This is a genuinely cool video because you get to watch an exciting bit of Indy 500 history unfold and the environment in which it does is electric. The history of course is the public debut of an engine known as “The Beast”. This was a secret engine developed by Illmor specifically for the Indy 500 after rules makers adjusted the book to help Buick V6 power plants live through the rigors of what amounts to a nearly flat out 500 mile sprint. By relaxing the rules around using a stock block, allowing pushrod engines more displacement and more boost they created a situation where someone could built basically the ultimate engine for the event.

Being that building an engine from absolute scratch is such a herculean task of both manpower and engineering, we have to believe that the guys writing the rules never would have considered that there would be a team that would take it basically to the absolute limit and create an engine so powerful that it made between 150 and 200hp more than its closest competitor. When you see Al Unser Jr. ramp up the speeds lap to lap here in this qualifying video the excitement in the place is palpable. You can hear the people screaming and Paul Page (who we do not think was a great fit for drag racing but crushes Indy car) does a really great job building the tension and the hype of the whole moment.

Measuring out at about 3.4 liters and using a cam in block design with pushrods, two valves per cylinder, and 55psi of boost, it was a true terror that no one had answers for. By the time the dust settled over the speedway on Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, there were two cars on the lead lap and all the rest were one down. Al Unser Jr. drove his way to the win and the place went crazy.

1994 was pretty close to the height of popularity for open wheel racing in America. The 1995 race drew a stunning 9.6 TV rating which is massive and proved that people were very much into what was going on. Then Tony George created the IRL and a fractious war began between it and CART, effectively killing the sport in America. The Indy 500 is still awesome and we still watch but it is nothing like it was during the wide open days of engineering and “win at all costs” battles like this one.

For the full story on the engine you need to read a book called “Beast” and you’ll be glad that you did. It is one of the best things I have ever read. From the subterfuge used to keep the people casting the blocks and heads confused (labeling their blueprints “Pontiac”) to the use of the Concorde to air freight parts to and from England, it is an immensely entertaining read and it really shows that even to the point of 20 years ago, there wasn’t another race on the planet like the Indy 500.