Race No. 5
Nazareth Speedway, PA
April 28, 1996
Friday Quotes from drivers at Nazareth Speedway:| Index of Quotes available | ||
|---|---|---|
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | TEO FABI | ADRIAN FERNANDEZ |
| CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | ROBBY GORDON | MIKE GROFF |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | JEFF KROSNOFF | ANDRE RIBEIRO |
| PAUL TRACY | BRUCE MCCAW | |
 |
#6 Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Lola Ford Cosworth XD |
MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| "The car is pretty good. Hopefully we
should be more competitive this weekend than we have been. This
is not a horsepower track. Actually it's the first one this year
that hasn't been." "The Goodyears [tires] are quicker. They've made a pretty good jump. It started to show up at Long Beach." | |
 |
#21 Visa PacWest Reynard Ford |
TEO FABI | |
| "We still have oversteer, but the car is a lot more consistent in the corners this time. It is definitely a better car than what we had in the morning session." | |
 |
#32 Tecate Beer/Quaker State Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| "The car is coming around. We went too much in the other direction at the start of the session, so it took us a few laps to balance the car. It is getting there, but we have more work to do and the weather has not been cooperating this afternoon." | |
 |
#11 Kmart/Budweiser Lola Ford Newman/Haas Racing |
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| "Both of the
cars [#6 and #11] are the same. Michael is experiencing the same thing I am
with his car. If you painted both of them red, I wouldn't be able to tell
the difference. Nazareth is one of the best short ovals we go to. [On the
secret to going fast here] I breathe heavily, close my eyes and go for it! "We just ran full tanks, consecutive 20s laps and it felt pretty much OK. At the moment we have a little too much understeer, but at least it was consistent. At least the car didn't get looser, because being loose is a definite problem here." | |
 |
#5 Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Reynard Ford |
ROBBY GORDON | |
| "We had a gearbox seal blow out in the primary car. We jumped
into the back-up car, but there was a hesitation in the engine with that
one. Timing and scoring shows us at 20.6 in the primary car, but we really
did a 20.1. We'll have to check on that one. "Between really losing the first session this morning with our problem with the primary car and then, the back-up car, and not really getting to go out this afternoon, well, it's frustrating. I think we only did about 10 laps, if that. We never got to run on the option tire. Mike [Groff] ran on the option and they found it to be quicker. If it's quicker, then we'll be fine." | |
 |
#15 Valvoline DuraBlend Special Reynard Ford |
| photo Phil Abbott | |
MIKE GROFF | |
| "This
was my very first time in the car. We seemed to be having a problem with the
boost control, so we'll have to get that worked out and see how we do in the
second session ... if it doesn't get rained out. "The second session went a lot better. We made some gains and we're moving in the right direction. We'll make a few more changes overnight and arrive at the right setup for tomorrow. It's great to be out here rubbing elbows with these guys. It's so competitive." | |
 |
#17 Hollywood Reynard Ford |
| photo Mike Levitt | |
MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| "The only difference from this morning to this afternoon is that the brakes are finally working right and we're getting a chance to work on the setup. This morning, we had problems in both [Hollywood] cars, and I never really had a chance to get any laps in the car. But the car is loose. Everybody else is pushing, but we're way loose." | |
 |
#25 Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard Toyota |
JEFF KROSNOFF | |
| "I sure am glad that the rain cleared up and we made it out for the second practice session because we made a big improvement from this morning. The car felt much better, and I feel more confident. I even feel like I could have gone quicker, but I got caught in traffic on the last couple of laps." | |
 |
#31 LCI International Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
ANDRE RIBEIRO | |
| "We definitely improved the car this session, so we are going in the right direction. We still have a little bit of understeer, but it is getting better. Now, we have to hope for a nice sunny day tomorrow." | |
 |
#3 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
PAUL TRACY | |
| "We didn't test that much here during the off-season because
of the bad weather. The car came off the truck
pretty good. Plus Al's running pretty good too [5th fastest on Friday] and he's struggled here in the past, so
that's a pretty good sign, too. [about the good performance of the new Goodyear option tire] "I don't think there was a big gap to close on the ovals. The Goodyears were very competitive at Homestead and Brazil, and I think they've done their homework for Nazareth. "We're not completely there yet. We were going to do a long run to evaluate the options this afternoon but with the weather we didn't get a chance. Nazareth is a tough race. The bottom can drop out in a big hurry if you go loose in the middle of the race." | |
| PacWest Team Owner | |
BRUCE McCAW | |
| [about the possibility of running three cars at the US 500] "I'd love to do it, but we've got to see whether it's the smart thing to do. We've got lots of '95 cars at the shop and now that we have a test team we have the crew. But for now we're just evaluating the idea." | |