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Mercedosaurus Rex at Indianapolic Park
Appendix 2: Car and driver appearances and performances during the Month of May 1994

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These stats were primarily derived by use of the 'Performance History' data sheets as released daily and kept up-to-date during the month of May. When sheets were not available, the booklet version of these daily reports, the 1994 Indianapolis 500 Daily Trackside reports, was used to supply the missing data of fastest lap and laps driven.

Days for which the booklet was used are indicated with a single *

Within this overview it is assumed that all USAC registration numbers as assigned to the cars have been retained over the month.

Day results Month results
Date Rank Car Driver Laps Speed Laps Speed
May 8 9 3 Tracy 42 220.103 42 220.103
  18 2 Fittipaldi 24 217.918 24 217.918
  20 31 Tracy 10 217.244 10 217.244
  29 3T Tracy 19 212.691 19 212.691
May 9 2 2 Fittipaldi 76 226.512 100 226.512
  9 31 Unser Jr 44 223.897 44 223.897
  11 3 Tracy 25 221.899 67 221.899
  26 3T Tracy 13 216.925 32 216.925
May 10 2 3 Tracy 65 229.961 132 229.961
  3 2 Fittipaldi 58 229.264 158 229.264
  11 31 Unser Jr 45 226.085 89 226.085
  30 31T Unser Jr 13 217.544 13 217.544
May 11* 1 31 Unser Jr 57 226.478 146 226.478
  5 3 Tracy 29 224.433 132 229.961
  6 31T Fittipaldi 20 224.422 20 224.422
  7 2 Fittipaldi 12 223.403 158 229.264
May 12 1 2 Fittipaldi 95 230.438 265 230.438
  2 3 Tracy 54 229.961 215 229.961
  4 31 Unser Jr 48 227.457 194 227.457
May 13 1 2 Fittipaldi 68 230.138 333 230.438
  3 3 Tracy 52 228.693 267 229.961
  9 31 Unser Jr 47 227.359 241 227.457
  41 31T Unser Jr 12 220.543 25 220.535
May 14* 1 31 Unser Jr 23 229.481Q 264 229.481
  2 2 Fittipaldi 14 229.043 347 230.438
May 15* 1 2 Fittipaldi 30 228.224 377 230.438
227.987Q**
  3 3T Unser Jr 22 226.324 22 226.324
  8 31T Tracy 31 224.159 31 224.159
223.081Q**
May 16 1 3T Fittipaldi 86 226.421 86 226.421
May 17 1 3T Fittipaldi 92 228.717 178 228.717
  3 2T Tracy 36 225.135 36 225.135
  5 2T Fittipaldi 5 224.025 5 224.025
May 18 1 3T Fittipaldi 97 229.510 275 229.510
  2 2T Unser Jr 107 224.944 197 224.944
May 19 1 3T Fittipaldi 62 228.305 337 229.510
  2 2T Unser Jr 101 225.694 208 225.694
  3 2T Tracy 25 225.017 61 225.135
May 20 3 2T Unser Jr 52 225.028 260 225.694
  4 3T Tracy 75 225.017 107 225.017
  15 3T Unser Jr 21 220.173 43 226.324
May 21 3 31T Tracy 26 226.057 57 226.057
  4 2 Fittipaldi 23 225.034 400 230.438
  8 3T Fittipaldi 59 223.043 396 229.510
  19 2T Unser Jr 19 219.820 279 225.694
  22 2T Tracy 19 217.981 80 225.135
  23 31 Unser Jr 31 217.439 295 229.481
May 22* 10 3T Fittipaldi 43 219.550 439 229.510
  12 3T Unser Jr 44 218.877 87 226.324
May 26 3 2 Fittipaldi 16 222.872 416 230.438
(Carb Day) 10 31T Tracy 20 218.468 77 226.057
  12 31 Unser Jr 21 218.050 316 229.481
May 29 1 31 Unser 203# 217.986 519 229.481
  17 2 Fittipaldi 187# 220.680 603 230.438
  23 31T Tracy 95# 213.680 172 226.057

* No Performance History datasheet of that day available, 1994 Daily Trackside Reports booklet used instead
** Fastest lap during qualifying attempt made
# Combined number of laps driven in race plus three warm-up laps

Indy '94 infographic

The overview of the amount of laps driven by the three drivers in the available cars excluding the race laps looks as follows:

Car # Driver Days Laps Fastest lap
2 Fittipaldi 10 416 230.438
2T Fittipaldi 1 5 224.025
2T Paul Tracy 3 80 225.135
2T Unser Jr 4 279 225.694
3 Paul Tracy 6 267 229.961
3T Fittipaldi 6 439 229.510
3T Paul Tracy 3 107 225.017
3T Unser Jr 3 87 226.324
31 Paul Tracy 1 10 217.244
31 Unser Jr 8 316 229.481
31T Fittipaldi 1 20 224.422
31T Paul Tracy 3 77 226.057
31T Unser Jr 2 25 220.535

With six cars and three drivers, a total of 13 different car/driver combinations were active at the Speedway. Curiously, Paul Tracy is the only man who drove a car assigned to one of his team mates, running Unser's 31 on May 8th while Unser was testing at Michigan. All three drivers drove the backup car with their own T-number but also the back-up cars with their team mates' T-numbers.

The amounts of practice laps in total for the individual cars looks as follows:

Car # Laps Fastest lap (driver)
2 416 230.438 (Fittipaldi)
2T 364 225.694 (Unser Jr)
3 367 229.961 (Tracy)
3T 633 229.510 (Fittipaldi)
31 322 229.481 (Unser Jr)
31T 122 226.057 (Tracy)

The total number of laps driven by all cars was 2128, during which no single 500I engine was lost.

It's a bit curious that Paul Tracy's eventual race car is the one with the least amount of laps of all cars during the first week of practice and only 5th fastest of them all.

Indy '94 infographic

As for the number of practice laps driven by the three men, this looks as follows:

Driver Laps Number of cars used
Fittipaldi 880 4
Unser Jr 707 4
Tracy 541 5

Tracy also drove 10 laps in one of the backup '93 Penske PC22-Ilmor/D cars, meaning that he drove no less than six of the eight cars entered.

The qualifying and race results for the cars and drivers eventually looked as follows:

Driver Car Laps Fastest lap Qualifying attempt in practice Start Fin Laps (fastest race lap)
Unser Jr 31 322 229.481 1: 39.872 – 225.722 1 (1) 1 200
2: 39.413 – 228.351
3: 39.383 – 228.525 Led 48 laps
4: 39.219 – 229.481
T: 2:37.887 – 228.011 217.986 (lap 12)
Fittipaldi 2 416 230.438 1: 39.476 – 227.987 3 (3) 17 184
2: 39.637 – 227.061
3: 39.613 – 227.198 Led 145 laps
4: 39.653 – 226.969
T: 2:38:379 – 227.303 220.680 (lap 121)
Tracy 31T* 122 226.057 1: 40.344 – 223.081 25 (19) 23 92
2: 40.493 – 222.261
3: 40.354 – 223.026
4: 40.454 – 222.475
T: 2:41:645 – 222.710 213.680 (lap 13)

Finally, the most important results in one single overview:

Driver Chassis # Engine # Race # Qual Pos (ranking) Finish Laps Led Fastest lap
Unser Jr. PC23-007 131 31 1 (1) 1 200 48 217.986
Fittipaldi PC23-003 058 2 3 (3) 17 184 145 220.680
Tracy PC23-001?* 049 3 25 (19) 23 92 - 213.680

Sources: Carl Hungness Indianapolis 500 1994 Yearbook, Indy Review Volume 4 and Prime Movers by Karl Ludvigsen

* Personal correspondence with a friend who had been in touch with the late Bob Laycock of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Media Center about the 1994 starting field learned that according to Laycock's legendary data files Tracy's car was PC23-06. Maybe the original, wrecked #3 and the car entered as #31T which Tracy eventually qualified and was renumbered #3 for race day got mixed up.

According to the Autocourse Indycar Official Yearbook 1994-1995, the Penske team had a designated test chassis built for the Mercedes Benz 500I: PC23-004. Four other cars, already used in the season in races preceding Indianapolis were rebuilt with the 500I engine while a new chassis, 007, was added to the five existing cars to provide each driver with a primary and a backup car.