With 16 victories at the Brickyard and a penchant for technological perfection, Team Penske continue to remain one of the most well respected teams in Indycar racing. Over the years, Roger’s unit have become noted for their ability to constantly redefine the sport’s rules, looking for any kind of loophole to give themselves the so-called ‘unfair advantage’, and in 1994 this meticulous and intelligent approach saw the team pull off one of the most dominant victories ever seen at the 500.

1993 had been a successful season for Team Penske; drivers Emerson Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy had finished second and third respectively to Nigel Mansell in that season’s championship, with Fittipaldi also going on to claim his second victory in the Indianapolis 500 after overcoming Mansell in a late race restart. Just one month after his team’s triumph at the Brickyard however, Penske’s immediately began to turn his attentions to next season’s race, and in particular to a loop-hole in the sport’s regulations that he planned to exploit in domineering fashion.

In 1978, the United States Auto Club introduced new engine regulations for the Indianapolis 500 designed to appeal to smaller engine-building companies and independents looking to compete in the Memorial Day event. The new regulations allowed for teams to have the choice between running a purpose built V8 as seen from the likes of Ford and Chevrolet at the time, or from a Stock-derived pushrod V6 which was popularised by the Buick V6 during the mid-eighties. Whilst the stock block engines had the potential to generate more power then their V8 rivals, the increased pressures generated on the stock-derived unit made the engines vulnerable to reliability issues, with Jim Crawford’s sixth placed finish n 1988 proving to be the strongest showing from a Stock Block engine during the decade. Initially, stock blocks were required to have some production-based parts. However, in 1991, USAC quietly lifted the requirement, meaning that in theory a team could develop a purpose-built V6 engine from the ground up, extracting the power advantage that came with a push-rod engine without the reliability fears that had come with using production based parts. Developing such an programme would take a considerable amount of effort and investment, particular for a machine which would only be eligible for the 500, but this did not defer Penske, and in the Summer of 1993 began work on one of the most ambitious engineering projects ever seen at the 500.

Fearing that rumours about the project would instigate rule changes from USAC, Penske developed the Pushrod in almost complete secrecy, allowing only a few select members of his operation to work on the project and putting in place strict confidentiality laws that even stopped members of the team from speaking to other Penske employees about the project. Such was Roger’s desperation to maintain anonymity over the project, that when it came to testing the engine competitively for the first time the team chose to do so on a sub-zero day at Nazareth Speedway, with the team having to shovel miles of freshly laid snow to make the circuit accessible for the day’s events. Apart from the snow, it was so cold that driver Paul Tracy had to wear a bulky ski suit in order to remain running. His running time was limited to runs of 20 minutes or so before he had to quit since he had became too cold to continue.

After striking a deal with Mercedes Benz to badge the engines as 500is for the 500, Penske revealed the Pushrod engine to the world for the first time just three days prior to the opening day of that season’s time trials. Almost immediately, rumours began to spread over the potential power output of the pushrod, with some quarters suggesting that the unit was capable of generating over 1,100 horsepower with full boost, a figure 200 horsepower more then what was being generated by the equivalent V8 turbo used by the majority of the rest of the field. After claiming first and third on the grid with drivers Al Unser Jr and Emerson Fittipaldi, the two Penske’s jumped into the lead right from the start of the race, setting a blistering pace at the front that soon saw them putting cars in the field a lap down just 10 laps into the event. Although early caution periods helped to keep the opposing teams in touch with the Penske’s during the early stages of the race, few had any answer for the Marlboro machines on longer runs, meaning by the time that the race reached the 180th lap the two red and white machines were more then a lap ahead of third placed Jacques Villenueve at the front of the field.

With the race win all but secured, the two Penske drivers began to turn their attention towards each other, with Fittipaldi holding a 40 second lead over his New Mexico team-mate but still requiring a final pit-stop for fuel before the end of the race. Fittipaldi’s team scheduled a “timed” splash & go fuel-only stop for lap 194. Coming up to put Unser a lap down. Fittipaldi admitted a driver error as he drove over the inside rumble strips causing the rear tires to lose grip. His car slid loose, and the right rear wheel tagged the outside wall exiting turn 4. After leading 145 laps, Fittipaldi’s crashed car slid to a stop down the main stretch, handing Unser the lead of the race with Jacques Villeneuve now moving to second. Although Villenueve was able to get his lap back on Unser, the Canadian was never able to amount a serious challenge to Unser, and after an accident involving Stan Fox brought out the race’s final caution Unser was able to coast to the line under yellow to claim his second 500 win in one of the most dominant performances by a team ever seen at the speedway. Almost immediately, rule changes were put in place to limit the amount of boost used by a purpose built pushrod at the Brickyard, meaning that the 1994 Indy 500 would be the only race ever contested by the 500i.

If there is any other race that defines why Roger Penske is so revered within the Indycar community it has to be this one, an example of ingenuity and tactical nuance utilising a technical loophole in the most spectacular of fashion. Such was the level of dominance and notoriety the 500i helped to even spark an award winning book around it’s inception, and whilst my article is nowhere near it’s high standard I would like to think it has given you a taster of one of the 500’s most incredible success stories.

For today’s video we have the closing stages of the 1994 500, including Emerson Fittipaldi’s late race accident: