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The 72nd Indianapolis 500 was held Sunday May 29, 1988 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Team Penske dominated the month, sweeping the top three starting positions with Rick Mears winning the pole position, Danny Sullivan at the center of the front row, and Al Unser, Sr. on the outside. Mears set a new track record, becoming the first driver to break the 220 mph barrier in time trials. On race day, the Penske teammates proceeded to lead 192 of the 200 laps, with Rick Mears taking the checkered flag, his third-career Indy 500 victory. The race represented the milestone 50th victory in Championship car racing for owner Roger Penske and Penske Racing.〔(Penske Racing 100 wins statistics )〕 The victory was the first of six consecutive Indy 500 wins by the Chevy Indy V-8 engine, and seven overall by Ilmor-constructed powerplants. The victory also marked a triumphant return of success for the Penske chassis (in this case the PC-17), after dismal results in 1987 (PC-16), and sparse use in the previous four seasons. The race was the third event of the 1988 CART/PPG Indycar World Series, and was sanctioned by USAC. ==Background== Defending champion Al Unser, Sr. returned to Penske to join a three-car effort with Rick Mears and Danny Sullivan. After a dismal go around with the PC-16 ('87), Penske introduced the brand-new PC-17 ('88), with promise. Mears and Sullivan, respectively won the pole positions for the first two races of the CART season. For the third year, Penske was fielding the Chevy Ilmor Indy V-8 engine. Back-to-back defending CART champion, and 1986 Indy winner Bobby Rahal returned for his last season at Truesports. However, the team dropped Cosworth DFX and the took up development of the Judd AV engine. The engine was known to be down on horsepower, but excelled in fuel mileage and reliability, particularly in the 500-mile races. Among the other changes included Al Unser, Jr., who left Shierson and re-joined Galles, who was now sporting the Ilmor Chevy. Raul Boesel took his place in the #30 Dominos Pizza entry. During a tire test session in September 1987, Roberto Guerrero suffered a crash, and a serious head injury. After a lengthy recovery, Guerrero was back in the cockpit for 1988. Jim Crawford, who suffered serious leg injuries during time trials in 1987, also returned, signing with King Racing. Billy Vukovich III, son of Bill Vukovich II, and grandson of two-time winner Bill Vukovich, would become the first third-generation driver in Indy history. Many of the cars in the field were sporting the chrome wheel disc inserts, giving the 1988 month of May a unique visual appearance. After becoming famous for being "first in line" at the Indy 500 from 1950-1987, longtime fan Larry Bisceglia of Chicago, and later from Phoenix, fell ill and missed the 1988 race. With failing health, he died December 7, 1988. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1988 Indianapolis 500」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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