Full Race Broadcast: 1973 Indianapolis 500

It was 50 years ago that a month of dreadful weather and a series of serious accidents forced the running of the 1973 Indianapolis 500 into a third day, and even then it had to be called to a halt after only 332.5 miles.

The subsequent victory by Gordon Johncock was bittersweet for several reasons, not the least of which being that his own teammate, Swede Savage, suffered terrible injuries in an accident and was to succumb 33 days later.

Huge bolt-on rear wings had enabled speeds to skyrocket by an unbelievable 30 mph over a period of just three years, and pole-sitter Johnny Rutherford came within a blink of an eye of recording the Speedway’s first-ever 200-mph lap, with one at 199.071 mph during qualifying.

[MrNoneofthisisreal]

In 1973 I worked there with Gerhardt Racers. Our driver was Mike Hiss. He had been the Rookie of the year in 1972. It was during the transition between old small teams and the new Superteams. Corporate money was transitioning the teams from three or four guys to dozens, and now hundreds! I worked 80 hours a week for slave wages. Penske was paying people living wages with benefits. Mechanics from the fifties and sixties were amazed.
Between the deaths of Art Pollard, Armando Tehran and of course Swede, the charm of racing disappeared for me. Well, for years.
TV had me thinking that AJ was a jerk. Completely wrong. He may have been rude to journalists, but he was held in great respect by all the mechanics. He joined me at my table at the Speedway Cafe. Called me a penguin. I was starstruck. Still am.
The magazines insulted Frankie Delroy. I met him. He was pretty nice to a random 19 year old kid. They were wrong, again.

Old man telling stories. R

[indianabp]

I'd never thought we would see the full ABC broadcast of 73 uploaded on here. Hoping eventually we get the '72 and '76 race broadcasts... Thank you IMS

[imrustyokay]

1973 was a tragic Month of May. Not just the weather, but all the tragedies, but it does deserve to be remembered, because this was the race that was really the beginning of a safety revolution at Indy. The flag-stand at Indy was built after this race, the Pit Wall was made wider, new rules were put in place for safety vehicles and pit sign carriers to prevent another tragedy like what happened with Armando Terran, and there were changes to the car, from the wings being changed and the fuel tanks were made smaller. A shame it took 3 lives being taken from the racing world to get that started.

64-40-60

[RandysRacingPlace]

Finally, a non-ESPN Classic version of this very tragic race! Now, if we can get the original telecasts of the 1972 & 1976 500s, we'll be all good! 😊☺️🙂👍

[nitromemories]

This was my 10th Indianapolis 5OO and I was 18 at the time. I was 8 when I witnessed the Sachs/McDonald incident, but was too young to understand the terrible cost exacted by the sport. By 1973 I was mature enough to comprehend the horrible human toll inflicted by this spectacle. My Dad and I both thought that we were finished with racing, but here I am, all these later, still going every year and have only missed the 2020 race. As a side note, despite what was reported during the broadcast, this was not the shortest Indianapolis 500 up until this point. The 6th International Sweepstakes Race (as it was known at the time) in 1916 was scheduled for 300 miles in order to make the race shorter and thus make it more appealing to spectators. There was also the consideration of fuel and rubber shortages as well as lack of European entries due to World War One. In fact, seven of the cars that participated in the 1916 race were owned and/or entered by the owners of the Indianapolis Speedway or speedway management in order to insure that a strong field was present. That race was won by Dario Resta and his riding mechanic Bob Dahnke, the FIRST Dario to win at Indianapolis!!!

[josephweiss]

I’ve been to 63 consecutive 500’s This was the one I was glad to leave when it finally was over 2:10:38

[gregv]

I was only 12 but who could ever forget this race and this day. Since finding it on YouTube ive watched it dozens of times. The comments below, by people much more knowledgeable than me, are extremely informative and fascinating. Its still rough to watch and listen to.

[CPez]

Jackie Stewart was not only a Full Time F1 Driver abs took time off for this to commentate, but he WON the Title THAT YEAR! Insane! Like Max Verstappen commentating today at the 500.

[Archjr]

‘73 may be one to forget, unfortunately, for Gordy… but ‘82 was the best for us all.

[frankdiaz]

Thanks for uploading this race. Such a tragic month. please upload some more full races. I really enjoyed all of the old commercials.

[TimRobinson-hcmt]

This and the '64 race were the saddest ones I ever saw I thought the race should have been stopped after the Savage crash but as they say the show must go on thanks for finding the full broadcast of this race it still kind of haunts me all these years later

[daxchamp]

Thank you for uploading. Hopefully there is a copy of the 1972 500 as well!

[MDCSWildcats]

Note that at 8:42, Steve Krisiloff (inside of row 3) has a puff of smoke suggesting a mechanical problem come off his car, causing it to lose power.

I believe that was a factor in the Walther crash.

[IanTheMotorsportsMan_YT]

The entire 1973 Month of May at Indy was just dark as a whole, unfortunately

[garyfan]

Andy Granatelli appearing in commercials for his own product. You'd never see a corporate CEO doing that today. They'd consider it to be below them.

[chuckhohenstein]

I was there for the first day, father took me for my 10th birthday, saw the Salt Walter crash scared the crap out of me

[TimRobinson-hcmt]

I really liked Jackie Stewart when he did the commentary for these races he really knew what he was talking about a real pro

[Woody]

Also as a U.K. resident seeing those classic American commercials is.. interesting to say the least

[marie_can_cook]

I was at this race with my soon to be stepfather. He was a cameraman for ABC and worked in the pits. He took me up to the press box and I got to sit in Howard Cosell's lap, met Jim McKay and Jackie Stewart. They were very kind to a shy 13 yr. old. My Mom met my stepfather at a hotel bar the year before. They married in 1974 and we moved to Jersey because my stepfather worked for ABC in NYC. I was very blessed to meet many wonderful people with my dad over the 40 yrs. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of dad, but no luck. I do have plenty of pictures. I also have Swede Savage's picture pin. God rest his soul. This sure brought back a lot of memories.

[jeroendesterke]

I met Andy's son, Vince at my 2018 exhibition at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale. I had no idea who he was but he came onto my booth when he saw my large original painting of Swede.
He told me all about that tragic day and how he'd given Armando a gopher's job, only for him to die. It still weighed heavily on him, he said.
Andy also said he had 40 gallons of the original dayglo STP paint - but without the catalyst. I wonder if was trying to sell it to me.
He died some years later.