1978 Indianapolis 500

The 1978 Indianapolis 500 was held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 28, 1978. For the first time, Mary Fendrich Hulman, widow of Tony Hulman, delivered the command for drivers to start engines.

Danny Ongais dominated the early stages of the race but was eventually passed by Al Unser before going out with a blown engine. Unser had a large lead but bent his Lola's front wing in the pitlane on lap 180. Tom Sneva charged to catch the crippled Lola but came up 8 seconds short at the finish. Unser led 121 laps and held on for his third win on a very hot day. Janet Guthrie finished ninth on this day, the highest finish for a woman in Indy 500 history—a feat that was eventually topped 27 years later by Danica Patrick.

Race results[]

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Status
1	5	2	Al Unser	196.474	7	200	121	Running
2	1	1	Tom Sneva	202.156	1	200	3	Running
3	6	20	Gordon Johncock	195.833	8	199	0	Flagged
4	13	40	Steve Krisiloff	191.255	19	198	5	Flagged
5	7	6	Wally Dallenbach, Sr.	195.233	9	195	0	Flagged
6	19	48	Bobby Unser	194.658	10	195	0	Flagged
7	20	14	A.J. Foyt	200.122	2	191	0	Flagged
8	23	84	George Snider	192.626	16	191	0	Flagged
9	15	51	Janet Guthrie	190.325	22	190	0	Flagged
10	8	16	Johnny Parsons	194.280	12	186	0	Flagged
11	30	35	Larry Rice	187.392	31	186	0	Engine
12	33	7	Mario Andretti	194.647	11	185	0	Flagged
13	4	4	Johnny Rutherford	197.098	5	180	0	Flagged
14	28	88	Jerry Karl	187.549	29	176	0	Flagged
15	24	69	Joe Saldana	190.809	21	173	0	Flagged
16	31	98	Gary Bettenhausen	187.324	32	147	0	Engine
17	25	78	Mike Mosley	188.719	26	146	0	Turbocharger
18	2	25	Danny Ongais	200.122	3	145	71	Blown Engine
19	10	17	Dick Simon	192.967	15	138	0	Wheel Bearing
20	26	26	Jim McElreath	188.058	27	132	0	Engine
21	18	43	Tom Bigelow	189.115	25	107	0	Rod
22	9	80	Larry Dickson	193.434	13	104	0	Oil Pressure
23	3	71	Rick Mears	200.078	4	103	0	Engine
24	21	8	Pancho Carter	196.829	6	92	0	Header
25	11	11	Roger McCluskey	192.256	17	82	0	Clutch
26	17	39	John Mahler	189.723	24	58	0	1/2-time gear
27	14	22	Tom Bagley	190.941	20	25	0	Oil Leak
28	22	77	Salt Walther	193.226	14	24	0	Clutch
29	16	19	Spike Gehlhausen	190.325	23	23	0	Crash T2
30	29	47	Phil Threshie	187.520	30	22	0	Oil Pressure
31	32	30	Jerry Sneva	187.266	33	18	0	Transmission
32	12	24	Sheldon Kinser	192.051	18	15	0	Oil Pressure
33	27	29	Cliff Hucul	187.805	28	4	0	Oil Line

Failed to qualify: Larry Cannon (#85), Bob Harkey (#4), Mike Hiss (#7, #66), Jim Hurtubise, Gary Irvin (#9), Bubby Jones (#18), Lee Kunzman (#90), Al Loquasto (#8), John Martin (#2), Graham McRae (#33, #34), Bobby Olivero (#78), Roger Rager (#9, #97), Eldon Rasmussen (#58), Bill Vukovich, Jr. (#18, #93),

See also[]

1978 USAC Championship Car season

1977 Indianapolis 500 A.J. Foyt	1978 Indianapolis 500 Al Unser	1979 Indianapolis 500 Rick Mears

Indianapolis 500 seasons
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