Race No. 13
Miller Lite 200
Mid Ohio Sports Car Course
Lexington, OhioAugust 7-9, 1998
Raceday Quotes from Mid Ohio: | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Finished: 12th |
| ALEX ZANARDI | |
| It was tough. Today was not our day. We did everything we could to get up front. We would make up some ground, but then something would happen and we’d drop back again. I never had to work so hard for just a single point [Zanardi was later penalized and the single point removed by Chief Stewart Wally Dallenbach]. | |
 | Marlboro Penske Mercedes Finished: 6th |
| AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| My car was perfectly balanced during the last stint. We finished with both cars running today, which is a big step forward. Everyone is so competitive, it was really just follow the leader out there. Really, that was not bad at all, though. We’re working our way up and getting better every week. It was real busy out there. This was a big boost for the team. | |
 | Marlboro Penske Mercedes Finished: 10th |
| ANDRE RIBEIRO | |
| I think what happened (on the incident with Moore) was his crew let him go when I was half inside my pit already. He took off, stopped, and then took off again. He hit me in the rear. It didn’t damage my car, it just made my pit stop real slow. The car was definitely the best it has been all weekend. We were strong from the beginning. It’s a shame what happened in the pits. We could have had a much better result. | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Walker Racing Reynard Ford Finished: 9th |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| The car was really pushing hard all afternoon. During the first stint, we tried to stay with Al (Unser), but the front tires went off quite a bit. I went off course under braking, when the front tires just locked up. But good pit strategy got us back up to ninth. | |
 | Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford Finished: 3rd |
| BOBBY RAHAL | |
| As much as I've looked forward to this week, I've faced it with a little trepidation. I don't mean to say I'm not appreciative of everything, but if you let it, you can lose sight of the fact that you're here for a reason. I got in the car and said, 'Let's drive the best race we possibly can.' It's a way of saying thanks and a way of saying goodbye. As I've said all along, I'm going to very much miss driving this circuit. When you do well here, you know you're really accomplished something, and that's what I'm going to miss most. After that last restart, every lap was like qualifying. I think we had 20 laps to go, and I said 'Let's make them the best 20 we've ever had here' and I think we did that. I set my fastest lap with about three laps to go. I come away very satisfied with our drive today. | |
 | Hogan Truck Leasing Reynard Mercedes Finished: 15th |
| JJ LEHTO | |
| We were very competitive all weekend. What great, fun racing. I think I overtook four cars on the outside. That was my line. It turned out to be the sweet spot for me on this track. But luck is just not on our side. It’s getting a little better, but there’s still something out there against us. | |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Finished: 27th |
| JIMMY VASSER | |
| Bryan (Herta) came flying up the inside way too fast and got together with Dario (Franchitti). I went way to the right to try and get out of the way but I got clipped in the back. It’s so unfortunate because it wasn’t our fault. Our team did the right things all weekend and we had a good car. Especially with the championship race the way it is, I need every point I can get right now. | |
 | Bettenhausen Racing Alumax Aluminium Reynard Mercedes Finished: 17th |
| HELIO CASTRO-NEVES | |
| At the start, I had to go to the gravel to avoid the other guys, but I said ‘No, not today. I’m going to stay on it.’ And I did. The second set of tires wasn’t the best, and I made a mistake in turn two that cost me some positions. But after I made the third stop, the car was okay. I was just pushing, pushing to finish in the top 12 and get a point. Then Zanardi came through so fast, and there was nothing I could do. | |
 | Hollywood Reynard Mercedes Finished: 4th |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| It was a trouble-free day engine-wise. I would’ve loved to be on the podium, and, with a little better handling, we would have gotten there. Maybe next time. We’re making tremendous progress, and I’m really looking forward to Elkhart Lake. I had the pole there last year. I just want our team to be back up where we belong. | |
 | PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes Finished: 19th |
| MARK BLUNDELL | |
| I got caught up in that first lap incident. I managed to avoid it but had to go onto the grass. When I came back on, one of the Player’s cars clipped my front wing, and we had to stop to change the nose. From there we started from the back, working our way through the pack and struggling with the handling a little bit. We had a pretty good car and good pit stops. It was just a tough, tough day. | |
 | Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Reynard Ford Finished: 28th |
| MICHEL JOURDAIN | |
| After the start, there was a traffic jam. I avoided hitting my peers, but Max (Papis) hit me, this caused me to hit another car, I think it was Christian (Fittipaldi's) but I'm not sure. Thus, my suspension was broken and I couldn't continue running. This is disappointing. Hopefully the next race at Road America we'll have better luck. | |
 | Visteon Reynard Ford Finished: 2nd |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| I got caught up on the high side [of the first-lap incident involving Dario Franchitti, Jimmy Vasser and Bryan Herta]. [Andre] Ribeiro got underneath me and [Alex] Zanardi got underneath me and I had to back off. After that, I felt like 'Gosh! It's going to be a long day.' But I just kept climbing back. The Ford engine did a great job. I kept beating that thing all day. I was trying the whole time. I had a little quicker car than he [Fernandez] did and I could catch up with him, but I couldn't do anything with him. Adrian never put a wheel wrong. I wanted to give him a run for his money, but this young man just did a great job on a very demanding race course. | |
 | LCI International Tasman Motorsports Group LCI Reynard Honda Finished: 8th |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| It was a tough race. We had some (computer) software problems and the ‘ninth butterfly’ was acting up, that cost us 100 horsepower or so. The crew was able to fix it during the first pit stop and after that the car was great. We lost a lot of time in that first stop, but did a pretty good job making up some positions, so we’re happy with eighth place. It was a very physical race, but also an intellectual race. You had to think ahead. A tough, but fun weekend. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Finished: 26th |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| [Started 1st, finished 26th, contact on the opening lap]: I’m really quite angry. I can’t believe that Bryan Herta tried that move. He drove around me as if he thought there was no car there and just pushed me right into the grass. I don’t know what he was thinking, it’s a long race and he was trying to win it in the first turn of the first lap. It’s a shame. Our guys worked so hard to have a first place car and then something like this happens. It’s a tough deal and totally unnecessary. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Finished: 5th |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| This was like a win for the team. Starting as far back as we did, I can’t say enough about my guys. Our pit stops were near perfect today. They got most of the positions for me in the pits. I can’t complain about the results considering where we started. We made some changes this morning and had a pretty good race car, but if you’re starting 21st, getting to first is pretty hard. That’s what we have to work on now. | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Finished: 7th |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| I gave everything I had. I was just about ready to run out of steam because I was dehydrated. I didn’t drink enough water before the race. The race was really challenging. Alex [Zanardi] came up to challenge me, but I wasn’t going to give up my position. The Blue Crew was amazing in setting up the backup car like they did. This was a good race for me. | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford Finished: 1st |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
The car was very good all day. I was trying to make a good start and get some space between Greg [Moore] and the cars in front of me. That really helped when I came upon the [first lap] accident and had some time to react. I managed to stay behind [Mauricio] Gugelmin until the first stop, when I got out ahead of him. Greg stayed out a lap longer and he was really strong on the second stint. Then he had a problem. I was able to get in front a few laps later and hold the lead until the end. It was a very, very difficult race. Scott was really determining the pace of the race. When he was pushing, I was pushing. It was a great team effort for Patrick racing and myself. | |
 | Forsythe Player's-Indeck Reynard Mercedes Finished: 22nd |
| GREG MOORE | |
| I was waved out of the pits, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Andre [Ribeiro] coming into his pit, which was in front of mine. I tried to get around his right rear tire which was on the ground, but instead I hit it causing my left-rear suspension to break. It’s really unfortunate. [There is evidence from the television broadcast that Moore hit a tire that was being moved into position by one of Ribeiro's crew]. | |