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DAVIS RACING: The PPG CART World Series finishes its run of four consecutive oval raceswith the Miller 200 at the historic Milwaukee Mile. As of the Hollywood Rio400, Davis Racing was still shut out in the points, although the teamcontinues to make excellent progress with the Indusval-Marlboro Reynard-FordCosworth after getting off to a late start for the 1997 season. In the firstfive races, the team has improved its qualifying position each time out, withthe biggest improvement coming at Nazareth following a two-day test at theMilwaukee Mile.
GUALTER SALLES:
- "We had a good test here at Milwaukee back in April and thathas provided us with the necessary testing time to put together a good carfor this current oval circuit swing. I like the ovals, which I didn't reallyknow about until I came to America last year. They are a lot of fun, but theyare also hard work, a lot more than I imagined.
"I think the real fun for the race fans is seeing 20 or more cars allseparated by one second on the final grid, the way the Indy cars were atHomestead and Rio. Milwaukee is the same way: It's not as fast as the otherovals, but it is very competitive and close. Milwaukee is a particularlyhectic track to race on because it is so flat and wide. There are so manylines one can use in the each corner, but at the same time, there is only onefast line. The good thing is there is plenty of room to race and to pass.Milwaukee is not a one-groove racetrack.
"Milwaukee is one of the tracks that I have spent a lot of time at, which isvery good for us. I had my best Indy Lights oval race at Milwaukee last year(Salles finished fourth) and had an excellent test here in April that hasallowed us to go to the racetracks with more confidence than before. I thinkwe'll be in a good spot to score some points at Milwaukee.
- "We're happy to be going back to Milwaukee. It'salways been a good track for any team I've been associated with and we had agood test there last month as well. Gualter likes Milwaukee, which is veryimportant for a team to do well. It's a nice little racetrack for a one-mileoval and it has good, close competitive racing, but you know Milwaukee issomeplace special because the place has history to it when you drive inside.That's what makes Milwaukee special for the PPG CART World Series.
MAX PAPIS, Driver Of The No. 25 MCI Racing Toyota RV8B/Reynard 97, Comments On His First Milwaukee Mile Race:
- "Milwaukee will be a good test for the team and the engine because there are two corners where you have to back off a lot and you need a lot of RPM to exit the corner. I think we can learn a lot out of that. We have been testing there and I am pretty confident we can do a pretty good job. We have a lot of MCI guests attending the race, so I hope we can give them a good show. It is tough right now, but MCI is behind us 100 percent and I am behind them 100 percent. We just need to be patient. We saw some improvement this weekend [at Gateway] so I think if this continues we will have some promising results soon."
PAUL TRACY is seeking to join current Team Penske teammate Al Unser Jr. (1990) as the only drivers in CART history to win four events in succession:
- "I've won four in a row in Indy Lights [in 1990] before, but never anything like this. Winning three in a row has been the biggest milestone of my career. If we could win the fourth, and the 100th in the history of Penske Racing, that would just be unbelievable."
Sections of this from CART News Service