The 70th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Saturday, May 31, 1986. After being rained out on May 25–26, the race was rescheduled for the following weekend. Bobby Rahal was the winner, becoming the first driver in Indy history to complete the in less than three hours. At an average speed of , it was the fastest 500-mile Indy car race to that point. It was the first of three Indy victories for Rahal, one as a driver (1986) and two as a car owner (2004, 2020).
Nearly the entire race unfolded as a three-way battle between polesitter Rick Mears, Bobby Rahal, and Kevin Cogan. Cogan, who was a key fixture in the controversial crash on the opening lap of the 1982 race, took the lead in dramatic fashion with 13 laps to go. Cogan, driving for Patrick Racing, then pulled out to a commanding lead; he appeared to be on his way to victory, and to career redemption. But on lap 194, his lead evaporated when a spin by Arie Luyendyk brought out the caution flag. After a quick cleanup, the green flag came back out with two laps to go. Second place Bobby Rahal got the jump on the restart and grabbed the lead. Rahal pulled away and won the race, with car owner Jim Trueman, stricken with cancer, cheering him on in the pit area. Trueman died eleven days after the victory. Polesitter Rick Mears, who led the most laps during the race, came home third. At the time, it was the closest three-car finish in Indy history.
The race was sanctioned by USAC, and was included as part of the 1986 CART PPG Indy Car World Series. For the first time, ABC Sports televised the race live "flag-to-flag" on network television in the United States. The race celebrated the 75th anniversary of the first 500, but there was very little fanfare of the milestone outside of the cover art of the official program.
Background
Garage area The highlight of offseason improvements at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the construction of a new, state of the art garage area. Just days after the 1985 race, the old Gasoline Alley garage area, most of which had stood since the 1940s, was dismantled and demolished. Official groundbreaking for the new facility occurred on August 26, 1985. The new concrete garages increased to 96 units (up from 88), and each stall provided approximately 30% more working room than their predecessors. The green and white wooden barn doors were replaced with overhead steel garage doors, and the layout was changed from east–west to north–south. The access lanes were widened substantially, improving ingress and egress, improving drainage, and various vendor and support units were also part of the new complex. Lastly, a refueling complex was constructed in the southeast corner, including two underground tanks, one each for methanol and gasoline fuels. Most of the work was completed in April, however, some of the finishing touches were still being completed during the first week of on-track activity.
Though the new garages were universally praised for their increased space and function, they were criticized for lack of aesthetics, and for breaking tradition. The plain precast concrete walls resembled the cookie-cutter stadiums of the era that were largely criticized in baseball and football. The design was a sharp and striking contrast to the previous garage complex, which led some to call them overtly plain or "antiseptic."1986 Indy 500 Pole Day Telecast - ABC Sports, May 10, 1986 Changing the layout to north–south based was also a thinly veiled attempt by the management to further scale back the oft-rowdy "Snakepit" area formerly located inside the turn one infield. The interiors were spacious and without walls (except those adjacent to the middle corridors), allowing teams the flexibility to erect partitions as they saw fit, as well as layout their work area however they desired. Lastly, the new complex greatly improved safety. The old wooden buildings were criticized as potential "fire traps,"1995 Indianapolis 500 Radio Broadcast and management did not want a repeat of the devastating 1941 fire. The concrete construction was more fire-resistant, water spigots were provided in every stall, and the wider lanes provided easier fire escape.
Victory lane
A new victory lane area was constructed for the 1986 race. From 1971 to 1985, the winner drove up the checkerboard ramps into the "horseshoe" area below the Master Control Tower. A hydraulic platform was now used, which was located in the actual pit area, in line with the pit stalls. The car would drive onto the platform, and it would raise into the air, and then slowly spin 360° for the fans to see the winner.
This victory lane was popular, but could only hold a small number of people when raised. It would be used through 1993.
Television On August 19, 1985, after 15 years of being shown tape delayed, ABC Sports signed an initial three-year deal to cover the Indianapolis 500 live flag-to-flag starting in 1986. Longtime anchor Jim McKay was moved to the host position, and play-by-play would be handled by Jim Lampley and Sam Posey.
The Daytona 500 had been shown live flag-to-flag on CBS since 1979, and NBC carried the Michigan 500 live beginning in 1981. ABC officials had wanted to do the same for Indianapolis for several years. ABC's landmark telecast was scheduled to feature 32 cameras, three RaceCams, and an hour-long live pre-race.
Team and driver changes Defending Indy 500 winner Danny Sullivan returned to Penske Racing, however, the rest of the team saw a shake-up from the previous year. Rick Mears suffered a serious crash at Sanair in 1984. In 1985, Mears only drove a partial schedule (ovals only, including Indy). For the 1985 season, Al Unser Sr. drove full-time, as a substitute for Mears. Unser won the 1985 CART championship in dramatic fashion. At the final race of the season at Tamiami Park, Unser Sr. clinched the championship by 1 point over his son Al Unser Jr. For 1986, however, Unser Sr. dropped down to a part-time schedule only. Unser would race the three 500-mile races (Indy, Michigan, and Pocono), along with Phoenix and Tamiami. Unser was assigned the duty of rolling out the brand new PC-15/Ilmor-Chevy Indy V-8.
Kevin Cogan moved over from the Kraco Team to Patrick Racing. Cogan joined Emerson Fittipaldi to expand the team to a two-car effort. Fittipaldi's new livery for 1986 featured a sponsor returning to the sport after a lengthy absence. Marlboro, which had abruptly left the sport of Indy car racing in 1971, returned and would become a major part of the series for 25 years.
Bobby Rahal won three of the last six races of 1985, and finished third in the points standings. Despite a heavy crash at Michigan in August, and a testing crash in the fall at Indy, Rahal was hot off the finish of the 1985 season, returning with Truesports, and a favorite entering the season.
Borg-Warner Trophy For the month of May 1986, the Borg-Warner Trophy celebrated its 50th anniversary sporting a new look, featuring a brand new three-row base. The likeness of the 1986 race winner was going to fill the body of the trophy, and the new base was constructed in order to accommodate winners through 2003. On the base, the first square was filled with a gold likeness of the late Speedway president Tony Hulman. The base increased the height of the trophy to 55 inches, and the weight to about 95 pounds.
Race schedule Race schedule — April/May 1986SunMonTueWedThuFriSat20 21 22 23 24 25ROP26ROP27ROP28 29 30 1 2 3Practice 4Practice 5Practice 6Practice 7Practice 8Practice 9Practice10Pole Day11Time Trials12Practice13Practice14Practice15Practice16Practice17Time Trials18Bump Day19 20 21 22Carb Day23Mini-Marathon24Parade25Indy 50026Indy 50027 28 29 30Practice31Indy 500 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
ROP — denotes RookieOrientation Program
Practice - Week 1
Practice started on Opening Day, Saturday, May 3. Chip Ganassi earned the honor of first car on the track. Michael and Mario Andretti led the speed chart for the day, both over . On the second day of practice, the Andrettis continued their dominance, again posting the top two speeds.
On Tuesday, May 6, three single car crashes marked the first incidents of the month. Danny Ongais, Herm Johnson, and Johnny Parsons all suffered single-car crashes in Turn 1, with Johnson's the most serious. Around 3:30 p.m., a piece of bodywork flew off Johnson's car in Turn 1, which caused him to break into a hard spin. His car hit nearly head on into the retaining wall, and he suffered serious fractures to his feet and back.
Penske teammates Rick Mears and Danny Sullivan nudged the speeds up over by Wednesday, May 7, then the day ended early due to a rain shower. On Thursday, May 8, Emerson Fittipaldi joined them as the third driver over .
By Friday, May 9, the last practice session before pole day, seven drivers were over , with Mears still the fastest of the month at . The only incident of the day was a suspension failure and spin by Johnny Rutherford, but no wall contact resulted.
Time Trials - First weekend Pole Day - Saturday May 10
During the morning practice on Saturday, May 10, Rick Mears set an all-time unofficial track record, at . Later in the session, Michael Andretti and Bobby Rahal both broke the barrier. No incidents were reported.
Mario Andretti took the honor of first-in-the-field, with a qualifying run of . Three cars later, defending Indy winner Danny Sullivan took the provisional pole with a new track record of . Sullivan's speed did not hold up long, however. About an hour later, Rick Mears blistered the track with a new track record.
Lap 1 – 41.364 seconds, 217.581 mph (new 1-lap track record) Lap 2 – 41.451 seconds, 217.124 mph Lap 3 – 41.503 seconds, 216.852 mph Lap 4 – 41.712 seconds, 215.765 mph Total – 2:46.030, 216.828 mph (new 4-lap track record)
Mears secured his third Indy pole position, and the Penske teammates would line up 1st–2nd. The one-lap and four-lap track records set by Mears would stand for two years. Michael Andretti squeezed himself onto the front row, with a run of , faster than his father Mario. It would be Michael's only front row start at Indy. Emerson Fittipaldi ran two laps over , but a flat tire slowed his average to just over . Bobby Rahal managed one lap over , and qualified 4th.
With about ten minutes left in the session, A. J. Foyt lined up to make an attempt, but his car failed technical inspection, and he was sidelined for the day. Geoff Brabham got out just before the 6 o'clock gun, and completed his run at 207.082 mph. Brabham was slowest car of the day, but ultimately he would hang on to make the field. After qualifying was concluded for the day, the cars of Raul Boesel and Dick Simon, both of the same team, were disqualified for a faulty pop-off valve fitting.
Second day - Sunday May 11 After missing out on a qualifying attempt on pole day, A. J. Foyt took to the track to qualify for his 29th career Indy 500. He posted the 5th fastest speed overall in the field, but since he was a second day qualifier, he lined up deep in the field.
Raul Boesel re-qualified his machine, after being disqualified a day earlier. At the close of the day, the field was filled to 28 cars.
Practice – Week 2 Rain delayed the opening of practice on Monday, May 12, and only 21 cars took laps Tuesday (May 13). Two-time winner Gordon Johncock planned to end a one-year retirement, and purchase a back-up car from Penske. However his funding fell through at the last minute, and he was forced to sit out the race.