Near the halfway point, however, a lengthy pit stop to repair a broken manifold put him many laps down.

[4][5][6][7] Mario Andretti led 116 laps total and won for car owner Andy Granatelli.

With Andretti's finish time of 3:11:14.71, it was the fastest run Indianapolis 500 up to that date, breaking the previous record by nearly five minutes.

The car in which Andretti won the 1969 Indy 500 is owned by the Smithsonian, while a replica made from the original blueprints sits on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.

After the famous near-miss failures of the controversial STP Granatelli Turbine machines in 1967 and 1968, USAC imposed additional restrictions that effectively rendered them uncompetitive.

USAC stopped short of an outright ban on turbine cars, and it was not the last time one would be entered.

While bolt-on wings were still not allowed, similar devices such as airfoils and spoilers were permitted, as long as they were an integral part of the bodywork.

On Wednesday May 7, A. J. Foyt turned a lap of 169.237 mph, establishing himself as the top driver during the first week of practice.

Roger McCluskey posed a 170.283 mph on Friday May 16, the day before time trials was scheduled to begin.

Only cars that made an attempt before the rains came (and before the track was scheduled to close at 6 o'clock) might be eligible for the pole position.

That evening, Al Unser Sr., who had won the season opener at Phoenix, took to the infield to pass the time during the rain delay.

It was quickly noticed by media and fans that had Jigger Sirois' crew not waved off his final lap on Saturday, he would have been the lone qualifier of the weekend and sat on the coveted provisional pole position for at least an entire week.

On Wednesday May 21, pole favorite Mario Andretti suffered a serious crash in turn four during a practice run.

Due to his facial burns, Mario asked his twin brother Aldo to stand in for him during the traditional front row photo session.

As it ended up, Sirois's first attempt on May 17 would have been fast enough to qualify for the race and possibly, depending on interpretation of the rules, the pole position.

He jockeyed to find his rightful starting position in row three, but managed only to make it mid-pack as the field took the green flag.

Retiring to the pits early was Gordon Johncock and Bobby Unser, as well as Jack Brabham, whose Repco engine would eventually suffer ignition failure.

The second of two yellow light periods came out on lap 87 when Arnie Knepper broke a suspension piece, causing him to crash in turn 4.

Snider was eventually pushed back to the pits and rejoined the race, but he lost a considerable number of laps.

[16] In the first half, Andy Granatelli's three-car effort was down to one as both Art Pollard and Carl Williams were out early.

He made a long pit stop to replace a punctured radiator, returned to the race, and managed a 6th-place finish.

On his final pit stop, he knocked over chief mechanic Clint Brawner, and nearly stalled the engine as he was pushed away.

His transmission fluid was low, the clutch was reportedly slipping, and despite an extra radiator added by Brawner behind the driver's seat after qualifying, engine temperature was running high.

In victory lane, an emotional happy Mario stated: "I wanted to win this race so bad that you can't believe it.

Eight additional cars were running as of the race finish, but were flagged off the track not having completed the entire distance.

Among the many visitors to the booth were O. J. Simpson, Oscar Robertson, Earl McCullouch, Irv Fried (Langhorne), Wally Parks, Dale Drake, Sam Hanks, and Duke Nalon.

Later in the race, Senator Vance Hartke also visited, accompanied by Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe.

Jim McKay anchored the broadcast with Rodger Ward as analyst and Chris Economaki as pit reporter.

During the race, McKay and Economaki served as roving pit reporters, and their interviews were edited into the final production.

For the fifth year, a live telecast of the race was shown in theaters on a closed-circuit basis; once more, Charlie Brockman called the action.