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T.E. McHALE: "Richie Hearn, driver of the No. 10 Budweiser Ralph's Swift Ford, joins
us today off a career-best 7th place finish in Sunday's Rio 400 on the Emerson Fittipaldi
Speedway at Nelson Piquet International
Raceway in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was an eventful weekend for Richie in that he missed the
opportunity to qualify due to a spin on his warmup lap and was gridded last in the 28-car field. Then
was black-flagged 36 laps into the race for a pit-lane violation. Despite all that, Richie persevered to
lead the first four laps of this FedEx Championship Series Season and continued on to the best
finish of his career, topping his previous career best of 9th, established at Gateway and matched at
Road America last year. Richie's improvement of 21 positions from his 28th place start to his 7th
place finish was the largest in FedEx Championship Series competition since Alex Zanardi drove
from 26th to 4th place at Rio de Janeiro last year. Richie earned six PPG Cup Points for Sunday's
finish and heads into the May 23rd Motorola 300 at Gateway International Raceway 17th in the PPG
Cup Standings with nine points."
Question: Having raced in the IRL and won, could
you take a moment to sort of compare
and contrast the competition as you are
finding it in CART, versus IRL?"
Richie Hearn: "Well, CART right now is probably the most competitive it has ever been and I
would have to say the most competitive open-wheel series in
the world right now. I mean, every practice session everybody
is trying as hard as they can. And as you have seen from
almost every race, the qualifying grids are almost within a
second. And so that makes it very tough for us as a team to
get every little [edge], especially if you have problems in
practice, you never seem to make it up. But, I mean, it is the
way racing should be and even though it makes it tougher on
the teams and the drivers, it is really what you are striving for:
to beat the best."
Question: Do you expect any feelings of regret for
any sort of mixed feelings as Indy rolls
around?
Richie Hearn:
"The race in Indianapolis is special for any driver.
I feel fortunate enough to have competed in it in 1996 and
finished third there. But, I don't feel any regret changing from
the IRL to CART, because that is where I want to be. I am
sure I feel just as much regret as any other driver that, you
know, the split has happened and really we are not really able
to compete on the same level as we used to. But I am 100%
[in favor of] where I am and competing against the people that
I am."
Question: Your performance in Brazil, do you think
that that is a place where the team has
turned the corner? I know you got new
additions to the team itself and you are
working with the Swift and the Firestone
tires are new to you this year.
Question: Compare St. Louis with Rio.
Richie Hearn:
"Rio is a little bit
different than probably any oval that we run on. I really
consider it kind of a road course that only goes left. But St.
Louis, I think, to me, is probably going to be the toughest race
out of the whole circuit because they are changing our
aerodynamic package from last year from running the short
oval wings to running the super speedway wings and it greatly
reduces our downforce. I haven't test there like that, but the
word I am getting from other people who have tested there is
that it is going to be tough."
Question: It is going to allow some passing, that is
for sure. And, of course, you will be doing
some gear shifting, i guess, in the short
turn.
Richie Hearn:
"Yeah, of course. That is the reason why they did that
last year we were really going around there too fast.
When you start getting up in those speeds that we were
running last year, it is too tough to pass because the track just
seems to get really narrow, the faster you go."
"So, it is a good thing that they have done that. It is just going
to be tough because no one has been able to really test there
because it is wintertime when we are testing and it is pretty
cold in St. Louis during the winter. We are going to be quite a
bit slower in Turn 3 and 4. And, yeah, we will be braking and
downshifting in 1 and 2."
Question: I wanted to ask you about the Swift.
Andretti, Fittipaldi and even Hiro
Matsushita with an interest in the
company there, is there any kind of
dialogue going on there among all of
you, that do you think helped you or you
think will help you?
Richie Hearn:
"Yeah, of course. I mean,
Newmann/Haas, they can't do all the work themselves and so
we collaborate on some things — not everything because we
also want to beat each other. Also, one of the things that is really different is the tires. Since
they are on Goodyear and we are on Firestone, they require
different packages altogether — spring package is different, and
camber and caster and all that kind of stuff is different. So, we
can't compare everything. But there is a lot of talk that does go
on."
Question: Talk a little bit about racing before you
were born. I heard your mom was
pregnant and she quit when she couldn't
get the seatbelt around her stomach?
Richie Hearn:
"As far as your other question, my parents both used to race
amateur sports, Car Club of America events out here in the
west coast — Corvettes. They belonged to the Corvette Club
and they both had two of them there.
"My mom used to race as well. She used to race like Solo
One events and also in the regular competition in the B-Class,
B-Production class for women. And, she actually raced
pregnant until probably, you know, three or four months until
really she started to show and the seatbelt wouldn't take it
anymore. So she quit after that. But then after I was born, they
raced for about three or four more years, too."
Question: Do you think that instinct is carried over?
Richie Hearn:
"I don't know. I guess it could be. If there is anyway to &#`51; if
there is anyway to get instinct, that is probably the best way to
do it. I have been around it all my life and obviously before I
was even born, I was around it, so I think, you know, that is
what really got me involved. And, you know, it wasn't like I
decided I wanted to be a race car driver some day. It was
already, I think, already in my mind that that is what I wanted
to do before I even did it."
Question: You spoke a few moments ago about the
fact that at the beginning of the season
and up to Rio, it was just like little things
that kept getting in your way. I am
wondering, until Rio and then, I guess,
before the finish of the race, was some
frustration starting to mount up?
Richie Hearn:
"Well,
yeah. I mean a little bit for John and I, and the guys on the
team. We have been having a lot of little problems each race.
And, you know, I don't think I have gone to one race this year
yet where I have run every practice session completely.
"[It] seems like I am always behind going into the race
weekend, into the race day itself. But, you know, we didn't
have a very good week start to the Rio race. We had a lot of
problems in practice, and then I spun in qualifying; didn't even
get a lap. But, you know, everything worked out well on
Sunday for us, and, you know, like I was saying earlier, the
guys seem really relieved and I think sometimes you have a
race like that it eases people up a little bit and they don't make
mistakes as much and hopefully we go to St. Louis week have
a completely trouble-free weekend."
Question: When you received word that you were
being black-flagged for the pit stop
violation, was there a thing in you that
went: oh, no, here we go again?
Richie Hearn:
"Well, no, actually I knew it was coming because I know if you have any
kind of problems in the pits — run over a hose or, obviously
you hit somebody, or hit a tire, you get a drive-through
penalty. So I was expecting it. And, yeah, maybe a little bit.
"My biggest worry was coming in under green and then if it
went green long enough, after that, I would be able to stay in
front of the leaders. I didn't want to get lapped. So, that was
my biggest concern. But, actually, what it did is it actually
worked out good for us at the end because since they put me
in the back of the field when I was &#`51; when I was saying that
next yellow flag came out when Paul and de Ferran crashed, I
decided to come in and top-up because I wasn't going to lose
any &#`51; I wouldn't have lost any track position anyways. I was
already really the last car in line there. And, that kind of is
what put us ahead of the rest of the field as far as pit spots.
"If I would have been running like 14th, 15th, at the time of
when I came if, I probably wouldn't have come in during that
yellow because I would have lost too much track position.
Then I would have had to pit under the green like everyone
else."
Question: Talk a little bit about the bond between
you and your owner John Della Penna?
Richie Hearn:
"Well, John and I have been together a long time this. This is
our fifth year together. And, he kind of plucked me out of
nowhere when I was running Sports 2000 and in the Dodge
series in 1993. And we hooked up and did very well in the
Atlantic Series.
"And, when we first got together, our goal was to do exactly
what we have been doing: Win the Atlantic Championship in
1995 and then move into CART and, you know, compete
against the best. And, it has been a long road, but we have
accomplished a lot together and we get along really well.
"We can get along in two ways: We can get along as just
regular friendship type of thing where we can hang out outside
of racing, play golf, or go to dinner and things like that. Or we
can get we get along in the business side where he is the
owner, I am the driver and we work together to make the car
faster together to win races.
"It really works out well because there is not a lot of drivers
out there who can say they have that type of relationship with
their owner. And, if I have any kind of problems or anything, I
can come to him and I trust every decision he makes. I don't
have to ever second-guess him."
Question: Talking about this upcoming race, can
you sort of give us a feel of the track
through — where the passing zones would
be?
Richie Hearn:
"St. Louis is a tough race. It is a mile-and-a-quarter track and
it is pretty quick. I think with the new wing package that we
have to run there, you will see a lot of passing going into Turn
1. Mostly because we will be braking and downshifting there.
So it is an opportunity if you — you come off of Turn 3 and 4
pretty quickly and if you can run right with somebody coming
off the corner, you can get the draft and pull out and then
outbrake him going into Turn 1 there.
"You will possibly see some passing going into Turn 3 as well
because as the track widens up, and, you know, if the track
stays together, you will be able to have to have two grooves
through 3 and 4. So, it is going to be tough because it is a little
bit narrower than the last couple of tracks we have been
running on, so, passing is going to be at a premium. And, track
position in the pit spots are going to be real, real important as
well."
Question: I know you talked very fondly of Mr.
Della Penna in terms of giving you
opportunity to get started, but i am
wondering do you feel looking back that
the IRL in your case, you know, played the
role that it stated it intended to, in giving
American drivers opportunity?
Richie Hearn:
"Well, for us it was a little different really. We — the reason why we did the
IRL in the first place is we — at the end of 1995 when we won
the Atlantic Championship, we planned to go into CART. But
in that short period of time, I mean, the season ends in
October and, you know, the season starts up pretty much right
away, we weren't able to really get a full program together to
run a full season in CART.
"We had enough money to do — probably we could have
done probably half the season with no testing. But, we would
— we thought about doing that but we also wanted to run at
the 500. And so, the IRL gave us the opportunity to kind of
tune-up for CART. I mean, the level of competition is really
not as high as CART; especially then, and, so, we were able
to run up front immediately and really kind of get a lot of
exposure for our sponsors right away and gain a lot of
experience for myself and John and the crew because there is
a lot more to it than running, you know, a 75-mile Atlantic
races to 500-mile CART races.
"And, also, we also both wanted to do the Indy 500 before
they changed the cars. We knew they were going to change
the cars to their current package with the stock blocks and the
non-turbocharged cars, we really wanted to race there with
the cars that were current at the time.
"I am glad I did it because it really gave me a lot of practice
and a lot of experience, so in 1997 when I moved up to
CART I felt I was a little more prepared than if I would have
just jumped out of Atlantic, it would have been a little
tougher."
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