Thirty years ago this weekend is the anniversary of the perhaps the greatest save in the history of auto racing. As we celebrate the start of the summer, we figured it would be fun to look back at a race that defined the best era of the Indy car circuit.
Danny Sullivan, who posted his only Indianapolis 500 win 30 years ago, became known around the sports world as the man that took on the great Mario Andretti and came out on top.
Here’s a brief synopsis of the race.
Sullivan went head-to-head with Andretti, who had already put up an Indy 500 win more than a decade before. However, Sullivan lost control of his Penske car making a pass, and spun out. In a ridiculous moment of either dumb luck or precision (depending on who you ask), Sullivan avoided crashing into both Andretti and the wall. His ability to spin and regain control of the car is, to this day, known as the Spin and Win. Nineteen laps later, Sullivan passed Andretti and led for the remainder of the race to give him his first and only Indy 500 win.
It remains one of the most famous moments in Indy race car history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7tuBeLL0wg
“Mario (Andretti) and I are reasonably good friends, but after that race, he didn’t speak to me for almost a year,” Sullivan later said about the 1985 Indy 500, via USA Today. “He was so annoyed. In a crowd, he’d shake everyone’s hand but mine. It irked him so much that he figured he had it won.”
For his part, Andretti thought “conservative gear selection” during the car’s set up let Sullivan pass him after the famous Spin and Win.
Here’s Sullivan looking back on that historic day.
We can only hope that this year’s auto racing version of the Super Bowl can give us some more great moments. However, it’s unlikely to even come close to living up to this instant classic.
Photo: motorsportretro.com