microphone pict ©1999 SpeedCenter

Christian Fittipaldi: The motivation is still deep inside me

Roberto Moreno: I am available and ready to drive anything that is out there

 

Christian at Elkhart Lake

Christian Fittipaldi will return to the cockpit of the Big Kmart Ford-Cosworth this weekend at Houston for the first time since suffering a sub-dural hematoma during a testing accident at Gateway International Speedway on Monday, August 2, 1999. Prior to that point in the season, Fittipaldi scored his first pole position at Rio and won his first career Champ car race at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Fittipaldi stood fourth in the series with 101 points at the time of his injury and through the first 12 rounds of the Championship was leading the series in both laps and miles completed.

During his convalesence, Christian maintained a rigorous rehabilitation schedule and actually finished 8th among 140 entrants and fourth in his age group in a recent triathlon in Florida.

Fellow Brazilian, Roberto Moreno, who filled in for Fittipaldi since the Detroit Grand Prix will attend the Houston race in the event that his services are needed. Moreno, who comes off his best career finish at Laguna Seca where he finished second, has said he is close to securing a full-time ride in 2000.


 

Question: BEFORE YOUR SEASON WAS INTERRUPTED, YOU HAD SUCH A GOOD SEASON GOING. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU FEEL YOU CAN GAIN FROM GETTING BACK IN THE CAR FOR THESE LAST THREE RACES? WHAT CAN YOU ACCOMPLISH THAT WILL HELP YOU IN THE FUTURE, WORK TOWARD NEXT YEAR?

    Christian Fittipaldi: "Well, definitely this first race is not going to be very easy for me. But I still think that we can finish in the top-five in the series and still finish up the season with three very strong races and hopefully that is going to put me in good shape for next year. But, I am very confident and the fact that I missed out a little bit definitely is not going to help me. But I am still very confident and I think that we can be strong in the last three races.

Question: I AM GLAD TO HEAR YOU ARE GOING TO BE BACK, CHRISTIAN. DID YOU GIVE ANY THOUGHT AT ALL TO MAYBE JUST SITTING OUT THE REST OF THE YEAR AND MAKING SURE EVERYTHING WAS RIGHT AND JUST STARTING FRESH NEXT YEAR, OR WAS IT REALLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU GET BACK, IF EVEN FOR ONLY A COUPLE OF RACES?

    Christian Fittipaldi: "Well, I think it was very important for me to be back in the car when I was ready to be back in the car. By no means are we really pushing the issue here. We waited enough and I am ready to go back in the car. If I was ready in time to still do three of them that are what I would have done. If not, if that wasn't the case, I would have waited until like the beginning of next year. But happily enough, for me, it is not really the case."

Question: FIRST OF ALL, HOW DO YOU FEEL PHYSICALLY? OBVIOUSLY YOU MUST FEEL PRETTY GOOD RUNNING THE TRIATHLON BUT I KNOW YOU HAVE HAD SOME HEADACHES. ARE ALL THOSE GONE NOW? DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE 100% PHYSICALLY?

    Christian Fittipaldi: "I wouldn't say I am 100-percent physically because when you are losing out on driving, no matter how much you do on the other side, it is never the same as driving. I think that I am in pretty good shape, but maybe not 100-percent. The head definitely doesn't have any problem. I don't have anymore headaches and I am not seeing double or any of that. All of that was really a bad problem for me on the first two weeks and then it really got better, better, and better and I haven't had any headaches now for the past three to four weeks."

Question: I KNOW YOU ARE ON THE SAFETY COMMITTEE FOR THE DRIVERS AND WITH THE TRAGEDY THAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK - YOU HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN TWO PRETTY SERIOUS ACCIDENTS YOURSELF - IT COMES UP AGAIN HOW SAFE ARE THE CARS? HOW SAFE ARE THE CIRCUITS? WHAT IS YOUR REPLY TO THAT AS FAR AS THE SAFETY GOES OF RACING IN GENERAL?

    Christian Fittipaldi: "I think racing in general is really, really safe nowadays. Especially if you compare it to like 20 years ago or 25 years ago. How safe are the cars? How safe are the tracks? They are never too safe. There is never going to be a point where either the tracks or the cars are over-safe. The only thing that we have to work on is to make them safer and safer every time we can to avoid what happened two weeks ago. We can't wait for us to start reacting and we need to try and make everything, not only the tracks, but also the cars, safer. I would not say every time we go out there, but as much as we can and we have to strive for that and I think that is going to make a very big difference in the sport. But coming back to the first part of your question, if you compare it to about 30 years ago, or 25 years ago, there is no doubt that the sport that we do nowadays is like, I would say, almost up to 100 times safer than it was."

Question: DESCRIBE IF YOU WILL, YOUR EMOTIONS COMING INTO THIS RACE AND COMING BACK FROM THE INJURY.

    Christian Fittipaldi: "I don't know what to say. That is a good question. But I am happy because finally my holiday is finished and I can go back to work. I was starting to get a little bit bored, to be quite honest with you. I am happy to be a part of the next race and, as I said before, I think there are still a few more races to go and we can finish up the season on a high note and really get revved up for the next year. Bob (Moreno) did a great job when I was out and I think both myself and the whole team are very happy and hopefully we can go well."

Question: IS THERE FRUSTRATION ON YOUR PART KNOWING THAT THERE YOU WERE, WINNING AT ELKHART AND IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE REALLY GOING TO CONTEND FOR THE TITLE? DO YOU FEEL FRUSTRATION IN NOT BEING ABLE TO?

    Christian Fittipaldi: "Well, I can't say that I am happy. But what can you do? I am a happier person being over here talking to you and knowing that everything is normal than actually trying to go for the title and then something worse happens down the road. So I am a happier person talking to you here without the title, that you can be sure. But, by no means, that is definitely my goal. I am still going to fight for that and I know it won't happen anymore this year, but we will see what is going to happen next year. But going back to the beginning of your question, I was upset. Especially in the first couple of days, there is no doubt about it. When it started sinking in that I was going to lose so many races and I know it is already very competitive when you don't lose any race and I knew that the fact that I was going to lose so many races, it was all over for me."

Question: WHILE YOU WERE AWAY, ERNIE IRVAN HAD A CRASH IN WINSTON CUP AND ANNOUNCED HIS RETIREMENT. HOW MUCH DID YOU LOOK AT THAT? AND IF YOU DID, DID YOUR MIND WANDER AND COULD YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT ERNIE WAS GOING THROUGH?

    Christian Fittipaldi: "I can understand what Ernie is going through because obviously he is a great driver. He is a little bit older than I am. He has been doing motor racing at that level for a long time. So maybe he fulfilled his racing ambitions and that is why really he decided to stop. Unfortunately this hasn't -- unfortunately not or -- fortunately or unfortunately, depends how you look at it, this hasn't come through my mind yet and I haven't fulfilled my dreams yet. The motivation is still deep inside me and very, very strong. So I have to continue racing. On the other hand, someone came out with some rumors, and I got some phone calls even from San Paolo, Brazil saying that I was going to retire. And I want to keep something very, very clear, the day that I retire you are going to hear from me. But they are going to hear it from my mouth and not from what other people say out there. By no means I never thought of really stopping."

Question: FOR YOU AND MICHAEL, BEING THAT YOU GUYS HAD SUCH BAD LUCK IN HOUSTON LAST YEAR, IS THERE SOME EXTRA MOTIVATION COMING TO HOUSTON; ESPECIALLY WITH THE RACE BEING THE TITLE SPONSOR OF YOUR TEAM TO DO A LOT BETTER THAN THE MISFORTUNE YOU GUYS HAD HERE LAST YEAR?

    Christian Fittipaldi: "Well, definitely the Texaco cars didn't have a great showing last year. We were both out of the race in like a lap and a half. It was almost a joke. We are highly motivated to change it exactly to the opposite way this year. There is no doubt about it. It is very important race for us and it is really important for myself also because I am coming back and it is our great sponsor and so it is going to be very important for us to finish the race and finish very, very well. But going back to your question, definitely last year wasn't very impressive at all like the track was great and unfortunately we had a lot of rain when it came down to the race, but when it came down to race time, as far as team-wise is concerned, like the performance wasn't very impressive.

Question: WITH YOU COMING BACK INTO THE COCKPIT, TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE TRYING TO DO IN THE CAR THAT FIRST PRACTICE SESSION, ONCE YOU GET TO TOWN, SHAKING DOWN THE CAR, BUT THEN KIND OF SHAKING YOUR COBWEBS LOOSE TOO?

    Christian Fittipaldi: "Yeah, as I say, taking the webs out of my body and coming back into working mode and going out nice and steady, but competitive all the time. I think the team has a very good car on that type of a circuit, so, I think that it will slowly come, building up, and maybe the first practice we won't set the whole world on fire but we should get better and better throughout the whole weekend. As long as I go better throughout the whole weekend I am going to be very happy."

Question: WHERE DID YOU TEST BEFORE THE DOCTORS OKAYED YOU THIS WEEK?

    Christian Fittipaldi: "I ran yesterday at Sebring."

Question: EVERYTHING OBVIOUSLY WENT PRETTY WELL?

    Christian Fittipaldi: "Yeah, everything went okay. We ran in the wet because it was raining a lot, but everything went okay."

Question: THERE HAVE BEEN A NUMBER OF ATHLETES OVER THE YEARS THAT HAVE BEEN FORCED TO WALK AWAY FROM THEIR CAREERS DUE TO HEAD INJURIES AND HAVING SEVERAL. YOU HAVE HAD TWO CONCUSSIONS IN THE CAR, AND BOTH OF THEM WERE REASONABLY SEVERE. HAS THAT PUT THE FEAR INTO YOU THAT ONE MORE HEAD INJURY COULD BE THE END OF YOUR CAREER? DOES THAT CHANGE THE WAY YOU APPROACH ANYTHING?

    Christian Fittipaldi: "I think the end of my career, or the end of anyone's career, comes when you think you are not motivated to drive anymore. But, as long as you can get the job done I don't really think that way. Maybe it is going to be next year or fifteen years from now I really don't know. But when I hop into the car and don't feel anything anymore, I am going to stop driving that day. I don't have to drive because of other people. I drive for myself and I love what I do. As far as getting involved in accidents and eventually getting involved in small incidents there is obviously a big concern for all of the drivers. No one is out there to get hurt. We all try to practice our sport the best possible way we can. As far as fear is concerned, I don't think there is one driver out there that doesn't have a little bit of fear. Everyone has fear because if you don't, you can't drive the car to the limit. You would never know when to stop, or when to brake, or how quick is too quick. Sometimes when you forget about the fear you sort of overdrive the car and that can put you in a complicated situation."


Roberto at Detroit Question: WHERE DO YOU STAND NOW THAT CHRISTIAN IS COMING BACK? DO YOU HAVE ANOTHER RIDE LINED UP?

    Roberto Moreno: "At this point it is too late to get a drive for the weekend. There is a possibility for the next couple of races after that though, but I don't want to mention too much about that. What I can say is that I am available and ready to drive anything that is out there."

Question: HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO GO FROM CAR TO CAR LIKE YOU HAVE DONE THIS YEAR AND BE SUCCESSFUL? IT SEEMS LIKE -- I KNOW THERE ARE A LOT OF VARIATIONS BETWEEN TEAMS AND BETWEEN CARS AND YET YOU HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO THAT PRETTY SUCCESSFULLY.

    Roberto Moreno: "Well, it is extremely difficult and very challenging because you always have to fit into a situation that is out there. It might not be the ideal for you and might not be the ideal for the team sometimes. You just have to make it work. So you come in with the attitude to make it work and you get to know the engineers the best as you can; try to assimilate their needs and that is the way you fit in best, when you understand the needs of the team and apply your knowledge to their needs. That is what I have been able to do. I must say the two teams that I have substituted this year, PacWest and Newman-Haas, they made my life very easy because they were ready for me; especially Newman-Haas because I raced with them in the past. I know all the engineers there. I should say I knew them from the past."

Question: YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT JUST A MOMENT AGO ABOUT THE SITUATION THAT WOULD BE BEST OR MOST ADVANTAGEOUS FOR YOU. CAN YOU DESCRIBE A LITTLE BIT OF WHAT THAT WOULD BE? IS IT A ONE-CAR TEAM, TWO-CAR TEAM OR YOU AS THE NO. 1 DRIVER?

    Roberto Moreno: "Well, what I am referring to is starting the season working on testing and preparing yourself with a package, whether there is a one-car team or two-car team. You prepare yourself and you develop the setup of the car early enough before the season starts so you have a good baseline of the car, engine package, and tire package that you have and your relationship with the engineers. So it is very important, it works both ways, the engineer to know how the driver works and for the driver to know how the engineer works. That relationship needs to meld into place so you get good results. This is what I am referring to and it is very important to do the off-season testing and develop yourself so when you go to the races and something is wrong on that day you already know how to go back and what to change to achieve the best result. That is what has been missing on me on being a substitute. But I didn't have any other choice. I didn't plan to be a substitute ever. I always been chasing a position in this country to establish myself as a quick driver and what this has done for me this year is to achieve that actually."

Question: OBVIOUSLY YOU HAVE DONE BETTER OR POSTED BETTER RESULTS WITH NEWMAN-HAAS THAN YOU HAD WITH PAC WEST. WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THAT TO?

    Roberto Moreno: "I think a couple of things. Myself, developing on the process that the other drivers have developed themselves through tests both during the off-season and the tests before the races is hard. I have to do that during the races. Each time you drive, it is like an airplane, you become better and so half of that I attribute to developing myself and half of it too jumping into a team that was already winning races this year and just sort of fitting into a very competitive situation."

Question: I KEEP SEEING THIS MENTAL PICTURE OF YOU STANDING AT PIT LANE IN HOUSTON HOLDING UP A SIGN THAT SAYS "WILL RACE FOR FOOD.

    Roberto Moreno: "Well, I actually get sad when I hear something like that because it is not my intention. I think this year I have achieved a level of competitiveness and I hope that will generate myself a full-time drive. I don't have to hold any signs like that and it is something that I will be in Houston because as a backup situation just in case. But if the time -- if I had more time before this decision I would probably be driving for another team."

Question: CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE PRESSURES THAT YOU HAD BEING A SUBSTITUTE? DID YOU FEEL THAT REALLY YOU DIDN'T HAVE A WHOLE LOT TO LOSE OR YOU COULD DRIVE WITH A LITTLE MORE FREEDOM THEN YOU MIGHT WITH A TEAM WHERE YOU HAVE GOT A WEEK-IN, WEEK-OUT PRESSURE OF TRYING TO DEVELOP A CAR?

    Roberto Moreno: "Well, imagine yourself in the situation. You need to put yourself into my situation a little bit to understand that. Imagine somebody that came to the U.S.A. in 1996 and was able to do a full-season to learn the racetracks, but not with a very competitive team. Since then, that person has been chasing a full-time drive with a competitive team. When you get the opportunity you don't realize, you try to make the most of it every time because you know it is going to be for a very short time and you have got to perform in that time. But the challenge of it is because you -- everything is against you. And a driver, when he goes racing, he wants to win every race, at least I do anyhow. You try to make the best out of the situation to achieve that.

    Sometimes I might not show it from the outside because everybody thinks I am a smiling person here and there, but inside, I always perform to my best. I always had a handicap against me facing situations that other drivers have -- had more testing and more knowledge before they got there.

    A clear example of that is how I performed so well at Chicago when nobody else tested there straight out of the box. In other places I didn't have that situation and I had a bigger handicap. So to answer your question, I always try my best and I always will. I have an energy that motivates me inside because I don't do anything else in life and I am still looking for the break to succeed in this country."

Question: SO IF YOU GET A FULL-TIME RIDE NEXT YEAR WE CAN EXPECT YOU TO BE UP FRONT EVERY WEEK?

    Roberto Moreno: "Well, I am going to certainly work in every way I can in every way to achieve that. I also work very hard to try to understand the engineering side of things so I can share with the engineer his thoughts and my thoughts and we work like, where I am not driving a little bit, of a help in a way of developing."

Question: YOU CERTAINLY HAVE ENCOURAGEMENT TO ALL OF THOSE OF US WHO ARE A LITTLE BIT OLDER WHO SEE ALL THE YOUNG BUCKS COMING UP, NICE TO SEE YOU DOING SO WELL.

    Roberto Moreno: "You see Old is not in my dictionary. And it is just -- I look at life you know, the next step, what do I have to do. The best thing in my life is my wife takes care of my two daughters very well. I don't have to worry about them when I leave the house, and I just forget about them and I just get on with the racing."

Question: YOU HAVE DRIVEN IN THE IRL AND NOW YOU HAVE DRIVEN IN THE CART SERIES, OF COURSE. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT THESE TWO MACHINES ARE AS WE CONTINUE TO HEAR TALKS ABOUT REUNIFICATION AND SO FORTH, JUST HOW DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT ARE THESE MACHINES?

    Roberto Moreno: "One machine, this year anyhow, could only drive in oval courses to start because the gearbox wasn't really ready to do any road courses on the IRL. That will change next year, I believe. But that was one thing that was a big difference. Also if you are talking about just oval racing, in IRL you just keep your momentum going in the lap. The power range is much different and lower than the CART cars and it hasn't got the turbo that kicks in. The power range and how it kicks in, it is very different. The gearbox is very different because, one, you have to select each gear - I don't know how to say - the other one is a sequential gearbox. On the CART car you are always trying to use the power to the best of your ability. I mean, you set up the car thinking about how much power you can put onto the ground. On the IRL you try to build momentum to go fast. That is the two biggest differences."

Question: LET ME ASK YOU SINCE YOU HAVE HAD A CHANCE TO DRIVE DIFFERENT CHASSIS IN THE CART SERIES, A LOT OF PEOPLE, OTHER THAN NEWMAN-HAAS, HAD A LOT OF PROBLEMS SETTING UP THE SWIFT CHASSIS. TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE SWIFT CHASSIS AND YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH IT AS OPPOSED TO WHAT YOU WERE RUNNING WITH PAC WEST?

    Roberto Moreno: "They are different. One sets up -- I can't go into details too much, but one sets up easier than the other, but they both can perform the same level in my opinion. That is basically it. One you have to worry a little bit more about the aero package. The other one the mechanical package is very important. So it is a tradeoff and once you discover each of them, you go fast. You take, for example, some teams that have Reynard chassis that until they find the trick that makes the car go fast, they are in the back of the grid. Then same thing happens with Swift guys and the guys that found the trick were up front. It is just a matter of finding the key for each chassis. But I do say one is easier to find than the other one."

Question: IT OCCURS TO ME THAT THE LAST TIME WE DID YOU ON A CALL WE THOUGHT YOU WERE FINISHED FOR A WHILE JUST PRIOR TO THE ROAD AMERICA EVENT WHEN WE THOUGHT MARK BLUNDELL WOULD BE BACK, BUT AS IT TURNS OUT YOU HAVE NOT MISSED A RACE AND HOPEFULLY YOU WON'T MISS ANOTHER ONE THE REST OF THE SEASON. WE ENJOY HAVING YOU IN THE SERIES AND WE HOPE YOU WILL STICK AROUND.

    Roberto Moreno: "I hope god listens to you and I get another chance somehow; not to the expense of somebody getting injured, but I really hope I can continue. If not, I have got to thank you very, very much, both teams I drove for in the cart series, because it has been a tremendous opportunity for me and has developed my career further. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Christian, and wish him all the best for the next races and if he ever needs me for anything, I will be there for him. Not just for driving, but even to help him, you know, continue his performance in the team."

 
Interview provided by Ford Motorsports