International 500 Mile
Sweepstakes
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
2.5 Mile Paved Oval
200 Laps/500 Miles
May 28, 1978
| Finish | Start | Driver | Car # | Sponsor/Name | Chassis | Engine | Laps | Status |
Points |
| 1 | 5 | Al Unser | 2 | 1st National Travel Check | Lola 78 | Cosworth TC | 200 | 3:05:54.99 161.363 | 1,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Tom Sneva | 1 | Norton Spirit | Penske PC-6 | Cosworth TC | 200 | Finished | 800 |
| 3 | 6 | Gordon Johncock | 20 | North American Van Lines | Wildcat 78 | DGS | 199 | Flagged | 700 |
| 4 | 13 | Steve Krisiloff | 40 | Foreman Industries | Wildcat | DGS | 198 | Flagged | 600 |
| 5 | 7 | Wally Dallenbach | 6 | Sugaripe Prune | McLaren 77 | Cosworth TC | 195 | Out of fuel | 500 |
| 6 | 19 | Bobby Unser | 48 | ARCOgraphite | Eagle 78 | Cosworth TC | 195 | Flagged | 400 |
| 7 | 20 | A. J. Foyt | 14 | Gilmore/Citicorp | Coyote | Foyt TC | 191 | Flagged | 300 |
| 8 | 23 | George Snider | 84 | Gilmore/Citicorp | Coyote | Foyt TC | 191 | Flagged | 250 |
| 9 | 15 | Janet Guthrie | 51 | Texaco Star | Wildcat | DGS | 190 | Flagged | |
| 10 | 8 | Johnny Parsons | 16 | 1st National Travel Check | Lightning | Offy TC | 186 | Flagged | 150 |
| 11 | 30 | Larry Rice | 35 | Bryant/WIBC | Lightning | Offy TC | 186 | Engine | 100 |
| 12 | 33 | Mario Andretti | 7 | Gould Charge | Penske | Cosworth TC | 185 | Flagged | 50 |
| 13 | 4 | Johnny Rutherford | 4 | 1st National Travel Check | McLaren 77 | Cosworth TC | 180 | Flagged | 25 |
| 14 | 28 | Jerry Karl | 88 | Machinists Union | McLaren | Offy TC | 176 | Flagged | 25 |
| 15 | 24 | Joe Saldana | 69 | Wize-Guy Carpet | Eagle 73 | Offy TC | 173 | Flagged | 25 |
| 16 | 31 | Gary Bettenhausen | 98 | Oberdorfer | King 76 | Offy TC | 147 | Piston | 25 |
| 17 | 25 | Mike Mosley | 78 | Alex Foods | Lightning | Offy TC | 146 | Broken gear | 20 |
| 18 | 2 | Danny Ongais | 25 | Interscope Racing | Parnelli | Cosworth TC | 145 | Piston | 20 |
| 19 | 10 | Dick Simon | 17 | La Machine | Vollstedt | Offy TC | 138 | Wheel bearing | 20 |
| 20 | 26 | Jim McElreath | 26 | Circle City Coal | Eagle 74 | Offy TC | 132 | Engine | 20 |
| 21 | 18 | Tom Bigelow | 43 | Armstrong Mould | Wildcat 76 | DGS | 107 | Broken connecting rod | 15 |
| 22 | 9 | Larry Dickson | 80 | Polak Construction | Penske PC-5 | Cosworth TC | 104 | Lost oil pressure | 15 |
| 23 | 3 | Rick Mears | 71 | CAM2 Motor Oil | Penske PC-6 | Cosworth TC | 103 | Engine | 15 |
| 24 | 21 | Pancho Carter | 8 | Budweiser | Lightning | Cosworth TC | 92 | Broken exhaust header | 15 |
| 25 | 11 | Roger McCluskey | 11 | National Auto Engineering | Eagle 76 | AMC | 82 | Clutch | 10 |
| 26 | 17 | John Mahler | 39 | Tibon | Eagle | Offy TC | 58 | Broken timing gear | 10 |
| 27 | 14 | Tom Bagley | 22 | Kent Oil | Watson 77 | Offy TC | 25 | Overheated | 10 |
| 28 | 22 | Salt Walther | 77 | Dayton-Walther | McLaren | Cosworth TC | 24 | Transmission | 10 |
| 29 | 16 | Spike Gehlhausen | 19 | Hubler Chevrolet/WIRE | Eagle 74 | Offy TC | 23 | Wrecked SE | 5 |
| 30 | 29 | Phil Threshie | 87 | Tutwiler | Lightning | Offy TC | 22 | Lost oil pressure | 5 |
| 31 | 32 | Jerry Sneva | 30 | Smock Material | McLaren | Offy TC | 18 | Broken rear end | 5 |
| 32 | 12 | Sheldon Kinser | 24 | Thermo-King | Watson | Offy TC | 15 | Lost oil pressure | 5 |
| 33 | 27 | Cliff Hucul | 29 | Wendy's Hamburger | McLaren | Offy TC | 4 | Broken oil line | 5 |
| -- | -- | Gary Bettenhausen | 95 | Dairy Queen | Kingfish | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Larry Cannon | 85 | Dayton-Walther | Wildcat | X | -- | DNS, too slow | |
| -- | -- | Pancho Carter | 78 | Alex Foods | Lightning | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Bob Harkey | 4 | X | Eagle | Offy TC | -- | DNS, too slow | |
| -- | -- | Gary Irvin | 9 | Tassi Vatis | X | X | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Jim Hurtubise | X | X | Mallard FE | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Mike Hiss | 7 | Gould Charge | Penske PC-6 | Cosworth TC | -- | Raced by Ma. Andretti | |
| -- | -- | Mike Hiss | 66 | Penske Racing | Penske | Cosworth | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Bubby Jones | 18 | Simon Shopping Centers | Wildcat 2 | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Gordon Johncock | 51 | Texaco Star | Wildcat | DGS | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Lee Kunzman | 90 | X | Sugai Fox | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Al Loquasto | 8 | Frostie Root Beer | McLaren | Offy TC | -- | DNS, too slow | |
| -- | -- | Graham McRae | 33 | Dayton-Walther | McLaren | Offy TC | -- | DNS, too slow | |
| -- | -- | Graham McRae |
34 |
Dayton-Walther | McLaren | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | John Martin | 2 | Wheel Center | Eagle | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Bobby Olivero | 78 | Alex Foods | Lightning | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Billy Vukovich, Jr. | 18 | Longhorn Racing | X | X | -- | DNS, too slow | |
| -- | -- | Billy Vukovich, Jr. | 93 | McCord Auto Supply | Eagle | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Eldon Rasmussen | 58 | Rent-A-Racer | X | X | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Larry Rice | 6 | Bryant/WIBC | Eagle | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Larry Rice | 65 | City of Syracuse | Eagle | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Roger Rager | 9 | Dairy Queen | Dragon | Offy TC | -- | Wrecked qualifying | |
| -- | -- | Roger Rager | 97 | Dairy Queen | Dragon | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Dick Simon | 27 | Bryant Heating & Cooling | Vollstedt | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Chuck Gurney | 57 | Crower Cam | Eagle | Crower | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Mel Kenyon | X | X | X | X | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Vern Schuppan | X | X | X | X | -- | Did not qualify | |
| -- | -- | Ed Finley | X | Olmstead | Eagle 73 | Voelker | -- | Did not qualify |
| Lap Leaders | Total | Laps |
| Al Unser | 121 | 76-107, 111-179, 181-200 |
| Danny Ongais | 71 | 1-11, 13-25, 32-75, 108-110 |
| Steve Krisiloff | 5 | 26-30 |
| Tom Sneva | 3 | 12, 31, 180 |