2002 Indianapolis 500

The 86th Indianapolis 500-mile (800 km) race was held at the

Rookie Tomas Scheckter led 85 laps, and appeared on his way to a possible victory, which would have marked the third consecutive Indy win for a first-year driver. However, Scheckter crashed on the front stretch while leading with only 27 laps to go. Hélio Castroneves, who also won the 2001 running became the fifth driver in Indy 500 history to win back-to-back races. It was his second of four Indy 500 victories. It is largely considered one of the most controversial races in Indy history.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

On the 199th lap, second place

About 7.46 inches of rain fell during the month of May,[10] considerably interrupting the on-track activities. The second day of time trials was completely washed out, while Bump Day was cut short due to rain. Likewise, six of the ten practice days were either delayed by moisture or halted due to rain showers. Uncomfortably cold temperatures also were observed during most of the month. Private testing and rookie orientation in April was also hampered several times due to rain and cold temperatures. Race day, however, was sunny, warm, and clear.

Background

During the off-season, several

During the spring, the asphalt pavement at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway underwent a diamond grinding in an effort to smooth out several bumps.^[11] In April, the new SAFER barrier was retrofitted to the retaining walls in the turns at the Speedway. It marked the first installation of the revolutionary-new energy-absorbing technology at an American superspeedway.^[12]

Rule changes

For the 2002 race, all pit crew members that work over the wall must wear approved helmets. This requirement was in response to a succession of accidents and injuries (particularly head injuries) involving pit crew members in series sanctioned by members of ACCUS (NASCAR, IMSA, SCCA, NHRA, CART, IRL). Many pit crews in the series had already been utilizing optional helmets since about 1999, after Steve Fried, the crew chief for Robby McGehee was critically injured in a pit accident. The accident put Freid in a coma for several weeks.

Prior to 2002, it was only required that the crew member operating the fuel rig was to wear a helmet. It was to protect from fire in case of a fuel spill, and protect him in case he lost his balance. His position between the front and rear axles was deemed particularly precarious. The tire changers did not wear helmets, despite the fact that they were more exposed and vulnerable to injury from other cars entering and exiting the pit lane.

The standardized font car numbers (black numerals on a white box) used from 1999 to 2001 were scrapped. Teams were permitted to utilize any color/font for car numbers decals, provided they were sufficiently visible. Car number decal placement locations were also adjusted. The required car number locations were to be one on the nose, and one on each of the rear wing vertical panels (right & left).

Race schedule

Practice and time trials

Practice – week 1

On opening day, Robby McGehee became the first driver to crash into the newly installed SAFER barrier.^[13][14] Scott Sharp and Hélio Castroneves led the speed chart.^[13]

During the first week of practice, rain delayed the start of track activity on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Several hours of practice time were lost, with over 2 inches (51 mm) of rain falling in those four days.^[13]

Crashes involving

The top of the speed chart changed widely over each day, with no driver atop the leaderboard more than twice all month. Speeds flirted with the 230 mph (370 km/h) barrier for the first time since 1996. Bruno Junqueira finally cracked 230 mph (370 km/h) around 3:30 p.m. on Friday May 10.^[13]

Pole Day time trials – Saturday May 11

Three days of time trials were scheduled for 2002. On pole day May 11,

Defending champion Hélio Castroneves managed only 13th starting position, while veteran Michael Andretti was the second slowest of the day at 226.780 mph (364.967 km/h).

The second day of time trials, scheduled for May 12, was rained out. All remaining time trials were shifted to bump day, May 19.

Practice – week 2

During the second week of practice, three additional days were delayed or halted by rain. Paul Tracy returned to the track late in the week, in preparation to qualify on the second weekend.

Bump Day time trials – Sunday May 19

On bump day, nine spots remained open in the field.

were left waiting in the qualifying line.

Starting grid

Row	Inside	Middle	Outside
1	33 - Bruno Junqueira	24 - Robbie Buhl	2 - Raul Boesel
2	21 - Felipe Giaffone	17 - Tony Kanaan  R	51 - Eddie Cheever  W
3	4 - Sam Hornish Jr.	8 - Scott Sharp	23 - Sarah Fisher
4	52 - Tomas Scheckter  R	31 - Robby Gordon	7 - Al Unser Jr.  W
5	3 - Hélio Castroneves  W	6 - Gil de Ferran	9 - Jeff Ward
6	Laurent Rédon  R	5 - Rick Treadway  R	53 - Max Papis  R
7	19 - Jimmy Vasser	91 - Buddy Lazier  W	22 - Kenny Bräck  W
8	20 - Richie Hearn	98 - Billy Boat	55 - Arie Luyendyk  W
9	39 - Michael Andretti	Alex Barron  R	12 - Shigeaki Hattori  R
10	27 - Dario Franchitti  R	26 - Paul Tracy	14 - Airton Daré
11	11 - Greg Ray	30 - George Mack  R	99 - Mark Dismore

Failed to qualify

• #10 Robby McGehee – Waved off
• #15 Oriol Servià  R  – Waved off
• #16 Jon Herb – Failed to make an attempt during qualifying
• #32 Johnny Herbert  R  – (Replaced by Memo Gidley, Withdrew)
• #37 John de Vries – (replaced by Scott Harrington)
• #37 Scott Harrington – Waved off
• #81 Billy Roe – Bumped
• #99
  Anthony Lazzaro
   R  - (Replaced by Jimmy Kite)
• #99 Jimmy Kite – Stalled during qualifying attempt (Replaced by Mark Dismore)

Carb Day

On Thursday May 23, the final practice session was held. Indy rookie

Start

After a month plagued by constant rain, race day saw clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid 70s (°F).

At the start, polesitter Bruno Junqueira took the lead and led the first 32 laps. A record-setting pace early on saw 29 laps completed before the first yellow. Greg Ray brought out the first caution with a crash in turn 1^[15] Junqueira and the rest of the leaders pitted, but he stalled exiting the pits, giving the lead over to rookie Tomas Scheckter.

Mid race

A sequence of pit stops around the 65th lap shuffled the leaderboard. Indy rookie Tony Kanaan took over the lead on lap 70. On lap 78, Sam Hornish Jr. brushed the wall, damaging his suspension. He drove the car to the pits for repairs. Three laps later, while the leaders pitted, fifth place Robby Gordon suffered a large fire and explosion in his pit stall. The explosion blew the top off the pit-side fuel tank. Gordon was uninjured, and the car was able to continue.^[13]

On lap 90, with Kanaan still leading, Jimmy Vasser and Bruno Junqueira both slowed with mechanical problems. An oil leak on the track went unnoticed, and leader Kanaan spun in the oil, crashing into turn 3. Rick Treadway also became involved in the incident.^[15]

Scheckter resumed the lead after Kanaan dropped out. Meanwhile, Sam Hornish Jr. returned to the track, albeit several laps down.^[15]

Second half

With as many as 13 cars on the lead lap, a very long stretch of green flag racing commenced. Two sequences of green-flag pit stops shuffled the lead among

On lap 173, after leading 85 laps during the race, leader Tomas Scheckter slid high in turn four and crashed against the wall down the frontstretch.^[13] Under the yellow, the leaders pitted. Exiting the pits, Gil de Ferran lost a wheel that was not secured, and fell out of contention. Gambling on fuel, Hélio Castroneves stayed out and took over the lead.^[16]

On lap 181, the green flag came back out with Castroneves leading, and Felipe Giaffone running second.^[13][17] The lapped car of Dario Franchitti slipped by to get in front of the field. Franchitti's car was painted nearly identical to Tracy's,^[18] and caused some confusion/misidentification by announcers. With ten laps to go, Castroneves still led Giaffone, with Paul Tracy charging into third.^[17] Castroneves was starting to run low on fuel, and his pace started to slow. Giaffone closed within a half-second.^[13]

With less than 3 laps to go, Giaffone dove below Castroneves, attempting to take the lead.^[13] The lapped car of Franchitti pulled alongside Castroneves, effectively blocking Giaffone. Castroneves held off the challenge, and third place Paul Tracy managed to move past Giaffone for second.^[13] Giaffone later complained that Franchitti was unfairly blocking to help his teammate Tracy.^[19] With 2 laps to go, Castroneves led Tracy by only 0.22 seconds at the start/finish line.^[13] Down the backstretch, Tracy started to move to the outside, in an attempt to make a pass for the lead. While they were approaching turn 3, a crash occurred on a different part of the track.

The lapped car of rookie Laurent Redon got loose in turn 1, allowing Buddy Lazier (running in 8th place) to dive below him in turn 2. Redon came down on Lazier, the two cars touched, and both crashed hard into the outside wall exiting turn 2.^[13] At the same time the crash occurred in turn 2, Tracy and Castroneves were almost side-by-side in turn three. A yellow flag came out for the crash, and Tracy completed the pass. Castroneves backed off the throttle,^[9] which allowed Giaffone to pass him, as well as the lapped car of Sam Hornish Jr. Many believed at the time that Castroneves had run out of fuel, or was nearly out of fuel, and thought that was the reason he suddenly had slowed down.^[9][19] Castroneves claims that he saw the yellow light illuminate on his dashboard, and thinking at first it was the fuel light, and he reacted by letting off.^[6]

Believing he had just taken the lead with one lap to go, Tracy proclaimed on his two-way radio "Yeah baby!".^[19][20] Barry Green soon responded "there's a problem."^[20] Officials in race control, led by Brian Barnhart, stated that Castroneves was the leader.^[9]

On the final lap, Tracy, Giaffone, and the lapped car of Hornish, had broken away,

Despite the concern for fuel, and after running 42 laps since his last pit stop,[13]^[16] Castroneves completed his victory lap, and had 1 gallon of fuel remaining in the tank.^[9]

Box score

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Status	Entrant
1	13	3	Hélio Castroneves  W	229.052	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	3:00:10.8714	Team Penske
2	29	26	Paul Tracy	228.006	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	(−)19.4404	Team Green
3	4	21	Felipe Giaffone	230.326	G-Force	Chevrolet	200	(−)18.2114	Mo Nunn Racing
4	26	44	Alex Barron  R	228.580	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	+1.4037	Blair Racing
5	6	51	Eddie Cheever  W	229.786	Dallara	Infiniti	200	+2.4549	Team Cheever
6	22	20	Richie Hearn	227.233	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	+3.2022	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
7	25	39	Michael Andretti	228.713	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	+3.5895	Team Green
8	11	31	Robby Gordon	229.127	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	+6.1206	Team Menard
9	15	9	Jeff Ward	228.557	G-Force	Chevrolet	200	+7.5654	Chip Ganassi Racing
10	14	6	Gil de Ferran	228.671	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	+28.5425	Team Penske
11	21	22	Kenny Bräck  W	227.240	G-Force	Chevrolet	200	+32.8195	Chip Ganassi Racing
12	12	7	Al Unser Jr.  W	229.058	Dallara	Chevrolet	199	Running	Kelley Racing
13	30	14	Airton Daré	227.760	Dallara	Chevrolet	199	Running	A. J. Foyt Enterprises
14	24	55	Arie Luyendyk  W	228.848	G-Force	Chevrolet	199	Running	Treadway Racing
15	20	91	Buddy Lazier  W	227.495	Dallara	Chevrolet	198	Accident	Hemelgarn Racing
16	2	24	Robbie Buhl	231.033	G-Force	Infiniti	198	Running	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
17	32	30	George Mack  R	227.150	G-Force	Chevrolet	198	Running	310 Racing
18	23	98	Billy Boat	226.589	Dallara	Chevrolet	198	Running	CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports
19	28	27	Dario Franchitti  R	228.177	Dallara	Chevrolet	197	Running	Team Green
20	27	12	Shigeaki Hattori  R	228.192	Dallara	Infiniti	197	Engine	Bradley Motorsports
21	3	2	Raul Boesel	230.613	Dallara	Chevrolet	197	Running	Team Menard
22	16	34	Laurent Rédon  R	228.106	Dallara	Infiniti	196	Accident	Conquest Racing
23	18	53	Max Papis  R	227.941	Dallara	Infiniti	196	Running	Team Cheever
24	9	23	Sarah Fisher	229.439	G-Force	Infiniti	196	Running	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
25	7	4	Sam Hornish Jr.	229.585	Dallara	Chevrolet	186	Running	Panther Racing
26	10	52	Tomas Scheckter  R	229.210	Dallara	Infiniti	172	Accident	Team Cheever
27	8	8	Scott Sharp	229.486	Dallara	Chevrolet	137	Engine	Kelley Racing
28	5	17	Tony Kanaan  R	230.253	G-Force	Chevrolet	89	Accident	Mo Nunn Racing
29	17	5	Rick Treadway  R	228.039	G-Force	Chevrolet	88	Accident	Treadway Racing
30	19	19	Jimmy Vasser	227.743	Dallara	Chevrolet	87	Gearbox	Team Rahal
31	1	33	Bruno Junqueira	231.342	G-Force	Chevrolet	87	Gearbox	Chip Ganassi Racing
32	33	99	Mark Dismore	227.096	Dallara	Chevrolet	58	Handling	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
33	31	11	Greg Ray	227.155	Dallara	Chevrolet	28	Accident	A. J. Foyt Enterprises

•  W  – Former Indianapolis 500 winner
•  R  – Indianapolis 500 rookie
• Tires – All cars utilized Firestone tires.

Race statistics

Controversy

Initial confusion

In the immediate aftermath of the race, confusion reigned among the competitors, broadcasters, and fans. Brian Barnhart, in Race Control, made the initial call at the moment, stating "yellow, yellow, yellow, three is your leader" ("three" being Castroneves car number) over the director's radio channel, and such was repeated by his assistant Mel Harder over the teams' race control radio channel.^[9] Harder was in charge of activating the yellow lights around the track, and the in-car dashboard yellow light system.^[9]

On the television broadcast, commentator Paul Page erroneously stated that Castroneves was the leader because the scoring "reverted back to the previous lap."^[19] Such rules are used if electronic transponder-based scoring with multiple timing loops was not used, as in the past, but since the advent of transponder-based scoring, the rule has generally been instead of the last completed lap, but the last timing loop the car crossed at the point of caution. Page also, on at least one occasion, misidentified Dario Franchitti's car as that of Tracy's (the two cars had identical liveries).^[19] ABC waited over 14 minutes before they showed a replay of the pass or the crash.^[23] However, ABC did air split-screen footage clearly showing the crash occurred before the pass.^[23] The footage, however, did not show conclusive evidence of when the yellow light came on. However, TV analyst Scott Goodyear was convinced that Helio won the race, referencing his loss of the 500 in 1995 where he figured out that post-race appeals were rarely accepted.

On the live radio broadcast Mike King announced that "race control said the pass would not count."^[24] Donald Davidson echoed the same erroneous information that the scoring reverted to the previous lap (though it was last completed loop prior to caution), and added that the cars did not race back to the yellow, as was the policy in NASCAR at the time (the rule was changed in September 2003, when the practice was banned and scoring reverts to the last scoring loop crossed before the caution was called, except in the final lap or a caution that ends a race because of weather or darkness, when it reverts to video replays).^[24] A similar controversy took place at the 2019 INDYCAR Portland road course event at the start when a massive crash at the opening chicane caused 11 laps of caution as officials could not determine positions based on video evidence. Officials decided for the 2020 season that scoring reverts to the last loop crossed when a caution occurs. ^[25]

In the pits, Barry Green immediately challenged the decision. He told Tracy over the two-way radio that there was "a problem,"

Meanwhile, Castroneves stated the yellow had come out before the pass was made. "The only reason he passed me, it's because the yellow came on, and I lifted off. I cannot feel sorry for Paul Tracy."^[6][13] Other drivers had different opinion. Eddie Cheever called the finish "confusing."^[13] Dario Franchitti, Tracy's teammate, said that "Paul (Tracy) had passed (Castroneves) on the outside before the yellow came out."^[3][13] Mario Andretti, however, spoke with Tracy after the race, and said that Tracy was "more concerned with keeping an eye on Castroneves' car" than watching the yellow lights.^[3]

Protest

Official results were posted five hours after the race, with

• At the last scoring antenna (entrance of turn 3) before the caution; margin was 0.0371 seconds[21]
• At the time of the accident of Redon and Lazier in turn 2
• At the time that race official Brian Barnhart made the radio call for a caution
• At the time that the dashboard caution lights were activated

In rejecting the protest, Barnhart stated that "

Penske Racing's primary defense concentrated on their interpretations of the IRL rulebook. They stated that at the commencement of a yellow caution period, the positioning of the cars is a judgement call made quickly by the officials.[9] They also stated that the ruling of a car passing another car under a caution period is specifically listed as not protestable or appealable under the existing rules.^[9]

On July 2, 2002, Tony George issued an 18-page decision on the appeal.^[9] He upheld the victory of Hélio Castroneves, and denied Team Green's appeal. In his decision, George stated that "Clearly Helio (Castroneves) was in front when the call (for the yellow) was made" and that several of the caution signals, including trackside and dashboard lights, a radio announcement and a flag closing the pits, were displayed before Tracy's pass. George also accepted Penske's arguments that, even if Tracy was ahead before the caution, the decision to call Castroneves the leader was an unappealable judgment call.

Aftermath

After the decision was rendered, the reaction among fans, media, and competitors was split largely along party lines.

With Tracy officially relegated to second finishing position, he ultimately failed to break a 91-year-old record that dated back to the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911. Tracy had started 29th, and had he won the race, would have set the record for the lowest starting position by the race winner. It also would have been a post-WWII record for lowest starting position for a winner in any Indy car race. The all-time record was set by Ray Harroun in 1911 (and subsequently tied by Louis Meyer in 1936) by winning the Indianapolis 500 from the 28th starting position. Tracy also missed out on matching the record of fewest laps led by an Indy 500 champion, as he would have led only the final two laps of the race (the previous fewest was in 1912 with only 2 laps led); Dan Wheldon would take the record in 2011 with only one lap led.

Starting with the next IndyCar Series telecast, ABC/ESPN experimented with a new on-screen graphic displaying a yellow banner or yellow symbol the instant a caution period commenced. The system was tied to official race control, and was utilized to avoid confusion about yellow-light conditions, similar to the graphic that had been deployed by Fox, FX, NBC, and TNT for their NASCAR telecasts beginning in 2001.

A few weeks after the decision, Barry Green announced he was selling his share of Team Green to Michael Andretti, and would be taking a sabbatical from the sport. He reportedly had spent over $100,000 on legal expenses.^[5] Paul Tracy finished out a mediocre CART season with Green, and left the team at season's end. He won one race, and was voted the 2002 CART Most Popular Driver. During his acceptance speech, he thanked Tony George for helping him win the award, and added that the dispute strengthened his fanbase. "Since that whole disaster, I've become a fan favorite. I guess this is like my Borg-Warner Trophy."^[28]

With CART facing financial trouble at season's end, Michael Andretti took the team, then called Andretti Green Racing and now

INDYCAR played off the controversy when Tracy won at the Speedway in 2016 at the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational Pro-Am, a race featuring amateur drivers paired with Indianapolis Motor Speedway racers, with the headline "Tracy finally gets to drink milk" upon his first career win at the Speedway.^[33]

Broadcasting

Radio

The race was carried live on the Indy Racing Radio Network. The network celebrated its 50th anniversary covering the Indianapolis 500. Mike King served as chief announcer. Johnny Rutherford served as "driver expert" for the 13th and final time.

The 2002 race saw all four turn reporters return to their assigned posts from the previous year. Kim Morris and Adam Alexander returned as pit reporters, but Mike Lewis departed and newcomer Jim Murphy took his place.

Guests in the booth included Kurt Ritter (Chevrolet), John F. Fielder (BorgWarner), and pace car driver Jim Caviezel.

Television

The race was carried live flag-to-flag coverage in the United States on

Gone from the broadcast were Al Michaels and Leslie Gudel, but returning was Gary Gerould.

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2002 Indianapolis 500.

• 
  2002 winning car
• 
  2002 Chevrolet Corvette pace car

Notes

References

Works cited

• 2002 Indianapolis 500 Daily Trackside Report for the Media
• Indianapolis 500 History: Race & All-Time Stats - Official Site
• Indy 500 Capsule