SpeedCenter Interview - Bruce McCaw on the US500


		Bruce McCaw: The US 500 Media Impact

Tara Lombardo interviews PacWest owner Bruce McCaw

SpeedCenter Reporter, Tara Lombardo, interviewed PacWest Racing founder and CEO Bruce McCaw, and CART Public Relations representative, Kevin Wilkerson, on May 21 in Seattle.

These first excerpts of the interview revolve around the U.S. 500 and the TV market on Memorial Day weekend. More of this interview will follow soon.

SpeedCenter: "How important are the TV ratings for the U.S. 500 when considering future sponsorships?"

Kevin Wilkerson: "TV is very important to us obviously. Believe it or not, Seattle is one of the top 5 markets for people that wake up on Sunday morning to watch the Indianapolis 500. So, Seattle is a very important market to us. We think the fans are going to visually decide what happens in the current situation and we feel confident with the star owners, star drivers, and the best cars in the World that the race fan and the general interest fan will tune in to watch the U.S. 500. We are actually encouraging people to switch back and forth between the two races. We feel there will be a significant difference between what they see on the Speedway and what they see at the US500."

SpeedCenter: "What would be the most desired outcome for the U.S. 500 weekend?"

Bruce McCaw: "I think that our most desired outcome would be to win it. I think we want to have fun, safe race."


	"We feel there will be a significant difference between what they see on the Speedway and what they see at the US500." Kevin Wilkerson, CART PR

Kevin Wilkerson: "It's also a very exciting track, where you can run 3 deep and 4 abreast, the drivers are talking about the drafting. Hitting some speeds at up to 250mph in some areas."

Bruce McCaw: "They are certainly going in the high 230's low 240's. There are a couple of goods things about Michigan, one with the higher banking, it's also a shorter track than Indianapolis, by about a half mile, you can really see the corners, it's more of a true oval. Indianapolis is actually a rectangle, it's got four distinct turns. The way the track [Michigan] is laid out, you can really run side by side. Last year the race was really exciting. I hope it's as exciting this year, even more so.

"The problem that Indy has had, is it's really one, everybody's running flat out. You don't really have much acceleration. You have to take 3 laps to get a run on somebody to try and make a pass. You'll see them pull out, pull in, pull out and then back in. I think this will be wheel to wheel all the way around."