The day before this race I managed to sneak in the track and ended up on pit lane during the driver ceremony. I was 18 at the time. I got to meet Mario and AJ in the pit lane. Best of all I got a picture of myself in the pace car sitting in the driver' s seat. I now at the age of 73 still have the pic mounted on my living room wall.

I was 7 years old in 1969 when Mario won the 500. He was my first hero.

One of the greatest pure driving talents this world has ever seen. He won in everything he drove. F1 World Champion, INDYCAR/USAC champion, Indy 500 winner, Daytona 500 winner, sprint cars...... everything.

I was sitting in grandstand L outside of turn 3 with my family at this race, and as a 17 year old, I can still remember the buzz about Mario before and during the race. I believe that most of the fans there that day was pulling for him, especially after that horrendous crash he had just days before. Looking back now these 50 plus years later, if you'd told me in 1969 that there would be so many more Andretti's race in the 500 in the future (including Mario), but only one Andretti face would be on the Borg Warner trophy, I doubt anyone would've believed it. It just proves how hard it is to win at the Brickyard.

Those were some of the best looking Indy Cars ever.

My father was there. I have super 8 movies of the pits and the race. The close ups of the cars and Mario Andretti in the pits are so cool.

Loved the cars of that era.

Mario is a young man there.. seing him at Monza, when Peterson was injured and later died. The years of hard spells and terrible accidents are not easy to handle. Amazing life to have lived

old racing videos are too fun to watch

Mario Andretti is one of my heroes. I met him in 2017 and he was just aa wonderful in person as he was on TV.

"The Grantelli Jinx is Dead!" ...to be replaced by The Andretti Curse starting a year or two later.

My favorite Indy, my favorite driver won, I graduated from high school the day before and 8 day later I went into the US Navy. 1969 was a very exciting year for me.

10:16 "I feel fine" looking like the joker lol. What a warrior!

Oh, how that classic Wide World of Sports opening takes me back to many Saturday afternoons of the 1970's. The sports scenes of the opening are different than from later seasons, particularly missing the ski jumper that fell off the ramp. I was only 7 when this race aired, and I don't think I watched the Indy 500 until 1972 on the full, same-day delayed telecast. But Mario Andretti became my first hero when he won this race. Too bad he didn't win at least two more: '81 and '87.

Ahhh...Wide World of Sports. Sounds of my childhood.

Beautiful cars driven by lions. The golden era.

My Uncle and I watched the race on a closed circuit broadcast at a movie theater in Detroit, quite exciting.

9:49 "running to the wall with only minor burns" crazy how it's said so casually, definitely a different mentality back then.

Great year, good racing,Mario's first Indy victory 🏁🏎 Moon shot in July ,🌚 Gas was still cheap.⛽

The Andretti family should have more than one win. I've watched so many indy 500s that an Andretti dominated then something went wrong.

Fantastic footage, those guys back then were modern day gladiators.

My first time attending a race at Indy. I picked Mario to win and all my dads friends laughed at me. I laughed all the way home. Great memories for sure!

That ABC intro sure brought back memories

I am going to miss not hearing." Gentlemen Start Your Engines" This May! SHAWN

It's interesting that Jim McKay's closing narration quoted the then-current O.C. Smith hit song "Little Green Apples".

‘Two negatives… they make a plus.’ I laughed when Andy Granatelli said that. Andretti once said, ‘There are days when it’s better to stay in bed than to win Indy and be kissed on the mouth by Andy.’

50 year anniversary! Thanks Mario!

Mario "tough little guy" I love it! Mario has always been one of my favorites. I wish he could have been more successful there at the Brickyard.

This is unbelievable, thank you so much for uploading this. The 60's cars are so beautiful but I've never seen a full race.

Jim Clark’s Lotus in 1963 transformed the look of the Indy car from the front engined Offenhausers into the present day rear engined masterpieces.

Granatelli Looks like he could have been in the Sopranos!!! lmao

Probably the best 500 race of all time.

Thank you kindly for the day's in the wide world of sports. What a great reporter he was. That was what I grew up with. 😎👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

The coverage was great back then! Very real, very technical, they interview the principals..... McKay is a master, the production team deserves credit. Nowadays I feel like I'm only being sold something. The production is slick, but it feels like a long commercial.

Fantastic! Killet slo-mo outro; Mario, McClusky, Foyt, Bobby, Gary B, Donohue, Gordo, Pollard in the STP wedge, Leonard ... Unbelievable field that year, with one of the greatest front rows ever; AJ, Mario, Bobby Unser... The front row official photo is one of the best images I've seen.

back when racing was FUN!!!!!!!!! cars varied greatly .... run what you brung , and may the best or smartest or best built win ...

Mario Andretti A Legend

I recall when this was originally broadcast on ABC-TV Wide World of Sports on the following Saturday of this race. Back then there was no such thing as "live" TV race coverage for the Indy 500. In 1970, ABC started a "same-day" coverage that was broadcast in primetime. What made this particular ABC WWoS telecast memorable for me was the amount of airtime given for this race; as back then, the WWoS generally produced three sports segments in its 90 minute telecast. Prior to this Indy 500, the WWoS segment for a 500 mile race would be between 25 to 30 minutes.

Just realized. Mario led 116 laps to win. Simon Pagenaud led 116 laps to win 50 years later.

If I had a time machine...if I had a time machine.

I was 10 years old in 1969, and this was the first Indy 500 I ever watched or probably was even aware of. This is the same telecast I watched on Wide World of Sports, which I think showed the 500 on a one-week tape delay back then. This is the first time I've seen this race since the day it was broadcast in '69. After seeing this race I was hooked on watching the Indy 500 each year for decades until my interest waned during the IRL - CART split when some of the best CART drivers and teams weren't at the 500. I also got to attend about a half-dozen 500s in person as an adult.

So phantastic!!! Greets from Switzerland from a Swiss Enthusiast to this INDY500. Especially the slomotion sections are outstanding and you can see, that they all drifted the whole turn. So really, my highest hope goes to Marco for a win this 103rd edition. They even painted the car the similar colour like Marios winning car. This is a good omen in my view and luck shall be with the Andrettis this year. Cannot wait to the start ... There is nothing on the planet so exiting and historic like the INDY500 in the present time ... well maby the comeback of Tiger in Golf ... Long life this event!

Crazy to think that Kannan was only a few years from racing against Mario and is still competitive today

This is the year I graduated from HS. Also the year I went into the USMC. I remember this from 1969. Mario's first win at Indy 500. Cheers from eastern TN

18:32 🎶back Home again in Indiana 🎶 19:59 Tony hulman says... "GENTLEMEN START YOUR EN inGINES"

Yay Mario & Andy!

The truth was that Mario nursed the car home as the gearbox was way overheated and most of the oil in it was burned. The car driven by Joe Leonard (44) was crewed by Smokey Yunick and he had told Joe just to stay on Mario's tail and that they would push him near the end. Well Leonard hit a hose clamp that the cleanup crew missed after an accident and ruined that plan. Smokey had the hose clamp made into a wall display and as a memento of the race that got away. They changed the radiator and finished sixth. Another heart breaker was the Lloyd Ruby pit incident. The car was a Mongoose car personally built by Chief Mechanic, Dave Laycock and it was truly about the last time a small, low budget team built their own car and had a chance to win. Laycock was so excited at the way they were running that he took the blame for signaling Lloyd to leave the pits too soon and after the accidental damage to the car he was so overwrought the he had to be constrained as he had started throwing his tools around the pit area. Colin Chapman was very restrained in his exit TV interview. He never came back. One quote had him saying 'my new cars are all junk and I am going back to my shop and take them apart with a hacksaw'. Mario was the only one to do any serious practice in one and they knew the wheel hubs were weak and were taking them apart and having them inspected each time the car was run, but they still broke. This was very similar to the Lotus Turbine cars of 1968. Graham Hill had a hub break in the 68 race and many more broke in other USAC races later that year. The 1969 Indy Lotus Ford was both more powerful and heavier than the Turbine cars were and it appears Chapman just didn't make them strong enough.

Pure gold!

My one and only trip with my father,uncle and grandfather. Mario won his only Indy 500 ,but only because the leader's car broke. I dont remember who but it was good to see Mario get his first and only. And I was there. Go Nazareth fans

the pit stops though. Bring a chair and a glass of ice tea and we'll get some fuel in the car while we chat for a bit. F1 now: "uh oh 3.2 seconds there must have been a problem!"

The Granatelli's and Mario Andretti in 1969 were Italian Americans who knew what it took to go fast and win at Indy!

awesome looking machines!!!!!!!!!

I began interest for car races in 1970 aged 13 , then I was a fan of Al Unser. Today I have nostalgy of those names as Foyt, Gurney, Unser

Love these old races. 📻🙂

I was there with two buddies of mine. Drove all night in a VW Bug. Exhausted.

4:21 idk why but I love that shot of the birds nest

This is so cool to watch. I'm glad IMS is uploading videos such as these...

It is a miracle that he only won 1 time!!!

Man these cars are beautiful! Always been a dream to at least be able to sit in one

I started watching Indy in 1972. I was 8. I love watching this old stuff and marvel at how young they looks. Sweet bunch of kids having American Fun. "Little Mario" ? , "Little AJ" Came in at about 5 foot 5. But nobody ever talked about it. Rumer was He sat on a phone book to drive his first midget.he 😳

Great year but missed it .Freedom Flights @ 11yrs old & now in Miami , it was December. Cell's got plently charge & I will watch it today . The names & faces eventually became familiar on these fantastic races. These guys look so young & forever will be in Automotive Racing History. TY , for esplendid views.

“Three time winner AJ Foyt. No man has ever won it four times.” AJ - Hold my beer.

I know how Mario won, he had something I've never seen him with before or since. Marco you need to grow a moustache by Sunday. Great post, thanks.

WWoS was broadcast on Saturdays when I saw this in 1969. I was 9 and became an Indy 500 fanatic ever since! Awesome to see Mario win, again, in this video.Brings it all back...and also another hero for me later in life, Smokey Yunick fixing the car he prepped, Joe Leonard's Gurney Eagle. $2.00 hose clamp from another car damaged the rad., cost him the possible win. Those were the days...cars were dangerous and sex was safe!

That race track has sure changed through the years.

This wasn't the "Official Race Film", but actually the edited videotaped broadcast that ABC's "Wide World Of Sports" produced for telecast about a week later.

How about that pace car, what a beauty.

Wow....I've waited years to see this....glad to see! Wow!

Good times. Fun race. The technology was advancing so rapidly, it was interesting. Andretti seemed like a good man, and his wife was gorgeous. Cool he won with their lesser car, too.

The 1969 Indianapolis 500 was the origin of Andy Granatelli's notorious kiss to the then-29 year old Mario Andretti whose curse began in 1970. The official film of the 1969 Indy 500 was aired on New Vision 9 on May 26, 1991 and was hosted by the late Harry Gasser from the New Vision 9 NewsWatch right before the live Telecast of the 1991 Indianapolis 500, which was jointly produced by SilverStar Communications, Inc. and Focal Media Arts, Inc.

very healthy race no fatalities the only injuries are minor ones

So awesome! Every fan loves to see this history! Thank you!

“Look at the crowd of 300,000” Smh unbelievable… shoutout to the grandstand builders, amazing how much weight it’s holding up

Thank you for posting this. I was a junior in high school when this race ran. I remember thinking Foyt had this race won and then he's out. Was happy for Mario as he'd been the car to beat every year from when he sat on the pole as a rookie in '65(best looking sixties era car ever)and Dan Gurney's second place in a stock block 320 c.i. FORD. Lloyd Ruby was another absolute heartbreaker. The greatest driver to never win the 500. And after this race, the next week, I got to see FORD win it's 4th straight 24hrs. du Le Mans in the closest finish in Le Mans history. Man what a great time to be an American and a Ford Fan.

I was 9 yrs. old then and I remember my 4th grade elementary teacher had asked us all to write a letter to a celebrity or ‘hero’ who we looked up to and admired. Most of the other boys in my class wrote to football or baseball players - my letter was to Mario. He mailed back an autographed pic of himself sitting on his car at the famous yard-of-bricks from this race. A true gentleman, legend and racing icon.

Foyt had Number 4 in the bag in 1969 but the split manifold was the red card.The race was very competitive for the first 250 miles and then a rout for Mario in the final 250 miles as everyone just dropped out.This was Roger McCluskey's best "500" as he ran a strong 2nd for a good portion of the first half of the race.Wally Dallenbach also had a good run.

Wow! The first row.

Jigger Sirois after being waved off by his car owner with one lap to win the pole: "What in the wide world of sports is a goin' on here!!"

Great upload.

Historically the Ultimate 🏁

Thank you IMS !!!

Pilotos que foram campeões da fórmula 1 e 500 milhas de Indianapolis Jimmy Clark f1 1963,65 Indy 500 1965 Graham Hill f1 1962,68 Indy 500 1966 Super Mario Andretti f1 1978 indy 500 1969 Emerson Fittipaldi F1 1972,1974 Indy 500 1989 and 1993 Jacques Villeneuve F1 1997 Indy 500 1995

Look how close the front row spectators are to the catch fence! 😮

Amazing the difference in technology and also safety equipment vs current racing. Seeing even the pit crews with nothing more than street clothes is interesting.

When we were looking through things my grandpa had we found a ticket to the Indy 500 in 1969.

Thanks for uploading this.

Mario andretti aka A super Mario of racing

I was three years old when this took place, and probably either riding my pedal tractor or tricycle at race time, or was on a family farm in Vermont for the Memorial Day weekend. One or the other, guaranteed! Hey, I was only three, my parents wouldn't let me go to Indy, alright? I was pretty much at the mercy of going wherever they took me! But, that's okay, because they dragged me along everywhere with them, and never left me with any weirdos! God rest them, they were wonderful people.

Great Mario You had to have balls of steel to drive those cars and Mario’s fiery accident didn’t flinch him a bit One of the most courageous drivers I ever watched

The cars were the best ever. Nice, powerful, diverse, fast and of course, furious. Pilots were Alpha ones. It was better then than today.

Considering my first love is sports car racing on road circuits I still have a fascination for the Indy 500s of this era. Still a time of great evolution and variety amongst the cars. I’d love to know what those 4WD Lotuses would have been capable of.

Thank you.. this is so great to watch.. My Car was only 1 years old.. how awesome

As someone in Indy it's interesting to see how much monument circle has changed. Not seeing it surrounded by sky scrapers is weird.

This is awesome. The '69 Indy 500 was the first one I remember watching. Wide World of Sports was a custom for our house.

Flagman standing on the 2 ft inside wall, crew members with tshirts and cowboy hats...lol. what a wild time.

God bless Mary Ellen Andy Granatelli great people

The Willy Mays Of auto racing..The Best.

"I'm gonna go get a gun." Could you imagine the media fueled uproar there would be if a F1 driver said that today?

Swimmin at Dolphin club that day. Steve Fleetwood mentioned that he heard Mario Andretti won while we were swimmin. Another Great memory in my life.

This would turn out to be the last time the Indy 500 was scheduled to be run on May 30 regardless of which day of the week that fell on (unless it were Sunday with the race then on Monday 5/31, the 1970-'72 races were on a Saturday, though in 1970 it happened to be May 30 and the next two were because of changes that made Memorial Day the last Monday in May regardless of which date that fell on), The 1973 Indy 500 would be the last 500 to be scheduled for a day of the week other than Sunday with the '74 Indy 500 the first to be on the Sunday ahead of Memorial Day, which it has been scheduled for ever since (excluding 2020 when the race had to be postponed to August due to COVID).