During the early to mid nineties Indycar racing reached unprecedented levels of popularity and success, to the extent that it was seen as a legitimate threat to Formula One’s Worldwide popularity, and for many Indycar fans no moment symbolised the growth in Indy’s stature more then Nigel Mansell’s arrival at the speedway in 1993.

During the 1980’s Nigel Mansell earned himself a reputation as one of the enigmatic characters in Formula One. During a 15 year career with spells at Lotus, Williams, Ferrari and McLaren the Birmingham native made up for a less then charismatic off-track persona with sheer bravery and guts on it, and his 1992 title victory in the active suspension Williams FW14B was seen as just rewards for a career of hard work and determination. Despite the Championship win however Mansell’s relationship with team owner Frank Williams had begun to sour, with Mansell’s wage demands and the arrival of Alain Prost into the team said the be the source of tension between the two men. Mansell’s contract was not renewed, and with a lack of competitive drives elsewhere in the sport it appeared that the reigning World Champion would spend the 1993 racing season on the sidelines.

At the last minute however Mansell was approached by Indycar team owner Paul Newman over the prospect of driving for his team in place of the departing Michael Andretti. Swayed by Newman’s promise of an adventure, as well as the huge financial reward that would come with the deal, Nigel signed onboard with the team, partnering Michael’s father Mario for the 1993 season. With significant hype and coverage surrounding his arrival to Indycar Nigel won in his first ever race at Surfers Paradise, but a crash in practice for the next round in Phoenix forced Mansell to miss the race, meaning that the Indianapolis 500 would be the Briton’s first ever race on an oval track.

After being given permission to miss Rookie Orientation Practice, Mansell safely qualified for the race in eighth position, and following a slow start slowly began to work his way through the field. Prior to the race concerns had been raised that the removal of the track’s apron would limit the amount overtaking opportunities on the 2.5 mile track, but Mansell proved those doubters wrong with a number of stereotypically ballsy passes to take the lead of the race on lap 56. On lap 89 however Mansell would make the first key error during the race, overshooting his box when he entered the pit-lane during a full course yellow for debris, the extended pitstop cost Mansell 20 seconds over his nearest rivals and dropping to 6th place on the leader-board.

Mansell however was undeterred, fighting his way back into third position by lap 169, and there the Englishman pulled off one of the passes of the day, passing both Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi to retake the lead with 30 laps remaining. It appeared that Nigel was on course for a famous win, the first rookie win at the speedway, as well as the first by a Briton since Graham Hill achieved the feat in 1966.

Fate however was to tell a very different story. On lap 182 of the race Lyn St. James stalled her car coming out of turn four, forcing officials to throw a yellow flag and eliminate the lead that Mansell had built over the chasing duo of Emerson Fittipaldi and Arie Luyendyk. Being in his first oval race and with a European background, Mansell was inexperienced on restart situations, and as the field went back to green on lap 184 the hesitant Englishman was jumped by both Fittipaldi and Luyendyk going into turn one. Despite his pace earlier in the race Mansell was not able to recover from his botched restart, and after making slight contact with the outside wall on lap 192 was forced to settle for third place. The result earned Mansell that season’s rookie of the year honours, and made him the first rookie ever to complete the 500 mile distance since Donnie Allison in 1970.

Despite expressing displeasure at the manner in which he lost the lead Mansell was still happy with his performance in the race, and used the confidence gained at Indy to good measure, as he would pick up four oval wins on his way to becoming the first rookie champion in Indycar history.

In today’s video a feature on the 1993 Indy 500 produced for British television on Mansell’s time in Indycar:

In tomorrow’s update we take a closer look at the closest finish in Indy 500 history.