In 1952 the Indy 500 started with a diesel powered car up front. Many people know that and they know that the car was powered by a lay down style Cummins turbocharged diesel. It was the first turbocharger at the speedway and this car, with its engine that sipped fuel as opposed to the alcohol fed Offy machines which slugged it down was an entirely new approach to automotive competition. It was one of the most amazing and unlikely stories the Speedway had ever seen. Until this moment, that’s about all we knew. Well, prepare to have your mind blown by what’s below. You are not just going to learn about the build of the car, you are going to see the engine on the dyno, you are going to see the car at the speedway, and more importantly, you are going to here this thundering beast on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway itself running at full bore!
We had not idea that the Cummins company made this film and now that we have watched it a couple of times we are glad that they did. Clearly, they saw the huge potential of this effort and the company piled a lot of resources into not just the car, but to hire a film making crew to produce what it legitimately a feature quality piece here. It follows the build, qualifying, and the race as well. It’s just a fantastic window not just into the 1952 Indy 500 but also into the effort that the Cummins folks went through to get this whole thing done.
The company made sure that they used a production style layout for the engine, which they then modified to sit in a lay down fashion to get the center of gravity as low as possible. It was not run on special fuel but rather “pump” diesel. Did it work? Oh baby did it ever.
Every second of this film is automotive history coming to life in a way we never new existed. One of the neatest things we have ever watched.
As an Indiana boy, a Cummins employee, a history fan, a racing fan and a racing history fan, this video is pretty exciting…even if it is from 70 years ago. There’s a saying inside of Cummins: “What would Clessie do?”(Clessie Cummins, that is). It means step outside the box, try something new, be adventurous and do the unexpected…and do it now! This video shows a lot of the places that I’m very familiar with within the facility and I’ve sat in the car during its restoration. It is running again as of 2018 and still makes occasional appearances as special events. It was pretty revolutionary at the time and still an impressive milestone for the company. I’m proud to be a Cummins employee with this kind of history.