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Bill Vukovich,
Jr. was the son of 1953 and 1954 Indy winner Bill Vukovich, Sr.
For the 1973 Indianapolis 500â , Bill
Vukovich, Jr. entered his fourth Indy 500â
with car owner Jerry O'Connell and Chief Mechanic Jud Phillips.
Vukovich qualified on the first day of qualifying with a speed of
191.103 mph, which placed him on the inside of the fifth row in
the starting lineup. A first-lap mishap involving several cars,
followed by heavy rain, caused a postponement until the following
day. On the second day, rain began during the pace lap, and the
race was red-flagged then postponed, without a green flag being
shown. When the race finally got under way on the third day,
Vukovich began moving up from his 16th starting spot to
10th position at the end of 10 laps, and by the end of
30 laps was running 5th. An accident on Lap 58 stopped
the race for more than an hour. After the restart Al Unser led,
with Gordon Johncock and Vukovich following. Al Unser soon broke a
piston, leaving Johncock in the lead and Vukovich in second place.
Vukovich closed to within 6 seconds of Johncock, but was
struggling with a poor handling car and a drop in the boost
pressure of his turbocharger, which reduced his power and caused
him to fall further behind. Rain brought out a yellow flag on Lap
129, and four laps later the race was called. At the finish,
Vukovich was the only driver on the lead lap with Johncock. A
check of Vukovich's Eagle after the race revealed a cracked
intake manifold, which would have worsened had the race continued.
Gordon Johncock was declared the winner of the 1973 Indy 500â
with a speed of 159.036 mph. At the time, Bill Vukovich, Jr.'s 2nd
place finish was the best ever for a son of an Indy winner, twenty
years after his father had won in 1953.
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