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The 75th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 26, 1991. Rick Mears won from the pole position, becoming the third four-time winner of the Indy 500, joining A. J. Foyt and Al Unser. During time trials, Mears also established an Indy record by winning his sixth career pole position. The month of May for Mears was tumultuous, as he suffered his first ever crash at Indy since arriving as a rookie in 1977. The wreck during a practice run totaled his primary car, and injured his right foot. Mears later admitted that pain he was experiencing during the race was so bad, he had to cross his legs in the car and push the accelerator pedal down with his left foot. The race was noteworthy in that it featured the first African American driver to qualify for the Indy 500, Willy T. Ribbs. It also saw its first Japanese driver, Hiro Matsushita. The pre-race attention going into the month focused on A. J. Foyt, who was expected to retire from driving after the event. During time trials, Foyt qualified on the front row, his record 34th consecutive Indy appearance. On race day, however, he dropped out early due to suspension damage. He eventually retracted his retirement plans, and returned one final time in 1992. For the first time in Indy history, four members of the same family qualified for the same race. Mario, Michael, Jeff, and John Andretti competed together. Michael, Mario and John all finished in the top ten, while Jeff was named the Rookie of the Year. The race was sanctioned by USAC, and was included as part of the 1991 CART PPG Indy Car World Series. Morning rain delayed the start of the race by about an hour. The rain stopped, the track was dried, and the race was run to its full scheduled completion. Later in the year, Rick Mears would also win the Michigan 500, sweeping both 500-mile races for the season, the final two victories of his racing career. ==Background== A. J. Foyt suffered a crash at Road America in September 1990, which injured his legs and feet. Foyt went through rehab during the offseason, and planned to race at Indy one final time in 1991, then retire from driving. Few team/driver changes occurred during the off-season, and most of the key fixtures from 1990 remained on the same teams. Among the few changes, Danny Sullivan departed Penske Racing, and joined the Pat Patrick Alfa Romeo effort. Rick Mears' familiar Pennzoil Z-7 Special livery was gone for 1991, as the Penske team (Mears and Fittipaldi) became a two-car team with Marlboro sponsoring both cars. Doug Shierson Racing, who won the 1990 race with driver Arie Luyendyk, was sold to businessman Bob Tezak. The team was re-organized in a joint effort with Vince Granatelli, and re-booted as UNO/Granatelli Racing. The car's sponsor Domino's Pizza left the sport, and the livery was changed to the classic day-glow orange utilized by Granatelli entries over the years. Luyendyk's services were retained for 1991 (he won earlier in the season at Phoenix), and RCA sponsored the fledgling entry car at Indy. John Andretti joined the newly rebooted Hall-VDS team, taking over the Pennzoil sponsorship. Andretti kicked off the season by winning his first career CART race at the season opener, the Gold Coast Grand Prix at Surfers Paradise. Al Unser, Jr. and Bobby Rahal returned together at Galles/KRACO Racing. Unser, the 1990 CART champion, won at Long Beach. Rahal started off the season finishing second at all three of the races prior to Indianapolis. After sitting out the 1990 season due to injury, Scott Pruett was back behind the wheel at Truesports. The team introduced its brand new "All-American" Truesports 91C chassis, powered by Judd. For the second year in a row, veteran Geoff Brabham was entered at Indy only for a second team car. Derrick Walker, formerly associated with the Penske and Porsche teams, entered rookie Willy T. Ribbs at Walker Racing. On a shoestring budget, the team was considered a long-shot to make the field. 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「1991 Indianapolis 500」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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