Al Speyer: Well, this trip over here to Hawaii was always planned in conjunction with a Bridgestone/Firestone group that we call the Winner's Circle...for the last five or six years, we've gotten together this group; the Winner's Circle is maybe our top 20 percent of our most important customers, and we take them on a trip. Last year we were in Palm Springs in the US, and the year before that we had a cruise down on the Carribbean, and it's this time of year, basically late November/early December, where we roll out all our business plans for the next year, in this case the year 2000.

So it's a racing-oriented group; we always do it late in the year, and it was an obvious choice to pick Hawaii this year. Even though the race got cancelled, we always go to some resort destination, so it made sense to continue on with that plan.

Question: As far as the race itself was concerned, had Firestone already started manufacturing or allocating tires for the race, and were there other expenses geared towards the Super Prix that were already spent and basically can't be recovered?

Al Speyer: From the pure racing and motorsports operation, we had already manufactured tires for the event; in fact, we had built a special tire because we wanted one of our cars to win the race. But we can use those tires in other places, such as some of the off-season team testing for the street courses and road courses; we can still use those tires so they're not wasted.

We had some relatively minor expenses in airfare for some of the crew and some lodging that we couldn't cancel, but all in all, we weren't left with any major expenses. Like I said, we were going to come to the meeting somewhere, so it's nice to come to Hawaii anyway.

Question: Knowing what you know, do you think Hawaii in general or the Barber's Point track in particular would still be a good place to hold a CART event, whether that be a bonus event like the Super Prix or part of the actual CART schedule like some people have suggested, such as Wally Dallenbach - if not necessarily a possibility, then at least a nice idea?

Al Speyer: Yeah, you know, I'm only really disappointed now because it could've been such a wonderful event over here; it could've been nice for everybody. My biggest concern from a business perspective would be what the attendance would really be like, because it's a long way for fans and people to come to see a race. I don't know how many people would actually attend from the local population. But I think it would be an event that would have to grow over time. I think it would have to have gone reasonable steps. But certainly this is an extremely nice location to come to, and we'd like to see a race here someday.

Question: Woody, being the PR person for Firestone, was there any part that you have played up until the cancellation of the Super Prix?

Woody McMillin: We prepared for this race just we would like any other race on the schedule - 20 races - and this is a bonus race, so you always prepare for those several months in advance, and we were prepared for this as well. We were disappointed it didn't happen, but maybe someday we'll be back.

Al Speyer: I would say it, actually, was a bigger difficulty for us when the race was announced back in (February) with not enough time for planning to get ready, and any race that's put on the schedule, whether it's Hawaii or anywhere else, really needs to be announced a full year ahead of time for all the major manufacturers - not just us at Firestone, but the engine companies, and the chassis, and the teams - any race that goes on the schedule should be done with at least a year's advance notice, and then everybody has time to prepare properly.

Question: In that manner, when the Super Prix was finally announced back in February, did that damper Firestone in any way, shape, or form in logistics in bringing tires here, or would the teams bring the tires themselves or what they needed?

Al Speyer: With all of the overseas events for CART, whether it's going to Australia or Japan or Rio, or Hawaii would've been an overseas race, it's all shipped on Federal Express planes. Right now, our tires go along with the teams and equipment, so there really wasn't an additional logistical problem. It was a money problem. It was gonna cost the teams and ourselves additional money to come over here. But when you're competing in the sport at this level, you've got to be able to adjust to those changes.

Question: Speaking of some of those changes, with the so-called “tire war” over in CART and IRL, I suppose the focus in 2000 and beyond might be increasing the reliability for the tires and maybe downplaying gains in performance. But at the same time, you have to consider performance is also important. How is Firestone approaching the balance between the two?

Al Speyer: Right now our plans for next year is to more or less freeze the development where it is right now - keep the tires right where they are. To put it in perspective, this year when we had tire competition, every track we went to, every time, was a new tire. We're always adjusting and developing a little bit. So it's a pretty big step just to have one tire for the street courses like Long Beach or Detroit, one tire for road courses, one tire for the shorter ovals, and one tire for the superspeedways like Michigan and Fontana - but just those four basic tires and no changes during the year is a pretty big step backwards in stopping the development, and that's what we plan to do.

Question: How much of a cost savings do you think that would incur next year versus this year?

Al Speyer: We're not gonna see a big difference in costs next year because we still have to develop the four basic types of specifications. I think in the year 2001 and beyond, we will start to see economies of scale in the production area, but right now, actually, we're faced with the situation where we don't know if we can build enough tires for everybody. So we're not gonna see a big cost difference next year, but the year after that, I think we will.

Question: Alluding to one of my other questions, to some people it wasn't so much of a surprise that Goodyear pulled out of CART but more so that they pulled out of IRL, and there are large numbers of IRL teams that now have to make the switch from Goodyear to Firestone. Did that come as a surprise for you from a business standpoint, and is that going to be a problem with adding those additional customers?

Al Speyer: We were not surprised at all with Goodyear's withdrawal from CART, because there had been many signs all year long, and essentially we had 23 of the 27 or 28 cars, and even a couple of the cars that were still on Goodyears were very interested in using Firestone. But the IRL situation was somewhat of a surprise to us. Goodyear had done quite well there, and in fact we had talked to teams that had just resigned some teams to long-term contracts. So it was a little bit of a surprise. On the other hand, I think from my view in motorsports, Goodyear's withdrawal from Formula 1, followed by a withdrawal from CART, would make it very difficult to keep IRL teams happy, and I think they probably just made the decision to do it all at once.

As far as the IRL teams, yeah, at least half of them were still using Goodyear tires. We now have to adjust all those teams over to Firestone, and that's our big production difficulty for next year - making enough tires for all those people. We'll just have to adjust; we'll be able to do it. Next year's gonna be very tight on tire supply, and maybe some of the team testing will be limited, but we'll have enough for the races.

And Goodyear's announcement late in the year put a big burden on us to react, because now we find ourselves responsible for everybody's tires, and that's a responsibility we take very seriously. But only to find out near the end of October, and the first race in IRL is not more than two months away at Walt Disney World in January, is a big challenge for us.

Question: What has this done for public relations now that Firestone will be the dominant manufacturer?

Woody McMillin: That might be a better question for you than for me.

Al Speyer: You know, public relations or just the media exposure we get - it was perfect for us when we were competing against Goodyear, especially Firestone versus Goodyear - the two big American names that have been in open wheel racing - it was like, it couldn't be any better, especially with Firestone winning so successfully! That was the highest value to us and it gained the most media attention of all. So public relations-wise, everytime we won it was just a perfect story to put out there. I think our focus has to shift now, and I can remember times not too long ago when we were very envious of the position of a tire company that could supply tires to all the Formula 1 cars, all of the CART cars, all of the IRL cars, so that we're in that position now, and every time there's a photograph taken, every time there's a TV show, you're gonna see the Bridgestone or Firestone tires, and that's a very strong position to be in as well, so we'll have to shift our focus, but we're still gonna get a lot of good stories out of it.

Question: Are you prepared to kind of go it alone without the competition between the two separate companies, like the monopoly that Goodyear had in North American open wheel racing for twenty-odd years?

Al Speyer: That's a difficult question to answer. Many businesses change. Things change more quickly now than they ever did. And we really want competition. I mean, we're gonna do some things that will try and leave the door open for competition, whether it's Goodyear returning, which we would like - that would be fine - or maybe even Michelin or Pirelli or Dunlop to get involved - that's fine with us. And we're just gonna have to wait and see because any major company has to analyze the return you get on your investment and the value you get. Right now, we think it's very worthwhile, but three to five years from now, who knows? We'll have to look at it and see.

Question: Has there been any financial projections for the 2000 season as far as profits that may come up when the season ends?

Al Speyer: Profits as far as?

Question: Off of tires that are being sold to the open wheel class.

Al Speyer: No, not really. For this year, for 1999, we had arrangements with many of our teams, and a lot of the contracts that we had in place, that included supplying tires to the teams, at least the top-running teams - we intend to honor those contracts until they expire. Like I said, for a couple of years it's not gonna change that much, but over time, our expenses will go down as we do charge more and more for the tires. But by the same token, we're not in racing to make money directly. We're in racing to promote our brand name, and so we want to work with the teams to make sure we have the proper decals on this car, that the drivers wear our hat and cap at the right time, and that they're representing us to the public, and we're more than willing to trade some of our tire supply for marketing benefits the teams give back to us.

Question: Has there been any thought or discussion at this point given to a possible return to NASCAR, to bring up that Goodyear-Firestone rivalry again?

Al Speyer: Well, not really, only since Goodyear has an exclusive contract to supply NASCAR; they've extended that now for another three years. So our window of opportunity is not current, and as I've said, we've got a big challenge to make enough tires. I mean, if you go back and look at just '95, when we got involved with open wheel racing - I say 'we' meaning Bridgestone/Firestone worldwide - we had no idea back then that come the end of 1999, Bridgestone would be the sole supplier to Formula 1 and Firestone would be the sole supplier to CART and IRL, so it's a manufacturing challenge. Three to five years from now, when that contract comes up, and our opportunity to go to NASCAR is available, if it is available, I know we've got some engineers that are chomping at the bit to take that challenge, and I'm sure we could be very successful there if the opportunity arises.

Question: Has Firestone been involved or would be involved in any way in terms of discussion or decision-making whether or not any CART teams will be making the trip back to Indianapolis in May - to help determine how feasible it would be for an individual team to participate?

Al Speyer: It's really a team decision. We're watching very closely, and we have always had a big focus on Indy because Firestone tires were on the first winner at Indy in 1911, and when we came back, there was only one league and a big focus on Indy. Right now though, we're in a situation where we've already won Indy next year. So what teams and drivers participate are really no longer that important to us, because it's merely a matter of which driver is going to win on Firestone tires. So while we're very interested in who's going, just as we've approached the whole situation with the two seperate leagues, it's up to each invididual team whether they go back to Indy or not, but I will say that I think there will be a significant number of CART teams and drivers who are gonna make an attempt to be back at Indy next year, and that's very exciting for all motorsports fans.

Question: How many people came to this event here in Hawaii that have to do with Firestone?

Al Speyer: For this dealer sales meeting, we've got about 200 guests, mainly from the mainland United States across the country, and about 40 of our executives and management are here, along with our sales force. We also use this time to pre- sell tires in for next year, so we've got roughly 250 people here for the meeting.

Question: We couldn't help but notice some of the Champ Car drivers in the hotel. Any idea of how many drivers are here, and were they here for Firestone?

Al Speyer: There are several drivers who came here solely for the Firestone function. Of course, when we were gonna have the race over here, they were all gonna be here anyway. We have a small number that have agreed to come over and help us really with our dealer party that we're gonna have later this evening, but other than that, there's not a big group of them here by any means.

Question: As far as Hawaii goes, any particular place here you enjoyed seeing while you were here?

Al Speyer: No, pretty much Hilton Hawaiian Village, because we've been very busy preparing and working on our dealer activities. So from my perspective, I haven't gotten an opportunity to go out and see anything near what I would like to of Hawaii.

Jerrette Kaye contributed to this interview.