1989 Indy 500 Revisited: Fittipaldi vs Unser Jr, Lap 199
Welcome to the Happy Hour Racing IndyCar Race Recap. The 2026 season is over, so between races we go back and pull apart one of the finishes that still gets argued about.
The Short Version
On May 28, 1989, Emerson Fittipaldi led 158 of the 200 laps at the Indianapolis 500 and still almost lost it. Al Unser Jr. ran him down in the last ten laps and took the lead on lap 196. Four laps later they touched wheels in Turn 3, Unser hit the wall, and Fittipaldi rode around under caution to win. Then Unser climbed out of a wrecked car and gave the guy who put him there a thumbs up. That is why this one still gets talked about 37 years later.
A Race That Was Not Supposed to Be Close
Fittipaldi was two years into his Indy car career after two Formula 1 world titles, driving the No. 20 Marlboro car for Patrick Racing. The chassis was a Penske PC-18 with an Ilmor Chevrolet in the back, and it was the best car at the Speedway that month. Rick Mears put a Penske on pole at 223.885 mph, but by lap 113 every Penske team car was out of the race. The customer car was the one left standing.
Fittipaldi took the lead on the opening lap and basically kept it. He ran in the 216 to 220 mph range, lapped the field down to a handful of cars, and at one point had Al Unser Jr. a lap down. From lap 65 to lap 128 there was not a single yellow. That is the kind of stretch where a dominant car just disappears up the road, and that is exactly what happened.
With 35 laps to go Fittipaldi was 15 seconds clear. On paper that race was finished.
The Yellow That Changed It
On lap 181 Tero Palmroth lost a tire in Turn 4 and brought out the sixth caution of the day. Fittipaldi came to pit road for a short fill of fuel. Unser stayed out, betting he had enough methanol to go the rest of the way.
Fittipaldi had built such a cushion that he still led the restart on lap 187, and he pulled back out to about three seconds. But Unser's car was lighter on fuel now, and once he cleared the lapped traffic in front of him he started taking big chunks out of that gap. By lap 193 he was a car length behind. On lap 194 the two of them nearly banged wheels working through slower cars. On lap 196 Unser went by in Turn 3 for the lead.
That is seven laps that turned a 15-second rout into a street fight.
Lap 199, Turn 3
Coming for the white flag, Unser caught slower cars again. Fittipaldi got a run down the back straight and pulled alongside on the inside. Neither one lifted. They went into Turn 3 side by side with a lapped car in the way and no room to sort it out.
Fittipaldi's car drifted up the track a few inches. Their wheels touched. Unser spun and hit the Turn 3 wall.
Both drivers have been consistent about it ever since. Fittipaldi said he was on the inside line and was not going to back off, and that when they touched wheels Unser went up. Unser put it even more simply: traffic caught him going into Turn 3 as they came around for the white flag, and only one of them was going to come out of that corner. It was not him.
The yellow came out and Fittipaldi circled the last lap at pace-car speed to take his first Indianapolis 500. Unser was credited with second on 198 laps. Raul Boesel finished third, six laps down. Mario Andretti was fourth and A.J. Foyt fifth.
The Thumbs Up
Here is the part that made it legend instead of just a wreck. Unser got out of the car unhurt and walked to the edge of the track, angry, ready to let Fittipaldi have it as the pace car brought him around. He has said a safety crewman asked him a question that stopped him cold, and in that second he changed his mind.
What the crowd saw was Al Unser Jr. standing on the apron giving Emerson Fittipaldi a thumbs up. In his words, he gave Emerson a salute all right, he gave him a thumbs up. No protest, no finger pointing, no demand that the win be taken away. He lost an Indianapolis 500 on the last lap and congratulated the man who took it.
Al Unser Jr., 1989
— Indianapolis Motor Speedway (@IMS) February 16, 2026
By the Numbers
Two numbers stand out. The average speed was 167.581 mph across seven cautions and 43 caution laps, which tells you how fast the green-flag running was. And Fittipaldi's winner's share topped one million dollars, the first time an Indianapolis 500 winner was paid seven figures.
Here's @emmofittipaldi celebrating his 1989 Indy 500 win with a teeny, tiny pile of cash.
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) December 12, 2018
What It Set Up
Fittipaldi became the first Brazilian to win the Indianapolis 500 and the first non-American winner since Graham Hill in 1966. He went on to win five races and the 1989 CART championship, becoming the first driver since Bobby Rahal in 1986 to take the 500 and the title in the same year. He won Indianapolis again in 1993.
Unser got his. He won the Indianapolis 500 in 1992 by 0.043 seconds, still the closest finish in the history of the race, and won it again in 1994. He has said the 1989 run was the best 500-mile race he ever drove, which is a strange thing to say about one you did not win, and also completely fair.
The Brazilian door Fittipaldi opened never really closed either. Helio Castroneves walked through it and won the thing four times.
The Bottom Line
Fittipaldi had the fastest car for 199 laps and still needed the last corner to settle it. That is Indianapolis. The 2026 season just wrapped with Alex Palou taking a fifth championship, and you can see the full year and where everybody finished on the IndyCar Series schedule and standings. Nothing in 2026 ended quite like 1989 did.
Your turn: was lap 199 a racing deal or did Fittipaldi put him in the wall? Tell us in the comments.
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