|
©2002 SpeedCenter and CART |
|||
|
||||||
Merrill Cain: Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us today on this week's CART media teleconference. I'm Merrill Cain with CART public relations. We're excited to welcome to the call the latest winner in the CART FedEx Championship Series, Mario Dominguez, driver of the #55 Herdez Ford-Lola Bridgestone, who earned his first ever Champ Car win last Sunday at the Honda Indy 300. Adrian Fernandez of Fernandez Racing, who was injured in the spectacular first-lap accident on Sunday, will be joining us a bit later. First off, let's welcome in Mario Dominguez. Mario, thanks for joining us this afternoon.
Merrill Cain: On Sunday Mario virtually locked up the Jim Trueman Rookie-of-the-Year award by playing the pit window perfectly in the rain-shortened race, capturing the checkered flag in front of a wet and lively crowd in Australia's Gold Coast. Has the reality of your first win in Champ cars really sunk in yet?
I'm just very excited, very happy for the whole team. I think this is what we needed to cheer us up. We've had all the bad breaks this year. Finally a very good one came back. We got paid back. Somebody up there was looking over us. I'm just happy about that. It's just something that we needed, that the sponsors needed. Herdez has been working for many years to get a result like this. I'm happy that I gave it to them. Del Valle has been a supportive company, Corona and Televisa. They're very happy about it. Now we have to keep on working hard and focus on getting good results. Merrill Cain: You mentioned you were involved in that first-lap accident, the one that took out Adrian Fernandez and Tora Takagi, as well. They had to be transported to the hospital. How tough was it to get through that first lap accident, the conditions you experienced, and talk about the effort of the team to get the car back into the race? What went into that strategy that ultimately wound up with you claiming your first victory in CART?
Then I was just worried. I never thought my team was going to be able to get the car ready for the race. I was just very frustrated at that moment, that I was not going to be able to race. You work so hard all year. You go all the way to Australia, and not even to be able to race. I could not describe to you how bad I was feeling. My team put it together. They fixed the car. They fixed it perfectly. I was so happy when I knew I was going to be able to race again, you wouldn't believe it. Then to win it, I mean, that's just unbelievable. The whole strategy was fantastic. It was a very good gamble by Joe (Ward), the team strategist, but it paid off. We just stretched and stretched our pit window at the beginning. It was just a wonderful thing to come in first. It was obviously a tough race. In the end, somebody had to be there. Who better than us? Merrill Cain: We'll take some questions from the media. Question: This is excellent you finally have won a race here. The monkey on your back is gone here. For a while, there's going to be some folks out there who are going to say there is a little asterisk next to this win because it was wet, the controversy over the finish and the pit window. That's all water under the bridge. Is there any additional pressure on you in your own mind that you need to get out there and win another one where there isn't the rain and all the controversy?
Yeah, sure, I want to get out there and prove myself. I want to get out there in Fontana and have another win, have a very good result. I'm looking forward to this race, for the next challenge. But obviously and definitely, this is the kind of result that will cheer us up and totally lift our spirits. Question: Some drivers have been critical of the rule where there's a mandatory pit window in a race. What is your opinion? Should CART get rid of this mandatory pit window or refine it?
So what CART wants is for the drivers to go out there and drive 100 percent every single lap of the race. They shortened the pit windows, that way nobody will be saving fuel. You drive as hard as you can all the time. This going slow, saving fuel strategies, those kind of things, don't play such a big part. In the end, nobody is ever happy with everything. You can't have everybody happy. I think this has been better for the show, no question about it. The CART races this year have been better. All the drivers think it's better. It's completely different to be driving 100% than driving not 100%, saving fuel, shortshifting, doing things like that in order to win by another strategy. It's much better when you win by driving 100%. Question: You have to be excited about finishing the season in Mexico City?
Question: When you look back at the way this past weekend unfolded, was there ever any thought that you might walk away a winner?
What goes around comes around. Like I said, I think somebody up there was looking over us. All the effort, all the hard work that's been put into this by the sponsors, by the team, by the guys, the engineers, myself, finally paid off. It was a good break, a lucky break. But we made our luck in this race, so it was good. Question: Is it almost appropriate that you guys would win the way that you did? If it was basically a speed win, everybody says the driver wins. Now everybody can truly say the team won.
Like I said, this team was very motivated. We needed a result like this to cheer us up and to lift us because there had been a lot of hard work and no payback. Like I said, we have had all the bad luck breaks. Finally we have a good one. Question: Lot of phone calls from home?
Question: Nice to be popular.
Question: It was a great character-building weekend. How do you feel about it?
Question: I had somebody describe the race weekend as somewhat akin to World Rally competition - survival of the fittest.
Question: Talk about Fontana. How do you adjust to the change to a Superspeedway?
This race in Fontana is something we've been looking forward to. It's just nice to know when I'm going to get to that track, my car is going to be fast. We've been looking forward for months. Question: Everybody talked about the race, how surprised you were. Can you fill us in on some of the background of how you came to get to CART, where you started in Mexico, what series and where you've run and how you feel that's prepared you for this?
Finally in '96, Herdez Competition, which was really the best racing team in Mexico, it would be like racing for Newman/Haas Racing in CART this year, that's the way Herdez Competition was in Mexico then. They hired me to race Formula 3000. Right away I started winning with them. We won the Formula 3 championship in '98. They took me to Indy Lights. We won our first race there, then ran two years for a Mexican team. Then we ran for PacWest last year in Indy Lights. Had a few podiums, a couple pole positions, a decent season overall. I did a test two years ago with team Herdez Competition in Sebring in the Champ Cars. The test went very well. I was very fast. Team was very happy with me. Last year I got the best call of my life where they said they were thinking of putting me in the car this year. It's been a struggle, to say the least. I could definitely write a book about it. Question: Looking ahead to Fontana, how have you prepared for it? You haven't been on a high-speed oval this year. Any way that you prepared for this or practiced for it?
Believe me, Japan was very high-speed oval, and so was England. It would be something similar to it. It won't be that different. Question: You're going to be probably going 25, 30 miles an hour quicker aren't you?
Merrill Cain: You talked about how much of a team win this was, how everybody in the team had a hand in it. That certainly has to feel good. The team was formerly Bettenhausen Motorsports. What does this mean to the Bettenhausen family? A long struggle with this team to get to the point it's gotten. What do you think it means to them as they sit back and watch you take the checkered flag?
I was definitely thinking of him that night after that win. It was something that I knew he'd be happy about because he started this team many years ago. It's his legacy. It's something that Tom Brown and I were talking about yesterday about him. I think Tony Bettenhausen will definitely be happy to know that the team that he started won a race. I'm happy to be the driver of that one for this team, their first race, and also the sponsors in Mexico. Team Herdez has been sponsoring this effort for many years, I think since 1994, Champ Cars, they started out with Carlos Guerrero. I'm just so happy I was the one that gave them their first win. Merrill Cain: Ford had a 1-2 sweep. Great performance from the Ford-Cosworth engine, with you taking first and Patrick Carpentier taking second. Talk about the Ford engine, and your thoughts about next year when Cosworth will be the exclusive engine supplier.
Merrill Cain: You made a comment post race about the fans in Australia, how it said so much about them that they stuck through the rain. Over 100,000 fans were on-site on Sunday. Many of them stayed till the very end. Talk about that. You said it was probably the best fans you'd ever seen.
You should see, in between the practice of the cars, they have like shows on the tracks, motorcycles, planes flying over doing air shows, fighter planes. They really know how to put on a show down there. They have bars inside the racetrack. People are partying, dancing. It's just like a huge festival. It's like a big party. I'd like to go and watch the race one of these days and just have fun. Merrill Cain: You won't get away with that as defending champ next year.
Merrill Cain: Mario, congratulations. Great win for you and your team at the Honda Indy 300. See you this weekend at California Speedway.
Merrill Cain: We now welcome Adrian Fernandez, owner of Fernandez Racing, driver of the #51 Tecate Quaker State Telmex Honda/Lola/Bridgestone. He was injured in the opening lap of the Honda Indy 300 and suffered two minor thoracic fractures in his neck as a result of the crash. Adrian will miss this Sunday's CART race at California Speedway, and his status is still in doubt for the final race in Mexico City, a race that's very important to Adrian and all of the race fans in Mexico. Adrian, how are you feeling and do you think there is a chance that you'll be able to compete in Mexico City in a few weeks?
Merrill Cain: Talk to us about the accident itself. You were involved in a pretty serious one earlier this year in Vancouver that resulted in basically a hairline fracture of the hip. Can you talk about it? Do you feel any ill effects from that injury still? Was this one of the worst crashes you've been in? It looked to the naked eye like one of the worst crashes we've seen in recent history.
It was just unfortunate. Like I say, when we started the race, I could not see absolutely nothing. I couldn't see the racetrack. I could not see the grandstands, the walls, anything. It was absolutely stupid to start this race, to be honest. Merrill Cain: Mother Nature didn't do us any favors over the weekend.
Merrill Cain: Max Papis will be stepping into the car to replace you this weekend in Fontana. You raced Max earlier in the year when you were injured at Mid-Ohio. Talk about Max and what he brings to the table.
Merrill Cain: We want to see if there's any quick questions for you. Question: Has there ever been another period in your racing career where you've had so much bad luck in terms of injuries?
I've never been so unlucky in this type of event. It's just how it goes sometimes. We just have to keep doing our best. Hopefully next year will be a little bit cleaner. Question: It might be a good time to bring up the point, with you guys being in such great physical condition, I think anybody who wasn't in such good physical shape probably would still be recovering from the crash in Vancouver. The fact that you are in such good shape, that is really going to speed along your recovery.
Question: What was going through your mind when you realized what was happening?
Suddenly, everything stopped on the track. For a while, nothing happened. Then I heard that apparently Mario was like two, three seconds behind, suddenly he was the last guy to hit. When he hit, apparently he hit pretty hard. He was coming a pretty good speed. He hit pretty hard with Tora. As soon as he hit him, he broke his hip. Tora went and landed on top of my head. That moment, to see him, when he was in the air, landing on my head, it was a very scary moment because I could see that it was at a bad angle. His roll bar was really hitting my face. For a moment, I thought I was not going to be able to survive this one. Question: Talking about Max, once again you have reached out to him. Any chance of putting Max in another car within your stable for next season?
Merrill Cain: We want to clarify, as Adrian pointed out, Tora Takagi was the other driver injured in the first lap accident. He suffered two small fractures of the pelvis. It is hopeful he'll be able to compete this weekend. Another testament to the shape you guys are in and the safety, the ability to protect you in the cars as best we can. We will see you in Fontana this weekend?
Merrill Cain: Looking forward to seeing you. Thanks for joining us today. We wish you well in your recovery.
Merrill Cain: We thank both Mario Dominguez and Adrian Fernandez. CART will return to the track this weekend with the 500 presented by Toyota at California Speedway. The race will be carried live on the SPEED Channel with coverage beginning at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Thanks to all who participated in today's phone call and have a great afternoon. | ||||||
|