Bobby Unser won the 5th annual ‘California 500’ USAC Indy Car race on the 2


Sunday 10th March 1974

Bobby Unser won the 5th annual ‘California 500’ USAC Indy Car race on the 2.5 mile Ontario Motor Speedway. Bobby beat brother Al to the line by six tenths of a second. A.J. Foyt led the first 22 laps before being sidelined after running over debris and damaging the oil resevoir on his Coyote. From there on, the Unser brothers were in command, only losing the lead briefly on pit stops. Bobby passed Al with 22 laps to go and went on to the win. It was Bobby’s first 500 mile race win since his 1968 ‘Indy 500’ triumph and marked the first time in ‘California 500’ history that the winning driver started on the front row. Two time Indy Car champ and former Motorcycle great Joe Leonard blew a tire and crashed heavily on lap 152, suffering a compound fracture to his left leg. A slow recovery from the leg injury ended Leonard’s career and led to a lawsuit against Firestone.


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