1971 Indianapolis 500

The 1971 Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 29, 1971. ABC televison broadcast the race for the first time in same-day tape delay.

Peter Revson started on the pole with a speed of over 178 miles per hour, more than a mile per hour faster than any other qualifier, with defending champ Al Unser in the middle of the second row. However, Mark Donohue, who qualified in the middle of the front row, took the lead at the start of the race and led the first 50 laps. A mechanical issue ended his day after just 66 laps, and Unser took the lead. He and Joe Leonard swapped the lead several times during the middle portion of the race, but Unser led for the final 83 laps, giving him a win for the second year in a row.

Pace Car Crash
Eldon Palmer, owner of a local automobile and truck dealership Palmer Dodge (now Palmer Auto Group), was chosen to provide a pace car for the race when no automakers took up this duty as they had done in the past. In preparation for the race, he set up a traffic cone to provide himself with a reference for where to begin slowing the car. However, when he returned to the pits following the pace laps, someone had moved the cone without his knowledge. When Palmer realized that it was gone, he attempted to stop quickly, but lost control of the car, which skidded into a temporary grandstand packed mainly with photographers. No one was killed, but 22 were injured, some seriously. In the car with Palmer were Speedway owner Tony Hulman, longtime ABC television sportscaster Chris Schenkel, and astronaut John Glenn, but they were unhurt.