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 1973
Indianapolis 500®
Bill Vukovich Car#2
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"Sugaripe Prune Eagle"
Bill Vukovich,
Jr. was the son of 1953 and 1954 Indy winner Bill Vukovich, Sr. For
the 1973 Indianapolis 500®, Bill Vukovich, Jr. entered his fourth
Indy 500® with car owner Jerry O'Connell and Chief Mechanic Jud
Phillips. Vukovich qualified on the first day of qualifying with a
speed of 191.103 mph, which placed him on the inside of the fifth
row in the starting lineup. A first-lap mishap involving several
cars, followed by heavy rain, caused a postponement until the
follwing day.
On the second day, rain
began during the pace lap, and the race was red-flagged then
postponed, without a green flag being shown. When the race finally
got under way on the
third day, Vukovich began moving up from his 16th
starting spot to 10th position at the end of 10 laps,
and by the end of 30 laps was running 5th. An accident
on Lap 58 stopped the race for more than an hour. After the restart
Al Unser led, with Gordon Johncock and Vukovich following. Al Unser
soon broke a piston, leaving Johncock in the lead and Vukovich in
second place. Vukovich closed to within 6 seconds of Johncock, but
was struggling with a poor handling car and a drop in the boost
pressure of his turbocharger, which reduced his power and caused
him to fall further behind. Rain brought out a yellow flag on Lap
129, and four laps later the race was called. At the finish,
Vukovich was the only driver on the lead lap with Johncock. A check
of Vukovich's Eagle after the race revealed a cracked intake
manifold, which would have worsened had the race continued. Gordon
Johncock was declared the winner of the 1973 Indy 500® with a
speed of 159.036 mph. At the time, Bill Vukovich, Jr.'s 2nd
place finish was the best ever for a son of an Indy winner, twenty
years after his father had won in 1953.
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