Watch: The Indy 500 at its unforgettable best, today in 1985

It's Not Race Week

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The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is replete with extraordinary racing tales. The Indianapolis 500 has produced many extraordinary races within the past decade, but for our latest instalment of It’s Not Race week we’re going to turn the lock back a little further.

The 1985 CART IndyCar season witnessed a changing of the guard. Racing veterans such as reigning champion Mario Andretti and Al Unser Snr faced a new threat from the likes of Danny Sullivan and Al Unser Jnr.

That year’s visit to Indianapolis saw the two sides collide in a memorable showdown between F1 champion Andretti and F1 refugee Sullivan. The latter spent a single, disappointing season on the grand prix scene with Tyrrell in 1983 but established himself well after changing codes and had landed a plum Penske drive for his second year in the States.

In a field almost entirely powered by Cosworths, Pancho Carter and Scott Brayton’s two Buick-powered entries headed the grid. But this race would be all about the battle between two other drivers: Andretti and Sullivan.

Enjoy the 1985 Indianapolis 500 below – or skip to the one-and-a-quarter hour mark to revisit the moment of peak drama which defined this race.

It’s Not Race Week presents: 1985 Indianapolis 500

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It’s Not Race Week

It’s Not Race Week is a new series from RaceFans promoting great races from the past you might have missed the first time around. It is one of several new features we are running as a result of the hiatus in the 2020 motorsport season.

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It’s Not Race Week

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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4 comments on “Watch: The Indy 500 at its unforgettable best, today in 1985”

  1. Sbinalla before it was funny..

  2. “Gentleman. Start your engines!”
    Goosebumps every time :-D

  3. Hour and a quarter mark? You’d miss Danny Sulivans spin (of spin to win) at 1:17. Start watching at 1:15!

    1. Not sure if serious…

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