1995 Indianapolis 500

On lap 190, with the field coming back to green on a restart, race leader Scott Goodyear passed the pace car in turn four, and was assessed a stop-and-go penalty.

[3] Examination of video evidence after the race proved that Goodyear passed the pace car while the yellow caution light was on,[4] and his team declined to protest the ruling.

[4] Villeneuve's winning car was powered by the Ford Cosworth XB engine, the powerplant's first Indy victory in its fourth attempt.

Race winner Jacques Villeneuve's day was not without incident, as he was issued a two-lap penalty for inadvertently passing the pace car during a caution period on lap 38.

[a] In addition to the race controversies, the day was marred by a multi-car crash on the opening lap involving Stan Fox, Eddie Cheever, and others.

[3] Due to injuries, retirements, and the open wheel "Split" months later, the race was the final Indy 500 for several drivers, including Bobby Rahal,[3] Danny Sullivan, Teo Fabi, Scott Pruett, Stan Fox, Hiro Matsushita, Stefan Johansson, and others.

* Includes days where trackactivity was significantlylimited due to rain ROP — denotes RookieOrientation Program Team Penske dominated the 1994 race with the 209-cid Mercedes-Benz 500I purpose-built pushrod engine.

During the summer of 1994, Tony George announced his plans to start the Indy Racing League in 1996,[6] with an emphasis on cost-saving measures.

On August 11, 1994, USAC changed its decision, and scaled back the boost for the purpose-built pushrod engines further to 48 inches; and outlawing it outright for 1996.

Marlboro Team Penske won 12 (of 16) races in 1994, including five 1-2-3 finishes, and swept the top 3 in the final 1994 CART championship points standings.

A private test yielded poor results related to the chassis handling, and it was becoming increasingly apparent that the team had lost considerable ground after losing the use of the Mercedes-Benz 500I.

After a one-year sabbatical (spending time in broadcasting and in NASCAR), Danny Sullivan returned to Indy for PacWest Racing.

Michael Andretti, after one year at Ganassi, returned to his familiar spot at Newman/Haas, alongside Paul Tracy, who moved over to that team from Penske.

Penske drivers Emerson Fittipaldi and defending Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr. took their first practice laps of the month, but neither were among the top ten.

At 1:07 p.m., Scott Goodyear (230.759 mph) qualified his Honda-powered machine for the third starting position, bumping Michael Andretti to the second row.

Emerson Fittipaldi driving the Rahal back-up car, quickly began to find speed, and within 10 minutes, was over 226 mph.

Post-race Roger Penske quoted, "I've got to take the responsibility for not getting into the race, but a lot of my fellow team owners came up to me and offered me help and I want to thank them for that from the bottom of my heart.

Carlos Guerrero suffered from a smoking turbocharger, while both Alessandro Zampedri and Raul Boesel stalled out on the track out of fuel.

Seconds later, Stan Fox dipped low to the inside, hit the rumble strips, became loose and spun a half turn.

A few cars, including Villeneuve, Scott Pruett and others, had not made their scheduled pit stop yet, and were getting precariously close to running out of fuel.

A few minutes after the race went back to green, USAC assessed Jacques Villeneuve a two-lap penalty for passing the pace car twice as they were trying to pick him up.

With eleven laps to go, Scott Goodyear led Jacques Villeneuve, Eliseo Salazar and Christian Fittipaldi under caution.

United States Auto Club (USAC) official Don Bailey was driving the Corvette pace car, which was entering turn four.

Villeneuve emerged from the melee still in second, and the rest of the field diced down the front stretch and funneled into turn one without incident.

A few moments later, USAC race control announced that Scott Goodyear was being assessed a stop-and-go penalty for passing the pace car on the restart.

Years later, it would be revealed that Brayton (and his teammate Arie Luyendyk), were secretly being penalized by USAC for illegally over-boosting their turbocharger plenums and tampering with the pop-off valves during practice and qualifying.

With a growing cloud of controversy and uncertainty over a potential and looming open wheel "split", the 1995 Indianapolis 500 marked a turning point in the sport.

Al Unser Jr., who notably failed to qualify, would like others, not be able to return to the 500 for several years, due mostly to the upcoming open wheel "split".

[22][23] Unser Jr. returned to the Speedway for the first time in August of 1998, and competed in the inaugural IROC at Indy, finishing a close second to Mark Martin.

Gary Lee shifted to the pits, and Chris Economaki joined the booth to offer commentary and observations during the pre-race, near the halfway point, and in the post-race.