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©1999 SpeedCenter Publishing
What was the basis of the decision to use last year's Reynard this weekend instead of the Swift? It was based on preparation for us. Coming from Japan to Long Beach, you don't have a long time to prepare. At this point in time, we have one Swift and two Reynards on our inventory. Our feeling was, it's very important in this particular race that you get the revs right, and the revs require proper gearing, and proper gearing requires proper engineering but also the ability to be able change it at a rapid pace. At this point the Reynard is better adept at changing gears at rapid paces then the swift is. The other part of it is, were a young team. We don't have the manpower or the engineering staff today to be able to develop a car. Were trying the best that we can, but Robby and his engineer Kenny Anderson have a history with Reynard, they have a history here at Long Beach and on the ovals. So for us, today, it makes the most sense to run the Reynard. We're not abandoning the Swift and we think ultimately they're gonna figure it out through the development and everybody using it. Even thought were a new team, we've got a lot of sponsors and people that are counting on us to run up front. Our sponsors have the same attitude as Robby, which means there are no excuses. So we can't come into this deal saying don't worry about it and blame it on the Swift when the Swift isn't really to blame. What were saying is we're to blame, were young, were trying to put all the pieces together, and what we need to do is to go with a relatively proven commodity, something that we have a little bit of history with. So you have two 98 Reynards, where did you get them? We got one from Dan Gurney, and the other from Rahal. And the one we got from Rahal obviously requires a bit of adaptation, because it was a Ford. So we had to do a new engine plate and a new gearbox. We tested the Swift at Homestead in the preseason, and after that test we felt that we wouldn't be competitive. So the first time we actually rolled the wheels of the Reynard was at Homestead in the first practice session of the race weekend, that was our preseason testing. At that time did you think you would be running Reynard here at Long Beach, or did you think you would be using it only for the first two oval races? I think we figure we were going to wait and see. Part of the beauty of our team now, is that Robby, as the driver, has some input, in fact he is the input in terms of what happens. We go with what he thinks. There is no ulterior motive here, the only motive is to win. How deep in the season could you go with the '98? Who's to say year to year that a new car is better than last year's car, or the year before that. What it comes down to is how comfortable is the driver. Lets face it, when you go from session to session in qualifying: today the fast time was one minute one point eight seconds, and tomorrow the fastest time is likely to be a little over a minute. Tell me there's a second there. There isn't a second there, there's a second in the driver's confidence. He goes a little bit deeper, a little bit further. Is it some engineering masterpiece that the guy came up with overnight that's gonna give him a second? No way. So I'm not answering that question. So you're saying you are going to run what you need to run to win? That's it. What happens if you continue running the Reynard and you keep getting behind on developing the Swift? Its not our job. What were saying is hey, let the Swift develop, and if the Swift starts kicking Reynard's butt, there's a good chance Robby will be driving the Swift. Its kind of like running at the Indy 500. We understand the all the geopolitical things, but we're gonna go there and were gonna go win. Could you run a test with the two chassis at some point in the next month or two and see what you think of each? Of course. We have that option don't we. We have the Swift, we bought it we paid for it, we own it. Certainly, as I mentioned, we have an interest in, we didn't make that decision in a vacuum. We made that decision because we felt that the Swift was going to be the best car. And we haven't really swayed our opinion, it's just as I said before, at this time and day for our team, we have to do what we gotta do. So I guess we'll just have to ask next time what your choice was for Nazareth? Yeah you just never know: could be the toss of a coin.
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