SpeedCenter: "As the Mother of one of the few people on this planet skilled enough to drive an Indycar, how do you and Bob [Bob Pruett, Scott's Father] deal with the fact that your son is so close to the fine edge in this sport, week in and week out?"

Nancy: "You just deal with it because this is something he has wanted to do forever. We came through a major accident in 1990 and he survived, and we knew the first thing he was going to ask us is how soon he could drive."

"And if he should have an accident, not that we want to see him killed, but if he should get hurt badly, it's that he's doing something that he loves and not doing something that he doesn't like and get killed on a freeway by a truck."

"This way, [IndyCar racing] he can control it."

SpeedCenter: "It's always been attempted to question the drivers regarding the sensation of speed, which is so difficult for them to explain it to us. Is there anything you can add to that?"

Nancy: "The speed with him and I think all drivers really, is such a rush... such a feel, and the faster they go, they are living their life dream."

SpeedCenter: "As for the rules changes that IndyCar has been instituting to slow the cars down, does Scott feel that the cars should be slowed down?"

Nancy: "Well, they tried this year and did how much? [laughter] But, if they hadn't changed the rules for 1996, then the speeds would have been much faster than they are now."

"At Michigan, the speeds could have been 250 mph, easy."

SpeedCenter: "But, do you feel they are at that limit where they have to be slowed down?"

Nancy: "I think they should be slowed down. That's just my feeling as a parent. The speeds are getting up there and up there, and up there. When you're driving with very good competition like Junior [Al Unser Jr.] and Michael [Andretti], and there are a lot of others -- I don't mean just them -- I know if Scott goes into a corner with Junior, that Junior won't touch him and Scott won't touch Junior."

"They are friends and they have a mutual respect. But drivers who don't think, but have the speed, like de Ferran at Cleveland last year -- if he had just waited when Scott was fighting Michael for the position -- that was not a really good place to pass."

"Very similar to the situation with Zanardi and P.J. Jones at Vancouver. P.J. never saw him. Never saw him."

SpeedCenter: "That is one of the things that a lot of race fans have a difficulty in understanding. Everything happens so intensely fast that one hiccup and that's it."

Nancy: "That's it, yes. But, there are hours and hours before a race, and days that go into race strategy. Scott was here yesterday afternoon [Thursday] from about 11:00am until 3:30pm until he had to go to a live remote, going over car setup data with the engineers, and there are many, many hours that go into it."

"Some fans get very upset when he comes out of the car during practice or qualifying and he can't stop to sign autographs, because they go right into a debriefing. He's got to keep his mind focused and fresh for that part of it."

"But then, after that he will always come out after the debriefing to sign. And they [the fans] will always ask, 'How long? How Long?'"

"Sometimes it takes a half-hour -- sometimes it takes two and one-half hours. It all depends on how the session went."

SpeedCenter: "Does Scott do anything special before a race? Does he have any superstitions?"

Nancy: "No, he doesn't have any superstitions. He goes into what we call his "race face"....race mode I guess would be a better terminology."

"But as soon as he is in that [mode], we know that this is not the time to ask him to sign an autograph. Not to have a personal conversation.... because he's into race mode. That's very important to him."

SpeedCenter: "Does Scott still experience soreness and pain from the 1990 accident in the Florida off-season practice testing session?"

Nancy: "Oh yes. He wears a brace on his left leg all the time, unless he's in the racecar. And there are some mornings where he gets up -- and we just don't mention it -- but he just doesn't have the capability to walk real good in the mornings."

SpeedCenter: "This next question is a 'The Fans Wanna Know' questions. [laughter] There have been many rumors about Scott's non-racing future. The question is, 'Is marriage in Scott's future? And when?'"

Nancy: "Marriage is in his future. He's engaged to a lady named, Judy Couch, and she has a daughter Loren, who is eight -- No, I don't know when."

"He isn't ready, and he makes it very clear that he isn't ready, but Judy will be the one when he is ready."

"She takes very good care of him and she's a physical therapist, so that helps a lot."

SpeedCenter: "Where did Judy and Scott meet?"

Nancy: "In preparation for the 1991 24-hours Of Daytona. They brought her [Judy] and three others in as therapists for the drivers, and that's where they met."

SpeedCenter: "Scott has been highly critical and as of late, and elusive to the media as to the performance of the Cosworth-produced Ford engine. I know you cannot speak for Scott on this, but can you offer any insight into the 1997 Ford-Cosworth package?"

Nancy: "I don't know. I know he [Scott] is so frustrated because he feels that all the engine failures caught him......you know, got him out of the first five in points."

SpeedCenter: "That has to be really frustrating."

SpeedCenter: "Is Scott and Patrick staying with the Ford-Cosworth for 1997?"

Nancy: "Honda said that there were no more motors to be released, and you know that de Ferran is taking his [Honda] to Walker in 1997. At this point they (Patrick Racing) cannot support a second car, so they will be a one-car team [in 1997]."

SpeedCenter: "Many of Scott's fans are concerned that his team is supposed to be a Ford-Cosworth factory supported team, just as Newman-Haas is, and Michael and Christian are not breaking engines. Andretti wins five races and Scott's blowing [engines] left and right. Is there some other factory support that is not making it to Patrick Racing?"

Nancy: "If you look at it, the first half of the season, Michael was breaking -- all the time -- just like we are now, the second-half of the season."

"But, we do know that Michael's engines come from England and Scott's come from California."

SpeedCenter: "So, could this be Scott's best chance to win the IndyCar Championship in 1997?"

Nancy: "Depends on how dedicated Lola is with so few cars slated for the 1997 season. Lola will not have near as much feedback as they had in the 1996 season and will have to take a major step-up to compete with the Reynards, Penskes and Eagles next year."

Don: "Obviously, this is nothing new for Nancy. She's been going through this for thirty years. When I first met Nancy -- that was in 1964 -- we were all racing go-karts together and Scott was still playing in the dirt. He was four-years-old then."

"From her [Nancy] point of view -- it's tough, it's frustrating. I had a fan comment to me this weekend, '...gosh, he's doing so well, but it's been a terrible year.' And I answer, '...yeah. He's only 10th or 11th in points in the best racing series in the United States.'"

"That's just terrible [laughing]. When you think about it, regardless of what he could have done -- what could have been -- even what did happen, it's still a hell of an accomplishment."

"It's a one-car team that is apparently not running the best chassis. Not running the best motor, or the most reliable motor and he's still where he is. Even today, he's still right there today."

"Why is he right there today? That's a very good question. There's some people doing the right things as well as the driver and often you wonder how much do the expect of the driver?"

"There's an awful lot that relates back to the driver."

"If you have a team like Vasser and you finish each and every race all year long, and you have the best motor, and you have the best chassis, and you have the best tires -- what do you expect?"

"And in comparing the tires, I don't now what the count is as to who was best at what tracks -- it's something like 10-6 or 9-7 -- it's fairly close, so the Ganassi team has what appears to be the best package for the year."

"Mercedes has made some important strides and has more horsepower, and the Ford has got some more horsepower. They [Ford-Cosworth] has fixed some of the problems and then there are more that surface."

"We were talking with Bob [Bob Pruett] last night and I think that one of the things that people don't realize is the rpm's that they're turning now, creates more problems that weren't there before."

"It's not just because of the revolutions themselves, there's vibrations and harmonics, and things that cause things to happen that you never dreamed of happening. Those things all have to come to the surface."

"And next year, that's going to hurt -- there's not as many teams for next year and there will be less feedback."

SpeedCenter: "So, do you think that it's time for Cosworth to go through a complete re-vamp of their engine?"

Nancy: "They're working on it. The motor at Mid-Ohio was completely different, and the only way we know that is different Cosworth engineers show up. [laughter] Nobody says it's different, but when you have new engineers....."

SpeedCenter: "Going back to Michigan in 1995, which had to be one of Scott's high moments of his entire life, what was you reaction watching all this happen?"

Nancy: "As you know, I work timing and scoring for CART, and you don't show any emotion up in the scoring tower at all and I never have. In fact, some of the tracks I go to, no one even knows -- they think I am just a volunteer just like them -- which I am."

"I don't want anyone in the tower to feel uncomfortable rooting for their driver -- they bring up little things about their drivers -- I don't even bother with that."

"But, most of the people at Michigan around me knew, and we have a captain on our crew and she was keeping me updated. But, of course, I could only see from across the start-finish line, and you can't follow because you're writing times -- you're subtracting and feeding a computer -- so you'll see a car at the start-finish line and that's it."

"So, when Junior passed Scott, I went, "Oh no!" to myself. He's worked so hard for this. And then he came around and he went up high and everyone in the tower, where I was, was going crazy."

"They were getting it on a camera and the CART people were watching it and they were all excited. They kept saying, 'Look how high he is ... look how high he is.'"

"And I thought -- I didn't know which driver they were talking about -- I didn't have a clue which driver -- and I just put my hand up like this [placing hand at eyebrow level like baseball cap] and didn't watch out of four [turn four] and just figured I'd get whoever was first or second at the scoring line."

"Scott came through and I wrote my time, I did my subtracting and didn't hit 'enter' on the computer! [laughter] I was so...you know...I was dumbfounded! And everyone one around me just went nuts. Everybody started screaming."

"And I went running down to winner's circle, which I had a really hard time getting into, because you have to have special bands at Michigan, and I never need one because I'm in the tower."

"Our guys were so excited -- usually someone will wait there for me -- and they were all gone, so I had to talk my way in with the guard, and he was doing good -- he was doing his job. Finally Kevin [Kevin Diamond] came back, our P.R. man, and he got me in."

"That was probably the longest five minutes of my entire life. It felt more like five hours."

"It was such a high. We were so very, very pleased for Scott. This is something he has worked at all his life and he was so close to Indy the year before and got into the oil from Boesel."

"It was just great. It was Firestone's first win with him, and they appreciated the other wins, but they felt that he had done all of the tire testing. Put all the input in for everyone else, so they could go out and win, also."

SpeedCenter: "Is Scott disappointed that a chance at Indy is pretty much gone now?"

Nancy: "Oh yeah... His dream has been, since he was seven-years-old, to win the Indianapolis 500. When I was a child, we got up in the morning and didn't do anything else on Memorial Day. We listened to it on the radio."

"Then it came to television, delayed, and then it came to television live and we were just thrilled, and there's really super nice people at Indy. We enjoyed going back and renewing friendships."

"The month-of-May was very hard. None of us were there."

SpeedCenter: "How was it at the U.S. 500? Was it like 'we should really be down there, but we're up here?' Or was there total dedication to the U.S. 500?"

Nancy: "Everyone was totally dedicated, It was nice that it was done the way it was with the practice and qualify, and then go home. Scott went testing and then come back [for the race]."

"It's very hard for the month of May at Indy. It's the pressure. It's everything. It's all the practice and this isn't working or that isn't working. You're not running quick enough. You need to get up higher or you need to get down lower."

"It's an everyday occurrence, where with the U.S. 500, Bob didn't go to qualifying. I went with Scott and it was different, but it was a nice different."

"It was more relaxed and we didn't have all that high tension."

"The practice was great and the qualifying -- we were thrilled -- he qualified well on Saturday and Sunday was Mother's Day, so I went home on the first flight out in the morning. He was in the field and I knew he was secure and I knew I could go home."

Don: "So, what's your feelings, from a writer's point of view, what's happened with Indy and where it's going?"

SpeedCenter: "It's a huge disappointment to the entire racing community that supports CART's version of Indy car racing. Personally, I feel that I would have liked to have seen some kind of compromise, but obviously that is not going to happen with the new chassis and engine formula."

Nancy: "Mr. Patrick, Roger Penske, Derrick Walker and Barry Green were meeting with Tony George until the end of March, going into the first of April, and they had reached an agreement, which I am sure everybody knows."

"But, then Tony said, 'Oh. By the way, you [CART] have to run the '94 chassis.' Well, everyone had sold their '94 chassis' to the Indy Racing League."

"So, it was my own feeling that it was sorta like dangling the carrot until the end. And then there was no end."

Don: "First off, even if they could have got the '94 chassis, it was faster! It was really stupid on his [Tony George] part saying to CART, 'You have to run a faster chassis than you currently have.' An unavailable-faster chassis!"

Nancy: "That bothered the drivers and we know Scott was one of them. The concern was they [drivers] know their team makes everything safe before they go out on the track."

"Because our feeling is as you well know, the team just becomes a family. I know how hard those guys work and they have to love it, to do it."

"Scott's feeling that with the '94 chassis was it was fatigued. The metal was fatigued. The carbon-fiber was fatigued. They had run 10,000 miles a year on these chassis and he [Scott] was concerned about the Indy league running them."

SpeedCenter: "A lot of the fans were also concerned but, they are confused. There was a lot of argument on the Internet regarding the IRL teams running the older chassis. Then Lola released their statement -- a warning to the IRL teams regarding running these older chassis."

"But, many of the fans are very confused -- Here you have the IRL having started their new season and many people don't even realize it. It's going back to the old days where you have a few races that are there, but then you have the Indy 500."

"It's not really a true series. Their co-champions [from the '95/'96 season] got little recognition."

Don: "There's a lot of things that happened there [Indy] that are very ironic, in that the guy that's promoting this IRL as much cheaper and much more affordable, where his race was 40%-50% of the IndyCar people's budget."

"So, he has the most expensive race to run and he's the one that wants to make everything cheaper. That in itself is pretty incredible."

"Their [IRL] budget for next year is going to be much higher that it was this past year, because last year the cars were cheap -- I mean on Sunday afternoon, after the race, what are these [IndyCar] cars worth? Sure, they'll do some testing with them, but what are they really worth?"

"Not a whole bunch."

"In 1997, everything changes and they aren't worth anything."

"When this all started [IRL] I pointed out one thing, and I haven't really heard anyone else say anything about it, but think back 30 years ago and what were the two biggest races? And practically everyone in the world knew when these two races were run."

SpeedCenter: "Indy and Le Mans."

Don: "Indy and Le Mans, that's right. But, who in the hell knows today -- even if you walked around this track today and asked the fans -- when did they run the 24-hours of Le Mans?"

SpeedCenter: "What month?"

Don: "Yeah."

Nancy: "They can't tell you."

SpeedCenter: "I can't either, but I seem to remember an early June date."

Don: "I can't tell you either! But that used to be one of the two biggest races in the world. All of our guys went over there and drove. It was the thing, in those days."

"It is possible to take an historical, major event and reduce it to almost nothing, and they did that with Le Mans."

"And that can happen to the Indianapolis 500, not that it's going to, but it could."

SpeedCenter: "That's all we have and I thank you both for your time. Best wishes to Scott for a safe, competitive weekend and he will come back next year and be super-competitive."

Nancy: "We certainly hope so."

Don: "Thank you."