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Emmerson Fittipaldi fought a fierce duel with Al Unser Jr in the last 15 laps of the race. Running nose to tail lap after lap, Unser got a run on Fittipaldi and passed him with 5 laps to go. But the race was not over as Unser encountered heavy traffic on lap 199 allowing Fittipaldi to pull even with him on the back stretch. Side-by-side they raced into turn three. Fittipaldi had no room and the two of them collided with Unser crashing into the wall and Fittipaldi taking it home for the victory.
For me personally, being in attendance, the excitement and tension was heightened by the fact that I could not see the backstretch or turn 3 from where I was sitting. To this day I can clearly hear track announcer Tom Carnegie describing the action at an almost frenzied pitch “Side by side, into turn three, and ONE OF THEM HAS SPUN, ONE OF THEM HAS SPUN!!!”
The meaning of the day was not lost of Fittipaldi - a two time world driving champion - who broke down in tears while being interviewed on live tv in victory circle.
