On race day, the three Penske teammates proceeded to lead 192 of the 200 laps, with Rick Mears taking the checkered flag, his third-career Indy 500 victory.

The victory also marked a triumphant return of success for the Penske chassis (in this case the PC-17), after dismal results in 1987 (PC-16), and sparse use during the previous four seasons.

Also notable for 1988 was that veteran announcer Paul Page, formerly the radio "Voice of the 500", called the race on television for the first time.

Rick Mears and Danny Sullivan, respectively, won the pole positions for the first two races of the CART season.

Defending Indy 500 winner Al Unser Sr. joined Mears and Sullivan as a third entry for the three 500-mile races (Indianapolis, Michigan, and Pocono).

Back-to-back defending CART champion, and 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal returned for what would be his last season at Truesports.

During a tire test session at the Speedway in September 1987, Roberto Guerrero had a crash, and suffered a serious head injury that put him in a coma for seventeen days.

Many of the cars in the field were sporting new style wheels with flush discs, giving the 1988 month of May a unique visual appearance.

After becoming famous for being "first in line" at the Indy 500 from 1950 to 1987, longtime fan Larry Bisceglia of Chicago, and later from Phoenix, fell ill and missed the 1988 race.

[4] * Includes days where trackactivity was significantlylimited due to rain ROP — denotes RookieOrientation Program Six drivers took part in rookie orientation.

Rick Mears turned the fastest unofficial practice lap in Indy history, breaking the 220 mph for the first time.

His lap of 221.565 mph broke the day-old unofficial track record at 5:45 p.m. Ludwig Heimrath went high in turn 2 and brushed the outside wall, the second crash of the month.

The final day of practice was anticipated to be a duel between Rick Mears and Mario Andretti, the two drivers who had distanced themselves from the rest of the field.

[5] At 12:07 p.m., just over an hour into the session, Al Unser Sr. completed his attempt at 215.270 mph, good enough to take over the provisional pole position, and secure a spot on the front row.

Derek Daly and Scott Brayton completed runs over 212 mph, and by 1 p.m., the field was filled to ten cars.

Rich Vogler quickly climbed into his backup car, and as time expired, bumped his way back into the field with a speed of 207.126 mph.

The top three race qualifiers and their respective pit crews were automatically eligible: Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan, Al Unser Sr., all of the Penske team.

Under the yellow, Teo Fabi, using the Porsche engine, pulled out of his pit stall with one of the rear wheels not secured.

Danny Sullivan continued to dominate in the lead, with Rick Mears falling to 10th place with handling problems.

After suffering early handling issues, Rick Mears radioed his crew and requested that they switch to the old style wheels.

Leader Danny Sullivan pitted, giving the lead for the first time to Jim Crawford in the Buick-powered machine.

At age 50, it would be Rutherford's final lap in Indy 500 competition (he would fail to qualify in subsequent years and officially retired in 1994).

After several long pit stops to repair gearbox problems, an oil leak, and electrical gremlins, Mario Andretti finally called it quits.

Some confusion hovered over the placement of other cars, but for the moment, Al Unser Sr. was second, Michael Andretti third, and Bobby Rahal worked all the way up to 4th in the Judd-powered entry.

USAC claimed that while exiting the pits, Fittipaldi passed the lapped car of Rich Vogler, and did not properly honor the blend-in rule.

USAC re-evaluated the situation, and when official results were posted Monday morning, they retracted Fittipaldi's penalty once and for all.

During the season finale weekend in Miami, Simon would announce his retirement from driving to concentrate running his race team.

Sally Larvick (Paul Page's wife), who had worked on the crew from 1982 to 1987 in only a limited role (conducting interviews with celebrities, etc.

The opening tease featured Alan Silvestri's score from the film The Delta Force, in a medley with the instrumental song "Katydid's Ditty" by Mason Williams.

Bobby Unser and Sam Posey returned as color commentators, and this three-man booth crew would cover the Indy 500 and other Indycar races on ABC through 1995.