LOOKING BACK NOW TO LAST YEAR'S RACE AT ROAD AMERICA, WHAT DID GETTING THAT FIRST VICTORY IN A CHAMP CAR MEAN TO YOU?

Christian Fittipaldi: "Well, the win obviously meant a lot, especially we were after it for a long time and we came close a bunch of times before that happened but things never went my way. Then at Elkhart (Lake) everything worked very well last year, although I always went well at Elkhart (Lake). Since '95 I always run in the top three every single year and almost won the race in '96, so maybe it's one of those tracks that you adapt a little bit more to than others. I like the place and still think it's extremely dangerous because of the speed, (there's) very little amount of runoff you have in a couple of places and it's incredibly tough for you to get a lap together over there, especially in qualifying. In the race it's a little bit different, but I guess if you have very good fuel mileage that's a very big advantage for you and (if we) just have a car that's consistent the whole race and (are) starting at the front we'll be in good shape."

Christian Fittipaldi: "After Chicago I did 10 laps, that was it. Then we packed everything and I left. It was good. Although I ran very little, at least I have an idea of what I should expect when I go back there next week, so I know more or less how the car is going to feel. Although I ran (very) little, we already know a couple of places where we need to improve the car."

Christian Fittipaldi: "Yeah, it gives you a little bit of boost but I think that you have to treat it as just another race. To really do well in the series you need to be competitive everywhere. Obviously there are going to be a couple of places where you're going to be a little bit more competitive than others, that's the natural tendency, but you have to go well everywhere. For example, Nazareth (Penn.) is a place where qualifying, in my opinion, I find it extremely difficult. It's one of the hardest places to qualify during the whole season and yet, like up to the limit of the car the last two years we've done pretty well there. I don't know, that's the track you have, that's the car you have, hop in, shut up and make the best out of it."

Christian Fittipaldi: "Well, I feel okay. I'm not going to say that I'm 110 percent, but I would say 100 percent. My back is aching a little bit, but everything is bearable as opposed to last week in Elkhart (Lake) where I parked the car ... I just couldn't drive it. I did 10 laps, but that was it in two outings, and parked the car. I'm not going to put the car at risk, I'm not going to put myself at risk."

Christian Fittipaldi: "My head had nothing to do with it. I never had a head problem. I was under observation the first night after the Chicago incident just to make sure that nothing bad would develop. I was woken up every two hours just to make sure that I was okay and that I could open my eyes and see everything with no headaches. Having said that, everything was okay, that's why I went back to Miami on Saturday morning because really I could've gone back to on Miami Friday evening because I was released from the hospital around three o'clock in the afternoon."

Christian Fittipaldi: "No. I asked Dr. (Steve) Olvey and he said that as far as the head is concerned ... let's put it this way, this one didn't even count. The fact that I hit the wall and passed out a little bit, it didn't even count. The one that was a real big concern, and if that happens in a short period of time, was the St. Louis one. One of those cannot happen in one year's time one after the other. That was the one where we had a real concern. Everything else is mechanical ... we can go back, put it together and go again."

Christian Fittipaldi: "I did everything. I did ultrasound, a lot of medicine, massage, a lot of muscle stimulators and a couple of chemicals also. Everything I could in order to be okay."

Christian Fittipaldi: "It's okay. If I prepare myself good enough to hop into the car prior to what I have to do, I can last the whole session."

Christian Fittipaldi: "Crap. There's not a lot I can say ... I was expecting a lot more. I think we have the performance, but we just haven't put the races together for a bunch of different reasons. I'm not going to go into details, but the performance is there, I just didn't qualify in the top 10 in two races so it's not like we're not competitive, we just haven't scored the points."

Christian Fittipaldi: "Just win. The championship is out of the question, so (just) go for the win and at the same time not do anything silly. We need to just finish the races and score some points and a finish in the top six, top seven (in the championship) is still feasible."

Christian Fittipaldi: "Not run on the ovals. What's the immediate, safest solution? Not run on the ovals. The amount of head injuries and the number of people who get hurt on the ovals is obviously 20 times bigger than the number of people who get hurt on the road courses, but oval racing is very important for the Americans, and it generates good racing. Have a look at the Michigan race - all the drivers hate going there but it's a good race so what can you do? I just hope that CART and the team owners could work a little bit closer with the drivers and make sure that we can find a safer solution for that situation." "It's a hard question to answer, but this oval stuff is a toss of the dice. When you're going to hit the wall, it's a toss of the dice, and it depends so much on the angle that you're hitting the wall. (Kenny) Brack ran into the wall on an oval this year three or four times and unstrapped himself and walked away from the car as if nothing had happened. The only time I went off the whole year ... so believe me it's a toss of the dice."

Christian Fittipaldi: "It goes through your mind. I'm not going to say that it doesn't go through your mind because (it does). I do the sport because I'm highly motivated to drive the car and I enjoy (it), and obviously my aim is to win the championship, but there are other things that are very important in life ... like life, in fact. I will do it (drive) until the day that I hop into the car and I feel comfortable and I will feel that I am convinced that I have to do it. The day I hop in the car and I'm not really convinced about it, I'm not going to do it. I don't care if it's in the middle of the season, if it's at the end of the season, if it's at the beginning of the season ... I'm just going to get out of the car, thank everyone that helped me. What can I do? I'm going to do something else."

Christian Fittipaldi: "Does it go through your mind? If I said it doesn't, I would be lying because I don't want to be hurting myself every year. And yet, you have other drivers out there that have five, six, seven big accidents a year and they walk away from them. That's the way it is. There are things in life that are easier for some and there are some that are harder for others. What can you say? I don't have any explanation for that. If I was running off the pace and we were slow and crashing every weekend in practice and qualifying, then I would (retire) and pursue something else, but that's not the case."

Christian Fittipaldi: "I think (getting the) power down is very important, especially on the low-speed stuff coming out of the turns, and a very good balance on the high-speed corners. You can pick up a lot of time or lose a lot of time on the high-speed corners, especially if your car is oversteering. But traction on the low-speed stuff is also an issue because you're coming from 200 miles per hour to turns that you do at 50, 60 miles per hour, very, very slow. And that happens two or three times a lap so (getting) the power down is an issue as well."

Christian Fittipaldi: "I like driving the track. I think it's one of the hardest places that we go to. It's a real race track over there. For example at Mid-Ohio, they do a great job and it's a nice place but in my opinion it's a little too small for our cars ... it should be a little bit quicker and bigger. I don't know if (CART) should be aiming at tracks that we lap at around 1:10, 1:15 ... (instead tracks that are) a little bit bigger. Elkhart Lake is a little bit over the top - it's a little bit too much."

Christian Fittipaldi: "Yeah it's up this year, but we're negotiating everything for next year. I'm trying to find what's the best technical package for Christian, really. But I would be surprised if I go somewhere other than here (Newman-Haas). It can happen - nothing is impossible in life, but I would be surprised."

Christian Fittipaldi: "We're pretty close. I think in the next two weeks or so."

Christian Fittipaldi: "I think yes if you're in the beginning of your career but if people don't give you the drive, there must be a reason for it. And if you don't get a drive anywhere else that you think is competitive, then maybe you should be doing something else. It's important in the beginning of your career just to be there and show other people what you can do out there. But really, at this stage when you've been doing it for a couple of years, you're really only aiming to try and get the best out there for you. And if there's nothing that you really think is competitive for you out there, maybe you should be doing something else. At least this is how I feel."

WERE YOU WEARING THE HANS (DEVICE) WHEN YOU HAD YOUR CRASH AT CHICAGO?

Christian Fittipaldi: "Absolutely yes. I'll never step into a car on the oval without the HANS (Device)."

Christian Fittipaldi: "It's very hard to say. I'm not educated enough to know that, (but) I think even a doctor, someone that really designed the HANS would be very hard to say that. All I can say is that I think it's the best (device) available out there in order to keep you safe and I will go for it. I was for it from the beginning and I will use it all the time."

Christian Fittipaldi: "Friday I was very bad. Thank God they had Mr. (Bryan) Herta there on hold in case I couldn't hop into the car, but I managed to go through Friday morning and then I got out of the car and didn't say anything, but it (back and neck) was bad. Then Friday afternoon it was okay and I went back home and it was really bad. Then on Saturday it was a little bit better and Saturday (during) qualifying it was even better and then Sunday it only got better. It only improved during the whole weekend."

Christian Fittipaldi: "I'm doing some needles on my back, (but) that's the only thing I'm doing. I was feeling a little (bad) on Monday, plus I didn't sleep very well because I missed my flight and didn't get back home until Monday morning. I only slept about four hours, so that didn't help me a bit. After that, it got better. I went through the needle session yesterday and it helped a little bit. I don't see that I will have any problem in the next race."

Christian Fittipaldi: "Mid-Ohio is also pretty tough, and if you manage to go through the whole race without any huge problems, I don't see where you can have a problem. Mid-Ohio amongst us drivers is one of the worst places to got as far as (being) physical, and I honestly don't see why I should have a problem there (Road America).

Christian Fittipaldi: "Well, let's divide your question. As far as going back to a track where I went well last year, honestly deep inside me it doesn't add any pressure because I love the place and I've always gone well there. It's not that I'm going to do a little bit better or do little bit worse because I went well there the past couple of years. I have to give it my very best all the time and this is what I'm really striving for. As far as the track is concerned, it's very quick. I would say a little bit on the ... not dangerous, but because of the speeds and everything you really don't want something to go wrong at a place like that. As far as Emerson (Fittipaldi) is concerned, the days he was racing there I really didn't follow Indy Cars as much so I don't remember if he went that well over there. The only thing I can say is that I always went well there. I like the place very much and every single year I go there I run in the top three, apart from '97 when I went from, like 20th on the grid to fourth."

Christian Fittipaldi: "I think it's always important for you to be up there. It makes your life, I wouldn't say easier but less hard. Elkhart (Lake) pit strategy basically doesn't exist because the lap is so long that you can't pit two or three laps later or you can't run lean to do this or that, so very seldom (do) you see people pitting earlier or later. You basically have to run together with the guys that are really running up there and I guess that if you start in the top three, top four there shouldn't be any problems."

Christian Fittipaldi: "I think, believe it or not, if you asked me compared to last year how is your season going, I think that we're stronger than last year. We have done very well qualifying (and) we definitely have the speed. I think my average qualifying performance is fourth or fifth or something like that, so we definitely don't lack any speed. Unfortunately, for a bunch of different reasons, we haven't been able to put the races together, and that (has) cost me a lot. I think that I'm stronger than last year, but last year I was going very, very well. I finished a bunch of races and this year the fact that I couldn't a bunch of races has been very, very bad for me."

Christian Fittipaldi: "No, it's up at the end of the year."

Christian Fittipaldi: "Yeah. We're open to other things, (but) we have also been talking to other teams. But let's put it this way, I 'm very happy where I am and maybe I can move on to some other place, but I would be a little bit surprised if I did. My deal is not carved in stone yet, but I would be surprised."

Christian Fittipaldi: "No. I tried it in the Detroit race but it was really cramping up my shoulder after a couple of laps (and) I didn't like it very much, so I'm really using it on the ovals. It's very important to use it everywhere, but I think that (on) the ovals are really critical. On the ovals you don't have the same physical stress as you do on the road courses, so it's a lot easier for you to use it on oval racing as opposed to on the road courses."

Christian Fittipaldi: "We haven't started that yet, but he already knows about the problems. We talked about them already and we came up with some primary solutions but we don't know if those are the correct solutions yet, (but) answering your question we haven't really started. We're at a point right now that we're really happy that it's working on basically half of the tracks and the places where it's really critical. I think that we've come a long way. Believe it or not, last year in early November when I sat in the car I wasn't comfortable sitting in the car statically in the workshop, and just to make it work for a full race is very good."

Christian Fittipaldi: "I really think that it's going to be the same as anywhere else. Just because it's Brazil is not going to change anything. What I can say (is) that it's going to be unbelievably hot - you guys don't understand how hot it's going to be. I think it's going to be the first race of the season (on a) really hot road course. It's going to be one of those real survival races (where) if you go reasonably well and if you're car doesn't do something really wild and you survive until the end of the race, the chances of finishing in the top three are very good."

Christian Fittipaldi: "I think it's important for everyone to have a lot of testing prior to the first race in order to get everything ready for the year. But at the same time, I think that we should limit our testing, or have a very small amount of testing, during the season and really concentrate on everything from the end of the season to February or March of the next year."

Christian Fittipaldi: "When we're going through the stretch of three races together and testing in the middle of the way, it's really demanding. I'm not 100 percent sure, but I'm almost sure that up to my Chicago race I had been inside the race car for the last 15 weeks, something like that, for at least two to three days every single week. That's really, really hard on us (the drivers) and it's very hard on the boys also."

Christian Fittipaldi: "Well, I hope I don't have to use it anymore. I hope you guys saw the last of that in the last race. But, I think a lot of it is in your head. Obviously the physical (part) is involved, but when you lose only one race it's not that critical because it's only one race that you're off so you're still physically very fit. The problem is when you're losing a bunch of races, like when you start losing five, six races and you have to come back in real top form (and) it can sometimes be a problem. But as far as the rest is concerned, it's all in the head and if I wasn't motivated anymore you can be sure that I would be hanging it up and doing something else."

Christian Fittipaldi: "Pretty good, actually. What can I say? I have to pay for the winner and a guest and provide them with tickets from whichever part of the world they come from. The site has been something that has really picked up this year and I put a lot of effort into it. Sometimes I think we could do some things that would make a difference, but as far as right now I think we're at a pretty good level (but) we're already thinking of some great things that we're going to do for next year. If you guys want to check it out, www.fittipaldionline.com."