The Indianapolis 500 is an international event…..wherein the 1987 Indy 500 alone had 8 out of 33 total drivers in the field were international….including drivers from Colombia, Holland, Mexico, Australia, Italy, Brazil and New Zealand….with auto racing fans from all over the world….as the wide range of international influence and fans is evidenced by the…
On the 130th lap, Tony Bettenhausen started suffering a handling problem exiting turn two….when down the backstretch, his right-front wheel lug nut may have come off the car….and the wheel began to loosen. In turn three, the wheel came off and began rolling though the north short chute….and that is when 2nd place Roberto Guerrero came up on the…
On lap 6, the green flag came back out with Mario Andretti on the lead…..while driving at a blistering pace ….as it took only 7 laps for him to start lapping back markers….when on lap 25, Ludwig Heimrath, Jr. was running 7th…..and made his first pit stop…..but one of the wheels on his car was not properly…
With 14 laps to go in the 1987 Indy 500…..driver Roberto Guerrero had a one and a half lap lead over 2nd position driver and eventual winner Al Unser Sr…..which was virtually an insurmountable lead even if he made a pit stop for enough fuel to finish the race…..and then came what we at ImaSportsphile…
Tony Bettenhausen Jr. (October 30, 1951 – February 14, 2000) was a Champ Car team owner and driver…. who died in a 2000 plane crash…..and was the son of former 14-time Indianapolis 500 competitor Tony Bettenhausen….as well as the brother of 21-time Indy racer Gary Bettenhausen. The family holds the dubious distinction of the most combined starts in the famous race without…
Al Unser Sr. didn’t have a sponsor or a car just over a week before the historic 1987 Indy 500….whereas fate would have it….when Danny Ongais, driver for Roger Penske Racing would crash into the wall during practice runs less than a week before the start of the race…..which would cause Penske to sign Al…
Newman/Haas Racing was an auto racing team that competed in the CART series and the IndyCar Series from 1983 to 2011….with a partnership that was formed between actor, automotive enthusiast and semi-professional race car driver Paul Newman and long-time auto racing impresario Carl Haas….whereas the duo were competitors in sports car racing during the 1970’s and early 1980’s….before they joined up with each other to enter…
ABC Sports was the first to develop “personal profile” stories of participants and venues in the universe of sports….and quite frankly, we at ImaSportsphile consider ABC Sports to be the best producer of such shorts….which we are overjoyed to have so many “personal profile” stories….that we started a category in our immense video library for ABC Profiles….cuz they are…
In 1987, Roger Penske’s slate of drivers included Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan and Danny Ongais….as Al Unser Sr. was dropped from the team and entered the month of May without a ride….when during the first week of practice….Al Sr. spent much of the week shopping for a ride…..and a few offers were made by owners…..which Al Sr. refused….as he…