The 70th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Saturday, May 31, 1986…..after being rained out on May 25–26, the race was rescheduled for the following weekend. The race was sanctioned by USAC….and was included as part of the 1986 CART PPG Indy Car World Series…..when for the first time ever, ABC Sports televised the race live “flag-to-flag” on network television in the United States. The race celebrated the 75th anniversary of the first 500….but there was very little fanfare of the milestone outside of the cover art of the official program.
On August 19, 1985, after years of being shown tape delayed….ABC Sports signed an initial three-year deal to cover the Indianapolis 500 live from start to finish starting in 1986 race….as longtime anchor Jim McKay was moved to the host position….and play-by-play was handled by Jim Lampley and Sam Posey…. as seen in this video herewith.
