INDIANAPOLIS 500 / UPDATE : Tracy Misses a Day for Special Delivery

Paul Tracy, the young Canadian who won the Long Beach Grand Prix, wasn’t on hand for Carburetion Day on Thursday, when cars and drivers had their final warm-ups for Sunday’s 77th Indianapolis 500.

He was in Toronto with his wife, Tara, who gave birth to a girl at 1:55 p.m. at the Centenary Health Center. Alysha Tracy weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces.

The birth took place at almost the exact time that Tracy’s Penske teammate, Emerson Fittipaldi, was running Tracy’s car through its final practice.

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The Galles Racing team of defending Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr., headed by crew chief Owen Snyder, won the Miller Genuine Draft pit stop championship for the third time in five years.

Unser’s team took 13.118 seconds to change four tires and take on fuel. The Newman-Haas team of Mario Andretti, which took 16.104 seconds, was runner-up. The Unser crew had a slower time than Arie Luyendyk’s in the semifinals, but Luyendyk’s team was penalized three seconds because of an equipment violation.

“I get more nervous doing this championship than I do for the race,” said Snyder, whose crew also won in 1989 and 1990. “Hopefully, if the race comes down to pit stops, we can be Al’s advantage.”

The winners received $25,000, the runners-up $15,000.

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The Formula Project 500 team, owned by Emmanuel Lupe and Bruno Pequin, has chartered the Air France Concorde for a day to bring 100 French politicians, journalists and guests to watch Stephan Gregoire race Sunday.

The Concorde will leave Paris at 8 a.m. Sunday, French time, and will reach Indianapolis at 9 a.m. The visitors will be taken to the track by helicopter. After watching the race from Turn 2, they will fly back to Paris.

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Scott Brayton was the fastest driver on the track Thursday, lapping at 223.547 m.p.h., followed by Nigel Mansell at 222.497, Raul Boesel at 222.255, Mario Andretti at 221.910 and Fittipaldi at 221.016. In Tracy’s car, Fittipaldi ran 216.909.

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Twenty-three of the 33 cars in the field are latest-model 1993 creations. All but one of the others are vintage 1992. Stan Fox is driving an 1991 Lola-Buick. The only time every car in the race was a new model was 1985.