Frustrating Day for Penske Team : Indianapolis 500: Unser fails in two attempts to qualify, and Fittipaldi’s speed is waved off.

The third day of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 came and went Saturday, and there are still no Penske cars in the field.

Al Unser Jr., defending Indy champion, tried twice and came up short. Emerson Fittipaldi, his teammate and twice a winner of the 500, tried once and ran what seemed to be a competitive speed only to have it waved off by Roger Penske.

Five drivers, including Lyn St. James, qualified to bring the field for next Sunday’s race to 30. After the final three positions are filled today, qualified cars may be bumped if an unqualified car can post a faster speed.

“We have two good Lolas loaned to us by Bobby Rahal and Carl Hogan and we’ll give them both another shot tomorrow and get in the field,” said Penske, who has had 10 winning cars in his Indy 500 career.

Fittipaldi had a speed of 225.558 m.p.h. when Penske decided it wasn’t enough, even though there are five slower cars in the field at the moment.

“Emmo [Fittipaldi] thought 225.5 was good enough,” Penske said, “but there are a lot of good cars left out there. He ran at over 226 earlier in the day, and we felt we might need that much.”

Unser, who had tried desperately all week to find sufficient speed in the team’s ’95 Penske-Mercedes, was fitted for Raul Boesel’s backup Duracell Lola and gradually worked his way up to 227.147 after 97 unofficial laps.

At 5:01 p.m., he made his first attempt, but pulled in after only two laps barely over 224 m.p.h.

“I hadn’t been in a Lola since 1993, and being as I haven’t had any time with it, I misread the track on my first attempt,” Unser said. “I had a pretty bad push going into [Turn] 2.”

At 5:45, he went back out. After two uneventful laps, his engine let go the third time around and the second attempt was history.

“I had felt pretty good about getting into the show before we lost the engine,” a disconsolate Unser said. “A qualifying engine isn’t meant to have 250 miles on it, and that’s what we did today. It was a big gamble that didn’t pay off.

“We’re not giving up. We have one more day left and we’re going to give it 120%. When I pull out the next time, I’ll definitely be ready.”

If Unser fails in his next attempt, it will be all over for the loaner--three strikes and you’re out in Indy qualifying. Fittipaldi has two chances left.

“If Emmo could run 225 today, he can run it again tomorrow,” Penske said.

Just in case, the two Penske chassis--ones that won at Nazareth, Pa., and Long Beach but can’t go fast here--are in the back of the qualifying line.

St. James, who qualified for the fourth consecutive year despite having only two day’s practice in the car, bettered her own women’s closed-course record on her second lap at 225.722. Her old mark was 224.208, set in the 1993 Marlboro 500 at Michigan.

On her third lap, she tagged the wall between the first and second turns but lost little time.

“She did such a nice job,” car owner Dick Simon said. “To miscalculate by half-an-inch after not having any laps on the track is no sin. One of the things she proved to a lot of the men is that [although] most anybody who touches the wall at Indy, their next lap is way down, hers was almost the same.”

On the lap she tapped the wall, her speed was 225.186, and the next lap was 225.180.

She also became the oldest driver in this year’s field at 48. However, if Fittipaldi qualifies, he is three months older.

Another Fittipaldi, Christian, did make the field--twice. After first qualifying at 225.246, car owner Derrick Walker withdrew the car, and Emerson’s nephew went back and raised his speed to 226.375. It had been the highest speed ever withdrawn from a field to qualify another car.

Mexico’s Adrian Fernandez was the day’s fastest qualifier at 227.803.

“It was my last shot in the car and I was so frustrated at having failed the first two attempts that I was determined to qualify this time,” Fernandez said. “I feel like I had a five-pound weight lifted from me. I have all of these Mexican sponsors, and as you know, my country has suffered recently. This will help everyone.”

St. James was the only American qualifier. The others were Eric Bachelart of Belgium, Franck Freon of France and the younger Fittipaldi of Brazil.

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Indy 500 Notes

The front row of Scott Brayton, Arie Luyendyk and Scott Goodyear is the fastest in Speedway history. The average speed of 231.131 m.p.h. is 0.598 faster than the previous fastest, 230.533 in 1992, by Roberto Guerrero, Eddie Cheever and Mario Andretti.

Rookie Davey Hamilton, a supermodified champion from Boise, Ida., has an inscription on the back of his helmet that says, “In memory of Vuky3.” Bill Vukovich III, a longtime racing rival of Hamilton, was killed in November 1990 in a sprint car accident at Bakersfield. Hamilton is driving for Ron Hemelgarn, who gave Vukovich a ride at Indy in 1989.

Mario Andretti, who retired last year after 29 Indy 500s, is walking around Gasoline Alley with a new title. He received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the New England Institute of Technology on the Brown University campus, where he made the commencement address. “You can call me Dr. Andretti now,” he told friends.

Danny Sullivan, 1985 Indy 500 winner, has been elected president of the Championship Drivers Assn., succeeding Pancho Carter. Named to the board of directors were Al Unser Jr. and Bobby Rahal.