1983 Michigan 500

By 1983, the Michigan 500 was established as the second most significant race on the Indy car schedule behind the Indianapolis 500.[2]

On March 8, 1983, Domino's Pizza announced they would offer a one million dollar bonus to any driver who could win IndyCar's Triple Crown of 500 Mile Races: The Indianapolis 500, Michigan 500, and Pocono 500. In 1982, Gordon Johncock won Indianapolis and Michigan before breaking a gearbox while running second at Pocono. If no driver won all three races, Dominos would award a $10,000 prize to the driver that scored the most points in the three races.[3]

Tom Sneva won the 1983 Indianapolis 500 and entered the Michigan 500 with his chances for the Triple Crown Million Dollar Bonus still intact.

At Indianapolis, Johnny Rutherford suffered broken bones in his right ankle and left foot in a practice crash. He chose to skip the Michigan 500 to further recuperate.  A. J. Foyt chose to skip the Michigan 500 to prepare for the Pocono 500 and focus on his NASCAR program. Foyt suffered two major crashes in the last two years at the Michigan 500. Desire Wilson suffered a broken ankle in a sports car crash which forced her to miss Michigan. Geoff Brabham served as a substitute for Wilson.[4]

After sponsoring the event for the first two years, Norton chose to drop out of Indy car racing and drop their sponsorship of the Michigan 500.[5]

On Wednesday, July 13, Teo Fabi led the opening day of practice with a speed of 199.778 mph. Don Whittington was second fastest with a speed of 199.463 mph. Rick Mears was third at 199.236 mph. Kevin Cogan and Gordon Johncock rounded out the top-five.[6] Speeds were slower than the 1982 Michigan 500 after CART banned ground-effects on race cars. Mario Andretti was unable to practice as he waited for a new Lola chassis to be delivered from England.[7]

Thursday's qualifying session was led by Teo Fabi who backed up his pole in the Indianapolis 500 by winning the pole for the Michigan 500. The 28 year-old Italian rookie ran a speed of 202.128 mph. Don Whittington qualified second for the second consecutive year at 201.822 mph. Tom Sneva qualified on the outside of the front row at 201.506 mph.[8]

Friday's final day of qualifying was led by Tom Bigelow with a speed of 190.683 mph. Five additional cars filled the field.[9]

The start of the race was delayed two hours by severe thunderstorms, with a tornado touching down five miles from the track. A 64-year-old woman suffered a severe heart attack and died while exiting the grandstands during the storm.[10] Eight additional spectators were injured when the storm blew a wooden sun canopy for an NBC television camera off the roof of the main grandstands. Four were hospitalized and four were treated at the track. Those hospitalized were released later that night.[11]

The CEO of Domino's Pizza, Tom Monaghan was Grand marshal for the race and gave the command to start engines.

Teo Fabi led the field into turn one but was passed by Don Whittington on the outside and Gordon Johncock on the inside in turn two. Tom Sneva passed Fabi on the backstretch to drop the polesitter to fourth. Whittington led the first lap by inches over Johncock. Entering turn one on lap two, Sneva made it three wide and passed both cars to take the lead. Johncock repassed Sneva entering turn one on lap three and led the next seven laps. The first caution came out when Tom Bigelow's car started smoking.[12]

The second caution came out on lap 19 when Howdy Holmes lost a right front wheel and impacted the turn one wall with the right side of his car.

Gordon Johncock led 35 of the first 73 laps but crashed while running second on lap 75 when his left-rear CV joint broke in turn three. Third-place Kevin Cogan was unable to avoid the spinning Johncock and both cars hit the wall. Patrick Bedard spun in avoidance and was clipped by Tom Sneva. Sneva's chances for the one million dollar triple crown bonus ended when he retired due to a broken suspension. Johncock was hospitalized with a badly broken right ankle, broken left foot, and broken right kneecap. He underwent surgery later that afternoon at Foote Memorial Hospital.

On lap 126, Al Unser Jr. ran out of fuel while leading and stopped on the backstretch. Unser lost two laps while he was towed back to the pits.[13]

Mears pitted for the final time on lap 197 and attempted to stretch his fuel for the final 53 laps.[14]

With 12 laps remaining, Mears passed Unser for the lead. John Paul Jr. passed Unser two laps later for second.

As the cars entered the last lap, Mears held a slim lead over Paul. As Mears exited turn two he caught the lapped car of Chris Kneifel and was slowed. Paul passed Mears entering turn three with a very shallow entry into the corner. Mears pulled in behind Paul but lost control in turn three, spun 360 degrees and hit the outside wall. Kneifel lost control and drove directly into Mears's car. Paul drove to the finish and earned $104,467 for the victory. It was only his fourth Indy car start. 12 cautions slowed the race with 85 of the 250 laps were run behind the pace car. Only 12 of the 33 started were running at the finish.[15]

Paul Jr. was unaware that he was the race winner until he returned to pit road. "I thought (Little Al) was leading the race. He was a little ahead of me in the rookie standings, so I was really just going for position. I was just going to pull into the pits, but they told me to go to the winner's circle. I didn't really know what was going on."[16]

Mears was hospitalized overnight with a possible concussion. Kneifel was taken to the hospital for observation of leg injuries but released that night.[17]

The Michigan 500 was broadcast on television by NBC. Paul Page was the lead announcer and was joined by Johnny Rutherford and Bobby Unser as color commentators. Gary Gerould and Bruce Jenner served as pit reporters.[18]

The radio broadcast was anchored by Chris McClure with Desire Wilson providing color commentary. Gary Lee, Bill Hennecy, and Jerry Gappens reported from pit road.[19]