Racing in the shadows: A look at epic second place Indy 500 finishers who never won at IMS

INDIANAPOLIS – As Scott Goodyear stood in front of a fourth-grade class Wednesday talking to students about his days racing in the Indianapolis 500, he had a boy ask him a question he'd never been asked by someone so young.

"A little guy said, 'How did you feel coming that close and not winning?'" Goodyear told IndyStar of his visit to Clay Center Elementary in Carmel, where his daughter, Hayley, teaches. "I thought, 'Ahhh, how intuitive that he would think of that.'"

Goodyear, of course, has been asked that same question by adults in different variations repeatedly for the past 32 years. It's the first thing just about anyone who knows anything about racing thinks of when they hear Goodyear's name – those final seconds of that 1992 Indy 500.

That insanely tight ending three decades ago when Goodyear chased Al Unser Jr., to the finish line in a remarkable, heart-stopping, final two-lap charge, finishing second by just .043 of a second, the closest margin in race history.

All the greats of the Indy 500 voted Unser's victory over Goodyear in 1992 as the greatest race in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history in a survey of past winners conducted by The Associated Press in 2016. “That,” 1963 winner Parnelli Jones, said at the time, “was kind of outstanding.”

"This was the race of my life," Goodyear said immediately after he stepped out of his car. But as he pulled off his helmet and then his head sock, tears were streaming down his cheeks, the IndyStar reported.

"You stand there with a tear in your eye. It just shows how much emotion is involved in the whole thing," Goodyear said Wednesday. "It was disappointing, no doubt, but as I stepped back and looked at it a week later? If someone had told me I would have been in the top five and contending for the win, I would have been thrilled."

That 1992 race, after all, was not Goodyear's to win, not by a long shot. He started 33rd and was competing in only his 14th oval race and his third Indy 500.

"That race, I lacked experience, so for me, I was expecting not to win but hoped to win," he said. Then, as he started moving into the top 10 then into fifth place, then fourth, then third, then second, his head was spinning.

When Unser wobbled a bit in the final corner, Goodyear wove behind him down the straightaway and darted inside as the two cars crossed the finish line, seemingly, at the exact same moment.

"I look at the video and say, 'Gosh.' It was so close,'" he said. "I was disappointed at the time, but it gave me the confidence to move on. And it gave me the confidence that I now knew the track. For me, it was probably a turning point for recognizing that this guy who came from road course racing in Canada and Europe could do oval."

Throughout his Indy 500 career, Goodyear finished in the top 10 five times, including another runner-up finish in 1997 when he fell to Treadway Racing teammate Arie Luyendyk in a furious two-lap finish that ended in controversy as yellow lights around the course remained lit for seconds after the green flag to restart the race was displayed.

"I was on the radio asking, 'Is it green or is it yellow,' because Arie was taking off," Goodyear said. In the end, he wasn't all that disappointed in the 1997 race because, to this day, he knows his car simply didn't have the speed to win.

And in 1992, Goodyear knows he didn't have the experience to win. Still, it is the 1992 race that people want to talk about, he said.

"As a racecar driver, I finished second, so I didn't win the race. Still people will say, 'What an amazing race,'" he said. "And I think, 'What? OK folks, I finished second. I lost. It doesn't matter if we finished side by side like we were or half a lap behind.'"

But race fans will forever see him as a winner, of sorts, as the guy who gave them the most thrilling Indy 500 in history.

And while Goodyear may be the most dramatic second-place finisher, he is far from alone. There have been many other drivers who watched victory play out in front of them in stunning and heart-wrenching ways – missing that coveted, iconic IMS win by one.

Take a look at other epic second-place Indy 500 finishers who never won the race.

Roberto Guerrero: 'I am disappointed, but second is second'

Indy 500 stats: In his 15 starts, Roberto Guerrero nabbed two second-place finishes, one as a rookie in 1984 and another in 1987. He also had a third-, fourth- and fifth-place finish. He held the pole position in 1992 but crashed due to cold tires on the parade lap on a morning when the temperature was 48 degrees with wind gusts of 23 mph causing wind chills as low as 28 degrees.

His first second place: In Guerrero's rookie season, the 25-year-old driver didn't have a shot at first place as the 1984 race's final laps played out. Rick Mears was ahead of the entire field by two laps and easily won the second of his four Indy 500s. But there was a competition for runner up – between Guerrero and Al Unser, Sr.

As drivers competed in the final 30 laps, light rain threatened to end the race early. Instead, all 200 laps were run and when the results were scored, Unser Sr. was tentatively declared the second-place finisher with Guerrero third. But when the scoring was made official, the two drivers swapped places making Guerrero No. 2 in the race.

"I didn't even know I was second," a surprised Guerrero told IndyStar as he climbed out of his car. "I was hoping I was in the top five. I feel very lucky. Maybe I did better than I deserve." Guerrero was voted co-Rookie of the Year, alongside Michael Andretti, who finished fifth.

No. 2 again: Three years later, a more experienced Guerrero held second place to Mario Andretti for much of the race. But with 23 laps to go in the 1987 race, Guerrero took the lead as electrical troubles plagued Andretti's car.

On Lap 182, Guerrero came in for his final pit stop, but as he tried to exit, his engine stalled. His crew said the third gear had been damaged earlier in the race when a wheel flew off of Tony Bettenhausen's car, hit the nose of Guerrero's car and went flying into the grandstands, killing a spectator.

Eventually, Guerrero's car started moving, but stalled again just outside of pit lane, allowing Unser to take the lead by one lap. On Lap 191, Guerrero caught up but after a caution on Lap 192 due to Andretti stopping on the track, the restart didn't come out until Lap 196. With six cars between Unser and Guerrero, he was never able to catch up.

"Obviously, I am disappointed, but second is second," Guerrero said after the race. "And I'm lucky to be seated here since that wheel hit the nose of my car and flew over it."

While the race was a joyful one for Unser, Sr., making him a four-time winner, the fatality at the track put a cloud over the entire day and put in perspective Guerrero's finish. It was the first time a spectator had been killed at IMS in 57 years.

Michael Andretti: Second to Mears in epic final shootout

Indy 500 stats: When he retired from driving in 2003, Michael Andretti left behind a bittersweet record as the driver who led the most laps (431) of the Indy 500 without winning the race. Andretti competed in 16 Indy 500s, led the race nine times and had his top finish of second in 1991.

1991 race: "It was an epic final shootout," says Jake Query, an IndyCar turn announcer and sports radio host on The Fan, of the finishing battle between Andretti and Rick Mears.

The dramatics began on Lap 183 when Danny Sullivan blew his engine down the frontstretch bringing out the caution flag as a massive cloud of smoke hovered on the track. Andretti, who was leading at the time, took advantage of the break to fuel up. When he came back, he lined up just behind the new leader, Mears, for the restart.

"As the leaders came down for the restart to complete Lap 186, Andretti diced back and forth down the frontstretch and passed Mears on the outside of Turn 1 to take the lead in dramatic fashion," the IndyStar reported. "It was a rare move drivers would seldom attempt."

Mears was not about to be upstaged and responded with the same daring outside pass in Turn 1 on the next lap, then pulled away for a 3.149-second victory. The final five laps to the finish line were all Mears who, with that win, became the third four-time winner of the Indy 500.

The headline in the IndyStar the next day read, "Michael was close, but..." But not close enough.

"When they hand out the checks at tonight's Indianapolis 500 Victory Banquet, Andretti will receive the prize for runner up," IndyStar wrote. "The sad part of it is, he drove like a winner."

Paul Tracy: 'We got robbed'

Indy 500 stats: In seven starts, Paul Tracy has one second-place finish and a ninth-place finish.

The 2002 race: Dubbed one of the most controversial finishes in Indy 500 history, one that included verbal jabs, appeals and long-lasting dispute, Tracy came out on the losing end. Immediately after he was declared second-place finisher to Helio Castroneves, a livid Tracy went in front of reporters saying, "We got robbed. We got robbed."

When Tracy talked to IndyStar in 2022 about the race 20 years before, he was still adamant the victory should he his. Tracy said he can still replay every tiny detail, minute by minute, second by second, of the finish to that race, including the pass he made to take the lead over Castroneves on the 199th lap.

"I'm screaming on the radio. I'm screaming in joy," Tracy said. "And then all of a sudden, there is this confusion."

That confusion was about a yellow flag thrown on Lap 199 of the race. Confusion about whether Tracy passed Castroneves before the caution light came on after a crash in Turn 2. Tracy wasn't confused at all. He knew he had already made the pass.

"Where do I go to the winners' circle?" he radioed in as he drove to victory (he thought) in 2002. The response he received was odd. Tracy was told to come to the pit box. Castroneves was climbing the fence in victory.

In a split-second decision by Indy Racing League officials after the race, Castroneves had been declared the victor. But it wasn't official. Tapes needed to be reviewed and rulebooks pored over. Six hours would pass after the race before an official winner of the 2002 Indy 500 would be revealed.

It was nearly 8 p.m. when IRL director of operations Brian Barnhart appeared before media to issue his ruling. He had found no evidence to overturn his original decision: Castroneves was the 2002 Indy 500 winner, the first back-to-back winner in 31 years.

The caution had been issued before Tracy passed Castroneves, he said. The driver in the lead when the yellow flag came out was the winner of the race. And, Barnhart said, that was Castroneves. Tracy was second.

Despite his appeals to IMS and Tony George, Tracy was never vindicated as the winner.

"I disagree with the decision. Helio thinks that he won and I think that I won. At the end of the day, he does have the trophy," Tracy told IndyStar in 2022. "I don't have the trophy, but I knew what it felt like to win that race. I knew what it felt like to win an Indy 500."

Marco Andretti: Third-closest finish in race history

Indy 500 stats: In 18 starts, Marco Andretti has one second-place finish as well as three thirds, a fourth, a sixth, an eighth and a ninth.

2006 race: Until he watched this race, covering it as a television color analyst for ABC and ESPN, Goodyear said he never understood why people were so in awe, so obsessed with his 1992, second-place finish. But as he watched Sam Hornish Jr. and Andretti's thrilling ending in 2006, it all clicked.

The margin of victory was .063 of a second, an electric finish with a last turn pass by Hornish, who secured his first and only Indy 500 win. Hornish had led just 19 laps before passing Andretti on the inside on the last lap to win the race.

“The way he went through traffic was just incredible and that allowed him to close the gap enough,” said Mears in 2016. “That was one of the most exciting ones I’ve seen.”

Goodyear was in the booth working as the cars came around to Turn 4. Andretti was passed by Hornish a short 450 feet from the line.

"Everybody stands up and you can feel the energy. It's almost like the building shook," Goodyear said. "The move is made, and he goes by, and the place erupts."

On the drive home from IMS that night, 14 years after his electrifying second-place finish, Goodyear started thinking.

"It was like somebody hit a light switch. It took me that long to finally get what that is all about," he said. "I got it."

Pato O'Ward: 'It's a bit of a tough pill to swallow'

Indy 500 stats: In four starts, Pato O’Ward, has second-, fourth- and sixth-place finishes.

2022 race: In the closing moments of the race, when Jimmie Johnson lost control of his car hitting the outside wall in Turn 2 on Lap 194, the fifth caution period of the day was initiated. Johnson was not injured, but IndyCar officials stopped the race to clean up the wreck to try to assure the finale didn't happen under a caution period.

At the time of Johnson's crash, Marcus Ericsson led O'Ward by more than three seconds. "Those were probably 10 of the hardest minutes of my life," Ericsson said of the waiting, adding that he believed he had the race in hand before Johnson's accident.

Instead, the crash set up a two-lap shootout to the end. When racing resumed on Lap 199, Ericsson weaved to the outside at the start to break the momentum of those behind him, then he weaved inside on the backstretch.

"The leaders drove serpentine down the front straight on the final lap before O'Ward challenged heading into Turn 1," IndyStar wrote, "but Ericsson again kept O'Ward at bay."

As the leaders reached Turn 3 for the final time, the sixth caution period came as Sage Karam crashed midway through the final lap ending the race and giving Ericsson his first Indy 500 victory.

"Sadly, they had the faster car," O'Ward said after the race. "We need to do a better job. We need to come back next year and give it hell again. But I'm proud of the job that we did today. It's my best result in the 500. It's a bit of a tough pill to swallow after such a long race and doing everything correctly."

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: [email protected].