March 86C – 1986 Indy 500 & CART Champion Up for Auction

Images courtesy RM Auctions by Jamey Price

In 1986 this ex-Bobby Rahal March 86C won both the Indy 500 and the overall CART IndyCar Championship, and come August 15, 2014, it could be yours.

Bobby Rahal was dominant in ’86, winning six of the seventeen races, including the legendary, and in ’86 particularly exciting, Indy 500. And this car, chassis 86C-13, was his weapon of choice for most of those.

Much of the ’86 Indy 500 was a three-man fight for the lead, with Rick Mears, Bobby Rahal, and Kevin Cogan fighting it out for the top spot until the very close of the race. With Cogan in the lead the race was put under caution in the closing laps, and when the green flags came out with two laps to go Rahal was quickest on the throttle, jumping into the lead – where he stayed to take the chequered flag in a neck-and-neck finish. He became the first man to complete the 500-mile race in under three hours and gave March cars a fourth consecutive Indy 500 win.

After the ’86 CART IndyCar season the car was returned to its original Indy 500 specifications with original rear wing, race-winning Cosworth engine, and Indianapolis livery including the ‘Happy Birthday’ sticker affixed to the car for team owner Jim Trueman, who had given driver Bobby Rahal his start in motorsport, just celebrated his 51st birthday and sadly been diagnosed with late-stage cancer.

The car spent a year on a Budweiser promotional tour, before being sold to its one-and-only private owner, who put it on display in a climate-controlled environment.

It hasn’t all been rarefied air and rest for 86C-13, however. The car has been run at very select high profile events such as at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where in 2011 Bobby Rahal and Adrian Newey drove drove it up the Goodwood House driveway, as well as at the Indy Speedway and Amelia Island.

A car such as this in private hands, and offered for sale, is astonishingly rare and represents a magnificent opportunity to acquire an invaluable piece of motorsport history. We hope to see it go to a good home!

Head to RM Auctions’ official site here for more information.

Via RM Auctions

Images courtesy RM Auctions by Jamey Price