After leading for almost the entire second half of the race, a transmission problem caused Bobby Unser to slow down, enabling his young Penske teammate, Rick Mears, to take over and win.

Competing in the “500” for only the second time, Mears had started from the pole by thwarting the attempt of former teammate Tom Sneva at becoming the first ever to win the pole for a third consecutive year. Sneva started second.

A huge ovation erupted at the finish when four-time winner A.J. Foyt, whose engine had expired on the final lap, managed to roll over the line at a bare crawl to salvage second by less than three seconds over Mike Mosley.

For the first time in over 45 years, a field of greater than 33 cars lined up, 35 being permitted to start following a dispute over technical interpretations during qualifications. And use of the pace car for the purpose of “packing up the field” during caution periods, long since employed at other tracks, was put into practice during an Indianapolis 500 for the first time.