1994 NIGEL MANSELL MICHIGAN INDYCAR GRAND PRIX (FASTEST LAP EVER AVG SPEED 235.639MPH)

Round Ten: Marlboro 500 at Michigan * Nigel Mansell set a new track record alongside Raul Boesel and and Michael Andretti in a three-abreast start. At the start-finish line on Lap 24, third place runner Robby Gordon burst a right front tyre. Seemingly by instinct he gradually slowed the car under the yellow, never touching the wall, and was able to continue undamaged. Soon after polesitter Mansell suffered a stuck throttle, and described to ESPN's Jon Beekhuis, "That's the scariest moment I've had in my whole career." Not a fun problem to have at 240 miles per hour (390 km/h). No fun for Adrian Fernandez on Lap 65 when he lept from his racecar (like Rick Mears at Indy in 1981) as methanol spilled during a routine pit stop. A moment later Michael Andretti jammed the brakes to avoid Paul Tracy and caught the wall, ruining the suspension. On Lap 78 rookie Jacques Villeneuve suddenly pushed up the banking into the wall in Turn 3, walking away unharmed. o The lead pack included the Penske cars of Unser and Fittipaldi, Raul Boesel, Scott Goodyear, and Robby Gordon, who recovered from his flat tyre. Just short of halfway, Mario Andretti's engine failure made him the 11th retiree of the day. Inside of 70 laps remaining, Gordon's engine blew in the middle of Turns 3 and 4. He maintained control of the car for several seconds on the banking, but the new oil on the track took away his traction and sent him into a 270-degree spin entering the pitlane. He never completed the spin, and never touched a wall, but his adventures were over. On Lap 225, while leading, Raul Boesel's excellent chance to finally win his first IndyCar race ended when his Ford XB engine expired at 90% distance, handing the lead to Al Unser, Jr. He hoped to be the first man to win the Indianapolis 500 and the Michigan 500 in the same year since Rick Mears in 1991, but six laps later he joined his teammates in the garage area, leaving just eight of the twenty-eight starters on track: Scott Goodyear, Arie Luyendyk (1 lap down), Dominic Dobson (2 laps back), Teo Fabi (4 laps), Mark Smith (-10 laps), Hiro Matsushita (-11 laps), Willy T. Ribbs (-13 laps), and Marco Greco, who finished 55 laps down in eleventh. Goodyear, the 1992 winner of the race, was the proverbial "tortoise" beating the quicker "hares". Al Unser Jr, despite his DNF, led with 132 points, 29 more than Emerson Fittipaldi at 103, Michael Andretti had 80 points, Gordon 75, Tracy 74, and Mansell 73.