With a sport that relies on so many variables, controversy is something that is almost commonplace in the world of motor sport, with every technical rule change or decision from race control scrutinized to the maximum if a team is seen to be swindled in some capacity, and never was this seen more evidently then in 2002, when a dubiously thrown yellow flag combined with off-track politics led to one of the most controversial finishes in 500 history.

Following the introduction of Tony George’s Indy Racing League in 1996, American Open Wheel Racing had been embroiled in a civil war that had placed a profound and arguably detrimental effect on the sport, the political infightings between the IRL and CART helping to drive motor racing fans away from the two factions and aiding the rise in prominence in the process. Such was the level of ill-feeling between the two sides, that for the first years following the split no teams or drivers competing in CART chose to compete at Indianapolis come the month of May, with CART even going as far to organise it’s own showpiece event, the US 500, to run directly against the 500 in 1996.

By the end of the millennium however the tensions between the two sides had somewhat began to ease, and in the year 2000 CART stalwarts Chip Ganassi Racing made the decision to run cars for Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmy Vasser at that season’s Indianapolis 500. Boasting a far greater budget then their IRL rivals Ganassi went on to dominate the race, with Juan Pablo Montoya leading all but 23 laps on his way to claiming the memorial day classic in his first attempt at the event. The following season, Team Penske joined Ganassi in crossing the 500 picket line, with Helio Castroneves leading home a one-two finish in the team’s first open-wheel visit to the Brickyard since their infamous failure to qualify for the race in 1995. Aside from Penske, the 2001 running of the race was a dominant one for CART racing teams in general, with Eliseo Salazar’s seventh placed finish the best result that an IRL regular could achieve against the Champcar counterparts.

By 2002 both Ganassi and Penske made the decision to join the IRL on a full time basis, leaving the most high profile CART defectors for the 500 coming in the form of Team Green, fielding machines for series regulars Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti along with their satellite Team Motorola operation run by the returning Michael Andretti. Despite the team having been previous winners of the 500 with Jacques Villeneuve in 1995, Team Green struggled throughout the month of May, with Tracy in particular struggling after an accident in practice left the Canadian and his team firmly on the back-foot heading into time trials, with Michael Andretti’s 25th placed effort the best that the team could muster during a difficult qualifying session.

Despite his team’s underwhelming qualifying effort, Tracy remained confident that his machine’s potential over long runs could leave him in contention come the 500 itself, and when the green flag finally fell to commence the start of the race the Canadian began to slowly make his way through the field, taking advantage of a long green flag period during the race’s middle stages to move up to second behind the dominant Red Bull machine of Tomas Scheckter. On lap 173 however lap 173, Scheckter slid high in turn four and crashed against the wall down the front-stretch, eliminating the South African rookie after leading 85 laps of the race. Under the caution period, Tracy and the majority of the drivers in the front pack dove into the pits for a final pit-stop, with the mid-pack Helio Castroneves deciding to stay out on track, gambling that his car would be able to conserve enough fuel to make it to the end of the race.

When the race restarted with 20 laps to go, Castroneves led the field into turn one, with Felipe Giaffone running in second and Tracy just behind in third place, with both taking sizable chunks out of Castroneves’ lead as the Brazilian struggled to conserve fuel in his Penske machine. As the leaders came up to lap Dario Franchitti with three laps to go, Giaffone dove below Castroneves attempting to take the lead, only for the lapped car of Franchitti to pull alongside Castroneves, effectively blocking Giaffone, and allow Paul Tracy to move past Giaffone to take second place. With 2 laps to go, Castroneves led Tracy by only 0.22 seconds at the start/finish line. And entering turn three made a move to the outside of Castroneves in a bid to take the lead of the race.

As Tracy began to make his move, the lapped car of rookie Laurent Redon collided with eighth placed Buddy Lazier entering turn two, causing both cars to make heavy impact with the outside wall and bring out a full course yellow with effectively one lap remaining in the race. By this point, Tracy had managed to complete the pass for the lead of the race, and believing that the yellow flag had effectively made him the winner of the race began celebrating over his team radio. The response from Barry Green to his however would be far less celebratory.

“There’s a problem,” the team principal told his driver, as he overhead the news that was being relayed to him from race control; Despite running ahead of the ailing Castroneves on the track, officials made the decision that Castroneves was still the leader of the race at the time of the yellow flag, and that Tracy’s pass for the lead was not considered legal. Whilst Tracy, Giaffone and the lapped car of Sam Hornish Jr. broke away from the rest of the field Castroneves limped his fuel deprived car and a slow pace around the track, barely making it over the line to claim his second 500 win and his second in succession. Whilst Tracy and Giaffone were classified second and third despite finishing 20 seconds ahead of Castroneves on the track.

Whilst a relieved Castroneves took the spoils in victory lane, team principal Barry Green immediately stated that his team would challenge the IRL’s ruling over the controversial yellow flag. On the 17th of June a behind-closed-doors appeals hearing took place, featuring representatives of Team Green and Penske Racing as well as Tracy, Castroneves, Sam Hornish, Jr., Dario Franchitti and race control’s Brian Barnhardt. During the case, Green argued that whilst Castroneves had been leading at the point of Barnhardt calling for the yellow, the display lights surrounding the track took priority, and that when the lights officially came on around the circuit Tracy had completed his pass on Helio for the lead. Despite this however, the hearing ruled in favour of Castroneves, officially crowning him winner of the race much to the distain of Tracy and Barry Green.

The race’s controversial finish helped to open up a number of ill-feelings between the IRL and CART communities. While IRL supporters generally accepted the final result, many Tracy supporters felt the decision was politically motivated, suggesting that Tony George favoured Penske Racing (a full-time IRL team) and punished the part-time, rival CART-based effort of Team Green. Shirts and hats were sold at CART events declaring Tracy the “Real IRL 500 winner”, while Tracy himself refused to compete in any IRL event for the next seven years, only returning to the 500 when the two series were reunited in 2009.

In today’s video Paul Tracy speaks candidly about the 2002 Indy 500, with the video also featuring the yellow flag evidence used by Team Green as part of their court case against the result: