|
©1999 SpeedCenter and CART |
|||
|
||||||
T.E. McHALE: At this point we are going to welcome Paul Tracy of
Team KOOL Green, 3rd place finisher in the 1999 FedEx Championship Series.
Good afternoon, Paul, thanks for taking the time to be with us today. Paul's victories in Milwaukee and Houston highlighted a 1999 campaign which saw him post seven podium finishes including four in a row at Toronto, Michigan, Detroit and Mid-Ohio. Overall, he scored in 13 of 19 starts during a season which saw him tie Alex Zanardi for 8th place on the CART Career Victory List with 15. He scored a career high 161 points while finishing third in the Championship for the third time in his nine-year career, matching previous third-place efforts in 1993, and 1994. At this point we are going to open it up to questions for Paul.
Question: I was wondering I have been reading that among the teams, yours has made some of the fewer changes this year compared to the other teams. Do you see that as a big advantage, particularly after testing the car?
I think we have a data base to fall back on if we run into problems or handling woes during the course of a weekend we have got data to fall back on. A lot of the teams that have made major changes, like Penske, and Newman/Haas, Ganassi, with new engines, new cars, new tires, new drivers, I think that they are going to be still learning and trying to figure out their package up to the midway point of the season. I think that in the short-term it will -- it could be an advantage.
Question: How has the Honda engine developed since spring training? At that time you were hoping for more power. Have they been giving it to you?
I think we got one engine already to be put in the spare car, then our qualifying motor will be delivered to us on Wednesday at Homestead. So better late than never.
Question: So you have not driven it with the new motor then?
Question: Will the new motor that you get for qualifying then be just for qualifying and you will run in the race with what you have just run now?
Question: Do you feel a lot different going into this season than you did last obviously?
I have had really good amount of testing. I am now happy with where we are at setup-wise for Homestead. I think Homestead has kind have been one of our weak points in terms of speed and we really had a good test the last time we were there. I will go to Nazareth this weekend and just do a final test before the start of the year. So I feel prepared and in shape and confident. But not overly confident.
Question: When you look at this season and you see what happened last season as far as the team's development, and then, of course, spring training, where do you assess your chances to finally get the Championship?
Our goal is really -- obviously we want to win. We want -- if we can win, we are going to try to win, but the focus is really just to keep gathering points all year and be consistent, you know, take whatever we can get and score as many points as we can and just try to keep collecting them.
Question: When you look back over your career from the moment at Long Beach and I remember at Long Beach when Roger Penske invited you after the race to visit him in his trailer, when you look back at points of your career, what had the most impact to make you the kind of driver that you either are or strive to be to win the title?
Now, it is so competitive that you have got to qualify up front and I have gotten better at that. I have always been a good qualifier, but it's gotten tougher and tougher and you have really got to hang it out on the line now. But now the key, I mean, points are hard to come by now. In the past, a bad day was finishing fifth. Now it is a pretty good day if you finish in the Top-5. That is how competitive it is. You hear these guys in NASCAR say I had a great run today, I finished in the Top-10. Well, we only have points to 12 and those points are hard to come by. I think consistency and getting good finishes every weekend is really what is most important.
Question: Have you had a chance to get out there with the Hanford wing; it's a change that is coming up for the short ovals and try to make them a little more competitive and see a little more passing; how has that worked out so far in your opinion?
I think the down-force level is about where it needs to be. The drag level is keeping the cars, the top speeds down a little bit. So I think, overall, I think CART has done a really good job in getting this package together.
Question: You had to miss this race at Homestead, the start of the season last year, what is your approach to it now -- now that it has been two seasons since you have had a chance to race there?
Question: Does the reliability factor the fact that the cars are getting so good make it even that much more important to qualify up at the front and stay in the race?
The teams are so good now and all the teams are well funded and they have brand new pieces on the car for the race. It wasn't only but a few years ago that there was only a few teams that could afford to put all new uprights and things like that on for every race. The reliability now of the teams and the cars has gone up probably 200 percent and the pace of the race has gone up dramatically as well. It used to be that we used to pace around and then you'd race pretty hard at the end. Now, as soon as the again flag drops, it is 110 percent the whole way. So that is really what makes passing most difficult. It is just that everybody is going as fast as they can possibly go.
Question: This year -- you talked a little bit about getting points and just being consistent, but do you find it kind of ironic - first, there was Michael came into this series, he was the young gun, now you, now it seems everybody at the top has aggressive driving style, Tony, and obviously want. How do you -- how do you work your way, all you aggressive drivers work your way into finishing races?
I have been in that situation where I have gotten too aggressive and cost myself some points. So you have got to measure -- obviously it is a game of calculated risks. There is times when you have to take risks, but do you take it now or later. You have got to measure those. That is the hard thing about this sport is you have only got fractions of a second to make a decision. When the opportunity opens up to make a pass, they don't come about very often and sometimes if you go to make that move and then you say, well, maybe I shouldn't do that, then it is almost too late; that is when an accident happens. That is the kind of things that when a guy wins the Championship, he has made less mistakes than everybody else and calculated his risks and that is how it works out.
Question: Can you compare kind of the, I guess it would be kind of an escalating comfort level at the team in the sense that in 1998 you got there and everything was new. Last year you had become much more familiar with the equipment and the team, but at the same time last year you were getting to know Tony and vice versa. This year everything is at least as far as I can figure just virtually everything is the same on your side of the team and just how that figures into the equation for this year?
Whereas, Dario's side, he has had a lot of change and a fair amount of turnover in terms of crew and engineering-wise that there is a more question marks. I think that is, at least for my Championship hopes, from my side of the team, we know what we have to deal with.
Question: Much was made last year especially towards the middle of last year of the maturation of Paul Tracy, how he slowed down a little bit with -- just on your -- the way you approach things and a lot of that was attributed to Tony coming on board. Do you think too much was made of that or do you think a lot of people said was justified?
Question: How many race wins will the Championship need this year and how many no points races can you survive?
The key really is finishing all the races and points. And getting points every weekend. Like I said, you can win it without winning a race as long as you are around in the Top-5 and typically the Championship, 200 points usually wins it, 200 plus. That is finishing Top-5 every weekend, fifth or better will get you Top-10 points per weekend, minimum. So that is really what my goal is and along the way, if you finish, third, or second one week, then you can afford a 6th or 7th or whatever, but you have got to keep scoring points.
Question: Is this year the best opportunity for a Championship yet?
T.E. McHALE: We will take one final question for Paul Tracy before we let him go and bring Dario onto the call. One last question for Paul.
Question: At spring training Max Papis spoke out about the fact that there is no-weight balancing to make up for sizes of drivers. Was that music to your ears to have somebody else pick that up?
Question: Was there any encouragement in recent weeks?
T.E. McHALE: Thanks, Paul, for joining us this afternoon. We wish you the best of luck in the season opening Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami presented by Toyota and throughout the rest of the 2000 FedEx Championship Season. Thanks, Paul.
| ||||||
|