The Year Team Penske Did Not Make the Indianapolis 500

During the 1994 racing season, Team Penske was on top of the world. The IndyCar team won 12 of 16 races including the Indianapolis 500 and its drivers took the top three spots in the championship with Al Unser, Jr. finishing first, Emerson Fittipaldi second and Paul Tracy third. For the 1995 season, Unser Jr. and Fittipaldi were back. Tracy had signed a one-year contract with Newman/Haas Racing. With two returning drivers, the expectation was that they would have another good year. If prior to the start of the season, someone had predicted that Team Penske would not be in the 33 car line-up for the Indianapolis 500, they would have been scoffed at. Here’s the story.
 
During the first two races of the year series, Team Penske did not lead a single lap which did not bode well for the season. In the third race of the season, Fittipaldi had a nine second lead when he made a late pitstop handing the win to Michael Andretti. After three disappointing races, Unser Jr. stood atop the victory podium with an easy victory at the Grand Prix of Long Beach where he led 74 of the 105 laps. This was followed by Fittipaldi winning the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix by about two car lengths.
 
On to Indianapolis which is always the most important race for all teams as it has the largest purse and the most prestige. During the first four days of practice, Team Penske did not crack the top 10 in terms of speed. On the speed chart, Unser Jr. ranked 26th and Fittipaldi 28th. After the first weekend of qualifying, Team Penske was not among the 25 teams which had earned starting spots on the grid. The problem was they could not run through the corners with speed.  
 
Ever resourceful, Penske brought the 1994 Penske chassis out of storage which was in Penske’s vintage car museum in his Longo Toyota dealership in California. By Monday afternoon, it was on the track but could only go 220.745 mph while they needed at least 225 mph to have a chance of starting the race.  Team Penske later borrowed a 1994 Reynard from Pagan Racing and a 1995 Lola/Mercedes from Rahal/Hogan Racing. But it did not make a difference in practice.
 
On the second weekend of qualifying, Fittipaldi turned a lap of 227.8 mph in Saturday morning practice which gave the team some hope of qualifying. Both racers went out in the late afternoon. Unser turned laps of 223, 225 and 221 mph which wasn’t good enough to get into the race. Fittipaldi fared better with laps of 225, 225 and 226 and on the last lap was running at 225 mph pace which was barely enough to get him into the race. Concerned that Fittipaldi’s speed wasn’t sufficient to make the field, Penske waved him off. There would be one more shot to get into the field of 33. 
 
On Sunday, Fittipaldi’s qualifying attempt of 224.907 was not enough to get into the field. Neither was Unser’s 224.101 mph. Rather than wait to see if one of the qualified cars would drop out of the starting grid, Penske withdrew both cars. While both drivers were given the option to spend the weekend at home with their families, both chose to attend the race mingling with guests in the Penske suite.
 
Little did they know as they left Indianapolis that Team Penske would not return to the Indianapolis 500 until 2001. After the race, the split between Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) with whom Team Penske raced and IndyCar, the sanctioning body for the Indianapolis 500 resulted in Team Penske being excluded from running in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
 
All was not lost for the season. The team’s mission became winning the championship and Unser Jr. came close to succeeding. At the Miller Genuine Draft 200 at Milwaukee, Unser failed to win the race despite leading 120 of the 200 laps. He lost the lead to Paul Tracy with 22 laps remaining. Team Penske appeared to be victorious in the ninth race of the season when Unser won the Budweiser/GI Joe 200 at Portland but three hours later, his car failed to pass the post-race inspection as it had less than the required two inches of ground clearance. In his appeal, Penske pointed out that the car had passed numerous pre-race inspections and that the car’s rear skid plate broke during the race because of the rough track. Penske maintained that the car should be reinspected with the damaged part reinstalled.
 
Unser was finally victorious at Mid-Ohio after Michael Andretti’s car backfired four laps from the end. Two races later, Unser won his fourth race of the season at the Streets of Vancouver race. He was in the hunt for the championship but needed two things. The first was that the panel would reverse the decision which took away the apparent victory at Portland. The second was that he needed to win the final race of the season, the Bank of America 300. It was not to be. Unser finished sixth in the race handing the championship to Jacques Villeneuve who had won four races including the Indianapolis 500. After the season ended, a three-member panel restored Unser’s victory at Portland.
 
I am looking forward to the release of my newest book, Racing with Roger Penske. Stay tuned for an announcement in the not too far future. The books will be available from your local bookstore or online at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
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