The 1986 Indy 500 finally got started 7 days late on Saturday, May 31st after rain delayed the race on Saturday, May 25th and again on Monday, May 27th….so, the race was officially cancelled when the race officials said to come back on the 12th….which was the 1st time in Indianapolis 500 history that this happened. Plus, for the first time ever, ABC Sports televised the race live “flag-to-flag” on network television in the United States…..which meant that ABC Sports entire broadcast crew had to hang out at the speedway for a week….before the 75th anniversary of the first 500 could get started….but there was very little fanfare of the 75th annual milestone of the race outside of the cover art of the official program.
This video seen herewith….pretty much covers the pre-race by ABC Sports….with the broadcast crew of Jim McKay, Jim Lampley, Sam Posey, Larry Nuber, Jerry Gappens, Jack Arute and Al Trautwig mainly focusing on what the various drivers and crews did during the week delay….while waiting for the rain to stop…..before getting the first 41 laps of the race covered….wherein Michael Andretti, Rick Mears, Al Unser Jr., Kevin Cogan, Roberto Guerrero and Bobby Rahal all being competitive and in the first six positions….in a race that morphed into a three car competition between Bobby Rahal, Rick Mears and Kevin Cogan for the remainder of the race.
