Beginning in the early 70's probably, our tradition was to listen to Howdy Bell and all the others on the radio as they described the race while we watched it on a TV with the volume off. The radio was far more descriptive than the TV announcers as they had to be and it was a great combination.

I still say Cogan was over his head and he raced for my dad’s boss.

I was there, too, and I was 12. It's one of the best races ever.

I was 14 and remember watching this race on television.

+blackeyedcheese Kevin Cogan was the driver without pubic hair according to Mario Andretti!

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Currently several driver has a beard like Hinch, Rossi, and sometimes Munoz. And Alonso. :D

Hipster before hipster was hipster.

scott... or just a normal "mans man" back then.

Interesting...thanx for that tidbit...I did not know that.

Yep: Mears, Johncock was one of the best finishes. I saw it from turn 4.

Vintage Andretti Whine

He wasn't hit from behind, the 2nd row cars are way back. He hit the throttle and spun the tires.

Looking at it frame by frame, it looks like something weird happened to the right rear tire, it looks deformed right after the car veers right, then it appears to shrink compared to the left rear just before he hits Foyt..

@@carlfrye1566 Read first. I never said he was. I re-iterated what Kevin said in his interview. It was a broken halfshaft. There were many broken halfshafts in the early to mid 80's. It took them awhile to resolve the problem because the problem wasn't consistent in how they were failing. There was an extensive in article in either On Track or Autoweek about it back then with a list of known halfshaft failures and this incident was on the list.

@@MichaelClark-uw7ex Playing at 0.25 speed, at about 3:59.6 when Cogan's car is at 90° to the track direction, significant tyre inflation is clearly visible - how much is uncertain, but it doesn't take much deflation to lose traction. Definitely no sparks from the wheel rim grinding on the track. Could also have been a broken steering rod. Being in Australia, I watched the race replay several hours later (we don't stay up until 4 am waiting for you guys to get started 😅). The commentators speculated about the possibility of a broken half shaft, which would make sense if it was common at the time. The fact that Roger Penske refused to comment on the cause means either: (1) The car was embarassingly at fault, or (2) The suspect parts were destroyed in the secondary crash.

and he simply never could, he ALWAYS had something happen that wasnt his fault it was incredible how bad his luck was at this specific track.

@@davidca96 The two of us ALWAYS felt super bad when he wasn't the victor. Year after year.

"Andretti is slowing on the backstretch!"

It didn't work

Sounds like you got a 500 lb gut!

Isn’t that just locking up the brakes and losing control?

Hit Dennis Firestone, and spun in the fluids put down by Cogan.

Rumor has it that Mario Andretti told Whittington’s brothers Don & Bill that if he came back to Indy that he would expose their drug smuggling activities. I don’t k ow if that’s true or not but those Whittington brothers were practically a drug cartel

@@deanladue2327 And now you know the magic of Ammonium Perchlorate sublimation, low Hg=high Hp. Once the silicone saturates the track, no traction. The talking heads call it 'rain', yet no rain clouds. Ppl claim Indycars are 50%, complete BS. They don't count oxydizers as fuel.

Not true, it wasn't Cogan's fault as CV joint/ halfshaft broke according to Walker. AJ was horses ass

@@gsmscooter22 Maybe it wasn’t his fault. But it is true he was despised and mocked by Hoosiers when it happened.

From 1971 through 1985, ABC carried the Indianapolis "500" on a same-day tape-delay basis, edited down to a two-hour (or later, three-hour) tape (including commercials). During those years, the commentary of the start, the first few laps, the final few laps, and the finish by Jim McKay and either Jackie Stewart or Sam Posey would be recorded as the events took place. The commentary of the middle of the race was done as the edited tape was broadcast. Thus, the commentary you hear in this clip was recorded at the time.

yeah Sam posey was a space cadet. Woulda liked to have heard Sam and Larry Nuber call a race together. With a big bag of weed to split between them over the next 4 hours.

Basically Cogan telling Sam to "F" off.

That 1983 Eagle of AL Unser Jr was by far the prettiest one of the bunch.

Forgot that one. Class I. Tks for flashback there!!

I think it was more out of frustration for A.J than actually trying to get the transmission back in gear. No doubt he was still POed about Cogan ( "Coogan") nailing the the left front of his car in the ensuing crash at the start. Which hurt the handling and probably forced A.J to use the gearbox much harder than intended.

@@deanladue2327 I have read a couple accounts that stated when AJ's Team pushed the DNF'ed car back to their garage one of the mechanics (possibly the Chief) reached into the cockpit and wiggled the gear shift lever and the transmission clicked right into gear. I believe you're correct in your analysis that (possibly the overheated trans) AJ still angry about the crash right past the starting line caused him to force the immoveable shift lever by using his anger filled (typical AJ temperament) strength trying to force the lever too hard (both on the track then in the pits) and he could have jammed the trans gear dogs between two gears simultaneously which caused the problem to become worse. As he is prone to do in the heat of battle he just got out and started pounding on a drift pin with a heavy hammer thus making the problem worse. **These sorts of things can easily happen when the entire year's blood, sweat, tears, and anticipation all conspire to end up in a HUGE disappointment. It's happened many times to dash the hopes of teams that were looking for a great finish and, maybe even a win. Now, the waiting begins for 364 days to try once again. That's all part of The Indianapolis 500 drama and often Heartbreak!

Nope. Been to a lot of 500’s. I was at that one. Rick Mears brought the field out onto the main straight off turn 4 way too slow. I was sitting in the old C stand between turn four and the yard of bricks. Saw it all happen right in front of me. Too much torque in the rear for Cogan to handle (or the half shaft in the rear was faulty and snapped under the torque) when they tried to jump up to racing speed about 210 on the straightaways that year from that comparatively slow 130…. The race did have a great finish between Mears and Johncock, though. Hated to see Andretti eliminated like that - he was wicked fast all month with a great car and team with Patrick Racing.

My thought exactly . The faces of the two legends pissed off because of you . Wow.

Yep was thinking the same thing!!

Same here. 14 years old for me. It was broadcast on time delay back in those days.

@@DucatiPaso750 Same here. Indiana kid and the race was everything for our state growing up. But I also was pissed at the guy since AJ and Mario were my favorite 2 drivers.

Does anyone remember this race different? I do

Thank you for this explanation! I always wondered what caused such a sudden and pronounced veer to the right by Cogan's car.

Penske immediately had the destroyed PC-10 covered up and locked away in the hauler. Wouldn't even let USAC or CART officials have even a glimpse of it. So yep, you wonder.

Another cover up like that Brazilian dudes.

hated when McKay was replaced by Lampley. neither one really knew racing but at least Mckay came across as a likeable guy who didnt make you want to punch him in his shit sniffing face.

He always said that when there was a crash at the start, listen to the 1973 start crash.

1992. That was the year maybe half the field crashed out in so many cautions the crown moaned angrily with each crash

@@STP43FAN1 Ridiculously cold track temps were responsible for many wrecks because the tires weren't up to to racing temps. Especially after the field slowed to yellow flag pace. The old saying was certainly true in 1992 that; Cautions beget Cautions. Dr. Terry Trammel was noted to have spent something like 21 hours in surgery after driver upon driver was brought into Indiana Methodist Hospital with many complicated injuries mostly to their lower extremities. Mario's injuries, as bad as he had ever received at the 500, was next up for the O.R. and was triaged down the list because his son Jeff had just been brought in with several extremely serious compound fractures to both legs and as I recall, to his back as well. It was a very grim day at Methodist Hospital that day. Dr. Trammel performed in a nearly Super Human fashion that day in Surgery!

I know, he always seems to not be able to get the right words!!! Haha But seriously, how low did cogan feel crashing out AJ, & Mario? I don't know if I'd ever come out of the trailer

As disappointing as Cohan’s 2nd place finish was that year, it should have shut his critics up. He would have won for sure if not for that late yellow flag

Rick Mears had his worst injury at Sanair Speedway in Canada due to the same thing. The turbo spooled up and the car snapped a hard left directly nose first into the outside pit wall which damaged his feet so badly that Doctors in Canada were ready to amputate one or both feet. Thankfully Dr. Trammel was called in Indianapolis and he said get Rick on a Life Flight Helicopter and fly him directly back to Methodist Hospital where the extraordinary Physician successfully saved Rick's feet, legs and his racing career.

RIP Chris Economaki

RIP Gordon Smiley he died just days before this.

Indy was never the same without Jim McKay and Chris Economacki

@@NUKE-W.E.F. And they moved Paul Page to Drag Racing ! :(

The difference was the field was on the back straightaway and Roberto was in the pole position when he lost it. So he didn't take anyone else out. No doubt that it gave some drivers involved in the '82 crash some serious flashbacks.

He fired him after the full season cuz he performed not to expectations. But this race definitely didn't help 😂

Talk about fate, Cogan has a few bad crashes including one with injury that included Roberto Guerrero. Guerrero would later go on to crash a pole sitting car during the parade lap.

Also later in the season Cogan was involved in another crash at Michigan, ( again with Foyt!) I think after that, Penske had seen enough of Kevin Cogan.

@@deanladue2327 I mean, not everyone can take out AJ Foyt and Mario Andretti at the same time😃

Bullshit

Why did the green flag take so long? It usually is out much sooner. They were almost up to the start finish line and still no green.

Fun fact?

Yes,it had quite a neat taper down the sides didnt it.

Perfection in the "ground effects" technology of the time. But because of the tragic accident involving Gordon Smiley, ground effects technology was banned after the '82 season. And the new 1983 PC-10B couldn't compete with the new 'March chassis.

"It's an alcohol fire, you can't see the flames."

Flippy Musa Respect

Saw the replay of it on ABC Sports that very day, Absolutely horrific. RIP Gordon Smiley.

@@deanladue2327 Gordon Smiley and Swede Savage in 1973 were the most devastating that I have ever seen. RIP Gordon and Swede...God Speed!

Very interesting. Is there a source for this explanation?

Sorry, there isn't to my knowledge. I do remember it being discussed when it was actually happening and that it had been a problem that year. It was discussed with mechanics and drivers that stated they felt this was the problem. I wish I could find the interview, but no luck so far.

S P Sounds like the oldest type of excuse in the book such as when an F1 car chucks a rod or 2 and they call it a bad generator...ok, yeah right. How does this mysterious valve cause a driver to veer hard right?

It was those damn Whittington Brothers!!

ABC had commissioned specific music for all of their sports events. The Wide World of Sport had it's own. MNF had it's own, and the famous Trumpet fanfare for the Olympics was by ABC also. That is why in 1984, ABC wouldn't let NBC use it for the Los Angeles Games, so NBC hired John Williams to write a new theme. Four years later, ABC relented and now both themes are used during the Olympics.

If there's one person that doesn't like being embarrassed, it's Roger Penske. Especially after Cogan was involved in another crash with Foyt at Michigan. Only this crash sent Foyt to the hospital, and Penske had seen enough of Kevin Cogan.

What happened there was that Sneva, who lined up on the inside of the third row (and had trouble even getting his car started), didn't have the steering wheel fastened (or couldn't get it fastened), and it came off in his hands.

Roberto Guerrero......wrecking on pace lap

Craziest one I've seen in person. Dad and I had tickets a few rows behind the pits. A sure WTF moment

@@GeorgeAshburn That's awesome. To have been at that Indy 500 must have given you real bragging rights. I'm jealous.

@@hmdwgf Thank You. The only other race I went to was in '85 but seating in a different section around turn 2 thinking I wouldn't see anything crazy, then Danny Sullivan pulled off the spin in front of us. I couldn't believe how he regained control of the car. I've been blessed to see two of the crazier things to happen at Indy

I always saw McKay as the voice of ABC's Wide World of Sports too.

I agree that Cogan caused it and was mostly at fault. However it wasn't entirely his fault. The film shows and all the fellow drivers said the same thing: the start was WAAAY too slow. So Rick Mears is partially to blame as well. Mostly Cogan's fault but Mears brought the field down so slow which also makes him partially to blame.

In my opinion it was both Mears' and Cogan's fault. Cogan for his driver error and Mears for bringing the cars down at such a slow pace. Any racing expert will say that the start attempt was WAAAY too slow.

+thevmanvj There was no way that was driver error...

+thevmanvj How can you say that? Was there any wheel spin from Cogan's car? No. Even when he was still in the cockpit he was looking around toward the back end. He got a tough break and the arrogant Mario and AJ, who made plenty of mistakes at the Brickyard, let him hang out to dry.

Didn't he teach Pastor Maldonado how to race? ;)

atjays neither did I! lol

Oh so very young. :-) AND Bobby Rahal was a rookie in this race.

There is a youtube clip where Chip wrecks spectacularly at Michigan

CG raced 5 times at Indy, best finish 8th in 1983.

@@MDCSWildcats86 No, his best Indy 500 finish was 2nd in 1986. I was there,,,

10 years later, and he's a two time winner

And he became better than Alonso

+PorygonFanatics yeah I read about them. Wow !

+Cj Buford Yeah, Cogan had nothing to do with that one.

PorygonFanatics Rumor had it that Dale's brothers Don & Bill were warned by Mario that he would expose their drug smuggling if Dale ever came back tonIndy.

no they weren't that good, in the year they won Le Mans ('79) Klaus Ludwig did almost all the driving in that car (there were 3 drivers on the car, a Porsche 935)

Actually, that is not accurate. McLaren did it in 1995. Ferrari did it in 1965, which ironically, is Ferrari's last overall victory at LeMans. Their P-51 Precious Metal is one of my favorite air racers though, but they were done racing at Reno by the time I came along.