Penske’s IndyCar team has been exceptionally successful winning 18 Indianapolis 500s and 16 championships in American open-wheel racing (United States Auto Club, and successors Championship Auto Racing Teams and IndyCar). They are perennial favorites and strong competitors. I believe the 1994 season was one of the strongest performances in Team Penske’s storied history.

The team was coming off a strong performance in the CART series in 1993. They won 50% of the season’s 16 races including the Indianapolis 500.  Their two drivers, Emerson Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy, finished second and third respectively in the driver championship. Their primary competition was Newman/Haas Racing which won six races in 1993 with two veteran drivers, Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell, who had won the Formula One Championship in 1992 and the CART championship in 1993. The only other team to win during 1993 was Galles Racing with Al Unser, Jr. and Danny Sullivan both atop the podium on one occasion.

For the 1994 campaign, Al Unser, Jr. joined Fittipaldi and Tracy. Unser, Jr. had finished seventh in the driver championship in 1993.  Both drivers on rival Newman/Haas Racing returned for the season. At the season’s conclusion, Unser Jr. was the championship winner followed by Fittipaldi in second and Tracy in third. Team Penske dominated the field winning twelve of the season’s sixteen races which included sweeping the field five times. Here is a recap of this remarkable season.

The season started off with a victory by Michael Andretti (Newman/Haas) in a rain shortened race at Surfers Paradise in Australia.  Fittipaldi finished second 1.326 seconds behind. Tracy took the pole for the Slick 50 at Phoenix. Tracy crashed during the race, Fittipaldi won the Slick 50 while Unser, Jr. finished second. At the Grand Prix of Long Beach, Tracy again started from the pole but crashed during the race. Unser, Jr. won the Grand Prix of Long Beach by 39.091 seconds over Mansell. Fittipaldi went out of the race with gearbox failures.

It was on to Indianapolis where Team Penske unveiled the special purpose pushrod engine developed to take advantage of a USAC rule which allowed this type of engine additional boost (power). The rule was instituted to help the smaller, less well funded teams. The engine was developed in secret as USAC could change the level of boost if it resulted in an unfair advantage. During the initial runs at the Speedway, the team backed off in the corners. Some team owners were conceding defeat before the race and believed that Team Penske would finish 1-2-3. Despite the powerful engine, Team Penske did not claim the front row during qualifications. The day before qualifications, Tracy crashed and suffered a concussion. He was not permitted to attempt a qualifying run on the first day. Al Unser, Jr. started the race from the pole and Fittipaldi from the third position.

Team Penske dominated the Indianapolis 500. Fittipaldi led 145 laps while Unser led 48 and they had lapped everybody by the midway point. Tracy had a gearbox failure on lap 93. With the race clearly under control, it looked like Fittipaldi and Unser would finish 1-2 but it was not to be. Fittipaldi was trying to pass Unser on the 185^th lap when he crashed. Unser crossed the finish line under caution after Stan Fox crashed on lap 197 giving Penske his 10^th Indianapolis 500 victory.  The engine became a legend and was never raced again as after the race, USAC reduced the allowable turbocharge boost taking away its competitive advantage.

The strong performance continued at the Milwaukee 200. Using the Ilmor D engine, Penske dominated the rain shortened race with Unser Jr. crossing the finish line 1.494 seconds before Fittipaldi while Tracy finished third, two laps down. After the race, Penske, referring to the special engine, told Unser, “We don’t need that Mercedes after all.”  The next week, Team Penske dominated the Detroit Grand Prix with Unser leading 52 laps and Tracy 24 laps of the 77-lap race. Tracy stood at the top the victory podium and Fittipaldi finished second. It could have been another race with all three Penske drivers on the podium except that Tracy hit Unser Jr. after a restart on the 54^th lap resulting in Unser finishing 10^th.

Penske again finished 1-2-3 in the Budweiser-G.I. Joe’s 200 at Portland. Unser crossed the finish line 1.83 seconds ahead of Fittipaldi. Remarkably, only Penske cars led the entire day with Unser Jr. leading 96 of the 102 laps while Tracy led four and Fittipaldi two. The team took the top three starting positions for the Cleveland Grand Prix (Unser 1^st, Tracy 2^nd and Fittipaldi 3^rd). Penske recorded its seventh consecutive victory with Unser Jr. on the top of the podium. He led 82 of the race’s 85 laps while Tracy finished third. After leading two laps, Fittipaldi went out of the race due to an engine fire. Mansell, who finished second, was the only driver outside of Team Penske to lead the race for a lap.

The string of seven victories was broken at the Toronto Molson race. Unser Jr. went out of the race on the second lap with an engine failure. Fittipaldi finished third and Tracy fifth. Team Penske once again had a disappointing performance at the Marlboro 500 where Unser Jr. and Fittipaldi went out with engine failures and Tracy exited with a fuel pressure issue. This particular race was hard on all the cars—of the 28 cars in the race, only 10 were running at the end.

The team had another dominant performance at the 83 lap Pioneer Electronics 200 at Mid-Ohio. Not only did the team take the top three starting spots, all three drivers were on the podium. Unser led 26 laps and won, while Fittipaldi led 56 laps and finished second while Tracy led one lap and finished third. Fittipaldi took the pole at the Slick 50 200 and it looked like he was cruising to victory with a 20 second lead when he pitted for a quick splash of gas with five laps remaining rather than risking running out of fuel. He led 90 laps and finished third. Unser Jr. led 83 laps and won the race while Tracy led 23 laps and finished second. With four races remaining in the 1994 season, Unser Jr. led in the championship rankings followed by Fittipaldi and Tracy.

Despite having food poisoning, Unser Jr. won the Molson Indy Vancouver. Fittipaldi’s day ended with a crash on lap 102 while Tracy exited the race with a suspension issue on lap 95. Unser Jr. won the driver’s championship with his second-place finish in the Texaco Havoline 200. Tracy, who led a race high 35 laps, went out with an engine failure while Fittipaldi finished third.

Team Penske once again swept the field at the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix. Tracy led 192 laps of the 200-lap race and stood atop the podium. Next to him was Unser Jr. who led five laps and Fittipaldi who led three laps. In the final race of the season, not only did Tracy shatter the qualifying record at Laguna Seca by 1.5 mph, he led all 84 laps of the race. His only competition was Unser Jr. whose transmission failed on lap 76.