Michael Andretti, driver of the #6 Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift DB7/Ford-Cosworth XD:

"The addition of the St. Louis race will be good because it will give us another home track to race on since our sponsor Budweiser is there. This past season we had good luck at the tracks where we had a connection. Of my five wins, four of them had a special connection to either myself or the team. Nazareth was my home track, Carl [Haas] is the promoter at Milwaukee, Kmart is headquartered in Detroit and Texaco sponsors the Road America event. Naturally I'm glad to see St. Louis on the schedule. I think it will be a good market for us to race in. It's good to add new markets to our schedule. From what I understand, the track will be similar to Phoenix in the way it's banked. It looks like it will be an interesting track to set the car up on because turns one and two are different than three and four, which is similar to Phoenix.

"I think it's good that we aren't racing at the same track like last year [U.S. 500 and Marlboro 500 at MIS]. The addition of the Fontana race is great because it will be good to come back to Los Angeles market and end the season. The track will be very fast like Michigan though. The series has come up with some good ideas to slow the cars down but our engineers are very good and they always come up with new ways to go faster. Indy cars are very fast on tracks with the degree of banking that Michigan and Fontana have.

"I'm glad were keeping the U.S. 500 and holding it in July. Overall, it's a good concept.

"Now we're ending the season with a 500-mile race. That should make the championship even more exciting. Hopefully we'll have reliability in our package. I led one Michigan race (seven laps, Marlboro 500) and was as high as third in the U.S. 500 race before we went out. The car was capable of winning both races if we would have been able to finish.

"Overall, 1997 looks good with the addition of two new races and a new market. The Swift chassis is on schedule and I think 1997 will be a good season for us."

Christian Fittipaldi, driver of the #11 Kmart/Budweiser Swift DB7/Ford-Cosworth XD:

"It's great to see the addition of the St. Louis race on the 1997 schedule. Budweiser is headquartered in St. Louis and there are many race fans in the company that will be able to attend the race rather than just watch it on TV. Fans are always impressed by the speed after they actually attend a race rather than just see it on TV. I think it will be tremendous for my program. It's a great opportunity for many promotions for Budweiser.

"I think it was a good idea to move the Brazil race to May. We were extremely luck with the weather this year. We had heavy rain until Thursday of race week which slowed down the amount of work they could do to complete the track and suites. The rain stayed sway until about two hours after the race on Sunday which was almost a miracle. By moving the race to May, we are less likely to have heavy rains and there is a better chance we will have good weather. It's a little milder in May but don't expect it to be breezy. With the new date, there is more time between Carnival and the race which is also good. Overall, the event was a success in it's first year in terms of crowds and I think it will be even better next year.

"I really like ending the season in Laguna Seca but I think I will equally like the Fontana finale. Hopefully we'll have the '97 season end with a fight for the championship at the last event like this year but hopefully it will be between Michael and myself. It's good entertainment.

"I know that they are putting every effort into making the Fontana track a great facility and at the same time I'm sure they are putting the same effort into making it safe for our Indy cars. The track will be as fast as Michigan and we've had to work hard to slow the cars done in the interest of safety. [NOTE: Christian Fittipaldi serves on the IndyCar Safety Committee]

"I don't think that having a 500-mile race as the season finale will add extra pressure because you still have to race the two 500-mile races no matter whether they are in the middle or the end of the season. You have to look at all races as being equally important. Reliability will of course be a huge factor in the 500-mile finale as it is with every 500-mile event."