Start The field accelerated as it came through turn 4, anticipating the green flag. To the shock of many drivers in the back of the field, the green flag wasn't waved until Bobby Unser crossed the start-finish line, and many of the back-row markers did not see the green flag until the front-runners accelerated away through turn 1.
Bobby Unser took the lead into turn 1, and pulled away from the field, with Johnny Rutherford moving up from row 2 into second place.
Mike Mosley, who started 2nd, blew a radiator on lap 16 and finished in last place (33rd).
Tom Sneva, with the fastest car in the field, charged from the 20th starting position to third place by lap 20. Unser pitted on lap 22 and Rutherford took the lead, only to go out three laps later with a broken fuel pump. Sneva led for a lap, then pitted under the yellow flag for Rutherford's tow-in. Unser made a second pit stop on lap 32 when Don Whittington's accident brought out another yellow, which was extended when Gary Bettenhausen's car stopped on the backstretch. Sneva inherited the lead ahead of Gordon Smiley and Rick Mears, with Bobby Unser fourth. On lap 39, the field anticipated the green flag and started accelerating between turns 3 and 4. Just then, USAC changed their minds and ordered the pace car to stay on the track. By then, Tom Sneva had accelerated through turn 4 and passed the pace car. Realizing his mistake, Sneva slowed down and blended back behind the pace car, although two more cars passed it before also slowing down. Deciding that it was the result of their own mistake, USAC decided not to impose any penalties for the potential infraction. Sneva held the lead until the second round of pit stops began on lap 56. Sneva pitted first, but the car stalled as he tried to pull away. As Sneva's crew tried to re-fire the engine, new leader Rick Mears pulled into his pit directly behind Sneva.
Mears pit fire Gordon Smiley led lap 57, his first and only lap led in his career at Indianapolis. When Rick Mears pitted on lap 58, fuel began to gush from the refueling hose before it had been properly connected to the car. Fuel sprayed out over the car, into the cockpit onto Mears, and splashed onto some of the mechanics. It then ignited when it contacted the engine or the exhaust.
Methanol burns with a transparent flame and no smoke, and pit crew members and spectators fled from the invisible fire. Mears, on fire from the waist up, jumped out of his car and ran to the pit wall, where a safety worker—not seeing the fire—tried to remove Mears' helmet. Meanwhile, Mears' fueler, covered in burning fuel, waved his arms to attract the attention of the fire crews already converging on the scene. By this time the safety worker attending to Mears had fled, and Mears, unable to breathe, leapt over the pit wall toward another crewman carrying a fire extinguisher, who dropped the extinguisher and also fled. Mears tried to turn the extinguisher on himself, then his father, Bill Mears, having already pulled Rick's wife Dina to safety, grabbed the extinguisher and put out the fire. His mechanics had also been extinguished, and the fire crew arrived to thoroughly douse Mears' car. Thanks to quick action by Bill Mears and the fact that methanol produces less heat than gasoline, no one was seriously hurt in the incident. Rick Mears and four of his mechanics—including
Derrick Walker, a future crew chief on the Penske team—were sent to a hospital, and Mears underwent plastic surgery on his face, particularly on his nose which caused him to miss the next race at Milwaukee the following week. Two months later at the
Norton Michigan 500,
Herm Johnson had another fuel rig failure that injured 14 people during a Lap 27 pit stop where the refueling rig failed to shut off fuel flow. That caused a 1-hour, 37-minute red flag and forced a redesign to the fuel nozzle used on Indy cars, adding a safety valve that would only open when the nozzle was connected to the car. The pitside tanks were also modified to add a
dead man's valve, and were required to be anchored to the ground. Previously, some teams would prop up the giant tanks—sometimes precariously—to angle them so as to increase the
head pressure and speed up the fuel flow. Additional safety measures eventually followed, including requiring all participants in the pits, not just over-the-wall crew, to wear fire resistant uniforms, and for the fueler to wear a helmet. Later in the race,
Bobby Unser also reported suffering a small fire during one of his pit stops, but he was able to extinguish the flames by pulling away. The 180-mph wind from racing down the backstretch fanned out the flames, but not before his uniform burned through on the left side.
Danny Ongais crash Danny Ongais came into the pits on lap 63 as the leader of the race, but problems during the stop caused it to drag on for 46 seconds. After finally leaving the pits, Ongais approached a slower car at the end of the backstretch. Perhaps still upset about the long stop, he made a late pass going into turn 3. Carrying too much speed into the turn, the car drifted out into the gray area and the rear tires lost traction. Ongais tried to correct the slide by turning right, but the car hooked to the right and crashed nearly head-on into the wall in turn three. (One year later,
Gordon Smiley lost control similarly at the same location, but crashed directly head-on and was killed.) The front end of the car was ripped away, leaving an unconscious Ongais completely exposed in the cockpit. The car continued to slide around turn three, and came to rest point forward in the north short chute. The back of the car was on fire, and a long trail of burning oil was behind. Safety crews quickly surrounded the car and used the
Jaws of Life to extricate Ongais, who suffered a concussion and badly broken feet and legs. Remarkably, Ongais made a full recovery and raced again at Indianapolis just one year later. The caution stayed out for 15 laps to clean up the incident. Safety workers also tended to some spectators who were hit by debris outside turn three. Gordon Johncock was now the leader, with Bobby Unser and Mario Andretti in close pursuit.
Unser pit incident On lap 131,
Tom Sneva, who fell 35 laps down after his engine stall on lap 58, was eliminated when his engine failed. He stopped his car in the infield grass of turn 1 and climbed out. Sneva, after having the fastest car, was frustratedly out of the race with a blown engine. In an interview with
Chris Economaki minutes later, Sneva said that the engine stall happened because he couldn't get the car in gear and once the problem was fixed the engine began to have problems and finally came apart on Sneva's 96th lap.
Pete Halsmer crashed out of the race on lap 135 and the caution waved again soon afterwards for
Josele Garza's accident. He was uninjured. Despite crashing, Josele Garza's effort in the race won him the 1981
Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award. After three laps of caution, the race resumed with Mario Andretti as the race leader and Bobby Unser in second. On lap 146,
Tony Bettenhausen Jr. had a tire going down, which he at the time was unaware of. Approaching turn four, the tire deflated, and Bettenhausen attempted to move out of the groove and out of traffic. In the process, he touched wheels with
Gordon Smiley, sending Smiley's car spinning and into the wall backwards in turn 4. Three laps later, leader
Mario Andretti and second place
Bobby Unser went into the pit area for service. Unser finished his pit stop first, and was the first out. Andretti followed a few seconds behind. While the two cars were exiting the pits, the pace car was leading the field at reduced speed through turns 1 and 2.
Bobby Unser stayed on the track apron, below the painted white line, and proceeded to pass 14 cars. He took his place in line as the fifth car immediately behind the pace car, still the overall race leader.
Mario Andretti himself also passed two cars before he blended into the field in the south short chute. Both drivers' actions went largely unnoticed at the time. Andretti claimed that he immediately called his pit crew on the radio and told him that Unser had passed cars under the yellow. One observer claimed to have been in the restroom when it occurred. • The ABC television broadcast, a delayed broadcast that aired later in the evening, was later found to have its commentary recorded in post production. As a result, broadcasters were made aware of the incident during post production as commentary was being recorded. They noticed Unser's passes as they occurred while viewing the video in the session, then expressed astonishment at them.
Finish After Unser's controversial move under caution to some, the race restarted on lap 152. Bobby Unser quickly established himself as the fastest car on the track since Sneva dropped out, taking a 5-second lead on second place. However, Andretti was able to catch up to Unser in spite of losing so many positions under the yellow. Andretti made a move on a lap 166 restart, briefly taking the lead from Unser in turn 1. Unser returned the favor into turn 3, passing Andretti and quickly establishing a rapid pace. By that point, Andretti started having a tire leak, which caused him to eventually lose second place to his teammate, Gordon Johncock. On lap 178, the drivers on the lead lap were Unser, Johncock, and Andretti. A yellow flag came out, which allowed Johncock and Andretti to catch a break. Pit stops were made, and Johncock emerged as the new leader. Johncock led the next three laps before he got passed by Unser. Johncock would later suffer a blown engine with 8 laps to go, handing second place to Andretti. Bobby Unser assumed the lead on lap 182, with
Mario Andretti second, running over 8 seconds behind. Although Unser slowed his pace during the final two laps, he held on to win by 5.180 seconds, one of the closest finishes at Indianapolis to that point.
Bobby Unser celebrated his third Indy 500 victory (also
1968 and
1975), while
Mario Andretti was lauded for charging from 32nd starting position to a 2nd-place finish. Unser made a total of ten pit stops, a record for the most ever by a winner. In victory lane a satisfied Bobby Unser made no mention of a controversy about his win when interviewed by ABC's
Chris Economaki. Though it was not widely noted at the time, it is believed that Unser did not partake in the
traditional victory lane bottle of
milk. ==Controversy==