Skip Mizlinski of the Chicago Tribune: "You now go back to the sight of your best finish of the year [Surfer's Paradise] where you drove consistently as [T.E. mentioned in the opening.] Does that help going into the race?"

Pruett: "It helps mentally, but unfortunately because of a number of other problems, we actually had some better finishes than that last year, but be that as it may, we're just now coming off of five days testing over in Pheonix, two days on the oval and three days on the road course, and things went extremely well. We feel, as we look forward towards Australia, not only did we have a real strong race there last year, and unfortunately we felt we should have qualified first with the way we ran all weekend. Be that as it may, we're looking very forward to going back to Australia knowing that we ran strong there last year, and knowing that we're probably better prepared going into that race than we ever have been before."

Gordon Kirby of Racer Magazine: "You say you had this good three day test, and as everyone knows you made this switch [from Lola to Reynard chassis] fairly late in the season and you're a little bit behind in terms of the total testing program as a result of that, yet you ran very strong there at Homestead. Although the 'luck of the draw' in various ways didn't go your way. Anyway, what's the general state of the change as far as your over all competitiveness. The fact that you've gone up to a two car team this year with Brahma's resources as well."

Scott Pruett: "Well, there's no question that when we got down to Miami we were behind. I personally only had about two days of testing before we raced down there, and felt that I didn't really get as much out of the car as I really would have liked to from a drivers' standpoint as well as from a team standpoint. Both Raul and myself were just down in Phoenix. Each of us had one day on the oval and then he had two days at Firebird. Then I had one day at Firebird yesterday. I'd have to say things went very, very well. For the best that we have heard, the fastest that anybody's gone there was like a 42.3 and we ran a 42.3 there yesterday. We were pleased. The car, the Reynard car is very good, and as the team learns more and more about it we're able to go faster and faster. Ford has really come up with a lot better engine for us the year, so we're able to do a lot more stuff this year than last year as far as testing goes. So, with the consistency of that and with the consistency tied to the Firestone tire, it looks pretty good. I mean, we are very, very confident going down to Australia. Just as long as we can get a little luck on our side, and if nothing funny happens like at Miami. That was real disappointing."

Kirby: "So in your point of view, you definitely consider yourself to be a race winner at most races, and if you begin getting some luck and some results, you look at yourself as a championship contender. Is that correct?"

Joe Sciano of the New York Times: "I was wondering, last year, you know the Firestones really seemed to give you guys and edge. Do you feel that you're still there, or do you feel that Goodyear is catching up to you a little bit?"

Pruett: Well, there's no question that it is getting tougher and tougher. If you look at Miami, Goodyear did definitely step up on their oval tire. That was one area that we felt we had a pretty good sized lead on them. But we've also been working very, very hard. Firestones' commitment remains the same. Very strong, very determined to make the best tire possible. We've done a lot of testing and a lot of development. We'll be making somewhat of a change going to surfers. We'll be running some of the street course tires built in Akron [Ohio] and that'll be the first time for that. It looks like we have a better product than we had last year. Hopefully, that's enough to keep us a little bit ahead.

Sciano: "Let me follow up a little if I could. What do you think of the introduction into Formula 1 by Bridgestone? Will that help you or effect you in any way?"

Pruett: "Well, what it does, since there's really been an open door for technology both ways between the US and Japan, and between Europeans and the US. As you know, our rain tire wasn't as good as we would have like for it to have been last year. We've certainly made improvements. With the amount of time that Formula 1 spends racing in the rain, and with the amount of testing they've done so far with rain tires, all that technology comes back to us. So I feel that it's a definite benefit to have both programs going on."

Chris Jenkins of the Sporting News Online: "I was wondering, with the big break between Miami and Surfer's Paradise, what does that do to a drivers' mind set. Do you actually welcome the extra testing days, or do you just want to get out there and race?"

Pruett: "Welcome the extra testing days, especially for us. Making the change from the Lola chassis to the Reynard chassis in mid January, we needed to spend more time on the car. So for us it was very welcomed. We had time to get caught up. We just took delivery of my second car a couple of days ago, so now I have two Reynards as we head to Australia. For us it's been good. For some drivers, they may figure that it's just a break up in the season, but for us it's been very welcomed so that we can get things where we want them to be."

Jenkins: "Do you have any more tests coming up before Australia?"

Dan Proudfoot from Toronto: "Just curious, I remember how down you were after the Michigan race in July of last year regarding the engine. Can you put into words that an ordinary guy can understand what the disadvantage was there. And if you'll address your mention of Ford giving you a good engine. Do you reckon it's good everywhere?"

Proudfoot: "Was it a problem last year at top RPM or the lower end coming out of the corners at slightly less than that?"

Pruett: "We were just down across the board. We have not been on a street course, nor anything like that, but it looks overall that the package is better. Clearly better...more horsepower throughout the range, and more durability. All those things together are going to give us a fighting chance this year."

Liz Clarke of the Dallas Morning News: "Could you just talk about the strains of racing and the trip itself and how that effects you."

John Hopkins of PRN: "Was the biggest difference that made it important for you guys to make the switch just in terms of the ease of setting up the Reynard versus the Lola, or were there some other differences:"

Pruett: "First, it was a very very difficult decision to make. That is to make the change. 1) is what it did to disrupt the team, and 2) from the financial aspect. It was about a $1.5 million change over. Taking both teams into consideration. We took delivery of a Lola and tested through all of December and the first part of January and we just weren't happy with the way the car was responding. From a mechanical standpoint and from an aerodynamic standpoint. After many many hours of team meetings with the engineering staff and myself, with Pat Patrick and myself looking back and forth at the possibilities. And then talking with Reynard to see if in fact there was a possibility to buy the cars. There were many many hours of though put into that process. Then after we made the change, we were extremely pleased with the performance of the Reynard. Especially considering that we have had a very limited number of test days on the car as it is right now. As we look forward to testing, and having just come off of the tests, we're becoming more and more please with the car. The ease of set up. The wide 'sweetspot' of the car is more forgiving than the Lola, and it seems to be more consistent. So across the board we've been extremely pleased. As we spend more time working with the car, it seems to be even better."

Doug Wiloby of High Tech Bulletin: "How does it feel driving with a two car team this year, and how much information are you exchanging back and forth between the teams?"

Pruett: "It's been good for us. Not only with the fact that we're with Firestone, but also having Brahma on board now as a major sponsor. They have a fresh look at things. Last year was there first year, and this is only their second year. That's been exciting. It is a definite benefit with a two car team. You get the opportunity to do more things on any given race weekend. Raul and I hadn't ever really driven together, but we ran as teammates driving the Jaguar in the 24 Hours of Daytona. He also filled in for me when I had my accident with Truesports. So this year working together with him is definitely going to be a benefit."

John Sondervager from St. Louis: "Scott, I was wondering, since it looks like the IRL and CART feud is never going to end, and it re-opened again I guess at Homestead, is there any way that CART needs to establish itself and in what way do you think?"

Sondervager: "Do you think the competitiveness of your series, with so many drivers having a chance of winning, do you think that's what makes [CART] more attractive? Like they say in NASCAR, any of 16 teams can win on any given day."

Ron Martin of Focus on Racing Radio: "You talked about the bad luck at Homestead. Just so that our listeners know, go through what happened."

Pruett: "Well, we were running fourth at the time, and a late race caution came out. We were on the same lap. Michael was leading and I don't remember the exact run down. Paul Tracy was in second at that time...second or third. So we go through this caution period and what happened was CART had inadvertently missed a lap with myself and a number of other drivers, and that put us a lap down. As we were lining back up, when I should of been ready to race for the win, I was immediately moved to the front of the one lap down line...the outside line, and unfortunately we were virtually taken out of the race. All said and done, CART has seen their mistake and are making the necessary changes so that doesn't happen again, but unfortunately for Brahma and for our team, it was a very substantial loss. If you look at how close the championship was last year, and how close the points are, I mean 4 or 5, 6, 7, 8 points is the difference between one or two places. We'll never get those points back. From our team standpoint, we were very disappointed with what happened down there, especially as well as we were running."

Martin: "When you have a situation of bad luck, and you and I have talked about the luck involved in a race and in racing, do you try to overcome the good luck or do you wait for the bad luck to change to good luck?"

Pruett: "Overcome it. No question. We stated our case to CART. We stated where their mistakes were. We know that they were mistakes, and we know unfortunately that it did put us down, but are focused on getting ready to go to Australia. We've gotta put it behind us and get on with the racing. From a drivers standpoint and from a team standpoint, just like the problems we faced last year...we put 'em behind us and we're focused on the next race."

Martin: "Is that mentality that you developed coming out of the Truesports situation?"

Pruett: "Yeah, probably. And a number of other situations over the years. You know, you really have to keep focused on the next race. I think one of the people that had taught me more than anybody else was Al Molder. Spending time with him, even though I did not drive for him officially, he and I had spent a lot of time together. I did a lot of testing with him, and he was pretty good at making me realize at a pretty young age that after that checkered flag falls, the needle goes back to zero and you go on to the next race. You can't change what happened in this race, so you have to go on and either do the same thing or be better prepared for the next race."

Mike Hollander of Racing Information Systems: "Which track are you going to be testing on in Indianapolis?"

Hollander: " After Carl Haas ended his relationship with Lola and went to the Swift relationship, it seems that the Lola has not been doing as well. How much of that do you think was Carl Haas and how much of that do think was Lola?"

Pruett: Uh, it's really hand in hand. We've also worked very closely over the years with Lola. I think that Carls' leaving was not a shock to Lola at all. They knew it was coming. They knew it a year in advance. And I think I blame most of it on Lola. I think they just didn't pay enough attention to what was going on, and they've really gotten involved in a lot of things, like taking on the Formula 1 project. It's just a lot for a company to do. I saw that last year. I felt that the Lola chassis was not quite as good as the Reynard chassis. Reynard has been very focused and very determined in building Indy-cars. They're doing the best they can in continuing to develop those cars. I think, unfortunately, that Lola has just gotten left behind."

Hollander: "One more kinda weird question. You have two basically street courses coming up. Can you contrast Australia and Long Beach?"

Pruett: "Actually, besides one course going clockwise and one course going counter-clockwise, they are very similar tracks. They both have very long straight-aways. They're both places where we'll run reduced downforce. I guess the biggest difference between Australia and Long Beach mostly is with the amount of chicanes. There are no chicanes in Long Beach, and four chicanes in Australia. Otherwise, they're very similar...and they're both on the beach!"

Ray Sprouse of SpeedCenter: "I had a question about the new Firestone rain tires. Has anybody had a chance to test the new Firestone rain tires."

Joe Sciano of the New York Times: "Scott, seeing what Michael's done in the first race so far with the Swift, you've been through a situation like that. Not as successful, but what do you think the difference was between one being a Truesports project and one being a Swift project?"

Pruett: "Money. Money and development. I think it's terrific. I think it's very, very good for CART to have an American made chassis come out and win its' first race. I feel great for Michael. There's always a big question when you have a new car come out. Is it going to be good? Is it going to be bad? With the circumstances they've done a good job. They've had the money behind 'em. They worked very hard with the Lola over the years and taking a stock Lola and making it better. Now this is just the next step in the evolution. The biggest difference between where I was with Truesports and where they are with Swift is just dollars and testing and development."

Woody McMillin of Firestone Racing Program: "After we announced in 1993 that we were returning to Indy racing, Scott tested for us in '94 and gave us our first modern era win in 1995. Scott, I just wanted to say that we're very proud to be a part of your effort, and all of us at Firestone wish you the best in Australia."

Paul Beaudry of IRace: "Scott, you talked a little bit about Brahma bringing in fresh ideas. Could you elaborate on that a little bit?"

Pruett: "You know, over the years, being involved with a number of sponsors, it's exciting when you see a new sponsor like Brahma come in and they haven't been here before. The other aspect of it, being Brazilian, and how big Indy-car racing is in Brazil, this is just a huge thing for them. So is the excitement they bring...the newness and the excitement that comes with that has been tremendous. The things they want to do with it, and the way they want to publicize it, they're almost like kids with a new toy. You know, they're all bubbly and all excited and really look forward to every race. I see that as a great thing for 1) Patrick Racing, but more so for CART racing in general. They are going to take and really promote their affiliation with CART. Now they can do that in Brazil and South America, and all the countries where they sell their product."

Ron Martin of Focus on Racing Radio: "Scott...talk about the expansion of the fan base in Indy-car racing. Somebody walked up to me right after the Grand Prix of Miami and he says 'hey what a great race...CART rules' and this guy is a NASCAR fan. I'm seeing that more and more people are showing up at the race track and leaving email for us about the excitement they see in the series. Has that surprised you?"

Pruett: "I don't think it surprised me as much as it has just made me proud. It's been tough...with what's happened between CART and the IRL, any sort of controversy makes a difficult set of circumstances. I'm proud of the fact that the teams have come together. The drivers have come together, and we're focused on going out and putting on the best race we can. As long as we do that, and we do it in a manner where it's exciting and competitive, we'll continue to grow and prosper."