Bobby Unser and Mario Andretti became the main players in one of the Indianapolis 500's most controversial moments. Bettman/Getty Images

May 24 in sports history: The great American caution flag

By Jason Clinkscales | Last updated 5/23/20

Here's a look back at notable sports news on May 24 through the years:

1981: If American racing legend Mario Andretti didn’t have bad luck at the Indianapolis 500, he may have not had any at all. And though he won The Great American Race in 1969, he would come agonizingly close to victory too many times to count. The 1981 race was especially bizarre, as he would win and lose it without being the first racer to cross the finish line.

At the end of a crash-filled, fiery race, Bobby Unser was declared the winner on the track, with Andretti coming in second eight seconds later. Three drivers — Andretti, his teammate Gordon Johncock and A.J. Foyt — claimed to race stewards that they saw Unser pass several cars, having illegally left the pits under the caution flag. With a tortured history at this track, Andretti didn’t expect the racing gods to be on his side. On his chances of being awarded the win, he told reporters, “Knowing this joint — nil!”

Johncock wasn’t exactly diplomatic about the situation. “It’s about time they stick with the rules,” he said. “If Unser gets mad, it’s his problem. He’s the one who caused it.”

The next day, race officials penalized Unser one lap for passing cars under a caution flag in the 149^th lap, which automatically transferred the victory to Andretti.

The owner of Unser’s car, Roger Penske, immediately filed two protests after the ruling. One protest was in dispute of the ruling itself, and the second countered that Andretti himself also illegally passed cars in the same controversial lap.

The IndyCar season continued on with Andretti penciled in as the victor, but four months after the race, officials reversed their decision by declaring Bobby Unser the winner. The new-old winner would retire from IndyCar after the 1981 racing season, while Andretti would continue looking for a second Indianapolis 500 win that would never come.

More history at Indy

1992: Al Unser Jr. (son of Al, nephew of Bobby) won his first Indy 500 in the closest finish in the race’s history — barely getting a half-car length past Scott Goodyear (43-thousandths of a second in real time). Lyn St. James would place 11^th after becoming the second woman to ever compete at The Great American Race.

2009: Helio Castroneves became the ninth driver to win the Indianapolis 500 three times when he muscled past Dan Wheldon and Danica Patrick in the final laps. It would be his third checkered flag at the event in the decade, adding to his back-to-back victories in 2001 and 2002.

No Wayne, still gain

1990: With a 4-1 victory over the Boston Bruins in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Edmonton Oilers would hoist their fifth Cup in seven seasons. Why was this title so different? For starters, goalie Bill Ranford won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, filling in masterfully for the injured Grant Fuhr. Ranford was superb with a 1.35 goals-against average in the Final, allowing just eight goals a series that included a classic three-OT Game 1.

The bigger story was that this was the first Stanley Cup win — and the team’s last overall — without Wayne Gretzky, who was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988. Of course, there was still quite a bit of talent in Edmonton to get the team over the hump against the favored Bruins. “We’ve been through a lot of changes,” Mark Messier would go on to say. “But we never lost our winning attitude.”

The raising of Lazzeri

1936: Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig were usually enough to handle a scuffling team like the Philadelphia A’s. Yet few would have envisioned what the crowd at Shibe Park witnessed from Tony Lazzeri. Batting eighth in a loaded New York Yankees lineup, the second baseman rocked the A’s with two grand slams, a solo shot and a two-run triple. The most dominant single game from a position player in Yankees history, Lazzeri’s 11 RBI would fall one short of tying the all-time single-game record set by Jim Bottomley of the St. Louis Cardinals against the Brooklyn Robins in 1924. (Bottomley’s record was finally matched in 1993 by another Cardinal, Mark Whitten.)

Can we go home now?

1994: In the complete opposite of Bottomley’s feat, the Cardinals would set a new MLB record of infamy, as the lineup would leave 16 runners on base…without scoring a single run. David West and three Philadelphia Phillies relievers would somehow prove the adage of “bend, but don’t break” in the 4-0 victory. In the Phillies’ side of the 9^th, pinch hitter Pete Incaviglia blasted a three-run homer off Mike Perez to add a little more misery for the Redbirds.

Save big!

1995: Oakland A’s closer Dennis Eckersley collected the 300^thsave of his Hall of Fame career in a 5-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles. At the time, Eck became the sixth closer to reach the milestone.

2016: Francisco Rodriguez nabbed his 400^th save as the Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1.

Baseball to the extreme

1918: In the ultimate rubber-arm performance on the mound, Cleveland’s Stan Coveleski pitched 19 innings — you read that correctly — in the Indians’ 3-2 victory over the Yankees. He was helped by a homer from former pitcher Joe Wood.

1947: Hitting for pitcher Gene Hermanski — in the first inning — Brooklyn’s Carl Furillo knocked out a three-run homer. So why was Hermanski pulled so early? Phillies manager Ben Chapman started righty Al Jurisch to only have him pitch to the Dodgers’ leadoff hitters, Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson. Reese would strike out, but Robinson walked. Oscar Judd, a lefty, came on to face three left-handed bats: Pete Reiser, Dixie Walker and Hermanski. Reiser walked, but Walker popped out.

Furillo’s homer would give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. Yet maybe Chapman’s strategy wasn’t necessary. The Phillies would win the game anyway, 4-3, in 10 innings.

Happy birthday...

Former NBA star Tracy McGrady, seven-time All Star who twice led the NBA in scoring. The Hall of Famer was a first-round draft pick of the Raptors in 1997 right out of high school and also played for Orlando and Houston during his illustrious career. He currently serves as an NBA analyst on ESPN. (41)
Mitch Kupchak, NBA champ with the Washington Bullets and L.A. Lakers. Kupchak, also an Olympic Gold Medalist, succeeded Jerry West as GM of the Lakers and currently serves as president of basketball operations and GM for the Charlotte Hornets. (66)
Joe Dumars, six-time All Star who helped the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons to back-back NBA championships in 1989 and 1990. The Hall of Famer, who spent his entire 14-year career in Detroit, served as the team’s president of basketball operations for 14 years, building the 2004 championship Pistons team. (57)
Joey Logano, winner of the 2015 Daytona 500. Logano was the 2009 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year. (30)
Former MLB pitcher Bartolo Colon, 2005 Cy Young Award winner. Nicknamed “Big Sexy,” Colon won 247 games over his 21-year career with 11 teams. The four-time All-Star hasn’t pitched since 2018 but recently said he would consider a return to the mound. (47)
Wide receiver Nelson Agholor, first-round draft pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015. Agholor had nine catches in Super Bowl LII and now is a member of the Las Vegas Raiders. (27)
Pat Verbeek, assistant GM for the Detroit Red Wings and winner of the Stanley Cup with Dallas in 1999. As a player, Verbeek was known as “The Little Ball of Hate,” racking up 2,902 penalty minutes and 522 goals over his 20-year career. (56)

R.I.P.

1966: Golfer Jim Barnes, winner of the first PGA Championship, in 1916. Barnes won four majors and had 17 PGA Tour wins. Standing at 6-foot-4, he was known as “Long Jim” and is one of only eight golfers to have won the U.S. Open, the PGA and the Open Championship. He was 80.

More must-reads: