Delayed celebration
The third of car owner Roger Penske’s record 13 Indianapolis 500 victories was with Bobby Unser in 1981, although it took more than four months before they could celebrate.

That race became the most controversial running of the 500 because of Unser’s flagrant passing of eight cars as he exited the pits under the yellow caution flag about three-quarters of the way through the race.

There was no question he made an illegal pass — television cameras documented the violation — but it wasn’t until the following morning, after a protest by second-place Mario Andretti, that the sanctioning U.S. Auto Club announced a one-lap penalty and reversed the order of finish.

It would have been Andretti’s second win and the first time in Indy history that the first car across the finish line was not the winner.

But Unser and Penske appealed the penalty, and after hearings that stretched through the summer, a special USAC panel restored Unser’s victory in October.

The panel members said the penalty should have been imposed at the time of the violation, which would have given Unser a chance to make up the lost lap.

Unser was fined $40,000. Andretti, when told of the reversal, stood at the bedroom window of his summer home in the Pocono Mountains and flung away the ring he had been given the night after the race.

Unser retired from racing. Andretti raced 13 more years without winning again at Indianapolis.

Around the Horn
Ted Horn’s likeness is nowhere to be seen on the Borg-Warner Trophy, a silver monument to the drivers who have conquered Indy. But his record likely never will be matched.

After winding up 16th as a rookie in 1935, Horn never finished worse than fourth again. In his next nine races from 1936-48, with an interruption during World War II when the race was not held, Horn was runner-up once, finished third four times and fourth four other times.

Of a possible 1,800 laps, he completed 1,799. The only lap he missed was in 1940, when he was a lap behind the leader and the race was halted by rain. Wilbur Shaw won.

Including his 1935 rookie race, when a steering problem knocked him out after 145 laps, Horn finished 4,860 of a possible 5,000 miles, a 97.2 percent career average for his 10 races at Indy.

By comparison, the completion rates for current drivers who have driven at least 10 times at Indy are 84.8 percent for Al Unser Jr., 81.7 percent for Michael Andretti and Buddy Lazier, 74 percent for Scott Sharp and 70.2 percent for Eddie Cheever.