bob jennings' WORLD O' RACING
Indianapolis 1994: End of Innocence
(completed
05/14/98)
1994 "Indianapolis 500"
Russ Lake
For the few people who looked at the original version of Bob Jennings' World O' Racing, this photo should be familiar. It was featured on the home page. The photo, by Russ Lake, of the start of the 1994 "Indianapolis 500," brings forth a lot of memories and ideas.
That's Al Unser Jr. leading teammate Emerson Fittipaldi into turn one. Michael Andretti runs third, followed by Raul Boesel, Arie Luyendyk, rookie Jacques Villeneuve, Nigel Mansell, Lyn St. James, Mario Andretti and Eddie Cheever filling the top ten positions. After Cheever, I can't make out the remaining cars. I had a vastly different view of the field as they passed by my photo location, inside turn two.
1994 was one of those dynamic turning point years for the Indianapolis 500" as many have been. This race, however, provided one of the deepest "lines of demarcation" from the future that I can recall.
My all time guy, Al Unser Sr. retired mid month, but I had anticipated and somewhat welcomed Al walking away by that time. It was time for Big Al to give up driving and he knew it. I couldn't be happier with Al's career. He gave me more great racing memories than any other driver and he was competitive through his final race, the 1993 "Indianapolis 500," leading 15 laps. He didn't need to further prove his greatness.
It was the second and final "500" appearance by Nigel Mansell. I wanted Nigel to win the "500" badly. After Ayrton Senna was killed, at the start of May 1994, at Imola, Formula One beckoned "Old Nige" and the temptation was too great. Nigel went back to F1, after the CART season ended. Nigel's F1 resumption lasted a total of six races and his likely final appearance in a racing car was to be less than one year after this photo was taken, when he walked out on McLaren.
Al Unser Jr. won this race, at the expense of Fittipaldi, for his second Indianapolis victory in three years. That started speculation that the new combination of Little Al and Roger Penske could easily result in Unser Jr. becoming the first five time winner in "Indianapolis 500" history. Since Al Jr. was also one of my favorites, the prospect of his reaching five "Indianapolis 500" victories was very appealing. It appears, unfortunately, that 1994 may have been Al Unser Jr.'s final "Indianapolis 500" appearance.
Roger Penske's cars won the "Indianapolis 500" ten of the 25 years they started the race. In what may well have been Penske's final "Indianapolis 500" appearance also, he probably scored his greatest success. The 209 cid pushrod turbo V8 engine, built by Ilmor Engineering, was conceived by Penske in November 1993, and the secret project was begun after funding by Mercedes Benz was secured. Penske had reasoned, after Fittipaldi won the 1993 "500," for his team, that the elimination of the wide aprons, inside the turns, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, favored this package. He found a loophole in the USAC rules, that allowed the production based Buick V6 turbo pushrod engine to compete, and had his new engine built around those specifications.
It was the perfect concept for IMS, in May 1994, as the three Marlboro Penske - Mercedes entries, driven by Unser, Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy, dominated practice. A practice crash dimmed Tracy's bid, but Al and Emmo started the race from pole position and outside front row respectively. Between them, the two Penske cars led all but seven of 200 laps. In the race, Fittipaldi was a demon. He ran 127 of the race's 200 fastest laps and was in front for 145 laps. He put a lap on second place Unser, with only 20 laps remaining. Al managed to unlap himself two laps later, but Emmo was set to become the first back to back Indianapolis winner since Little Al's dad, in 1971.
Emmo got into turn four too hot, on lap 184, and ended up in the outer wall, handing the race to Unser. Unlike Al's 1992 win, and the classic fight to the checkered flag, with Scott Goodyear, driving Rick Galles' Valvoline Galmer - Chevy, Unser's second Indianapolis win didn't bring me the expected satisfaction. Fittipaldi had been kicking Junior's butt for most of the race and if Emmo hadn't messed up, that one time, he likely would have had 3/4 lap on Unser, at the finish, in an identical car, for the same team; not the basis for any great source of fan pride.
USAC more or less banned Penske's engine for 1995, by cutting turbo boost from 55 to 52 and then further reducing to 48 inches, which effectively rendered the Ilmor Mercedes package useless. One year later neither Unser, nor Fittipaldi made it into the "500" field, because the Penske chassis, with conventional Ilmor Mercedes power, was too slow and attempts at using borrowed Lolas, from Bobby Rahal and Carl Hogan, also proved unsuccessful.
Therefore 1994 saw the final appearance, in the "Indianapolis 500," of such icons as Roger Penske, Al Unser Jr., Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti, as well as the retirement of Al Unser Sr., prior to the race. Mario was on his famous "Arrivaderci' Mario" tour. His luck, in the 1994 "500" was about what it had been throughout his career. He ran 23 laps, before falling out with fuel system problems, to finish 32nd.
The creation of the Indy Racing League was announced in early March 1994. The inaugural "Brickyard 400" was run August of that year. The 1995 "500" was run without the Penske team, which failed to qualify, as the impending split with CART, loomed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Now, both the "Indianapolis 500" and the sport of Indy car racing struggle for redefinition. When I look at Russ Lake's photo, I get a feeling that the 1994 "Indianapolis 500" was essentially the end of innocence, for racing's premier event.