1994 Indianapolis 500
The 78th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 29, 1994. The race was sanctioned by United States Auto Club (USAC), and was included as race number 4 of 16 of the 1994 PPG IndyCar World Series. For the second year in a row, weather was nary a factor during the month. Only one practice day was lost to rain, and pole day was only partially halted due to scattered showers. Warm, sunny skies greeted race day.
| Indianapolis Motor Speedway | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indianapolis 500 | |||||
| Sanctioning body | USAC | ||||
| Season | 1994 CART season | ||||
| Date | May 29, 1994 | ||||
| Winner | Al Unser Jr. | ||||
| Winning team | Penske Racing | ||||
| Average speed | 160.872 mph (258.898 km/h) | ||||
| Pole position | Al Unser Jr. | ||||
| Pole speed | 228.011 mph (366.948 km/h) | ||||
| Fastest qualifier | Unser Jr. | ||||
| Rookie of the Year | Jacques Villeneuve | ||||
| Most laps led | Emerson Fittipaldi (145) | ||||
| Pre-race ceremonies | |||||
| National anthem | Florence Henderson | ||||
| "Back Home Again in Indiana" | Jim Nabors | ||||
| Starting command | Mary F. Hulman | ||||
| Pace car | Ford Mustang Cobra | ||||
| Pace car driver | Parnelli Jones | ||||
| Starter | Duane Sweeney | ||||
| Estimated attendance | 400,000 | ||||
| TV in the United States | |||||
| Network | ABC | ||||
| Announcers | Host/Lap-by-lap: Paul Page Color Analyst: Sam Posey Color Analyst/Turn 2: Bobby Unser Color Analyst/Turn 4: Danny Sullivan | ||||
| Nielsen ratings | 9.1 / 31 | ||||
| Chronology | |||||
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Al Unser Jr. won from the pole position, his second Indy 500 victory. Much to the surprise of competitors, media, and fans, Marlboro Team Penske arrived at the Speedway with a brand new, secretly-built 209 in3 (3.42 L) displacement Ilmor Mercedes-Benz pushrod engine, which was capable of nearly 1,000 horsepower (750 kW). Despite reliability issues with the engine and handling difficulties with the chassis, the three-car Penske team (Unser, Emerson Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy) dominated most of the month, and practically the entire race.
While Al Unser Jr. won the pole position, two-time former winner (1989, 1993) Emerson Fittipaldi dominated most of the race, leading a total of 145 laps. Fittipaldi was attempting to become the first back-to-back winner at Indy since Al Unser Sr. in 1970–1971. On lap 185, Fittipaldi was leading the race, and was looking to put Al Unser Jr. (who was running second) a lap down. Fittipaldi tagged the wall in turn 4, handing the lead to Unser with 15 laps to go. Unser was able to stretch his fuel and cruise to victory over rookie Jacques Villeneuve. Al Unser Jr. joined his father Al Sr. and uncle Bobby as winners of multiple 500s at Indianapolis.
The race marked the final Indy 500 for Mario Andretti (who retired at the end of the 1994 season) and Emerson Fittipaldi (who failed to qualify for the 1995 race and retired two months after the 1996 race, which was boycotted by CART). In addition, Indy veterans Al Unser Sr. and Johnny Rutherford both retired in the days leading up to the race. John Andretti, who had left CART and moved to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, became the first driver to race in both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day, an effort that has become known as "Double Duty". This was also the second and final Indy 500 for Nigel Mansell, who was knocked out of the race in a bizarre crash with Dennis Vitolo.
As of 2023 it was the second and final Indianapolis 500 victory for Mercedes-Benz engine to date.