| Race Name: | 78th Indianapolis 500 |
| Race Logo: | Indy500winningcar1994.JPG |
| Sanction: | USAC |
| Season: | 1994 CART season |
| Team: | Penske Racing |
| Date: | May 29, 1994 |
| Winner: |  Al Unser Jr. |
| Mph: | 160.872mi/h |
| Pole: | Al Unser Jr. |
| Pole Speed: | 228.011mi/h |
| Fast Time: | Al Unser Jr. |
| Rookie: |  Jacques Villeneuve |
| Leader: |  Emerson Fittipaldi (145) |
| Anthem: | Florence Henderson |
| Back Home: | Jim Nabors |
| Start Engines: | Mary F. Hulman |
| Pace Car: | Ford Mustang Cobra |
| Pace Driver: | Parnelli Jones |
| Starter: | Duane Sweeney[1] |
| Attendance: | 400,000[2] |
| 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 |
| Rating: | 9.1 |
| Share: | 31 |
| Previous: | 1993 |
| Next: | 1995 |
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 not 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.
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[3] 209 in3 (3.42 L) displacement Ilmor Mercedes-Benz pushrod engine, which was capable of nearly .[4] Despite reliability issues with the engine and handling difficulties with the chassis,[5] 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.
Nigel Mansell went on to win the 1993 CART championship, with 1993 Indy 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi finishing second in points. Mansell returned to team up again with Mario Andretti at Newman Haas. Andretti embarked on a yearlong Arrivederci Mario tour, announcing he would retire at the conclusion of the 1994 CART season. The 1994 race would be his 29th and final start at Indy. Fittipaldi remained at Penske Racing, which expanded to a three-car effort for 1994, including Al Unser Jr. and Paul Tracy. Unser parted ways with Galles after a six-year stint, and was replaced there with rookie Adrián Fernández.
After a dismal season in Formula One, Michael Andretti returned to Indy car racing for 1994, signing with Ganassi. Andretti won the season opening Australian Grand Prix at Surfers Paradise. It was the first Indy car win for Ganassi, as well as the first win for the Reynard chassis (in its Indy car debut). Rahal-Hogan Racing, with drivers Bobby Rahal and Mike Groff, debuted the first Honda Indy car engine, the iron block Honda HRX Indy V-8.
Chevrolet dropped its support of the Ilmor engine program at Indy after 1993. For 1994, the 265C, the 265 C+, and 265D V-8 powerplants were badged the "Ilmor Indy V8".
After Michael Andretti won the season opener, Marlboro Team Penske won the next two races before Indy. Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr. finished 1–2 at Phoenix, then Al Unser Jr. won at Long Beach.
Jim Nabors returned to sing the traditional "Back Home Again in Indiana" just months after receiving a liver transplant. Nabors had suffered a near-fatal case of Hepatitis B, which caused liver failure. Initially it was not expected that he would be able to attend the race in person.
Six days before opening day, the worldwide motorsports community was shaken by the death of Ayrton Senna at San Marino. Indy drivers Emerson Fittipaldi, Raul Boesel, and Maurício Gugelmin, were among those in attendance at the funeral, all three serving as pall-bearers.
The most notable off-season activity involved Penske Racing and Ilmor. In the summer and fall of 1993, Penske and Ilmor engaged in a new engine project. Under complete secrecy, a 209abbr=onNaNabbr=on purpose-built, V-8 pushrod engine was developed. Mercedes eventually came on board with the project and badged the engine the Mercedes-Benz 500I. The engine was designed to exploit a loophole that had existed in USAC's rulebook since 1991. While CART sanctioned the rest of the IndyCar season, the Indianapolis 500 itself was conducted by USAC under slightly different technical regulations. This effort represented a rare instance during this era where considerable money and effort were invested in creating a powerplant uniquely for the Indy 500 (as the 500I would be illegal in any IndyCar-sanctioned event).
In an effort to appeal to mainstream car companies and smaller independent engine builders (both primarily based in the US), USAC permitted traditional, "stock-block" pushrod engines (generally defined as non-OHC units fitted with two valves per cylinder actuated by pushrod and rocker arm). Stock blocks saw some limited use at Indy in the early 1980s and by 1985 had become mainstream with the Buick V-6. Initially, Indy stock blocks were required to have some production-based parts. However, in 1991 USAC quietly lifted this requirement allowing purpose-built pushrod engines to be designed for racing from the ground up. Attempting to create an equivalency with the DOHC, 24-valve, V-8 engines then supplied to the teams by Ford (Cosworth), Ilmor and Honda, USAC allowed Indy pushrod engines an increased displacement of 209.3cuin instead of 161.7cuin, and increased turbocharger boost of 55 inHG instead of 45 (1860 hPa instead of 1520).
Team Penske tested and further developed the engine in secret in the winter and spring of 1994. Before Mercedes-Benz joined the effort, the engine was initially called the "265E" which followed Ilmor's standard naming convention for their previous DOHC racing engines. This was ostensibly to maintain in-house secrecy of the pushrod project from those working within Penske and Ilmor who were not involved. The 500I was mated with the race-winning Penske chassis, the PC-23. It was introduced to the public in April, just days before opening day at Indy. Rumors quickly began to circulate that the engine, more refined than the Buick V-6 and having two more cylinders, was capable of over 1000hp, which was a 150-200 hp advantage over its competition.
During the off-season, the pit area was repaved. The individual pit boxes were changed to concrete, while the entrance and exit lanes were widened and repaved in asphalt.
A new scoring pylon was erected on the main stretch, replacing the landmark originally built in 1959.[6] [7]