by Jake Grubb.
Author’s Note: As the somber reality sinks in that racing icon Bobby Unser has left us in recent days, many standout events in his extraordinary life bear revisiting, not the least of which is his 3rd Indianapolis 500 win. With Indy victory number 3 at age 47, Unser was the oldest winning driver in Indy 500 history, one of only two drivers to win three times in three different decades (in the good company of Rick Mears) and one of only ten drivers in history to win 3 Indy 500s, period. And, incredibly, he was the only driver in Indianapolis 500 history to win the event, lose it, and win it again!
It would seem inconceivable that a final-lap checkered flag could not decide the winner of an Indianapolis 500 – the greatest motor race on earth. But in 1981 it actually happened – to Bobby Unser in the Penske PC-9B Norton-Spirit Indy Car.
Bobby Unser was first to receive the checkered flag in the 1981 Indy 500, but on the morning following the event, USAC sanctioning officials rescinded Unserʼs win and awarded it to Mario Andretti – who had followed Unser and whose car was the second to cross the finish line. Yet that was not the end of the story…
Events began two weeks before the race, when the turbocharged Cosworth DFX-powered Penske PC-9B, driven by Bobby Unser, set both the quickest Indy qualifying lap (201.342) and fastest 4-lap average (200.546) – earning pole position for the 1981 Indy 500. The Penske-Unser dominance continued on race day, with Bobby charging into the lead on lap 1 and ultimately leading 90 laps throughout the 200-lap race, always near the front, despite challenges from top drivers Johnny Rutherford, Rick Mears, Danny Ongais, Mario Andretti, Gordon Johncock and other notables.
Lap 149 however, saw a yellow-flag caution during which several cars pitted for fuel and tires, including Bobby Unser and Mario Andretti. As both drivers were in the process of leaving the pits toward re-entry to the racetrack, accounts describe Unser as passing 7-8 or more competitors under the yellow-flag condition, a rules violation. Andretti also passed at least two cars under the same condition, but possibly realizing his infraction, refrained from passing anymore cars and elected not to catch-up to Unser under the caution and risk a pass against yellow-flag rules.
As racing continued after the green flag was re-flown, Unser and Andretti dueled the final quarter of the 500, with Unser taking the win and Andretti finishing 2nd. Mario Andretti and his car owner filed a protest after the race, however, stating that Unserʼs win was invalid due to his passing of several cars while re-entering the track during a yellow-flag caution period on lap 150. Andrettiʼs protest was upheld by the USAC race sanctioning body, which penalized Unser ten laps for “passing ten cars while exiting the pit lane when the field was under a yellow caution flag.” This rendered Andretti the winner of the 1981 Indy 500 on a “passing-under-yellow” technicality. Roger Penske, Bobby Unserʼs car owner, immediately filed a counter-protest to the post-race USAC ruling, noting that Andretti made passes of the same type, under the same yellow-caution condition that Unser did (in addition to “judgement based” rules interpretations that Penske cited as having USAC inconsistency issues).
Over five months later on October 8th, based upon a 2-1 majority vote of its three-member Board, USAC reversed its post-race penalty ruling and reinstated Bobby Unser as the official winner of the 1981 Indianapolis 500, imposing a $45,000 fine for the passing infractions earlier noted. The unprecedented yellow-flag penalty controversy, in addition to multiple serious accidents during the ʼ81 Indy 500, overshadowed the stellar performances of the Penske PC-9B Norton Spirit Indy car, and Unserʼs extraordinary 3rd career Indy 500 victory at age 47 – both record-book car and driver accomplishments by any measure. Ironically, Andrettiʼs car owner, Pat Patrick, essentially concurred with the final USAC decision, commenting; “I think Bobby beat us fair and square, I just wish the penalty would have been enforced when the infraction occurred.” Unser himself largely attributed his win to the Penske PC-9B, stating; “I could have run a thousand miles out there today, thatʼs how good my car felt.”
The Penske PC-9B, a direct descendant of the Penske PC-6 that rocketed Tom Sneva to the first 200mph+ qualifying average in 1978, incorporated “ground effects” aerodynamics, developing prodigious tire grip and stability at speed. A refinement of the 1980 PC-9 “full ground effects” car, the PC-9B dominated USAC Indy car racing for 1981, spiriting Rick Mears to six wins and his second Champ/Indy Car title, in addition to Bobby Unserʼs ʼ81 Indy 500 win.
The lineage of the Penske PC-9B began with the March 751 Formula 1 car that the Penske team ran in 1975, was then modified and re-badged as the Penske “PC-4” in 1976, then skipped the PC-5 generation of 1977 (a McLaren M24-based design), and was morphed by genius designer Geoff Ferris into the Penske PC-6 Champ Car for the 1978 USAC racing season. As it turned out, 1978 through 1983 were halcyon years for Penske cars, including the PC-6, PC-7, PC-9, PC- 9B and PC-10 – driven to matchless successes in various events by Tom Sneva, Bobby Unser, then-up-and-coming driver Rick Mears and others. Mears reflects; “Today when we do vintage runs and look at the PC-6, that car was just ahead of its time.”
The milestones speak for themselves: Tom Sneva was the first to qualify at 200+mph in the PC-6, Rick Mears won the USAC 1979 Championship in a PC-6, Bobby Unser won the 1981 Indy 500 in the PC-9B and Mears earned his 2nd Champ Car season title in 1981, in the PC-9B.
The Bobby Unser-driven Penske PC-9B in this article, restored to its 1981 Indy 500 winning configuration, was re-united with Bobby Unser in June 2014 at the inaugural Vintage Indy Invitational at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There, he joyfully lapped the Speedway once again, in the car that bore him his 3rd and final Indianapolis 500 victory.
Although Roger Penske built a replica of this car that resides in the Penske museum in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Penske PC-9B shown here is the actual 1981 Indy 500 winning car, previously owned by Bobby Unser himself and purchased at the Barrett-Jackson auction by collector/vintage racer Tom Malloy in December 1998. The car was race-prepared for the 2014 Indianapolis run by Malloy crew chief Marc Hart, to the highest standard. The accompanying video of Bobby Unser’s 2014 celebration laps in his beloved ’81 Indy-winning Penske PC-9B betrays an undisclosed speed that radically broke the 120 mph speed limit set that day by Indianapolis Motor Speedway Management. A careful study of the video will note Unser giving the start/finish flagman a friendly little wave of thanks as he completes his run. Estimated straightaway speed: 180mph+. When asked about it, Unser replied in his classic drawl; “weeellllll, sometimes you just gotta drive a car the way its meant to be driven.” He was 80 years of age.
