Background
After the tumultuous and controversial month of May at Indy in 1979, the landscape of Indy car racing was starting to evolve into a more harmonized fashion. At the beginning of the year, the leaders of USAC and CART jointly formed the new Championship Racing League (CRL) to co-sanction the season of events. The 1980 CART/PPG Indy Car World Series began in April, and Indianapolis was the second race of the season. CART awarded points for Indianapolis towards their championship. After Indianapolis, Speedway officials were unhappy with the arrangement, after five races, USAC pulled out of the CRL.
Going into the month USAC dropped turbocharger "boost" levels to 48 inHG across the board. Previously the levels were 50 inHG for qualifying and 70 inHG during the race. The rule change slowed cars down by approximately 8-10 mph, and caused considerable complaint amongst the competitors. Outspoken critics included A. J. Foyt who referred to it as "taxicab racing," and Johnny Rutherford who said it made it difficult to pass other cars.
Read more about this topic: 1980 Indianapolis 500
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