Boattail Racer

One of two Cummins-powered Duesenbergs built by Clessie Cummins and the Cummins Engine Company for the 1934 Indianapolis 500. It served as a test bed in the origins of the battle between the two-stroke diesel engines of General Motors/Detroit Diesel and the four-stroke diesel engines Cummins would build. At Indianapolis, the car was powered by a two-stroke version of the Cummins four-cylinder Model H diesel engine as part of a competition within the company to help determine Cummins' future design architecture. Their other entry in 1934 was an identical Duesenberg powered by a four-stroke version of the same engine. This car qualified 29th at 105.920 mph and finished 12th at an average speed of 88.566 mph. In 1935, it was lengthened to accommodate a supercharged six-cylinder four-stroke Model H engine. Bill Cummings drove it at Daytona Beach setting a diesel land speed record at 137.195 mph. Both engines used a Cummins high-performance single-disc fuel injection system, one more step in Cummins's history of innovation to make people's lives better.