. The leaders were left to fight among themselves as the caution periods piled up.
Rescuers needed 18 minutes to free Jeff Andretti from the wreck before he was taken to Methodist Hospital for surgery on severe leg injuries. Michael Andretti kept leading while his father and brother were both in hospital.
Between laps 62 and 122, just nine laps ran under green, and eight cautions held the field up for almost 90 minutes. Racing resumed on lap 123 with 17 cars left, and Al Unser Jr. and Al Unser Sr. both climbed into the top five.
On lap 144 Buddy Lazier blew an engine and brought out another yellow, and the field thinned further. Michael Andretti set a record race lap late on and pulled to a 15-second lead.
How did the finish play out?
Michael Andretti had been in front for 160 of the first 189 laps, but his fuel pump failed on lap 189 and his car coasted to a stop. Al Unser Jr. inherited the lead, with Scott Goodyear in hot pursuit, and a late caution bunched the field for a restart.
The restart came with seven laps to go. With four laps left Unser held a 0.3-second lead over Goodyear, and the two cars battled nose to tail around the track.
On the final circuit Goodyear tucked into Unser's slipstream down the backstretch and stayed close through the last corner. Unser got loose in turn four and had to back off slightly, and Goodyear pounced, then tried a slingshot pass a few hundred yards from the line. Unser held on by 0.043 seconds, less than a car length.
It was the closest finish in the race's history until 2026. Al Unser Sr. beat Eddie Cheever to third by a fraction of a second, Danny Sullivan finished fifth, and Bobby Rahal sixth, keeping his CART points lead.
Who finished where?
| Position | Driver | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Al Unser Jr. | First second-generation winner; won by 0.043 seconds |
| 2nd | Scott Goodyear | Charged from 33rd on the grid to nearly win |
| 3rd | Al Unser Sr. | Edged Eddie Cheever by a split second |
| 4th | Eddie Cheever | Second-row starter who led the field to the green |
| 5th | Danny Sullivan | First top-ten finish since 1986 |
| 6th | Bobby Rahal | Kept his CART points lead |
| 9th | A. J. Foyt | His last Indy 500 start |
| 10th | John Paul Jr. | Nursed a broken fuel cable all day |
| 11th | Lyn St. James | Only rookie still running; Rookie of the Year |
| Retired | Michael Andretti | Fuel pump failure on lap 189, after leading 160 laps |
| Did not start | Roberto Guerrero | Pole sitter; spun into the wall on the parade lap |
What did Goodyear and Unser say afterwards?
Goodyear said he was disappointed but happy with the drive, and that he needed a little more time to beat Unser. He was praised for charging from the back of the grid to almost win, a result that would have been a first in the race's history.
In victory lane Unser Jr. was emotional. When the ABC reporter Jack Arute noticed tears in his voice, Unser responded with a remark that became one of the most replayed lines in the race's history, and it was aired again in the introduction to ABC's Wide World of Sports.
What did the race change afterwards?
The track was reconfigured in the summer of 1992 for safety, with the bottom apron removed and replaced by a warm-up lane, and the outside wall was also replaced. These changes were ready for the 1993 race. Those changes were designed with the crashes of the month in mind.
Rick Mears raced only a partial schedule after his practice and race crashes and retired from driving in December. A. J. Foyt's start in 1992 was his last, and he retired before the 1993 race.
Mario Andretti later called the day the worst day of his life, as his son Jeff recovered from surgery and Michael's fuel pump failure cost him a race he had dominated.
Which records and statistics stood out?
Eddie Cheever became the first second-row starter to finish the full 500 miles since Mario Andretti in 1969. Al Unser Sr. was the first driver to go the full distance in a Buick V6-powered car, and Guerrero was the third pole winner to end the race last.
A record ten former winners started the race, representing 20 victories. Michael Andretti led 160 laps without winning, and the race had 13 cautions covering 85 laps, the slowest average speed since 1958.
