What does it take to win at Indy? NOVA follows champion race driver Bobby Rahal and a team of engineers as they strive to design a new car that can win the checkered flag at the Memorial Day classic. The program also features racing insights from top drivers Emerson Fittipaldi, Willy T. Ribbs and Lyn Saint James.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Tonight on NOVA, hurtling around the track at white-hot speed, the Indy racer knows that even the tiniest mistake could be fatal.
00:08If you drive with courage, you'll drive into the wall.
00:11But can they safely engineer a better, faster car? How fast is fast enough?
00:17At 220 miles per hour, you're traveling over a football field a second.
00:22The stakes are high for both driver and machine as racers push the limits of speed in their fast cars.
00:30Funding for NOVA is provided by Merck, dedicated to pharmaceutical research, committed to discovery, improving health, extending life.
00:54Merck
00:55And Lockheed, America's aerospace company, supporting math, science, and engineering education for national technology leadership.
01:06Major funding for NOVA is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by annual financial support from viewers like you.
01:14Auto racing is a sport that brings human and machine together at the outermost limits of speed.
01:29These are Indy cars, among the most refined racing machines in the world.
01:36Boy, you don't see these guys race any harder than that. They're really...
01:39This is terrific. Look at that side-by-side.
01:43Whoa!
01:45Two world champions.
01:47For the elite few who drive these cars, racing is a voyage into an inner resource of mind and body.
01:55I feel sometimes the car is an extension of my body. That's what I call the perfect combination, when you can feel every bump, everything the car is feeling in your body, and you get that information in your brain.
02:09And when that's happened, you're working, like, with success. Even if you're looking ahead, you can feel if someone's coming around you, you know what's happening all around you.
02:22To me, it's the ultimate challenge of existence, and it's hard to describe because when it's right, it's so right, you know, that you are almost in a euphoric state.
02:32I mean, it's just, you become one with the car, and you just go off and, you know, into a never-never land, almost. I mean, you're just flowing.
02:38I mean, there's no conscious effort. Everything just seems to happen. Those are fun. It's fun when it's like that.
02:49And you get out of the car, and everybody is the greatest person in the world.
02:54You get out, take off your helmet. Every, everybody you see is just terrific, and you feel great, and the car is responding.
03:03And, uh, I mean, you feel like Godzilla.
03:14In 1992, driver Bobby Rahal had one of the best seasons of his career.
03:18In a 16-race series, he placed well, and won four times to become the IndyCar champion.
03:34But Rahal wanted more. He wanted to win in a car of his own design.
03:44Phoenix International Raceway, November 9, 1992.
03:48Rahal's hopes for defending his championship and winning the 1993 Indy 500 rest on this car.
03:58Today, it will be tested on a remote racetrack in the Arizona desert.
04:05From years of experience, Rahal knows that every other team will challenge him with better, faster cars,
04:12and exploit even the smallest advantage.
04:15Most Indy cars are designed and built by a single company in England.
04:21This car is one of a kind.
04:25The creation of a group of young engineers.
04:27It's a challenge that few take on.
04:33To meet it, Rahal has assembled a talented team which includes computer experts,
04:38design engineers, and a race car aerodynamicist.
04:41Rahal's partner in this bold experiment is Carl Hogan.
04:53All of racing is trying to get a little something more than someone else has.
04:57And it's a challenge that we've accepted.
05:00It's a challenge that we hope we will meet head on and we'll conquer.
05:04And if we do, it'll be wonderful.
05:06There's an exclusivity to it that, from a development standpoint, if nothing else, makes it better.
05:12Although you live and die by it, too.
05:14You know, in the sense that if it's not good, you can't go copy someone else either.
05:19The car's test begins with the first joining of Rahal and his machine.
05:29The team has already spent three weeks designing a seat that is perfectly contoured to his body.
05:36Yeah, we should just get out and put the other one in just so you feel the difference right now.
05:40But it looks like you're...
05:41The seat's very important because if you're flopping around, you can't read what the car's saying.
05:46You've got to be in there and you've got to really feel.
05:48And the only way you can do that is by having a very good seat.
05:53You don't sit in this car, you wear it.
05:58Over $4 million has already been invested in Rahal's car.
06:04Its chassis is made of space-age carbon fiber.
06:09Its engine is no larger than our everyday sedans.
06:13Yet, it produces an astounding 800 horsepower.
06:18The team uses both radar and computers to help monitor the car's performance.
06:24But Rahal's seat-of-the-pants feel for the car will be the first real indication of its potential and the changes that may improve it.
06:34You want to try just some overall downforce or the delta play something?
06:40The thing I would say is that it may want more rear springs to help it down in there.
06:48And I'm thinking this understeer you get right at the end of things just sitting there and squatting and squatting.
06:53Falling over on the right rear too hard.
06:54I think, in my opinion, the most important thing for the driver is to describe to the engineer who is working with him at the track what the car is doing on every part of the track.
07:08A good test driver has the ability to go out and drive consistently every lap so that he can feel the changes.
07:17And that's something that Bob has the ability to do is go out and run a determined number of laps in the same way and tell you what's going on.
07:26It's so important.
07:28I think the steering is so slow that I'm missing it a little bit.
07:36You know, I'm not used to having to turn so much.
07:38Remember at India when we tried that?
07:40Mm-hmm.
07:41I could never get it into the corner.
07:43Too high.
07:44Because I was always late.
07:47Is that the right thing?
07:49I mean, are we hitting on the right thing?
07:49Yeah, that helped.
07:50Okay.
07:52On this first test day, Rahal reports an uncomfortable feeling in the corners.
07:57And this is reflected in his lap times.
08:00The new car is four-tenths of a second slower than last year's car.
08:06Although it seems a tiny margin, compounded over a 500-mile race, the new car would be seven miles behind at the finish.
08:16Rahal's problem is traction.
08:18The car doesn't provide the grip.
08:20He needs to push it to the limit in the corners.
08:23It's a problem that any professional IndyCar driver understands.
08:28Anybody can drive in a straight line at 200 miles per hour.
08:31You could get in that IndyCar, and somebody could strap you in, and you could drive at 200 miles per hour in a straight line.
08:37Just go, shift the gears, get into sixth gear, step on the throttle, and it will go 200 miles per hour very easily.
08:44You could do it today.
08:46But the limit in racing is cornering speed, not straightaway speed.
08:55It's the corners that make the driver in the car.
08:58The solution to cornering speed came from an unexpected source.
09:11As a teenager, Jim Hall built model airplanes.
09:15Later, his experience with these models would stimulate a revolution in race car design.
09:21I think it's basically total background that allows you to make a decision to go forward with an innovation of any kind.
09:31I think I've always been curious about things.
09:33I can remember my mom telling me that I took everything apart when I was a small child.
09:38She said she'd come in and find the alarm clock all over the floor or something else taken apart.
09:43And, of course, I wasn't capable of putting it back together in those days, but I am now.
09:48And I always wondered, well, how does this work?
09:51What makes that happen?
09:52Why does that do that?
09:55Seabing, Florida, 1965.
09:58At the age of 29, Hall's curiosity has impelled him to take on the giants of international sports car racing.
10:04In a world dominated by Ferrari, Porsche, and Ford, Hall wins this prestigious 12-hour endurance race in a car that he built himself in Texas.
10:15The car is named after a bird that is native to the American Southwest, the roadrunner or chaparral.
10:24When we built the first chaparral, it had a tremendous amount of lift in the front end.
10:29In fact, on the straightaway, I could take it down above 150 miles an hour.
10:34I could turn the wheel from side to side like that, and it wouldn't even affect the car.
10:38The car would just go straight on.
10:40So it was almost lifting the front wheels right off the ground.
10:43In the 60s, race cars approached 200 miles an hour, the result of more powerful engines and streamlining.
10:53But there was a price to pay.
10:55In their quest for speed, the designers had shaped their cars like wings, a shape that made them dangerously unstable.
11:03The cars were built low to the ground and flat on the bottom.
11:07In so doing, they created lift, because when you've got a flat surface on the bottom and a curved surface on the top,
11:12the air has to go farther over the top and therefore lower pressure, and the car lifts.
11:16And I guess the engineers at the time basically accepted that that was fact.
11:20That was the way life was going to be.
11:22But not for Jim Hall.
11:24In 1966, he introduced a new Chaparral.
11:28One with a wing.
11:31Look at Jim Hall.
11:34Moving past Bruce McLaren and taking the lead in the race for the first time today.
11:38Boy, he's got him, it's for sure.
11:40The Chaparral's performance was brilliant, especially its ability to corner faster than other cars.
11:45Let's see if Hall can hold it.
11:48Boy, he sure is holding it. He's pulling away from Bruce. Look at that.
11:50What you're trying to accomplish is to load the car down into the ground with the aerodynamic force,
11:58so that the adhesion that the tires have is greater than it would have just from the weight of the car.
12:03And that allows you to corner and stop more quickly, because you've just got more friction with the ground.
12:09Hall's idea was elegantly simple.
12:12The rear wing deflected the force of the wind downward into the tires, increasing friction and stability.
12:20Today, this is called aerodynamic downforce.
12:24Modern Indy cars have front wings, too, which provide even more downforce.
12:28But the most radical advance was the addition of Venturi tunnels,
12:33a reshaped underbody to speed up the airflow between car and ground.
12:39This created an area of low pressure, which literally sucked the car downward toward the pavement.
12:45In high-speed corners, a modern Indy car develops over two tons of downforce.
13:00More than enough so that it could stick to the pavement even if the track were turned upside down.
13:07Two months after the first test, Ray Hall is back at Phoenix with a modified version of his car.
13:15His lap times have improved significantly.
13:18The car is becoming competitive.
13:22At the end of the day, Ray Hall goes out for one last set of laps.
13:28Entering turn one, at more than 170 miles an hour, he suddenly loses control.
13:41Bobby's a bit sore in the shins.
13:43He's not very happy, probably, with himself, but, you know, I guess just reached the limit of the car,
13:52and unfortunately, the back end stepped out on it.
13:57You know, that stuff does happen, and we'll let him have one now and then.
14:02Make sure he's pushing it to the limit.
14:04Oh, it just snapped, you know, got away from me.
14:12It's happened before, but I must say it didn't give you a lot of warning.
14:16You know, it was one second it was good, and a split second later it was gone.
14:20You know, we attributed that to a change we made.
14:25But, same token, you'd like to think that the thing wasn't that.
14:30You'd like to build some forgiveness into it, I think, you know.
14:35Ray Hall's problem is the most dangerous kind of instability that a driver can face.
14:41A car that is loose.
14:42Without warning, the rear swerves out and the car spins uncontrollably.
14:51This is triggered by a lack of grip in the rear tires.
15:00The opposite condition is called push.
15:03The front wheels lose grip and the car pushes into the wall nose first.
15:07What you like in a race car is for it to go through the corner without the tail sliding too much
15:15or without the front pushing off too much.
15:17So, it requires a balance of forces between the front and the rear tires.
15:22A car can be balanced by adjusting its wings.
15:26Tilting the front wing, for example, increases downforce and traction on the front tires.
15:31Tilting the rear wing increases the grip of the rear tires.
15:35The trick is to fine-tune the wing settings to balance the grip front and rear.
15:45When the car is doing everything it's supposed to do, aerodynamically and all the work,
15:52then you drive through a corner and it's doing what you want.
15:59I mean, it's all yeses.
16:02Yes, yes, yes.
16:04It's doing, it's responding to your will.
16:08This unique merging of mind and machine occurs only when a driver has total confidence in his car.
16:22It is a singular act of faith performed under the constant threat of extreme physical danger.
16:29Passing is the most dangerous maneuver on any track.
16:35It is also the key to winning.
16:38The accepted norm is that an overtaking driver must place his front wheels beside the cockpit of his opponent in order to take the lead.
16:46And they must often accomplish this maneuver in a corner where their car is at its most precarious point of balance and the driver is under extreme physical stress.
16:57On high-speed tracks, once every 10 seconds, a driver endures cornering loads of almost 4 Gs, four times the force of gravity.
17:07Our heartbeat goes up to 180 beats per minute when you're driving fast.
17:16And to be able to concentrate, to focus, when you're physically tired at the last hour of the race, it requires like an athlete.
17:25People don't realize that most of the racing drivers are like a marathon runner.
17:30Yeah, those numbers are looking real good.
17:32Real good. Nice and steady.
17:34At Human Performance International in Daytona, an aspiring IndyCar driver works out to exhaustion in a test of his physical stamina.
17:42His heart rate will be brought up to 190 beats per minute, just 10 beats faster than what an IndyCar driver must endure for hours on end.
17:52Good job. Good job.
17:54Looking good.
17:55Take it out.
17:55190.
17:56Okay.
17:58All right.
17:58Good.
17:59Good job.
18:00Good job.
18:01Sports physiologist Jacques Dallaire studies the physical requirements of driving an IndyCar.
18:06Two minutes of recovery.
18:07Nice and easy.
18:08Nice and easy.
18:09We see such elevated heart rate responses in drivers during a race because it's a composite of a number of factors.
18:16Sure, there is an emotional element to that, a fear element, if you will, an anxiety, an excitement, motivation.
18:23But that really represents a very low percentage of that maximum heart rate.
18:31Blood is a tissue.
18:32It has a mass.
18:33It's influenced by gravity as well.
18:37The G-forces cause the driver to exert tremendous isometric contractions.
18:43The breath holding that takes place in bracing, going into a corner under heavy braking, the high heat load under which they must work, drivers can lose as much as one to one and a half liters of fluid per hour in a race car.
19:02All of these factors influence, in a negative way, the return of blood to the heart, because the body has to compensate for that low output by the heart, it spins up the system and says, beat faster, we need more.
19:21So the heart rate goes up, maintains the blood volume necessary to do all that physical work.
19:27It's a lot more physically demanding than most people appreciate.
19:29As far as what the experience is like, the physical experience, it's like sitting on an exercise bike, wearing some kind of a sweatsuit that makes you really hold your heat in, and you put about two 15-pound weights in your hand, put a helmet on your head, and just sit there for about two hours, three hours, depending on how long you can tolerate that.
19:48And you move those weights, you pedal that bike, get your heart rate up to about 85% of your max capacity, and then have somebody with a bull-peen hammer beating on your body and your head.
19:57Because when the vibrations and all the things that go in the car, the G-forces and the vibrations, that's the kind of abuse your body's getting.
20:03The Garden City Boxing Gym, San Jose, California.
20:20With the racing season about to begin, Willie T. Ribs trains for the mental and physical demands of competition.
20:26To be a great fighter, I think you have to have a controlled aggressiveness, and that's the same with being a racing driver.
20:36I think you have to pick your spots in boxing to be able to win, and you have to pick your spots in racing to be able to pass.
20:45To pass, you have to, at the exact right moment, you've got to go by a guy before you get to the corner.
20:51That's picking your spots, or if he starts to slip a little bit, you get up underneath him.
20:56I mean, it's all split-second movement, and it's the same with boxing.
21:02Racing is really this blend, this mix of total aggression, brute force, energy.
21:13I mean, everything imaginable in that category or that side of the scale, mixed with finesse and precision and concentration and a real touch and feel.
21:23Lynn, we're going to measure the magnitude.
21:25So, first, you have to fine-tune the ability to be able to coordinate your vision and your physical reaction to things,
21:32and do that quickly and smoothly with split-second timing and precision, and then the ability to react to the unexpected.
21:4023 total error, 27.
21:42For a race driver, one mental quality is essential above all others.
21:47An accuracy of timing that may be unequaled in any other sport.
21:5123.
21:51Lynn St. James works with sports psychologist Dan Marisi to improve her timing skills.
21:5825.
21:59In this test, Lynn must hit a button at the exact moment when the lights reach the end of the track.
22:05The accuracy that is necessary in racing is so refined that it's measured in milliseconds, one one-thousandth of a second.
22:14Timing is critical in any activity or sport.
22:18Even in the world of business, timing is critical.
22:21When you're going at speed, 200 miles an hour, 220, 230 miles an hour, timing becomes even more critical.
22:29At 220 miles per hour, you're traveling over a football field a second, over a football field a second.
22:36So, in a split second, I mean, by the time you've made a reaction with the steering wheel, you've gone 50 yards or more.
22:46March 21st, 1993.
22:53Surfer's Paradise, Australia.
22:55All right, the field comes into alignment now.
22:57The first race of the IndyCar season is about to begin.
23:02The green flag comes out.
23:04This is the first of three races that lead to the big test at Indianapolis.
23:09Here, Ray Hall and his new car are joined for the first time in competition.
23:14On this course, temporarily laid out over city streets, the car finishes in sixth place.
23:24A good result for its first time out.
23:26So, now the field comes into full alignment.
23:36Scott Goodyear, his first pull, brings the field towards the green flag.
23:40But two weeks later, at Phoenix, on the same track where Ray Hall crashed while testing the car, the results are quite different.
23:47Ray Hall goes a lap down to the leaders very early on in this fight.
23:53I'm glad to be remembered that Ray Hall, right there in the center of your screen, we're on board with him now.
23:57Won this race last year, and his success on the one-mile ovals was the centerpiece of his championship effort.
24:03He is not doing well here today, and this is going to imperil his chances for defending his championship.
24:09After only 29 laps, Ray Hall's car has become so loose that he is in danger of hitting the wall.
24:17Bobby Ray Hall comes in as well.
24:22Of course, he's been struggling with his car throughout the day.
24:25Ray Hall is forced to abandon the race.
24:28A serious setback for the team.
24:35Two weeks later, it's Long Beach, California.
24:38On a race course similar to the one in Australia, the car reveals its true potential for the first time.
24:44This is turning into an outstanding performance for Ray Hall.
24:50Suddenly, as you said, he's menacing for third.
24:53We did some good testing after Phoenix, and we started to get some feedback that started to tell us a little bit about the car.
25:02And then Long Beach, I think, the whole weekend, each day we made progress, and we could see it.
25:08And we started to feel good inside that we were starting to do something right.
25:13And Bobby drove a beautiful race, and we had good pit stops.
25:17We had good strategy.
25:19During the last laps of the race, Ray Hall moves into second place.
25:24The team knows that the car has made a big step forward.
25:27We went from the lowest low at Phoenix to a pretty good high at Long Beach.
25:33If nothing else, it just shows the intricacies and the sophistication involved,
25:38and how the smallest things can make the biggest differences.
25:43And all this has shown this month, I think, in my estimation,
25:46is that while there are some very good things about the car, there are some things that aren't very good.
25:50The car's failure at Phoenix haunts the team, in spite of near victory at Long Beach.
25:59Day and night, during the few weeks that remain before the Indy 500, they seek an answer.
26:05Is the problem mechanical?
26:07A defective part, perhaps, or is it more basic?
26:12A flaw in the car's overall design?
26:14The first clues come from computers that have captured the car's performance during each of the three races.
26:26By superimposing this record of performance on the layout of the tracks themselves,
26:31a pattern begins to emerge.
26:36Australia and Long Beach are twisting road courses,
26:39with high-speed straights and tight corners taken at slow speeds.
26:45The need for aerodynamic downforce is much diminished.
26:49The car's basic suspension becomes critical.
26:52And here, Rahal's new machine performed brilliantly.
26:58But ovals are built for constant high speed.
27:02In the corners, a car must produce enough balanced downforce
27:06to maintain its traction and stay on the course.
27:10And this is where Rahal's car may be failing.
27:17After this month, and after Phoenix,
27:20you know, I think you would say,
27:23I think we've got a pretty good road racing car,
27:25but I don't think we have a very good high-speed car,
27:29and we need to address that issue.
27:30To help solve the problem,
27:35aerodynamicist Gary Grossenbacher
27:37has designed a rear wing
27:38that he hopes will increase downforce at Indy.
27:45With little time left before the Indy 500,
27:48the wing is tested at Ohio State University's wind tunnel.
27:54It's attached to a sensor
27:56that will measure both the downforce and drag
27:58that the wing generates.
28:08Giant fans at one end of the wind tunnel
28:11produce an airflow of 150 miles an hour.
28:14Not quite up to the speeds at Indy,
28:16but fast enough to evaluate the wing's performance.
28:19The team seeks a trade-off
28:29between downforce, which is needed in the corners,
28:33and drag, which slows the car on the straights.
28:37Unfortunately, it's extremely difficult
28:38to increase one without the penalty
28:40of an increase in the other.
28:42The other wings we've run,
28:43we haven't realized lift coefficients like this
28:46on the order of 1.1 to 1.2.
28:49The wing's efficiency is measured by a ratio,
28:52which compares downforce,
28:54also called negative lift,
28:56against drag.
28:58For 226 pounds of negative lift,
29:01the wing generates only 30 pounds of drag,
29:04a ratio of 7 to 1.
29:05But Grossenbacher knows that a wind tunnel
29:12simulates only the most ideal of conditions.
29:16What will happen when the wing is attached to the car?
29:20How will it affect overall balance on the track?
29:24Time has run out.
29:25The team must answer these questions
29:27in the heat of competition.
29:28Gasoline Alley at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
29:41Working for a month,
29:42Rahal's team has practically produced a whole new car,
29:46which they hope will solve the problems
29:48experienced in Phoenix.
29:50Its underbody has been shaped
29:52to correct the car's dangerous instability.
29:54A new rear wing and a revised front wing
30:00complete the aerodynamic package.
30:05Grossenbacher is anxious to find out
30:06how these changes will perform on the track.
30:13Rahal's top speed at the end of the long straight is good,
30:17232 miles an hour.
30:19So aerodynamic drag has been reduced.
30:24But from the cockpit,
30:30Rahal reports the car is pushing in the corners,
30:33as if it might swing wide and hit the wall.
30:40Especially as I started to go quicker,
30:41I didn't think that the car was...
30:43Like I came in there and I'm going,
30:45holy shit.
30:46I mean, it went through there all right,
30:47but everything seemed to be happening real quick.
30:49Now that could be me.
30:50Yeah.
30:51But even getting in the two was better now.
30:53But I still need to tie it
30:55and make it a little more comfortable everywhere.
31:02Those are some pretty big lifts, really.
31:04Look at the three, the wobble.
31:06Rahal's discomfort is reflected in computer data
31:09that records his performance all around the track.
31:11That's the first lift on the throttle.
31:15The computer shows that Rahal is lifting his foot
31:18from the throttle in the corners.
31:19His speed is almost 50 miles an hour too slow.
31:23Your corner speed in turn one and two is really low.
31:29And all I'm saying is, you know,
31:30I appreciate you saying that when you come out of the corner,
31:34it was way down the ramps,
31:35because obviously the corner speeds are low.
31:37The car tried to get away from me,
31:39and I really had to get out of the throttle.
31:42It's been a frustrating experience for us.
31:45He doesn't have, he doesn't, well, that's before we took the way out.
31:48As you turn into the corner,
31:50the car begins to roll and pitch,
31:52where it begins to tuck the front end.
31:55And as it does, the left rear comes up
31:57and gives the car a very unsettled feeling,
32:00which is what we have been sort of feeling with this car all along.
32:05This is, this could be a chassis imbalance,
32:08could be an aero imbalance.
32:09You know, one can, they're not separable.
32:12You know, one can lead to the other.
32:14Under the terrific forces of cornering,
32:17a car pitches and rolls,
32:19continuously changing the relationship
32:21of the Venturi tunnels and wings to the track.
32:23This affects the distribution of downforce
32:27on each of the car's four tires.
32:33To minimize a car's motion,
32:35adjustments are made to the suspension.
32:37But these adjustments will, in turn,
32:40affect the car's aerodynamic balance
32:42in ways that are difficult to predict.
32:48So many adjustments are possible,
32:50and the relationship to aerodynamic balance is so complex,
32:53that finding the car's perfect setup
32:55is extremely difficult.
32:58And at Indy, where the cars enter these corners
33:00at more than 220 miles an hour,
33:03finding it is critical.
33:12I've been told that, particularly in driving an Indy car,
33:14that if you drive with courage,
33:16you'll drive into the wall.
33:18You have to really feel what the car's doing,
33:20and you have to really be in tune with the car.
33:22When the car's right, the car's easy to drive.
33:24But when that car is wrong,
33:26and I mean one hundred thousandths of an inch wrong,
33:30I mean two degrees wrong in the wings or something, right?
33:34When the car's wrong,
33:36then it's going to be very evil.
33:38Thursday, May 13th.
33:42After struggling all week,
33:43Rahal's team finds the elusive balance
33:45he needs to drive fast.
33:48In the cool at the end of the day,
33:50he turns one golden lap
33:51at 220.5 miles an hour.
33:55We felt we had made progress,
33:57and that the car was beginning to respond to things.
34:00Just because of the bottoming in three months later?
34:02Oh, that red car, yeah.
34:04You know, you do one thing and you get an effect,
34:08and it's a positive effect.
34:09We were running competitively
34:10with what other people could run in the main.
34:13We're into the real fine-tuning now.
34:15We're in that window that we need to be in.
34:18And yesterday to today,
34:20we picked up a little over two miles an hour
34:22with some very small changes.
34:24And so from there,
34:26hopefully the next three, four miles an hour
34:28is the same thing, just small changes.
34:29But the temperature rises on Friday,
34:33the day before qualifying.
34:36In the heat,
34:38the car reveals an evil side of her nature once again.
34:41Rahal struggles to achieve 216 miles an hour.
34:45Rahal, 214.
34:49Friday, weather changes, what have you,
34:52different story.
34:54You know, the car all of a sudden
34:55doesn't respond to what we did the previous day.
34:58It doesn't, you know,
35:03do what we think it's going to do.
35:05On a cooler day,
35:07we seem to be able to dial the car in pretty good.
35:10We get pretty good grip.
35:11We have pretty good downforce.
35:12It seems when the weather gets warm,
35:15gets hot,
35:17this car is more sensitive
35:18than some of the other cars we've had.
35:20Maybe need a little more overall downforce.
35:23All right, well, all we can do in the front right now
35:26is go up in the gurney with these waves.
35:29Finding the precise adjustments
35:31to balance a car at Indy
35:32is like playing a chess game in three dimensions.
35:37One dimension is the car's aerodynamics.
35:40Another, it's suspension.
35:46And the third
35:48is the changing environment
35:50in which the car must operate.
35:54All Indy cars are sensitive
35:56to temperature changes.
35:59As the temperature increases,
36:01air density decreases,
36:03so the wings and underbody
36:04produce less downforce.
36:07In the heat,
36:08Rahal feels his car once again
36:10pushing outward toward the wall.
36:14And I still need, I think,
36:16more overall downforce.
36:18This is the last day of testing
36:20before qualifying.
36:22The situation is now critical.
36:26It's very inconsistent.
36:27He doesn't really have the confidence
36:28to just drive it into the corner.
36:30He doesn't know
36:31where he's going to end up with it.
36:33It depends on the day.
36:34You know, one day I have confidence in it,
36:36one day I don't,
36:37because when the day it doesn't react
36:39the way you think it's going to react,
36:41then all of a sudden you're saying,
36:42well, what in the hell is it going to do?
36:47May 16th, 1993.
36:53With the car's problems still unsettled,
36:56Rahal must attempt
36:57his first qualifying run.
36:58As he takes to the track,
37:01his team is concerned
37:02not only for his speed,
37:04but for his safety.
37:11He qualifies in 25th place
37:13out of 33 cars
37:14that will be allowed to race.
37:16His speed?
37:18217.2.
37:20Is disappointingly slow.
37:21During the next week of practice,
37:30the solution to the car's problems
37:32continues to elude the team.
37:38You know, I'm just
37:40sort of emotionally run out right now.
37:45It's a little frustrating.
37:47It's like we're always a day behind.
37:48If we can get the push out of it,
37:53I mean, it's instant lap speed.
37:55There's no doubt about that.
37:56You know, we're used to running up front.
37:58We're used to qualifying well.
38:00And right now,
38:02it's very frustrating
38:03and maybe even somewhat embarrassing,
38:06truthfully.
38:06We're up against the wall.
38:19And, you know,
38:20you don't get the results
38:21you're looking for.
38:23So, you know,
38:23everybody gets a bit disappointed
38:24because of that.
38:25Just want to take a set
38:27and throw them around the corner.
38:28Yeah.
38:29As the guards begin
38:31their 10-mile qualification run.
38:33It has been
38:48a very difficult month.
38:51I can't tell you
38:52how many nights
38:52I've awakened
38:53at 3 in the morning
38:54wondering,
38:55thinking,
38:56what is it?
38:58What is it looking for?
38:59In the waning night hours,
39:03the car is completely torn down
39:05in a futile search
39:06for a broken part
39:07that might explain
39:08its deviant personality.
39:11The mechanics name her Sybil
39:13because of her changing temperament.
39:16Stable and poised
39:17for a few laps,
39:19only to turn dangerously inconsistent
39:22on the next.
39:23The last day of qualifying.
39:3333 cars will be allowed to race
39:35and 33 cars have now qualified
39:37with several yet to go.
39:41Ray Hall is in last place.
39:42If just one car beats his speed,
39:45he'll be out of the race.
39:50Six cars try,
39:51six cars fail
39:53in the last hour
39:54before the track closes.
39:59His slot in the race
40:01now seems secure.
40:03But now driver
40:05Eddie Cheever
40:05begins his qualifying run.
40:11Cheever is Ray Hall's
40:13most formidable opponent.
40:15He is experienced
40:16and courageous.
40:17And in this last-ditch effort,
40:21he is determined to qualify.
40:26Cheever presses to the limit.
40:36And...
40:37It is fast enough
40:40to defend the national champion
40:43at four-reedy winner
40:45Bobby Ray Hall.
40:47What story
40:48the next ten minutes
40:50will bring.
41:08Uncertain about his car's performance,
41:10Ray Hall must once again
41:12attempt to qualify.
41:18The morning has been overcast and cool.
41:20But now,
41:22as Ray Hall takes to the track,
41:24the clouds thin
41:25and the temperature rises.
41:27This will be the last qualifying attempt.
41:31Ray Hall will have four time-laps
41:33to average better
41:34than 217.23 miles an hour.
41:37Ray Hall's first lap
41:40is 217.36,
41:42just fast enough.
41:50On the next lap,
41:52his car becomes unstable
41:53in turn four
41:54and swings wide
41:55toward the wall.
41:57Ray Hall lifts off the gas.
42:00His speed drops
42:01to 216.8,
42:03four-tenths of a mile an hour
42:04too slow.
42:05on the last two laps,
42:09he struggles
42:10to make up the difference.
42:15Now for the complete story
42:16on Bobby Ray Hall.
42:18Fourth lap,
42:19back up to 216,
42:21but it's too slow.
42:23He is not on the start.
42:24Bobby Ray Hall
42:25is out of the race.
42:26Neither Ray Hall
42:34or his team
42:35has ever experienced
42:36such a defeat.
42:38After seven months
42:39of unceasing effort,
42:40it leaves them stunned.
42:49In this moment of humiliation,
42:51rival
42:52consoles rival.
42:53beneath the veneer
42:55of fierce competition,
42:57these are
42:58comrades in arms.
43:02Seconds from the worst defeat
43:03in his racing career,
43:04Ray Hall chokes back
43:05his emotion
43:06to present
43:07a trackside interview.
43:08It's going to be
43:11an odd memorial day
43:13for me
43:13not being in this race,
43:15but we'll be back
43:16next year.
43:17I just,
43:17it's going around,
43:19you know,
43:19you saw the people
43:20in the stands clapping,
43:22and that's what makes
43:23this place so special
43:24to the fans.
43:25So I'd like to thank them
43:26for backing us
43:27this month,
43:28and we'll go get them again.
43:29Racing is a cruel sport,
43:36Ray Hall has often said.
43:38A sport in which winning
43:39is everything.
43:41But in this moment
43:42of defeat,
43:44he shows there is much more
43:45to being a true champion.
43:47Memorial Day weekend, 1993.
44:04The 77th running
44:05of the Indianapolis 500.
44:08More than half a million
44:09spectators are gathered here.
44:11More than for any other
44:12sporting event in the world.
44:13In just a few moments,
44:18the drivers will be called
44:19to their cars.
44:21In reality,
44:22other than the fact
44:23that it's the biggest race
44:24in our careers,
44:26it's just another race.
44:28You do the same thing
44:29for this race
44:29that you would do
44:30for any other race.
44:31It's a little harder
44:31to execute
44:32because there's more distractions,
44:34there's more demands,
44:35there's more commotion,
44:36there's more of everything.
44:38But there isn't
44:39anything special
44:40you have to do.
44:41You just have to do
44:41what you do better.
44:43and just be able
44:45to call it up.
44:46So, you know,
44:47I'm cool.
44:49The one thing
44:50about racing
44:51that's different
44:52from other sports,
44:54you cannot hear
44:55in your own world.
45:00Once your helmet's on
45:02and engine's fired up,
45:03you're tuned into that
45:05whether you want
45:06to be tuned into it
45:07or not
45:07because you can't see
45:09the outside world
45:10and you can't hear it.
45:11I mean,
45:11it's like going
45:12into Twilight Zone
45:13because you
45:13have locked yourself
45:15out of humanity.
45:17For two hours,
45:19you're in that world
45:20and it's not
45:20until the race is over
45:21that you come back
45:23to Earth
45:24and come back
45:25to humanity again.
45:29Ladies,
45:30let's get a better.
45:32Just give a race.
45:33I do a mentalisation,
45:44visualisation
45:44before the race.
45:46That's to clear the mind
45:48of everything else
45:50that you have
45:51before you drive the car.
45:54I think you cannot see
45:56the photography,
45:58you cannot see
45:58the press around you.
45:59you have to be blind
46:01at that time.
46:03I try to visualise
46:05things that have to happen
46:07because I think
46:08our brains work
46:09as a computer.
46:11If you project
46:12the image before,
46:14when things happen,
46:16you already know
46:16that they are going
46:17to happen.
46:18You're not behind,
46:19you're on top
46:19of the situation.
46:21We're just about
46:22ready to go.
46:23Here they come
46:23through turn four.
46:24They're lined up perfectly.
46:26The crowd roars.
46:27They stand.
46:28The engine's done.
46:29Emerson Fittipaldi
46:30begins the race cautiously,
46:33allowing other drivers
46:34to sprint into the lead.
46:35He runs in seventh place.
46:42He knows this race
46:43is a test of endurance
46:45that will unfold
46:46over the next
46:47two and a half hours.
46:49Well, in other sports
46:52you always get a chance
46:53to have some kind
46:54of a timeout
46:55or a chance to recover.
46:56In racing,
46:57there is none of that.
46:59There's no chance
47:00for recovery.
47:00There's no chance
47:01to kind of gather
47:02your wits about you.
47:03So it's incredibly intense.
47:09Lynn St. James
47:10stops in the pits
47:11for fuel and tires.
47:13A little over halfway
47:15through the race,
47:15she is running
47:16in the middle of the pack
47:17in a solid 17th place.
47:19That's Lynn St. James
47:25that sits just ahead
47:27of Mantle.
47:27Emerson Fittipaldi
47:28just passed by Mantle.
47:32With 50 laps
47:33now remaining,
47:34Fittipaldi moves forward
47:35to duel with the leaders.
47:38Fittipaldi
47:39inches up
47:40on Scott Brayton.
47:42Bobby,
47:42we've talked about
47:43the engine battle.
47:44More than inches up now
47:45as Fittipaldi moves
47:46inside Brayton
47:47and moves around him.
47:48in the third place.
47:54During the race,
47:56your brains have to work
47:58on three different channels.
48:00What the car is doing
48:01at the present moment,
48:02what you have to do
48:03the next two or three seconds
48:05ahead of you,
48:05when you're looking at a corner,
48:07you have to anticipate
48:08two or three seconds.
48:09That's the second channel.
48:11And the third channel
48:12is the strategic
48:14for the race.
48:15When you're going
48:16to come to the pit,
48:16who's behind you,
48:17who's ahead of you,
48:19where you are,
48:20how much feel
48:20you have on board.
48:22And it's difficult
48:23to work the three channels
48:24together,
48:24but you have to do it.
48:26In one of the most
48:27dangerous moments
48:28of his race,
48:30Fittipaldi passes
48:31Mario Andretti
48:32in turn one.
48:33Mario sitting up high,
48:35Fittipaldi comes down
48:36to the inside
48:37and they battle
48:37side by side.
48:39Fittipaldi and Mario.
48:40That's going to fall
48:41these surgeons
48:41to the front.
48:42Mario back to second.
48:43There is a trust factor
48:45that you have
48:46between each other.
48:48There's an unwritten code.
48:51I want to beat you
48:52and you want to beat me,
48:53but this is where
48:55the line is drawn.
48:56In that respect,
48:57you can call it a bond.
48:59You definitely do not
49:01go to harm each other
49:03at all.
49:06At all.
49:08It's not going to be
49:08a cakewalk for nine
49:09until though.
49:11Right behind him
49:12is Fittipaldi.
49:14With only 20 laps to go,
49:16Nigel Mansell leads,
49:18but Fittipaldi is second.
49:22We'll stay with you now.
49:23The remaining 20 laps
49:25that just completed
49:25the 180th.
49:27It's 50 miles to go
49:29in the Indy 500.
49:32Racing,
49:33it takes 100%
49:34of everything
49:34that you've got
49:35to work with.
49:36and then there's
49:37the whole mechanical part of it.
49:38I mean,
49:39that's only you
49:39as a human being
49:40and then you've got to
49:40become one
49:41with a mechanical piece
49:42of equipment
49:43that you basically
49:44are in control of
49:45and have no control of.
49:47With the race
49:47entering its final laps,
49:49a yellow flag
49:50signals danger
49:51on the track.
49:53Yellow once again.
49:54The yellow light
49:55has winked on
49:56apparently for Lynn St. James.
49:57There's Lynn St. James.
50:00A great run.
50:01Very disappointing
50:02for her to go so deep.
50:05About the time
50:06you think you've got
50:06your act together,
50:07something will go wrong,
50:08guarantee,
50:09and will throw you
50:10a curve.
50:11You think you've got
50:12it handled
50:13and then the engine quits
50:14or the tire goes.
50:17Lynn's transmission
50:18has failed.
50:20Her retirement
50:20brings a pause
50:21in racing
50:21while her car
50:22is cleared
50:23from the track.
50:24The drivers
50:25now line up
50:26according to their race positions.
50:28A green flag
50:29will signal the restart,
50:31a critical moment
50:32which the leaders
50:33will seek to exploit.
50:35This restart,
50:36it'll be critical.
50:40And here they come
50:41and the green flag flies.
50:43We are back to racing
50:44and Emerson Finipoli
50:45makes a move
50:46on Nigel Mansell.
50:47He's got him
50:48going into one
50:48but Lion-Ike
50:49is also right there.
50:51Oh, they went
50:52side by side
50:53and Mansell
50:53fell all the way
50:54back to third place.
50:55Gary,
50:56when I took the lead
50:58and I knew
50:59everything I had to do
51:02from the time
51:04I would start
51:04putting the power down
51:05in turn three.
51:08To pull away
51:09from that
51:09has to be perfect.
51:10I could not miss a gear.
51:11I had to put
51:12at the right time
51:12and I think
51:14all my intuition
51:15all my anticipation
51:16was focused.
51:18The white flag is out.
51:19One more lap to go
51:20for Emerson Finipoli.
51:22Half a lap to go.
51:23The fans on their feet
51:25waving to Emerson Finipoli.
51:26Smoothly down to the right line
51:28up to the wall
51:29heading to turn four
51:30for the final time.
51:31Emerson Finipoli
51:32he's coming through four.
51:33He's smooth as glass.
51:35He heads to the start-finish line.
51:36The checkered flag.
51:37Emerson Finipoli
51:39takes the checkered flag
51:40and wins
51:41the 77th running
51:42of the Indianapolis 500.
51:44What a race
51:46won this afternoon
51:47by Emerson Finipoli.
51:51I did the quickest lap
51:53two laps before the end.
51:55That showed how much
51:56I had ever seen
51:58on my surface
51:58on my feeling
51:59and it was great.
52:01I think that was the best
52:02I had done
52:02for many, many years
52:04of racing.
52:05And I think
52:06all my intuition
52:07all my anticipation
52:08was focused.
52:09with all that pressure
52:12I had, I mean
52:13be leading into
52:14the last 20 laps
52:15a lot of pressure
52:16in anybody.
52:17I mean, any human being
52:17would be a lot of pressure there.
52:23For Lynn St. James
52:24the race is a victory
52:26in spite of her car's failure.
52:28By lap 176
52:30she had climbed
52:30to 15th place.
52:32A performance that shows
52:34she has what it takes
52:35to race with the best
52:36drivers in the world.
52:39Willie T. Ribbs
52:41finished 21st
52:42but for him
52:43this is just the beginning.
52:45He'll be back next year
52:46and with more experience
52:48he looks forward
52:49to climbing to the top.
52:50Nice race, Willie.
52:51Thanks.
52:54Willie T.
52:55Run race, baby!
52:56Good job, baby.
52:59For this elite group
53:00of drivers
53:00racing is a passion
53:02that carries them
53:03beyond the boundary
53:04of the physical world
53:06into a singular moment
53:07of harmony
53:07at the very limit
53:09of their potential.
53:21By the end of the 93 season
53:22Bobby Rahal
53:23placed fourth
53:24in championship points
53:25a remarkable recovery
53:27from his defeated ending.
53:31For the moment
53:32Rahal has abandoned
53:33the dream
53:33of building his own car
53:34but his quest
53:36continues.
53:37just a month
53:38after the series ends
53:40the team secretly
53:41tests a new engine.
53:45It is an irony
53:46that a sport
53:47that seems so fierce
53:48may demand
53:49the most delicate touch.
53:52That a contest
53:53that seems so individual
53:54cannot be won
53:56without the enduring effort
53:58of so many others.
53:59that as our machines
54:02evolve
54:03they may push us
54:04yet to a new realization
54:06of our own
54:07human potential.
54:08The
54:27and
54:28Transcription by CastingWords
54:58Transcription by CastingWords
55:28Transcription by CastingWords
55:58Transcription by CastingWords