1978 Pocono 500

The 1978 Pocono 500, the 8th running of the event, was held at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, June 25, 1978. Branded as the 1978 Schaefer 500 for sponsorship reasons, the race was won by Al Unser who one month earlier had won the Indianapolis 500. Two months later, Unser won the California 500 to become the only driver to win all three of IndyCar's Triple Crown of 500 mile races in the same year.

A major bump in turn two, "The Tunnel Turn," formed where a new asphalt patch met the old asphalt. On Tuesday night, former Indianapolis track superintendent, Clarence Cagle, oversaw a cement dust veneer meant to smooth the transition. An early morning rain caused the cement to be very slick in Wednesday's practice, which forced practice to be stopped for the cement to be scraped off. The bump was blamed for a suspension failure on Gordon Johncock's car which caused a minor crash.

Criticism from drivers abounded that the repairs did nothing and the bumps were worse than they ever were. Referring to Pocono's past history as a spinach farm, Pancho Carter caused controversy when he said "this country lost a lot when they took the spinach out of here. That second turn is so bad, they're probably growing spinach in there. It's like going down an expressway and you hit a two-inch overlay. The car just goes up in the air." This angered Clarence Cagle, who oversaw repaving of the turn six weeks before the race. "I'm insulted and I guarantee in the next 24 hours I'll have a talk with him... If I thought the track was that dangerous, I'd close this place down in a minute."

On Wednesday night after practice, Cagle and the track crew went to work to further smooth the bump.

Day one of qualifying was held on Thursday. Danny Ongais posted a two lap average of 190.315 mph to win the pole. He was joined on the front row by Tom Sneva and Johnny Rutherford. Formula One points leader Mario Andretti posted the sixth fastest time. Sheldon Kinser hit the wall and suffered damage to the right front. His car was repaired to qualify on day two. Larry Rice crashed and withdrew from the race when his car could not be repaired.

26 cars qualified for the race on day one. On day two, only four cars completed qualifying runs. Officials faced the possibility of having the first 500-mile race since 1928 with less than a full field of 33 cars. Qualifying was extended an extra 30 minutes past the 6:00 p.m. deadline to give an opportunity for small teams with mechanical problems to prepare their cars for an attempt. None of the cars were able to make an attempt. Of the four cars still at the track, but unable to make a run, a random draw was held to see which three would be invited to start the race. Bill Vukovich II, Phil Threshie, and Lee Kunzman won the draw to start the race. Bob Harkey was the lone car to miss the field. Kunzman's car was described as having "such bad problems in the front, it won't even go down the track straight at 165 mph." In Sunday's race, Kunzman completed one lap before parking the car.

Prior to the race, USAC President, Dick King, said that Pocono Raceway would have to repair the track surface in turn two before Indy cars would return. Winter freezing above the tunnels caused major bumps that worsened each year. The track's construction of dirt piled over the steel infield tunnels caused the track surface to settle and some believed the construction instead should be done with concrete.

Polesitter, Danny Ongais drove away from the field at the start and led the first 15 laps.