Although the Month of May at Indianapolis 500 is obviously centred around the 500, there is still much prestige that comes with qualifying on pole position for the illustrious race; The pre-race pomp and financial reward that comes with the accolade combined with self-confidence knowing that you potentially have one of the strongest cars in the field heading into race day itself. With this in mind, the idea of having all that hard work come to an end before the race has even begun must prove a devastating blow to any driver, one that poor Roberto Guerrero would infamously suffer in 1992.

By the time of the 1992 Indycar season, Roberto Guerrero had earned a reputation as of Indycar racing’s biggest hard-luck stories. After an inauspicious Formula One career driving for the Ensign and Theodore racing teams, Guerrero joined the Indycar series in 1984, driving for the Bignotti-Carter racing team with legendary chief mechanic George Bignotti serving as Guerrero’s chief mechanic. In his first appearance at the Indianapolis 500, Guerrero shocked many in the Indycar paddock by claming second place in the race to eventual winner Rick Mears, in the process claiming a share of that season’s Rookie of the year honours along with fellow high-profile debutante Michael Andretti. Over the next two years, Guerrero would continue establish himself as something of a 500 specialist, picking up third and fourth placed finishes in 1985 and 1986 well above his normal level in the series, one noted for a high level of accidents and mechanical failures whilst in contention for strong results come the end of the race.

In 1987, Guerrero was leading the 500 entering the later stages of the race, when he stalled his car whilst exiting the pits during his last stop for fuel, allowing Al Unser Sr. to claim the win and once again leave the Columbian having to settle for second place. Four months after the race, Guerrero returned to Indianapolis for a testing session driving for Vince Granatelli, when he suffered an accident that saw a wayward from his machine strike Guerrero on the top of his head, leaving the 29 old in a coma for 17 days and keeping him out of action for the rest of the 1987 Indycar season. Although Guerrero would return to the series in 1988, question marks began to be raised over whether the Colombian could be able to reach the high levels that had been shown during his early years in the series, and leaving Guerrero out of a competitive driver following Granatelli’s decision to shut down his Indycar outfit following the 1988 season.

After an attempt to revive his career with the Alfa Romeo Indycar project failed, Guerrero was approached by former drag racer Kenny Bernstein over the possibility of driving for his team for the 1992 Indianapolis 500. Bernstein’s King Racing had been chosen as one of the factory outfits for the Buick V6 Indycar program in 1991, and whilst question marks continued to remain over the reliability of the power unit, Guerrero was convinced that the car’s huge potential provided him with his best chance of a competitive ride in the 500 for many years.

After making a one-off appearance at Long Beach in which he finished 13th, Guerrero and King Racing arrived at Indianapolis as long shot contenders for a positive result in the 500, but after a strong opening to the Month of May which saw both Guerrero and Crawford break the 230mph barrier at the speedway the two Quaker State sponsored machines emerged as the team to beat heading into pole day qualifying. Whilst Crawford suffered mechanical problems during the session, Guerrero did not disappoint, setting both one and four lap track records on his way to claiming pole position for the Memorial Day race. With over 3mph in hand over second placed Eddie Cheever, Guerrero was one of the most dominant pole winners seen at the Brickyard in years, and turning Guerrero from a speculative also ran into a serious contender for the 500 in the eyes of both fans and the media alike.

When race day arrived at Indianapolis conditions at the speedway had taken a turn for the worse; the warm climate which had grace the Brickyard during the month of May had been replaced by a brisk northerly wind that left the track at it’s coldest in living memory, and with concerns soon being raised over whether the cars would be able to generate enough heat in their tyres due to the low track temperature. The murmurings however did not deter Guerrero, and after Mari Hulman made the declaration for the cars to start their engines the Colombian was give the job to lead the field during the race’s three parade laps. Coming out of turn two on the second of these laps, Guerrero gunned his machine to warm up his tyres, only for the rear end of his machine to suddenly snap around, sending Guerrero into the inside retaining wall to the shock of many in the paddock. The car suffered serious suspension damage in the accident, putting the pole-sitter out of action before the race could even begin. Although other drivers would lose control in similar fashion on that day, it was Guerrero’s accident that would reach the most notoriety in the days after the race, marking a moment that would come to define Guerrero’s career up until his retirement from the sport in the year 2000.

Guerrero’s inability to start that year’s 500 remains one of the great what if stories in the modern era of the Brickyard. With the King racing machine showing strong speed throughout the month, and the Buick V6 finally showing it’s reliability through Big Al Unser in the race, we could very easily be speaking about Roberto Guerrero as a heroic underdog story of overcoming adversity to achieve success at the Brickyard, rather then the infamous incident that has seen him claim #36 of our 100 Years Of Indy countdown.

For today’s video there’s nothing else I could show you but the infamous incident itself. Keep an ear out for a spectator laughing shortly after Guerrero’s accident: