The 1982 race drew a record 109 entries and featured a field mixing veteran IndyCar stalwarts with promising newcomers. A. J. Foyt, returning from a serious arm fracture suffered at the 1981 Michigan 500, was among the headline stories entering the month. His teammate Bobby Unser was absent, having taken a sabbatical that became a permanent retirement. Mario Andretti rejoined Patrick Racing and committed to a full CART season, spending the entire month in Indianapolis for the first time in several years rather than traveling between Indy and European Formula One commitments.
Officially the race ran under the 1981-82 USAC season, though the bulk of the field competed in the 1982 CART PPG Indy Car World Series. Points were not awarded toward the CART championship, making the event a non-championship race in that series.
On pole day, May 15, Rick Mears secured pole position for Penske Racing with a four-lap average of 207.004 mph, breaking his own teammate Kevin Cogan's earlier benchmark set the same morning. For the first and only time in Indianapolis 500 history, three brothers qualified for the same race: Don, Bill, and Dale Whittington all made the 33-car field. Don finished a creditable sixth; Dale never completed a lap in his career, crashing before the start.
The session was overshadowed by the fatal accident of Gordon Smiley. Approaching Turn 3 on his second warm-up lap, Smiley's March 81C became loose; he overcorrected, and the car struck the concrete wall head-on at approximately 200 mph. The car disintegrated and Smiley was killed instantly. It was the first fatality at Indianapolis since 1973 and remains the last during a qualifying attempt. Track announcer Tom Carnegie informed spectators: "Ladies and gentlemen... it is with our deepest regrets that we announce the passing of Gordon Smiley."
As the field approached the start/finish line for the green flag, Kevin Cogan, starting from the middle of the front row, suddenly swerved right, contacting A. J. Foyt's car and then sliding into Mario Andretti. Further back, Dale Whittington lost control and collected Roger Mears. The incident eliminated four cars before racing began. Foyt's crew hastily repaired the damage and sent him back out for the restart; Andretti's Patrick-prepared car was too badly damaged to continue.
Andretti, livid, told ABC-TV's Bill Flemming live on air: "I said this is what happens when you have children doing a man's job up front." Foyt, equally outspoken, told broadcaster Chris Economaki: "He ran right square into my goddamned left front." The cause of the accident was never officially determined. Cogan believed a broken CV joint sent the car sideways; other theories pointed to a slow pace that left drivers in inappropriate gear ratios when power was applied. Cogan lost his Penske seat at the end of the season and was replaced by Al Unser.
Twenty-nine cars took the restarted green flag. Foyt led the opening lap for the first time in his 25-year Indy career, but his repaired car handled poorly all race; a failed transmission linkage ended his day on lap 95. Mears established himself as the fastest car and led frequently through the first half.
The pivotal sequence came late. With 42 laps remaining, Gordon Johncock passed Mears on the backstretch to take the lead after a restart. The two drivers ran nose-to-tail for the next 20 laps. Both needed one final fuel stop. Mears pitted first but was briefly held up behind Herm Johnson, costing him several seconds and obliging his crew to top off the tank fully. Two laps later, Johncock pitted and took on only enough fuel to reach the finish, executing a faster stop.
Johncock returned with an 11-second lead, but his light fuel load aggravated a pushing condition and his car's handling deteriorated. Mears, his heavier tank improving his grip in the turns, closed at more than a second per lap. The crowd was audible over the engines as the gap fell below three seconds with three laps to go. On the final lap Mears pulled alongside Johncock on the main straight, the two cars taking the white flag side by side. Johncock chopped back in front through Turn 1, held the inside line through Turn 3 where he hit a bump on the apron, and crossed the line 0.16 seconds clear. It was the closest finish in Indy 500 history at the time and stood as the record for ten years.
The 1982 Indianapolis 500 is regularly cited as one of the greatest editions of the race. Gordon Johncock, who had also won the tragic rain-shortened 1973 race, secured a second victory remembered for its drama rather than its circumstances. The day after his win, Johncock's mother Frances died following a lengthy illness; he learned of her death at the Victory Banquet.
The fatal crash of Gordon Smiley cast a shadow over the month and over the broader motorsport calendar: Gilles Villeneuve had been killed at Zolder one week earlier, Riccardo Paletti was killed at Montreal in June, and Jim Hickman — the 1982 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year — was killed at Milwaukee later that summer.
Cogan's role in the opening lap chaos reinforced the perceived tension between Penske Racing and Patrick Racing, whose rivalry had already been a central storyline in the controversial 1981 race. Mario Andretti's misfortune strengthened the narrative of the Andretti curse at Indianapolis.
ABC's television broadcast of the closing laps earned a Sports Emmy, and the radio call by the IMS Radio Network was critically praised for capturing the drama of the final lap. Producer Mike Pearl won one of the broadcast's three total Emmy Awards.