Breaking the 200-mph barrier at IMS
The 150-mph barrier was broken during the 1962 qualifying by Parnelli Jones with a speed of 150.370 mph. The next year, Parnelli Jones broke 150 mph during the race with a speed of 151.370 mph on lap 114. He started the race from the pole and won with an average speed of 143.137 mph.
The question became when the next big milestone, 200 mph, would be broken. Gordon Johncock, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1973, broke the barrier during tire tests on March 19, 1977. In part, he credited the temperature in the mid-30s. He said, “But the cool temperature really helped the tires stick and the engine performs much better in this kind of weather.” Earlier in the day, Johncock ran some laps at 199 mph. After making some adjustments to the chassis, he went back on the track where he did a lap at 200.4 mph.
Two months later, Tom Sneva broke the barrier during qualifications on May 14. It was not an easy week for Sneva and Team Penske. They had engine trouble on Thursday. On Friday during practice, Sneva was running some impressive laps over 200 mph when he tapped the wall coming off the fourth corner.
The car wasn’t badly damaged and was ready to go for a qualifying run on Saturday. He ran 200.401 on his first lap and 200.535 on the second. When his speed was announced, the 200,000 fans were up and cheering. His final two laps were slower at 197.628 and 197.032. His four-lap average was 198.884, a new qualifying record After completing the run, he said he intentionally dropped the speed “because it got a little loose and you know I lost it the other day. I didn’t want to do it again.”
Sneva was hired in 1975 by Roger Penske, and it was questionable if he would drive a Team Penske car during the 1977 season. His performance during 1976 resulted in Penske putting Mario Andretti in his car toward the end of the season. But at the start of the 1977 season, he was in the McLaren-Cosworth and won the 200-mile race at the Texas International Speedway. After setting the new track record, Sneva commented “They (the Penske braintrust) thought maybe it was the driver last year, but I think they found out it wasn’t.”
Even though Sneva won the pole, he was not favored to win the race. As the race wound down, it looked like Gordon Johncock was going to stand atop the podium. He set the pace, leading for 129 laps of the 200 laps. With sixteen laps to go, Johncock’s engine blew up, handing the lead to A. J. Foyt. From there on, it was A. J. Foyt was in the lead and he took the checkered flag by 27.2 seconds over Sneva.
It wasn’t until 1982 when Rick Mears broke 200 mph average during the race. During practice the day before qualifying, he drove a single lap at almost 209 mph. Driving for Penske Racing, he shattered qualifying records averaging 207.004 mph with the third lap being the fastest at 207.612 mph. The 200-mph barrier fell on lap 122 during the race when Mears averaged 200.535 mph.
The race turned into a duel between Mears and Gordon Johncock. After their final pit stops, Johncock had an eleven second lead over Mears with 10 laps remaining. Driving aggressively, Mears steadily cut into Johncock’s lead. With five laps remaining, the lead had shrunk to four seconds, and with two laps left it was one second. As they took the white flag signaling the final lap, they were side by side. Going for broke, Mears waited until the final curve on the final lap in his attempt to win the race. Gordon Johncock nosed him out and won by 0.16 second with an average speed of 162.029 mph.