1982 Indianapolis 500

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Results of the 1982 Indianapolis 500 held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 30, 1982.

[edit] Recap

As the field headed down the mainstrech to take the green flag, Kevin Cogan starting in the middle of the front row, suddenly veered hard right into the car of A.J. Foyt. Cogan bounced off Foyt, and directly into the path of Mario Andretti. Both cars were heavily damaged. The ensuing mayhem also took out Roger Mears and Dale Whittington. Foyt's car suffered minor suspension damage, but he was able to continue. The race was red flagged (it had not yet technically started), and the field stopped while the accident was cleaned up. A tremendous controversy erupted between Andretti and Cogan, and all blame was placed firmly on Cogan by competitors, media, and observers alike. Though the cause of the accident was never revealed by the Penske Team, most experts believe that either a CV joint seized, or the rear brakes locked up, causing the right-rear wheel to pivot.^{[citation needed]} Such a mechanical failure was likely not the driver's fault, but Cogan's career never recovered.

Late in the race, during Rick Mears' final pit stop, he lost several seconds after he bumped into a backmarker. His pit crew mistakenly proceeded to fill the entire tank, more than enough fuel to make it to the finish. Two laps later, Gordon Johncock made his stop, but his crew only filled the tank with enough fuel to make it to the finish. With less than 15 laps to go, trailing Johncock by more than eleven seconds, Mears' fully-fueled car was handling much better. He started closing in, more than a second per lap. With one lap to go, Mears pulled alongside, but Johncock refused to give up the lead, blocking Mears in the first turn, and holding on for the win by 0.16 seconds. The outcome was the closest-ever in race history, and would stand as the closest finish for ten years.

[edit] Results

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Status
1	5	20	Gordon Johncock	201.884	5	200	57	Running
2	1	1	Rick Mears	207.003	1	200	77	Running
3	10	3	Pancho Carter	198.950	10	199	0	Flagged
4	7	7	Tom Sneva	201.028	7	197	31	Engine
5	16	10	Al Unser	195.567	23	197	0	Flagged
6	8	91	Don Whittington	200.725	8	196	2	Flagged
7	24	42	Jim Hickman	196.217	18	189	0	Flagged
8	12	5	Johnny Rutherford	197.066	16	187	0	Engine
9	14	28	Herm Johnson	195.929	19	186	0	Flagged
10	18	30	Howdy Holmes	194.469	32	186	0	Flagged
11	17	19	Bobby Rahal	194.700	29	174	0	Engine
12	30	8	Gary Bettenhausen	195.673	22	158	0	Engine
13	15	52	Héctor Rebaque	195.684	21	150	0	Fire
14	13	53	Danny Sullivan	196.292	17	148	0	Crash T4
15	11	12	Chip Ganassi	197.705	13	147	0	Engine
16	6	94	Bill Whittington	201.658	6	121	0	Engine
17	22	68	Mike Chandler	198.042	12	104	0	Gearbox
18	31	27	Tom Bigelow	194.784	28	96	0	Engine
19	3	14	A.J. Foyt	203.332	3	95	32	Transmission
20	25	34	Johnny Parsons	195.929	20	92	0	Spin
21	26	35	George Snider	195.493	24	87	0	Engine
22	9	25	Danny Ongais	199.148	9	62	1	Crash T2
23	28	69	Jerry Sneva	195.270	26	61	0	Crash T2
24	29	39	Chet Fillip	194.879	27	60	0	Crash T2
25	32	66	Pete Halsmer	194.595	30	38	0	Transmission
26	27	16	Tony Bettenhausen, Jr.	195.429	25	37	0	Crash FS
27	21	75	Dennis Firestone	197.217	15	37	0	Rear End
28	20	21	Geoff Brabham	198.906	11	12	0	Engine
29	33	55	Josele Garza	194.500	31	1	0	Engine
30	2	4	Kevin Cogan	204.082	2	0	0	Crash FS
31	4	40	Mario Andretti	203.172	4	0	0	Crash FS
32	19	31	Roger Mears	194.154	33	0	0	Crash FS
33	23	95	Dale Whittington	197.694	14	0	0	Crash FS