1993 Indianapolis 500

Results of the 1993 Indianapolis 500 held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 30, 1993.

NOTE: Effective with the 1993 Indianapolis 500, a driver is no longer "Flagged" if he is a lapped car, and crosses the checkered flag.

Recap

1993 saw big changes at Indy, the 'apron' at the bottom of the track was gone. Instead a warm up lane was installed, along with a grass verge around the track, and rumble strips to narrow the race track and encourage slower speeds into the corners, thus changing the corners from effectively two lanes to one lane which made passing more difficult.

There was also a huge media frenzy at the track as Englishman Nigel Mansell, the reigning Formula One world champion was competing in his first oval race in the US, and also his first race exceeding 200 miles (322 km) race distance. Earlier in the month of May, A. J. Foyt officially retired from Indycar racing, and drove a farewell lap in his famed #14 Copenhagen Lola. Another Indy legend, four-time winner Rick Mears, announced his retirement in late 1992, so with Foyt and Mears not participating in the '93 500, the only four-time winner of the Indy 500 running that years race was Al Unser, Sr.

Dutchman Arie Luyendyk sat on the pole in his #10 Target Lola, Mario Andretti in the center of the front row, and Raul Boesel driving for Dick Simon started on the outside of the front row in his #9 Duracell Lola Ford Special. Mario Andretti, in his Texaco/Havoline #6 Lola Ford dominated much of the race but ultimately faded to 5th place with handling problems.

Defending PPG Cup champion and 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal in his ex Truesports chassis failed to qualify for the 500, resulting in Rahal buying 1993 Lolas to use for the remainder of the year. Nigel Mansell, leading in his first Indy 500, was too hesitant on a lap 184 restart and both Emerson Fittipaldi and Arie Luyendyk moved past the Indy 500 rookie, demoting Mansell to 3rd place. Later in a post race interview with ABC, Mansell had claimed he was following the rules and started to accelerate at the wave of the green flag, where apparently Fittipaldi and Luyendyk started accelerating in the short chute between turns 3 and 4, getting a jump on the Englishman due to their faster momentum. The ABC commentators Sam Posey, Paul Page and Bobby Unser claimed that Mansell lost the race due to a 'rookie mistake'.

Mansell tapped the outside wall on lap 190 while in 3rd position in pursuit of Luyendyk and Fittipaldi, aided when his shunt triggered another caution. At the end of the race, Fittipaldi emerged victorious to win his second Indianapolis 500, leading only the last 16 laps of the race. Fittipaldi ignited a minor controversy in victory lane when he refused the traditional sip of milk, opting instead for orange juice that he had produced in his native São Paulo, Brazil.

Results

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	C	E	Laps	Led	Status	Entrant
1	9	4	Emerson Fittipaldi (W)	220.150	14	P	C	200	16	Running	Team Penske
2	1	10	Arie Luyendyk (W)	223.967	1	L	F	200	14	Running	Chip Ganassi Racing
3	8	5	Nigel Mansell (R)	220.255	13	L	F	200	34	Running	Newman/Haas Racing
4	3	9	Raul Boesel	222.379	3	L	F	200	18	Running	Dick Simon Racing
5	2	6	Mario Andretti (W)	223.414	2	L	F	200	72	Running	Newman/Haas Racing
6	11	22	Scott Brayton	219.637	18	L	F	200	0	Running	Dick Simon Racing
7	4	2	Scott Goodyear	222.344	4	L	F	200	5	Running	Walker Racing
8	5	3	Al Unser, Jr. (W)	221.773	5	L	C	200	17	Running	Galles Racing
9	17	8	Teo Fabi	220.514	10	L	C	200	0	Running	Jim Hall Racing
10	24	84	John Andretti	221.746	6	L	F	200	2	Running	A. J. Foyt Enterprises
11	6	16	Stefan Johansson (R)	220.824	8	P	C	199	0	Running	Bettenhausen Racing
12	23	80	Al Unser (W)	217.453	32	L	C	199	15	Running	King Racing
13	19	18	Jimmy Vasser	218.968	20	L	F	198	0	Running	Hayhoe Racing
14	14	11	Kevin Cogan	217.230	33	L	C	198	4	Running	Galles Racing
15	28	50	Davy Jones	218.416	23	L	C	197	0	Running	Euromotorsport
16	33	59	Eddie Cheever	217.599	31	L	B	197	0	Running	Team Menard
17	18	51	Gary Bettenhausen	220.380	11	L	M	197	0	Running	Team Menard
18	26	15	Hiro Matsushita	219.950	16	L	F	197	0	Running	Walker Racing
19	15	36	Stéphan Grégoire (R)	220.851	7	L	B	195	1	Running	Formula Project Engineering
20	22	76	Tony Bettenhausen, Jr.	218.034	25	P	C	195	0	Running	Bettenhausen Racing
21	30	75	Willy T. Ribbs	217.711	29	L	F	194	0	Running	Walker Racing
22	32	92	Didier Theys	217.752	28	L	B	193	0	Running	Hemelgarn Racing
23	27	66	Dominic Dobson	218.776	21	G	C	193	0	Running	Burns Racing
24	31	60	Jim Crawford	217.612	30	L	C	192	0	Running	King Racing
25	21	90	Lyn St. James	218.042	24	L	F	176	0	Gearbox	Dick Simon Racing
26	29	27	Geoff Brabham	217.800	27	L	M	174	0	Engine	Team Menard
27	25	41	Robby Gordon (R)	220.085	15	L	F	165	2	Gearbox	A. J. Foyt Enterprises
28	10	40	Roberto Guerrero	219.645	17	L	C	125	0	Crash T3	King Racing
29	16	21	Jeff Andretti	220.572	9	L	B	124	0	Crash T3	Pagan Racing
30	7	12	Paul Tracy	220.298	12	L	C	94	0	Crash T3	Team Penske
31	20	91	Stan Fox	218.765	22	L	B	64	0	Engine	Hemelgarn Racing
32	13	77	Nelson Piquet (R)	217.949	26	L	M	38	0	Engine	Team Menard
33	12	7	Danny Sullivan (W)	219.428	19	L	C	29	0	Crash T3	Galles Racing

(W) - Winner, (R) - Rookie

*C Chassis: G=Galmer, L=Lola, P=Penske

*E Engine: B=Buick, C=Ilmor-Chevrolet, F=Cosworth-Ford, M=Menard (Buick)

All cars in the 1993 Indianapolis 500 competed on Goodyear tires.

Failed to Qualify:
Scott Pruett (#45)
Bobby Rahal (#1)
Eric Bachelart (#32)
Mark Smith (#25)
Olivier Grouillard (#29)
Rocky Moran (#43)
Buddy Lazier (#20)
John Paul, Jr. (#93)

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