The closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history, between Al Unser Jr. and Scott Goodyear in 1992, almost didn’t happen for a reason often forgotten – Goodyear didn’t qualify for the race.
Unser led by three-tenths of a second with four laps remaining, parrying Goodyear through the final lap.
Goodyear continued to draft Unser on the final lap, staying within two car lengths. But Unser’s Galles Racing Galmer/Chevrolet got slightly loose in Turn 4 on the final lap, and Goodyear pounced.
He pulled up to Unser’s gearbox on the front straight, with the checkered flag in the air. Goodyear darted out of the draft and to the inside but fell just a few feet short of Unser at the Yard of Bricks start-finish line.
The official margin of victory was .043 of a second – almost exactly half of the time span that bumped Scott Goodyear from the field just a week earlier – in the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history.
