Race No. 10
Medic Drug Grand Prix
Cleveland, OH
June 30, 1996
Sunday Quotes from drivers and managers at Burke Lakefront: | #12 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
JIMMY VASSER | |
| "Thiswas just a bad race all around. We wanted to make it a two-stop race insteadof a three-stop, but I made a mistake. I went just a little wide and gotoff-line In the switch-back [Turns 3 and 4] and caught two cones on the exitof the corner. I'm not sure why [the cones] were there, but one ended up inmy radiator, and the other on the front wing. the engine started to get alittle hot and I had to come in." | |
 | #99 Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes-Benz |
GREG MOORE | |
| "This says a lot for ourcrew. They did a great job. We planned a two-stop race; we thought someother guys might have to do three. We just didn't have enough for Gil andAlex today." | |
 | #3 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
PAUL TRACY | |
| "I planned tomake my move on the outside at the start, and it really paid off. By settingup wide for the first turn, I avoided all the congestion and drove aroundfive cars to take third. On the first yellow, we stayed out, which moved usup to second. "Our strategy was to run the race on two stops, which we accomplished.Unfortunately, our handling deteriorated after 25 laps into each segment andwe lost a lot of time on the race track. I've been fighting a cold all week,which didn't help matters, so I guess we'll have to take the points forninth and get ready for Toronto." | |
 | #6 Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Lola Ford Cosworth XD |
MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| "Considering where we started and they way we battled ourselves back, it's areal shame not to finish this race on the podium. We had at least a third,who knows what else we could have done. It was a really tough race to comehome with nothing. Something in the drive train went. Every time I hit it,the car went sideways. As I came off of turn one, it just went. We wereright there despite being out of pit sequence. For some reason, all of thefuel didn't go in on my first stop. My team decided to make two short stopsso that I would have fresh tires and hopefully catch a yellow. I didn't knowI was out of sequence until they told me to come in the third time. It wasdefinitely a tough race. We really needed the points to stay in thetop-three and make up some ground on Jimmy. Dropping to fifth puts morepressure on us for Toronto." | |
 | #2 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| "We changedthe car between the morning warm-up session and the race. We used acombination of my setup and Emerson's,. and I wish we would have had thatsetup for our qualifying sessions, because obviously the Marlboro car wasworking much better during the race. The main difference was that we wereable to get the car through the corners. "My Marlboro crew did a great job in the pits all day, with stops in the10-11 second range. We just tried to hang tough and stay with the leaders.It was a long, hard race and we're going to keep chipping away in the pointsbattle." | |
 | #20 Firestone Lola Ford Patrick Racing |
SCOTT PRUETT | |
| "This isa tough race. Track position at the start is so important. We had a big pushfor most of the race. We added some front wing during our first two stopsand that helped. We just never got the big break we needed. We have had sometough luck the last couple of races and to get some points and hold ourposition in the PPG Cup standings was very important to the team." | |
 | #21 PacWest Reynard Ford Cosworth |
MARK BLUNDELL | |
| "I feel bad forthe team because they gave me a great package and they deserved a betterresult. It was a very driveable car. [On the lap 55 pit fire]: "We made good decisions on our pit stops. In fact,the second stop was especially well-timed. It's tough to say what happened,but I started to leave the pits under the usual signal and the fuel hose wasstill connected. That put me off the pace and I had to re-focus mentally,because I knew a few of the guys might have been hurt during the stop." NOTE: Tim Douthat, who handles vent and air jack duties for the VISA/PacWestteam, suffered a sprained right ankle, and second degree burns to his faceafter being involved in a flash fire in Blundell's pit during Blundell'ssecond pit stop. Crew member Randy Smay also received second degree burns tohis face. | |
 | #11 Kmart/Budweiser Lola Ford Newman/Haas Racing |
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| "Iwent down the outside on the start and everything was going good then when Iwent out of the turn, I stepped on the gas and the car just didn't pick upfor some reason. It felt like the engine died completely and everyone wentby me. That's why I lost a lot of places on the start of the race. Afterthat, the engine was working okay but the car was completely inconsistent.Sometimes it went, and sometimes it didn't go at all. There was noconsistency. Every turn of every lap was a complete surprise to me." | |
 | #1 Delco Electronics High Tech Team Galles Lola Mercedes |
EDDIE LAWSON | |
| "Well, I'm not real happy right now. We picked up a coupleof spots at the start of the race and the car was running great. It's justtoo bad that this had to happen. Parker and I were in the middle of Turn 1,and he hit me from behind and knocked my front wheel off when he attemptedto pass. It's just not necessary to do that. With all the power the Hondahas, he could have picked a better spot to try that. I'm just really sorryfor the team, I felt that we could have walked away with a top 10 finish." | |
 | #8 Pennzoil Special Reynard Honda Hall Racing |
GIL de FERRAN | |
| "I know it was a moment when he was going to try to overtake me. Icame up on slower traffic and gave up some momentum. I gave him the outsideline - deep - deep - and to his credit he tried to take it. I justconcentrated my best and tried not to make a mistake." | |
 | #28 Shell Reynard Mercedes-Benz Team Rahal |
BRYAN HERTA | |
| "This racewas very good for our team. I would have liked to be on the podium, butwe'll take a top five. We didn't get any time in the car this morning inwarmup because we had an O-ring break by the engine. But once we ran alittle bit, the car felt good. I guess [Juan Manuel] Fangio didn't see megetting into Turn 1 when I was racing with [Greg] Moore and Al [Unser Jr.].He hit my front wing and I had to stop in the turn. From there, they wereable to get around me. But overall, this is a good start to the rest of theseason." | |
 | #49 Motorola Reynard Honda Brix Comptech Racing |
PARKER JOHNSTONE | |
| "It was oneof those things. Unfortunately, I was stuck in a line of cars where I wasonly marginally faster. Eddie [Lawson] and I were fighting for territory. Ithought Eddie left the inside open a bit so I got inside, but he turned downinto the apex. I got hard on the brakes, but we hit. I'm sorry for my teamand all the Motorola people who came out here this weekend." | |
 | #4 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
ALEX ZANARDI | |
| "I tried, I think Icould [pass de FERRAN]. I was obviously quicker than Gil at the end, buthe's obviously very strong and very tough to beat. He left me an opening,and I tried to take it. [To de FERRAN] I'm happy for you, but a little bitdisappointed for me." | |
 | #31 LCI International Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
ANDRE RIBEIRO | |
| "We had a few smallproblems today. I missed some gears and had trouble keeping the pace afterthe first pit stop. Towards the end, there was a misfire and smoke. Itturned out to be a broken header." | |
 | #32 Tecate Beer/Quaker State Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| "I never thought I would finish sixth. I though we would finish muchhigher. I am happy for the team, but disappointed with the result after ourefforts. "This was a tough race. At the beginning, my car was pushing a lot and I hadtrouble keeping up with the leaders. We made a few changes on the pit stopswhich really helped a lot and the car was very good at the end. Obviously,this is a very physically demanding race." | |
 | #98 Eagle Mk-V Toyota |
| photo Mike Levitt | |
P.J. JONES | |
| "When westarted out, we were running good. We started losing our shift-without-liftand our sensor and that making the motor miss, so we came in and fixed that.We had a lot of problems this weekend. It wasn't our weekend from theget-go. Every session was a challenge. We struggled all through the weekend,but we'll just keep working at it and try to get better as fast as we can." | |
 | #5 Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Reynard Ford |
ROBBY GORDON | |
| "I had really moved ahead. I think I was up to about fifthor sixth. Then, Christian [Fittipaldi] passed a couple of cars and all of asudden, he came through the middle of the pack and just drove me right outin the grass. Then he did it to me again. Finally, I got by him. I don'tknow if he had a problem of what, but something was going on there. We justcan't seem to fix our handling problems. The car was just very inconsistent.It had a lot of push." | |
 | #16 Bettenhaused Racing Alumax Aluminium Reynard Mercedes-Benz |
STEFAN JOHANSSON | |
| "I justflat wore the tires out in the end. There really wasn't much I could do inthe closing laps, and that's why we dropped a couple of positions.Ironically, the second set of tires we used were perfect. I had a very goodstint and you could see it in our lap times." | |
 | #25 Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard Toyota |
JEFF KROSNOFF | |
| "Coming out of thecorner, the car just shut down. I'm not sure what it was, it just stopped.The car was as good a car as we were going to get. I drove hard and the guysdid good pit work, but that all went out the window." | |
 | #18 Miller Racing Reynard Mercedes-Benz Team Rahal |
BOBBY RAHAL | |
| "I got agood start this time [moving from 11th to 8th]. Then I got to seventh, and Icould see the leaders. But we lost [turbo] boost after the first pit stop.And we lost three laps changing a boost controller. After that, I was asfast as the leaders. In fact, they were giving me the blue flag to move overfor [Alex] Zanardi. But he wasn't catching me. So, I kept running hard.Then, I slowed for him out of Turn One. It's a shame, because we had a goodcar and we could run with the Hondas most of the day. I'm happy for Bryan[Herta] and our Shell team." | |
 | #17 Hollywood Reynard Ford |
| photo Mike Levitt | |
MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| "The carwas very slow down the straight the whole race, and finally, we think welost a valve spring and had to shut the car down because it was about toexplode. We don't think it was the header, because we didn't lose anyboost." | |
 | #19 Panasonic/DUSKIN Lola Ford Cosworth |
HIRO MATSUSHITA | |
| "The car developed apeculiar engine problem because I couldn't use fifth gear on all thestraights; just on the last straight before the pits. The engine is notrevving high enough to pull the car. Thus, I ran out of track before theengine reached the shifting point. The engineers will look into this problemright away to determine if it can be corrected or we need to change motorsfor the race. Right now, it is difficult to know." | |
 | #36 Eagle Mk-V Toyota |
JUAN MANUEL FANGIO II | |
| "We couldn't get any points, but we are getting better. I was worriedafter this morning's warm-up, because we lost some speed with the engine,but we came back. It feels great to finish 13th [after qualifying 25th], butwe have to keep going. There's still a long way to go, but things arestarting to look better. I'm very excited. I'm very happy that the gear boxmade it. I talk about having a consistent car, and it was very good when thetires and tank were half way. That's what I'm looking for in the races." | |
 | #1 Brahma Sports Team Reynard Ford Cosworth |
RAUL BOESEL | |
| "I thinkwe had a really good start. I moved up a position. I tried to move to theinside, so I came off Turn One a little slow, but everything adjusted itselfand so I gained a spot. I was fighting with [Mauricio] Gugelmin, my car wasgetting better every lap, and it was only a matter of time before I wouldhave gone by him. My car was actually quicker than his and I was justwaiting for an opportunity to overtake him. I saw Robby [Gordon] ahead ofGugelmin, he was going about the same pace and was really using his brakesup, so it would have only been a matter of time for us to gain some morepositions. It seems we just cannot have any luck." | |