There are no details accompanying this short YouTube video of a small-block Chevy, but the “Eagle Indy Car Engine Dyno” title certainly revives memories of one of the most innovative cars ever to race at the Brickyard.

At first glance, one might think this is a vintage Formula 5000 engine. Eagle built plenty of winning Formula 5000 cars, and the engine is built similar to the one featured on the EngineLabs Facebook page earlier this year. As you can see below, it powers a Dan Gurney Eagle and was built by The Master, Ed Pink.

But a closer look at the engine on the dyno reveals provisions on the cylinder head for auxiliary down nozzles that spray alcohol directly into the bowl area of the intake port, much like Sprint Car engines have today. This certainly is a trick that stock-block Indy Cars could have utilized in those days. And the rules allowed stock-block displacements up to 355ci, starting in 1979. In 1980, almost 20 stock-block cars were entered in the Indy 500 with three making the starting grid. Gurney’s car was one of the first to use the aluminum Donovan block, and it featured a new cylinder head design from GM. Another clue is the short fuel-injection stacks, indicating the engine was tuned for steady high-rpm running.

In 1981, Gurney built the famous BLAT car, which stood for “boundary layer adhesion technology.” It was a wicked-looking wedge car with a bright livery. It qualified second but an oil leak sidelined the Eagle after just 16 laps. However, in the following race at Milwaukee, driver Mike Mosley started last and won the race.

Of course, it wasn’t long before USAC banned such innovations and killed off the stock-block option. Wish we know more about this sharp-looking engine, but for now we’ll just listen to its sweet revving!