The 64th 500 Mile International Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 25, 1980. Johnny Rutherford won the pole position, led 118 of 200 laps, and won the race by a commanding margin of 29.92 seconds. After failing to finish the race the year before (with Al Unser behind the wheel), Jim Hall's radical new Chaparral 2K ground effects chassis was a heavy favorite entering the month. With Rutherford now behind the wheel, the team executed a nearly flawless race. Rutherford, the winner in 1974 and 1976, became the sixth driver to win the Indy 500 three times.

Tom Sneva broke an Indy 500 record by becoming the first driver to start last (33rd) and lead the race. Sneva led two times for 16 laps, and finished the race in second position. Sneva likewise became the first driver in Indy history to start last and finish second (a feat tied by Scott Goodyear in 1992). It was Sneva's third runner-up finish in four years, matching Bill Holland's achievement exactly thirty years earlier in 1947, 1948 and 1950. Sneva's efforts were often branded afterwards with a "bridesmaid" reference, until he would finally go on to win the race in 1983.

The starting lineup featured ten rookies, a sharp contrast from 1979, which had only one. For the first time in Indy history, the three drivers that started in the eleventh and final row finished in the top eight — Tom Sneva 2nd, Gary Bettenhausen 3rd, and Tom Bigelow 8th."Legends of the Brickyard" - 1980 Indy 500 The race was originally part of the 1980 CRL Championship, a joint sanctioning arrangement between USAC and CART. However, USAC pulled out of the CRL mid-season, and separate championships would be awarded by USAC and CART. Johnny Rutherford continued his domination all season, and he scored the most points under both USAC's five-race points distribution and CART's 12-race points championship, securing what could be considered "undisputed" or "unanimous" top driver honors for the calendar year of 1980.

Background After the tumultuous and controversial month of May at Indy in 1979, the landscape of Indy car racing was starting to settle into a more civilized fashion. During the offseason, USAC published their 1980 schedule, which featured such races as the Indianapolis 500, Texas World Speedway, Talladega, and Charlotte. Meanwhile, CART released their own schedule. Before the season began, the leaders of USAC and CART jointly formed the new Championship Racing League (CRL) to co-sanction the season of events. Several of the USAC-planned events were scrapped, including Talladega, Charlotte, Mosport, and Road Atlanta, and the two schedules were instead merged.

A major change for 1980 designated the Indianapolis 500 now as an "Invitational" event, rather than an "Open" type event. This was done, in part, to prevent the uproar of denied entries as happened in 1979. Originally the plan was to grant automatic invitations to the teams that competed in all three 500-mile "Triple Crown" races in 1979 (Indianapolis, Pocono, and Ontario). However, that plan was scuttled when only one car (Danny Ongais) fulfilled those conditions, and furthermore when Ontario switched alliances to the CART series. In January 1980, the criteria for receiving an invitation to the Indianapolis 500 was announced, and essentially included any certified team in USAC or CART that was judged to have a realistic intent of making a qualifying attempt. Brand new teams were subject to review, and required written documentation of the operational plans. In general, the new invitational rules would exclude few, if any, teams in Indy car racing, whether they were part of the USAC Trail or the CART series.

The 1980 CART PPG Indy Car World Series began in April, and Indianapolis was the second race of the season. CART awarded points for Indianapolis towards their championship. After Indianapolis, Speedway officials became unhappy with the CRL arrangement. In the middle of July, after a total of five races had been run, USAC would pull out of the CRL.

Rule changes Going into the month USAC dropped turbocharger "boost" levels to 48 inHG across the board. Previously the levels were 50 inHG, and before that 80 inHG. The rule change slowed cars down by as much as , and drew the ire of many competitors. Outspoken critics included A. J. Foyt who referred to it as "taxicab racing,"1980 Indianapolis 500 Television broadcast: ABC-TV - May 25, 1980 and Johnny Rutherford who said it made it difficult to pass other cars.

Race schedule Race schedule — May, 1980SunMonTueWedThuFriSat     1  2  3Opening Day 4Practice 5Practice 6Practice 7Practice 8Practice 9Practice10Pole Day11Time Trials12Practice13Practice14Practice15Practice16Practice17Time Trials18Time Trials19 20 21 22Carb Day23Mini-Marathon24Parade25Indy 50026Memorial Day27 28 29 30 31  Color Notes Green Practice Dark Blue Time trials Silver Race day Red Rained out* Blank No track activity * Includes days where trackactivity was significantlylimited due to rain

Time trials

Pole Day – Saturday May 10 The first day of time trials opened with cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 70s (°F). Scattered rain showers were in the forecast. The favorites for the pole included Mario Andretti, Johnny Rutherford, and rookie Tim Richmond. A. J. Foyt was also a dark horse for the front row. Richmond had set the fastest lap of the month () in practice, but a crash on pole day morning sidelined him for the weekend.

Defending champion and defending pole winner Rick Mears was the first driver out to qualify at 11:00 a.m., and he set the early pace at . An hour later, Spike Gehlhausen () knocked Mears off the top spot. At 12:45 p.m., Mario Andretti took over the provisional pole with a speed of .

A short rain shower closed the track for 20 minutes.

At 2:08 p.m., Johnny Rutherford in the Jim Hall Chaparral 2K chassis (nicknamed the "Yellow Submarine" due to its bright yellow Pennzoil paint job) took to the track. Rutherford secured the pole position with a four-lap average speed of .

The next car out was Bobby Unser, who squeezed on to the front row with a speed of . A. J. Foyt, took to the track twice – the first attempt he waved off before taking the green flag, and the second attempt was aborted due to a rain shower. After a rain and hail delay of over an hour and a half, Foyt got one last chance to qualify. His speed of was good enough only for 12th starting position.

At the end of the first day of time trials, the field was filled to 16 cars.

Second Day – Sunday May 11 Three cars completed runs, with Danny Ongais () the fastest of the afternoon. Gordon Johncock, who broke his ankle in a practice crash on Thursday, got in a back-up car to qualify for 18th starting position.

Third Day – Saturday May 17 The third day of time trials was rained out. With a starting spot at Indy secured for the middle of the front row, Mario Andretti flew to Monte Carlo for the Monaco Grand Prix. Andretti would finish 3 laps down in 7th, then would return to Indy on Carburetion Day.

Tom Sneva, who had qualified 14th, wrecked his primary car during the second week of practice. His team obtained a back-up car, and Sneva arranged to drive that car in the race. According to the rules, Sneva would move to the rear of the field, and start the race in last (33rd) position.

Bump Day – Sunday May 18 The final day of time trials opened with 14 spots open. There were roughly 38 cars in the garage area prepared to qualify, and the day was expected to be busy and hectic.

Non-stop qualifying took place when the track opened at noon. The field was filled to 33 cars by 2:40 p.m. Rookie Tim Richmond was the fastest of the day at , the 5th-fastest car overall in the field. Tony Bettenhausen Jr. () was the first driver on the bubble.

The bumping began with John Martin bumping out Bettenhausen. In total, seven drivers were bumped by 4 p.m. Eventually, Martin was bumped himself.

With weather starting to enter the area at 4 o'clock, time was running out for qualifying. Gary Bettenhausen (Tony's brother) was now on the bubble. Bettenhausen survived three attempts over the next 15 minutes. At 4:20 p.m., Ron Shuman was lined up to make an attempt, but rain began to fall before he pulled away. Bettenhausen held on to make the field, and the track was closed for the day.

Carburetion Day – Thursday May 22 The final practice session before race day saw Mario Andretti set the best lap at . Tom Bagley spun and crashed in turn 3, but he was uninjured. Bill Vukovich blew his engine. A total of 31 of the 33 qualified cars took laps.

Tragedy struck in the infield during the session. Timothy Scott Vail, 19, of Indianapolis, was killed in the infield when his jeep overturned in the notorious "Snake Pit" area of the turn 1 infield. He suffered a fractured skull.

Pit Stop Contest The finals for the 4th annual Miller High Life Pit Stop Contest were held on Thursday May 22. For 1980, the contest was expanded from eight participants to twelve. Teams were required to change two tires and simulate a fuel coupling. The top qualifiers were Greg Leffler (15.29 seconds), Ron Schuman (16.56 seconds), Vern Schuppan (16.62 second), and Bill Alsup (18.54 seconds). Other preliminary times posted included Jerry Sneva (20.54 seconds), Phil Caliva (23.20 seconds), and Jim McElreath (37.34 mph). The two cars of the Sherman Armstrong team advanced to the final round. The crew of Tom Bigelow (14.04 seconds) defeated the crew of Greg Leffler (14.50 seconds).

Starting grid RowInsideMiddleOutside1 4 Johnny Rutherford 12 Mario Andretti 11 Bobby Unser 2 35 Spike Gehlhausen 7 Jerry Sneva 1 Rick Mears 3 15 Johnny Parsons 10 Pancho Carter 5 Al Unser 4 66 Roger Rager 23 Jim McElreath 14 A. J. Foyt 5 40 Tom Bagley 95 Larry Cannon 26 Dick Ferguson 6 25 Danny Ongais 20 Gordon Johncock 96 Don Whittington 7 21 Tim Richmond 70 Gordon Smiley 16 George Snider8 29 Billy Engelhart 44 Greg Leffler 18 Dennis Firestone 9 99 Hurley Haywood 48 Mike Mosley 94 Bill Whittington 10 38 Jerry Karl 8 Dick Simon 2 Bill Vukovich II11 43 Tom Bigelow 46 Gary Bettenhausen 9 Tom Sneva†

† - Tom Sneva qualified 14th on pole day, but afterwards suffered a crash during practice. The car was replaced with a back-up car, and he was moved the rear of the field.

Alternates First alternate: John Martin (#37) – Bumped Second alternate: Bill Alsup (#41) – Bumped

Failed to qualify

Salt Walther (#76) – Bumped Pete Halsmer (#34) – Bumped Sheldon Kinser (#24) – Bumped Tony Bettenhausen Jr. (#32) – Bumped Roger Mears (#97) – Wave off Joe Saldana (#69) – Wave off Rick Muther (#82) – Spun out during qualifying attempt Bob Harkey (#67) – Incomplete qualifying attempt Howdy Holmes (#43, #45) – Incomplete qualifying attempt Bill Tempero (#65) – Incomplete qualifying attempt Ron Shuman (#78) – Incomplete qualifying attempt Herm Johnson (#28) – Incomplete qualifying attempt Lee Kunzman (#59) – Incomplete qualifying attempt John Mahler (#91) – Incomplete qualifying attempt Phil Caliva (#47) – Incomplete qualifying attempt Rich Vogler (#50) – Mechanical problems on Bump Day Phil Threshie (#30) – Too slow to receive qualifying sticker Jan Sneva (#50, #77) – Practice crash Frank Weiss (#68) – Practice crash (fractured knee and ankle) Larry Dickson (#80) Tom Frantz (#57) Janet Guthrie (#51, #55) Jim Hurtubise (#56) Al Loquasto (#81) Bill Puterbaugh Vern Schuppan (#89) John Wood (#42)

Race summary

Pre-race Mary F. Hulman gave the command to start engines shortly before 11:00 a.m. With Janet Guthrie failing to qualify, the command reverted to the traditional "Gentlemen, start your engines!" for the first time since 1976.

While sitting on the starting grid, polesitter Johnny Rutherford claims that a lady bug landed on his uniform — and considered it a fortuitous good luck omen.Mark Montieth: Because Stories Need To Be Told - Johnny Rutherford

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