1995 Indianapolis 500

Results of the 1995 Indianapolis 500 held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 28, 1995.

Recap

For 1995, the rules loophole that allowed the pushrod Mercedes was closed. Neither Unser nor Fittipaldi qualified when their new Penske suffered from abnormal aerodynamic instability and refused to traverse the Speedway flat-out. The race began with a horrible turn one crash on the first lap that eliminated several cars and seriously injured Stan Fox. Early on in the race Jacques Villeneuve, unaware that he was the leader due to a series of pit stops, passed the pace car during a caution. Officials ruled a two-lap penalty for the infraction and Villeneuve dropped from contention. However, thanks to fortuitous timing of yellows and pit strategy, Villeneuve came back from two laps down to be in fourth position as the race neared crunch time. He was promoted to second when first Jimmy Vasser, and then Scott Pruett crashed out while trying to pass Scott Goodyear for the lead. On lap 190 Goodyear mis-timed the last restart and passed the pace car before it entered pit-road. Goodyear won on the road but was not scored after lap 195 because he failed to serve the black flag penalty in the pits. Villeneuve was the winner of his own "Indy 505".

Results

(W)=Winner, (R)=Rookie

*C Chassis: L=Lola, R=Reynard

*E Engine: B=Buick, F=Cosworth-Ford, H=Honda, M=Menard (Buick), MB=Ilmor-Mercedes-Benz

*T Tire: F=Firestone, G=Goodyear

Failed to qualify:

Notes

* Jacques Villeneuve incurred a two-lap penalty for passing the pacecar while in the lead. At the time, he did not realize he was in the lead, so passed the pacecar as a matter of course to allow the pacecar to catch the leader. Thanks to fortuitous timing of yellows and pit strategy, Villeneuve was able to recover both lost laps, and eventually win the race.
* Villeneuve was issued the 2-lap penalty on lap 50 but was back on the lead lap on lap 116 in spite of a green-flag pit stop on lap 79. He was running 3rd when penalized. Michael Andretti kissed the wall on lap 77 and Scott Goodyear stalled his car in the pits during an unscheduled stop on lap 80, giving Villeneuve one of his laps back. From there Villeneuve was able to carve his way through the field by stretching his fuel mileage on full tanks, then turning in the fastest race laps of the middle portions of the race as he was nearing his pit window. His one stroke of good luck was the caution flag that came out on lap 120, just as Villeneuve was about to pit under green again.
* On lap 190 Scott Goodyear (who was leading the field) mistimed the last restart and passed the pace car before it entered pit-road. He was given a black flag penalty, but he did not agree with it and so did not enter the pits to serve the penalty. Officials stopped scoring him after lap 195, which handed the race lead to fellow Canadian Jacques Villeneuve.
* Goodyear passed the pace car as it exited the Northwest (Fourth) Turn and the lights were still yellow. Goodyear stayed out on the track in spite of the black flag because his team mistakenly believed that Villeneuve's two-lap penalty had been revoked and there was a chance that USAC would do the same for Goodyear's infractions.
* On the first lap, Stan Fox had a large crash that also involved Lyn St. James, Eric Bachelart, Gil de Ferran, Carlos Guerrero, and Eddie Cheever, Jr.
* Both Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser, Jr., driving for Marlboro Penske, failed to qualify for the race despite being top competitors. Unser, Jr. was the defending champion, having won the 1994 Indy 500.
* This was Bobby Rahal's last Indianapolis 500. He finished 3rd after starting 21st.

Indy 500 Walker
Previous_race = 1994
Previous_winner = Al Unser Jr.
This_race = 1995
This_winner = Jacques Villeneuve
Next_race = 1996
Next_winner = Buddy Lazier