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Kevin Cogan: 1989 Indy 500 crash

Submitted by on May 26, 20102 Comments

Kevin Cogan didn’t have much luck at the Indy 500.

He was involved in the famous start crash in 1982, that took out two of the biggest names in US motor racing, Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt. The fallout and controversy from this accident torpedoed his career with Penske and his reputation never recovered. Whether the crash was actually his fault is another story.

Then in1989 he had the monumental shunt that you can see in the video. Coming out of turn four, Cogan spun and hit the end of the pit wall. His car split in half and exploded into a million pieces. He slid sideways with the car on its side down the pitlane with the engine still connected by a few cables and came to rest in front of the first few pit boxes.

Amazingly, Cogan climbed out of the wreck complaining of neck pain, but was otherwise in one piece.

Then in the 1991 Indy 500 he had another monster bingle which left him with a broken arm and leg. Clearly the stars did not align for Kevin at the worlds biggest race.

Unsurprisingly, Cogan retired from motor racing in 1993, with a win at Phoenix as his only IndyCar victory.

He may not have been lucky in the race in terms of reults, but he was certainly lucky to be alive!

Luck is a funny thing.

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  • TedNes

    The ’89 Indy 500 was my first 500. We were outfield, at the exit of 4—-Cogan hit the end of the pit wall about 150 yards away from me. TV doesn’t do that accident justice—stuff flew everywhere, and it just looked terrible. We all figured we’d just seen someone die in front of us……and then, a few seconds later, he was scrambling out of the tub in the pitlane….