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Merrill Cain: Good afternoon and welcome to this week's CART media
teleconference. I am Merrill Cain with CART public relations. We are happy
to be joined today by Mr. Paul Tracy of Team KOOL Green who took the
checkered flag Sunday at the Miller Lite 250 in Milwaukee. We hope to hear
from Michel Jourdain, Jr., of Team Rahal, who was scheduled to join us first
on today's call. We had some problems reaching him in Mexico. We're
certainly happy to be joined by Paul. Thanks for joining us on the call
this afternoon.
Merrill Cain: I guess it has been, what you'd say, an interesting couple of
weeks for you to say the least. On May 26th Paul finished second in the
86th running of the Indianapolis 500 or so we thought. Controversy
surrounded the conclusion of the race as it appeared Paul passed Helio
Castroneves before a caution flag was displayed following an accident on lap
199 of the 200-lap race. Team Green protested the finish, only to have the
protest denied initially. Yesterday the team announced it was formally
appealing the decision, so the saga continues.
In the meantime, Paul and his team remain focused as evidenced by their
performance on the track this weekend. Paul won in Milwaukee for the third
time in his career Sunday at Miller Lite 250 and as the driver of the #26
KOOL Honda/Lola/Bridgestone he sits tied for third place with Max Papis in
the CART FedEx Championship Series points standings heading into this
weekend's action at the Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey at Mazda Raceway
Laguna Seca.
We will open it up for questions for Paul Tracy.
Question: Congratulations last couple of weeks, Paul.
Question: Basic question about sort of the state of CART right now. It seems
before the Indy 500 IRL was taking a lot of punches at CART and Chris Pook
has come back sort of punching pretty hard back on sort of a PR campaign in
the last week or so. What is your opinion on what the state of CART is
right now after all the doom and gloom stories of the last few weeks?
Paul Tracy: I think we have a great product and Milwaukee was a good race.
We had a pretty good crowd there. It wasn't sold out, but it was a good
crowd from Milwaukee. The first three races have been strongly attended.
They have been challenging races, and I think Chris Pook is out there trying
to get the job done. And yeah, we have been taking some blows from the IRL,
and I don't know if it was a good idea or a mistake scheduling the whole
month of May open because, you know, at the start of our season with having
two races or three races spread out by two and a half months, it is hard to
keep the average sport fan's attention when the races are that spread out.
I don't think it's a bad thing to have some other races scheduled in the
month of May to try to keep the interest alive with the CART circuit.
Question: Does the outcome of the 500, does that affect the division between the
two circuits at all? I know there has been some talk trying to find some
peace between the circuits. Does it create a gulf after what happened?
Paul Tracy: I don't know. I think it's still drives a wedge between the
two. It would be nice if everything got back together, but Tony George has
really no interest in merging with CART. He wants to have the whole pie to
himself and no matter what it takes. There's interest from our side to
merge. We have made- you know, we have put the olive branch out many times
and it gets snapped in half. That's just kind of the way it has been going.
Question: Just sort of "it is what it is?"
Question: What has the last two weeks been like for you?
Paul Tracy: It has been good. I can't complain, you know, I know in my
heart that we won that race in Indy and I guess the toughest thing is
swallowing your feelings that you want to put out. But that's what I have
had to do and to leave it up to [Team owner] Barry [Green]. And Barry feels
that we won the race and has told me that he won't push the envelope on this
thing if he didn't feel 110% about what our finish was in the race.
I guess from that standpoint I mean, I had a great race in Japan with
dominating the race and we had a mechanical failure. The month of May
didn't start out very well, but obviously we had a great race there. I feel
that we won it and that gave our team a lot of confidence. And then we came
to Milwaukee, I guess, a little bit disappointed, but also charged up
because we were getting the results we wanted now and went out and dominated
the race in Milwaukee. Hopefully we can keep putting these bricks in place
and you know, building what will ultimately be a Championship.
Question: In all the years that I have watched you race and talked to you after
the races and what have you, the one thing that I have always seen is that
when you have something that you feel has gone against you that shouldn't
have, you tend to put the bit between your teeth, so to speak, and really
hit the grindstone a little harder. Is that a pretty fair assessment and is
that how you are feeling right now?
Paul Tracy: Yeah. I mean, I am definitely motivated- I was definitely
motivated to do well this weekend you know, I have had to really bite my
tongue a lot in the last week. But I feel that I am so confident in what we
have, you know, with this appeal that I just don't want to, you know, say
the wrong thing and you know, we have just got to let the system go through
its course. Playing this thing out, like Barry said yesterday, playing it
out in the media is not going to win us the war. You might win a battle,
but you won't win the war. So we need to do it the right way.
Question: I have got to think that holding your tongue or biting it has got to be
the toughest thing that you have ever done as far as you- because you have
always been one that you feel something and you say it?
Paul Tracy: Yeah. I have said how I feel about it. But I am not going to
point my finger at any one person. The only thing that I have focused on is
letting my actions speak in this last week in the race car. And letting my
feelings out in the race car this last weekend and had a great race at
Milwaukee.
Question: Congratulations first off on your win in Milwaukee on the weekend. I
was wondering, with your success on the CART tour and Patrick Carpentier and
Alex Tagliani making a name for themselves, how do you feel about the future
of Canadian race car drivers and the program and the racers coming out of
Canada?
Paul Tracy: I think it's good. Obviously Pat has been around for a while
and this is Alex's third season, you know, with the races that we have
coming up, you know, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, we are looking- all
of us are looking for good results in Canada. There are some new drivers
coming up through the ladder system. Michael Valiante from Vancouver, he's a
great young driver. I have watched him from go-kart up until now and he's
up in the Formula Atlantic ranks, he should be there in the next couple of
years. I think the future is good for Canadian drivers, and there's
opportunity.
Question: I have a question for you not so much affecting the Canadian drivers
coming up in the series, but you've obviously been involved with go-karting
and one of your former go-karters - still currently a go-karter - A.J.
[Allmendinger] has had a lot of success here in the Barbara Dodge Pro
Series. He won last weekend. He's still the point leader in that series.
Can you talk a little bit about that development and also the ladder system
that we have got going on now in CART and the clear steps that it takes to
get to the Champ Cars?
Paul Tracy: He's a classic example. I picked him up in go-karts, he was
kind of running from his parents and didn't really have any money, and he
was a guy that was a front-runner, but really didn't have an opportunity and
I was able to pick him up about two years ago and start him on my kart team
and he did really well for us and got our product really kind of - he
kick-started our product line to show that we were competitive as a product,
and show that he was a good driver and he won a scholarship to the Barbara
Dodge National Series, which is really the first rung of the ladder of the
kart. The go-karting is the first rung of the ladder but the Barbara
National Series is kind of the rung and he went on to finish second in that
Championship, and then obviously now he's moved up into the Pro Barbara
Dodge class and he's won the first two races so far this year and is leading
the Championship. He just had a go-kart race last weekend for us, kind of
stepped back in the go-karts and won a race there. He's getting off to a
great start this year and he wants to win the Championship in that and then
hopefully move up to Formula Atlantic next year.
Question: Congratulations on two good wins, Paul.
Question: A couple of years ago people said there was a new Paul Tracy out and
how much you had matured. I think we see a real new Paul Tracy this year in
maturity, particularly the way you have handled this past week. What has
contributed to this?
Paul Tracy: I think the big thing that's really helped me through the whole
thing is I have got the support of a lot of the media on this. I have got
the support of almost all of my peers and racing teams that I come in
contact with in the past and friends in racing. And the big thing is I have
got the support of the fans. I got an overwhelming response at Milwaukee
when I qualified, went out to qualify and driver introductions and I had
hundreds of people come up to me and give me gifts this last weekend- the
true winner of the 500, those things help the whole process. That kind of
helps me just kind of put a lot of those things to the side and focus on my
job instead of dwelling on what happened.
Question: Are you undergoing a new exercise program this year that keeps you fit?
Paul Tracy: Yeah. I have been really working hard this year. I have said
it before, the last couple of years, 1999 and it 2000 were good seasons for
me, and I am a bit of a creature of habit and I kind of do things the same
way over and over again. 2001 was a bit of a disaster season for me, and I
really sat down with myself and had to think about what I needed to do to
raise my game, to be a race winner again and a championship contender, and
the team sat down and they decided what they needed to do and everybody went
at it in their own ways throughout the winter and the couple of months off.
We have come back and obviously we started off the season really good.
Question: How is your team doing this year in the karts?
Paul Tracy: Real good. We just won a race last weekend, finished in the
top-three at basically every race this year, so things are going well with
the kart program. A.J. who drives kart for me, who is also running the
Barbara Dodge Pro Series, has won the first two races of the championship
and he's leading the points in that. So he's doing really well.
Question: Do you foresee yourself sometime in the future stepping up to Atlantics
for perhaps even CART, as a car owner?
Paul Tracy: No, no, I have a hard enough time just running a go-kart team.
That's almost too much of a headache for me. I am not really the team-owner
type. The go-kart team is enough problems.
Question: Last week [Team KOOL Green teammate] Dario [Franchitti] spoke on this
teleconference about his feeling about the IRL cars, their speed and their
power. Do you kind of echo his thoughts? I think he described them- he
didn't say these words, but he kind of described them as an interesting Indy
Light car.
Paul Tracy: (Laughs) Well, Dario has a good way of putting things, but I
guess that similar formula is what we are going to next year, that style of
motor, so it is what it is. It's not - by any means a 300 or 400 horsepower
engine. It's got 650 to 700 horsepower. It's not a 900 horsepower engine
like we are running right now, but you know, once you get the thing up and
rolling and get it up to speed it will still do laps, like at Indy 230, but
it just takes a little longer to get it there. Really, it is what it is.
We are trying to reduce the speeds of the cars, and really the only way that
you can do that's by taking horsepower, bringing it down.
Question: Well, it's going to be an interesting year. I will see you probably
Thursday out there at Laguna. You take care.
Question: Talking about support, Alex Zanardi was on teleconference last week he
said as far as he was concerned you were the winner at Indy. Have you heard
that before?
Paul Tracy: Yeah, and I feel the same way. Obviously Barry feels the same
way and he filed the appeal. I just have to really let things take its
course.
Question: You touched on this a bit with your talk of changing your fitness
regimen. The last time you won two races in a row was Vancouver 2000, and
then you didn't win again until last Sunday. I wondered what happened after
that round in 2001, and how you dealt with it internally?
Paul Tracy: Well, it was frustrating last year for sure because I started
off the year pretty well and I had two podiums, a couple of top-four
finishes in the first four races and things started out really well. I
think last year in the first four races I scored 60 points. I was leading
the championship and until the end of the year, the next 17 or 18 races I
only scored another 60 points. It wasn't for a fact that we were not quick
anywhere. We had plenty of opportunities where we were fast. It just
seemed like every time we got something going, bad luck would strike us. We
would have engine blow-ups or a bad pit stop or I would make a mistake, just
little things that would just hamper you and would just let it kind of slip
through your fingers- very frustrating for everybody. But I think, though,
sometimes when you have a couple of good seasons, sometimes it takes one
that doesn't go so good to kind of re-motivate everybody.
Question: Most KOOL Green cars didn't suffer, but do you think the limits were
stretched with Michael Andretti being kind of a teammate on board?
Paul Tracy: I think it did. Definitely last year was a building year for
the team. Obviously Michael finished good in the championship, but he was
just kind of consistent. He wasn't the fastest guy all the time. He just
was scoring points more consistently than me and Dario.
Dario and I were pretty disappointed with how we finished the season. The
team has worked really hard over this last winter to get reorganized and get
prepared, to make the proper attack, running three championship contenders
and I think we have done a good job this year because Michael has a win, I
have a win and Dario was leading the championship, so can't complain.
Question: What kind of challenge does Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca present this
weekend?
Paul Tracy: I think the biggest challenge for me is that I haven't driven
the Lola on a road course yet, so that's going to be very new to me. I have
had good success on the ovals so far, but haven't actually gotten out on a
road course and turned the car right yet. So it's going to be a bit of an
adjustment. I feel good about coming to Laguna. I have been faster
throughout my career and had good results and have been able to win a couple
of times, so I am looking forward to it. But we have definitely got our
work cut out for us.
Question: Could you describe what is it like driving through that corkscrew?
Paul Tracy: Well, it's pretty exhilarating. You come up to the top of the
hill, can't really see anything, and then you turn down. It is just like
jumping into an elevator shoot, so, you come down that hill left, right,
left, and you know, just a couple of seconds and you drop about a couple of
hundred feet in elevation, which is pretty exciting.
Question: You talked about fitness being part of your turnaround this season. Did
you drop weight? What are you talking about there?
Paul Tracy: I have done a lot of work over the winter. I have always been
a bigger guy. From my weight that I was last year, I dropped about 35
pounds since last season, so I think it has been a big help so far this
year. I feel good in the car and I feel invigorated, I think it's showing
in my driving.
Question: Lastly, what do you think the chances are of you winning this appeal?
Paul Tracy: I think it's good. I don't know what the end result will be,
but I know in my heart that we won the race and I know that's how Barry
feels and I know the kind of person that Barry is. He won't stick his neck
out on the line and push this as far as he's pushed it if he wasn't 100%
sure that we won the race. So I'm basically leaving it up to him and his
team of people that are doing this whole thing and he wants me to just
continue to concentrate on my driving and working with the team and get some
more good results.
Question: Do you have a quart of milk sitting in your refrigerator just in case?
Question: The big question is you miss out on all of that no matter what- the
post-race stuff. Barry said yesterday that if this doesn't come down the
way he would like it, knowing what he knows, he would feel cheated. I am
just wondering what is your feeling about that right now? Are you putting
yourself in the future? Are you preparing for good news, bad news- how are
you playing that game?
Paul Tracy: All I can say is I know that I won that race. The only thing
that I can't say is that I wished the decision would have come down right
after the race, but it hasn't. It's going to take a long time. It kind of
just leaves you sitting on ice wondering what will happen. But I guess the
only thing that I can do is concentrate on my job and not let that bother me
too much and that's really what I have to do and if it comes down and the
question gets turned around, then we know that the right outcome will come
out of it. If not, then I guess we just move on and try to do it again.
Question: Real quick, just a point of fact, I am understanding you had the yellow
light in your cockpit just like Helio and everyone else. Do you remember
specifically seeing the light come on?
Question: Do you remember noticing it on?
Paul Tracy: No. No yellow light was on in my cockpit until the track
lights came on.
Question: Obviously you are fired up because you are coming off, in your mind, two
straight wins here, but is there a different feel with you and your team you
right now than maybe two, three years ago, even though you are switching
chassis and this is going to be a tremendous adjustment over the next two
months?
Paul Tracy: I don't know. But I know that the last year that I have had, I
have had such bad luck and so many opportunities that things just didn't go
right. We were always wondering when is the bad luck going to turn to good
luck and I think it's starting now. Hopefully we can continue our momentum
and continue working hard. The whole key is working hard and doing a good
job. I will be the first to admit, when things get frustrating sometimes it
can be hard to stay motivated and stay positive. You have to work through
the bad times and get to the good times. I think that's what really
everybody on the team has done. Last year for most of the year it was just
a struggle after struggle with, you know, problems and everybody's still
kept their motivation. I think that now I hope that we have had two great
races in a row and I hope we can continue our momentum.
Question: I am just a little curious about something you said earlier. You said
you were very confident in your appeal but then you also talked about the
acrimony between the two series. Don't you think that you being a CART guy
and the winner they announced being an IRL guy is going to automatically
(inaudible) the appeal?
Paul Tracy: I hope there's going to be a panel of judges from what I
understand on this that are unbiased. I hope that the right outcome will
come out and it's not slanted. Regardless of what people say, there's a
wedge between CART and IRL and there's politics involved in everything. I
just hope it doesn't come down to that.
Question: Congratulations on the win first of all, and secondly I am listening to
your comments and it's very impressive there was a time when your
championship skills were undermined a bit by your emotions in the cockpit,
at least it seemed from the outside. Congratulations on getting that turned
around and focused on going after a championship now.
Paul Tracy: Well, thank you. Like I said before, when things aren't going
right or I am having a hard time my personality is to try harder. Sometimes
trying harder can compound the problem or even worse. You have almost got
to step back and kind of look at it and reanalyze it and try to go about it
a different way.
I think that's what everybody on the whole team has done, my engineer and my
mechanics, everybody was trying so hard last year to win and no matter what
we did when we were in a good position to win, we would have a bad pit stop.
We would have something go wrong with the car. I would make a mistake, or
you know, so it is just one of those years when everybody was just trying so
hard to win because we were capable of winning, but we would almost jinx
ourselves.
Question: Do you ever get tired of jerks like me in the media coming to you
talking to you about this IRL-CART split and problems with CART? Does that
take away from your ability to concentrate at the racetrack?
Paul Tracy: Not really because I am a guy who has been committed to CART my
whole career and I still am committed to CART. The roses are not smelling so
great now, but I am confident in what Chris Pook is doing. I am confident
that we are heading in the right direction and we have got good tracks and
good venues that we are going to and we still have great sponsors in the
series and great drivers and we have a great product. So I am confident
that we can still continue to forge ahead.
Question: Do you think it's the best business model for CART to forge ahead and
not worry about what the IRL is doing?
Paul Tracy: I think I have always said that's the best thing for them to
because I don't feel that Tony George has any ambition to merge with CART.
He wants the whole thing to himself and that's the only way it's going to
be. The only thing that CART can do is just go about its own business.
Question: There was a comment in a newspaper article late last week that mentions
you and stock cars. I can't tell from newsprint if that was an offhand
remark. Was that something you tossed out there or something that you are
legitimately interested in?
Paul Tracy: No, it's something that I am genuinely interested in. At this
stage of my career, I mean, I am 33 years old now. Obviously open-wheel
racing doesn't go on forever, you know, when you start getting towards 38,
it's about the end of the road. I know that there's only a limited amount
of shelf time left and I have had conversations with Richard [Childress]
about a possible involvement in the future and he actually contacted me
after [Dale] Earnhardt had been killed at Daytona and expressed some
interest in what I was doing. So that was a tremendous compliment to me.
And we have kind of kept an open book about what the future is and you know,
maybe some day down the road if my plans lead me towards that direction then
we can get together on something.
Question: Have you ever tested a stock car of any type?
Paul Tracy: No, never driven anything with fenders on it as of yet.
Question: Well, it would be interesting to see you in a stock car. Good luck this
weekend.
Question: If an appeal does come down and you are successful, in your mind does
that tarnish the whole thing at all or is it more getting the right decision
regardless of how long it takes?
Paul Tracy: I'll tell you what. In my garage, I have got some polish and I
will take a tarnish cloth (laughter) because I feel that we won the race and
the most important thing is when you see all the faces on that trophy if you
are one of them- then it's something special.
All the interviews and all you know, going on TV shows and radio interviews
and that kind of thing, I can take it or leave it. But it's the trophy that
matters the most.
Question: Lets face it that's the one trophy that you know, that CART drivers
aspire to throughout.
Paul Tracy: Yes. Any racing driver, no matter if you drive CART or Formula
One, anybody from around the world, if you have won the Indianapolis 500
then you have really done something.
Merrill Cain: We appreciate you spending some time with us this afternoon.
We know it's been hectic time for you. Congratulations on your performance
this weekend and also wish you the best of luck heading into Round 5 of the
CART FedEx Championship Series at Monterey, California. Thanks for joining
us today.
We now head out to Mexico City, Mexico, we are joined by Michel Jourdain,
Jr. Thanks for taking a few minutes to join us this afternoon.
Michel Jourdain Jr.: Yes, hello. Sorry for being a little late. We had a
press conference. I am here in the Gigante offices. We had a press
conference with all the Mexican media and arrived a couple of minutes later
when you had just started with Paul, so I am very sorry. I am here.
Merrill Cain: We know how the media is. We will cut you some slack on
that. We appreciate it. I will just do a quick introduction for Michel -
competing in his first season for Team Rahal Michel has gotten off to a
tremendous start this year earning 42 points. It's the most he's ever had
in his career in CART. It's only through the first four rounds of
competition to lead the CART FedEx Championship Series points standings.
Entering this season Michel earned one top-five finish in his previous six
seasons in Champ Car competition. This season driving the No. 9 Gigante
Ford Lola Bridgestone Michel has earned top-five finishes in all four of his
starts including Sunday's fifth place effort in Milwaukee. Michel, first
off, this has to be a very exciting time for you, of course, certainly a lot
of racing to be done in the season, but the points leader heading into Round
5 this weekend has to feel great. I know that Gigante, as you pointed out,
your sponsor is hosting a media reception for you today. How has your
success been received in your home country in Mexico.
Michel Jourdain Jr.: It's been received great. It's great to be leading
the Championship, all that. I have been telling everybody, I think now it
doesn't count anything to really win the Championship right now, it is now
leading the -- a race you can lead all the laps but the last one; that's the
only one that matters and to win the championship the only one you have to
be leading the points at the end of the season that is important thing.
Like Paul says, he was leading the championship within the first four, five
races and then a lot of things happened. So a lot of things can happen to
us too. So we just have to keep working the way we are. Team Rahal is
doing an amazing job. I think I have done a good job. I haven't made
mistakes. We just have to continue doing the same things. Some things
could have been better running these four races but things could have gone
worse, so I mean, the team is doing a superb job. The car has been perfect
all the time. We have done the most laps and so we're there. That's what
it takes to win the championships.
Merrill Cain: Great.
Question: I would think there's some satisfaction of finally being on top of the
heap no matter when it comes considering, you know, how it's gone for you in
the past few years just trying to get that good ride. What does this do for
you personally from a confidence standpoint?
Michel Jourdain Jr.: For sure it is great. As much as it doesn't matter
'til the end to win the Championship -- most important to be in the lead at
the end. It is better to be in the front than in the back, in first and
second, so it's great, you know, for me couple of months ago I didn't know
if I was going to be racing, then everything comes together with Gigante and
Team Rahal, four races into it, and I am leading the points. It is great,
four races top-fives, you know, I mean we are just right there getting ready
to finish, to win in the podiums and winning races, and it's great to get
into -- to CART.com and I see my name in front of everybody else, you know,
that's -- it's great. But at the same time I just want to -- I mean, go
tomorrow fly tomorrow to Laguna, and from then on its just one more race,
and I cannot think about the Championship or anything, just to do what we
have been doing, get the best result possible, and try to get the most
points possible every weekend and hopefully at the end of the year we can
still be heading for the championship.
Question: Following up, you spent all the month of May pretty much either in
Columbus or with the team over in Indianapolis or testing like at Milwaukee
and stuff. What did that do, you think, for you and the team? The Gigante
deal was put together so quickly, you know, I would think first time you
show up you got your helmet on. What did it do for you to immerse yourself
in the team a little bit and for you guys to get to know each other a little
better?
Michel Jourdain Jr.: Right away since, I mean, since I arrived with -- when
we did the press conference in Mexico City and it was a deal, that same day
I flew to Columbus. Next morning arrived to the shop, met all the guys, and
I promise you, they were having, that day, a team meeting with all the guys
in the shop and met them, went to all the engineers, after five minutes I
felt like I had been working with them forever, the first test, I think it
helped a lot that Jimmy and I have been able to drive very similar cars, so,
as soon as I stepped into the car, the car was pretty good.
So I mean, all these months that I have been in Indy or Columbus or testing,
all the months with the team, I feel like it was more just to be with them
and I wanted to be with them. I wanted to be with them in Indy, and in
Columbus I enjoyed being in the shop a lot. I enjoyed watching my car,
enjoyed talking to them. The same in Indy, I was with Jimmy everyday,
picked me up, go to the track with him. After that, go have dinner, being
with the guys, so I mean I just -- I love racing, and this is my life and I
enjoy being around my car owner and my team.
Question: It's hard to believe you are in your 7th CART season and yet you are
just 26 years old. Does it seem that long to you?
Michel Jourdain Jr.: Well, you know it's unbelievable. I mean, when I was
racing in Mexico I always thought I had a good chance to arrive to CART, but
not at 19, you know, and I thought maybe when I am 24, 25, 26, I will be
getting there, and now I have seven seasons and over 100 races, so it is
quite a lot and it is hard to believe that so many years have gone by, you
know, I still -- I am still pretty young. I feel, I hope, and with a lot
of experience, you know, so it's good.
Question: Obviously moving to Team Rahal has made a big difference. I want to
know anything that you have done personally to change things that's helped
too this year.
Michel Jourdain Jr.: I think always as a race car driver you are trying to
do your best, but I think Team Rahal has helped me a lot in many ways, you
know, I always try to be in the best possible physical shape possible, but
we have a trainer, that's with the team, he trained Bobby (Rahal), Bryan
(Herta), Kenny (Brack) when they were there and he's helping me a lot, and I
think I have improved a lot in my training and I feel much better physical
shape. All the other years, with Herdez, it was tough, because most times I
didn't know if I was doing the next race or not and Team Rahal, they are
helping me a lot with my confidence. Only thing I worry about is to drive
the car and that's the big, big help, just concentrating on that, and that
has been, I think, for me personally the biggest thing. And then driving a
car that's always there, that never breaks, that every time we go testing we
do a lot of laps, every time like we come into the pits we gain a couple of
positions, and all those things help you a lot in your motivation, all that.
Question: Tell me what you think about the race in Vancouver and also about the
city itself.
Michel Jourdain Jr.: Well, one of our favorite races. Both Toronto and
Vancouver are great. Montreal is coming, but Vancouver for me, I like it a
lot. I did my first year in '96, it's always been around my birthday, so I
like it. I have always, I think, I have been always pretty fast; never I
thought the result but it the same in Milwaukee, never got a good result in
the past, but this year, I did. So feel very good about it. And just the
city is great. It is a great city. I love it. It's a lot of fun. A lot
of people from Mexico always come to Vancouver because of that, you know,
because it's a fun city, and it's one of the cities that people want to go,
people want to go and see racing but they want to have fun, and Vancouver is
a perfect city for that.
Question: With Team Rahal giving you confidence and what they are putting under
you for you to drive, does that build your confidence even more, and does
that in turn build their confidence to give you better equipment?
Michel Jourdain Jr.: For sure, I mean, as a driver Team Rahal is one of
those teams that you want to be and where you want to drive for. So I mean,
I wanted to be in this situation forever and finally I have been able to, to
go there for many years and finally we are able to get it done and it's
great. Since we got it done, from everybody, everybody here in Mexico from
Gigante, everybody in the team is, okay, like you worry only about driving,
you know, and it's only thing I worry about now is to do my best, and the
team and the car is always there for me and the guys are always there for
me. Everything has been done very good, since the first time I stepped into
the car, I felt like I have been in it forever, every race we go, every test
we do, car doesn't break. We come out of the pits in the front. In the
past sometimes it was hard to -- I am not saying always, but a couple of
times, you know, you are doing your best, you pass a couple of people in the
track you come in and -- lose a lot of spots. I am not saying always, you
know, but I mean, it happened once here in Milwaukee too, but you know, it
happens a lot less, little things, you know, and little things -- a lot of
little things make one big thing and that's why we're in front of the
Championship and that's why we have had top -- top-five finishes in all the
races.
So my confidence is very good right now and thanks to all of them. Every
time we are running bad, they are working on it and they are blaming them
and they are working harder. It's -- I feel the same when we're doing bad.
I want to do better and I try to see what I can improve. But a lot of times
in the past always like, oh, the car is very good, you have to drive better.
Well, that doesn't help you a lot, you know, when you have people here
working very hard to improve every little detail, I mean, as a driver every
time you get into the car it's great.
Question: It sure shows in your result. What about Laguna this weekend? Is this
one of your more favorite tracks? Do you think this is maybe where we are
going to see you on top of the podium?
Michel Jourdain Jr.: Hopefully. It's a track that I like a lot. Every
time I have been there I feel I love it. It is one of my favorite tracks.
And so I feel very good about this weekend. It's always -- like always it's
very important and we have to be good, but like everything, you know, you
cannot make mistakes.
It's one of those tracks that's very hard on the cars because of the fast
corners, you know, you are turning all the time, on the driver it's pretty
tough too. I don't know how the weather is going to be but I guess this
time of year maybe warmer than what we normally have, so that's even tougher
on the cars and the drivers. So it's going to be a very tough race like
every other race, I mean, every driver can fight for this podium, for the
qualifying, so it's very, very tough.
Question: What is the appeal of CART in Latin America, why has it gotten such --
why do you see such a strong reception?
Michel Jourdain Jr.: I think -- I mean, in Mexico it's huge, CART and I
think the race -- I mean, it's a lot of things, you know, like in Mexico we
have a Mexican since the early '80s, you know, when CART came to Mexico my
dad did both races, Josele (Garza) was there for many years; then my uncle,
and Adrian (Fernandez), when he did Indy Lights and he's been there forever;
Carlos (Guerrero), me, now Mario (Dominguez), so....Then Colombia, Juan
Pablo (Montoya); a lot of Brazilian drivers, a couple of Argentinians.
There's always been, you know, something connected to Latin America;
probably more than Formula 1, you know, everybody -- everybody in Latin
America, all the countries, depend a lot on the States and this is -- I
mean, it's getting more international Championship, but it's more a U.S.
championship. So I think it's a lot of things that connect Latin America to
the U.S. and Latin America to CART because of the races we have and the
drivers that CART has had for all these years. It's huge. Mexico, I mean,
after soccer CART is the biggest thing.
Question: You mentioned Formula One, is CART looked at as an alternative or as a
stepping stone to Formula 1?
Michel Jourdain Jr.: I think people are always trying to compare it. For
me it's just a different thing, you know, I mean, CART is such a completely
different product. The car is different. We race in ovals, street courses,
big, medium, small ovals, different kind of street courses, road courses.
For me as a driver, I always look at us different. I don't know why. Well,
I guess I probably know why. I always try to be more -- to CART, you know
my dad did a couple of races in the '80s when my uncle raced here, growing
up I always wanted to be here I guess from the influence from my family,
Josele, I drove for him my last year in Mexico, racing, I drove for Josele,
and he was very I mean, he was driving there for many years, well, here, for
many years. So I always wanted to be more in CART than Formula 1 probably
because of that. I felt more in touch with CART.
Question: So do you look at CART as a destination and not as a preparatory
experience for getting a Formula One ride maybe one day?
Michel Jourdain Jr.: No, no. I think -- I mean, drivers going from CART to
Formula One, it's something that I mean, Michael (Andretti) for the first
one and then Jacques (Villeneuve), something that started in the last ten
years, you know, I mean, I started racing in 1988 which was a long ways
before that and I have been in racing since I was born, you know, so it's
not that something that happened for many years, people going from CART to
Formula One. At that time it was more drivers coming from Formula One to
CART, and I think -- I mean, CART is right now so competitive and
everything, that a lot of drivers don't care where they are. A lot of
drivers just have had chances to go to Formula 1 and they want to stay here
because of the competitiveness, and it's more fair for the driver.
I think it's more fun and you have bigger chance to win if you are not in
the perfect situation. Formula One, if you are not in the perfect
situation, there's no way you are going to win.
Question: You don't think that competition is challenged by having fields that you
know, 18, 19, 20 cars?
Michel Jourdain Jr.: Well, competition for sure not. We have we had 19
cars last weekend and all of those 19 cars could win. Formula 1 could have
100 cars, there's only two cars that can win, only one driver allowed to
win. So competition, for sure, has nothing to do with that. It is so
competitive here, everybody can win. I have been here for seven years, and
since I arrived at the beginning there was two, three, four, teams that you
know, they had no chance and different types of cars and different tires,
and different engines. Now both cars are so strong. The engines are so
strong, only one tire, all the drivers are very, very fast, very capable of
winning races, you know, and all the teams are very professional. So I
mean, it's amazing.
Merrill Cain: Thank very much for joining us today. We know you have got a
few things you have to take care of this afternoon. We appreciate you
taking a few minutes to join us this afternoon. We wish you best of luck in
Monterey, California this weekend.
Michel Jourdain Jr.: Thank you. Thank you very much. Again I am sorry
for being a little late. But -- yeah, I will see you this weekend and thank
you very much.
Merrill Cain: As long as you are on time this weekend, we won't hold you to
it. Thanks, Michel.
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