Race No. 14
Texaco/Havoline 200
Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
August 16-18, 1996
Friday Quotes from drivers and managers at Road America:| Index of Quotes available | ||
|---|---|---|
| MARK BLUNDELL | ROBBY GORDON | MAURICIO GUGELMIN |
| BRYAN HERTA | PARKER JOHNSTONE | JAN MAGNUSSEN |
| GREG MOORE | MAX PAPIS | SCOTT PRUETT |
| BOBBY RAHAL | PAUL TRACY | AL UNSER JR |
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#99 Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes-Benz |
GREG MOORE | |
| "We
didn't capitalize after this morning's good practice session and
I'm really disappointed to be out of the top ten."
"We know that there are a few things that we can do to the car to make it better for tomorrow, especially through the fast turns. We just have to generally make the car better. Tomorrow we'll have to give it our best qualifying effort." "In qualifying here you have to be careful with the tires, because you can really use them up fast....the trick is to warm them up and then make them last. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be okay. As far as the race goes, the most important thing with the tires is to make sure that we're around for the end of the race." | |
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#3 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
PAUL TRACY | |
| "The Marlboro car is working well and we're pretty pleased with our qualifying performance. The Goodyear tires are up front, so hopefully, with some more improvements to the car, we should improve our time tomorrow. My neck is a little stiff, being hurt is one thing, but when the car is running well, it takes away the pain. I'm glad we didn't race last week, because now, I realize it was worth the wait. It's hard for me to sit around and not be racing, but I don't feel I could have run at Mid-Ohio. I wasn't quite 100 percent." | |
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#3 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
JAN MAGNUSSEN | |
| "This track is much better for me than Mid-Ohio, which is a very technical circuit. Road America is much like the circuits I have been driving in Europe. Of course, it is difficult to learn a new track each time, and I am still having a steep learning curve with the Penske PC96 and my new team. The Hogan Penske crew will work on getting more straightaway speed for me and a bit more balance so we can improve our position. With their knowledge of this car and the four-mile track, I'm sure they will make me more comfortable and we will gain speed." | |
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#2 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| "It's been an
up and down day for us. This morning, my car was super loose so
we went to a completely different set-up for qualifying. I
pretty much had a brand new car in this afternoon's session. We
had a little trouble keeping the Marlboro car balanced through
the corners and we're still struggling to get to the front, but
we definitely made some gains.
"I've had years like this before and we're going to keep plugging away. We're not out of the championship at all but we have to get more performance out of the Marlboro car so we can be a little bit more competitive in the race. If we can do that, we can race against the top guys and be there at the end when it counts." | |
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#20 Firestone Lola Ford Patrick Racing |
SCOTT PRUETT | |
| "We made a pretty big improvement with the car, but we still need to do more. We've got a pretty good idea of some things we want to go back and change to see if we can pick up a bit more speed. For the most part, I'm pleased [with today's session]. Things went well. We'll try and do better tomorrow." | |
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#21 PacWest Reynard Ford Cosworth |
MARK BLUNDELL | |
| "I'm really disappointed, because since the first laps this morning the car hasn't felt good. And we haven't managed to improve that situation one little bit. I'm concerned over that fact. We've got to address that situation, and we've got to do it quick." | |
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#25 MCI Arciero Wells Reynard Toyota |
MAX PAPIS | |
| "I think that this is one of the nicest tracks I have driven on in the United States. It is difficult to go fast right away because I haven't had put in many laps on track. Only the one-hour session this morning and then this half-hour session. It is my first time with the lower-wing [less downforce] configuration on the Indy car so I need a little bit of time to adjust the car to my style of driving. And we are working to develop the Reynard-Toyota package. The thing that I am very glad about is that we always get better, we don't get worse." | |
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#28 Shell Reynard Mercedes-Benz Team Rahal |
BRYAN HERTA | |
| "The track was slippery in the morning today, but it gained more grip during qualifying. I'm sure the track will get better traction throughout the weekend. We had a lot of dirt on the track during our qualifying session too. This time was a big boost for the team. We qualified well in some races early this year but didn't get the results. Lately, we've started getting the results [four straight Top 6 finishes including second at MIS] and working towards the top of the podium. That's our goal. A win. So, today was vice nice but we've got Saturday and Sunday to concentrate on now." | |
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#49 Motorola Reynard Honda Brix Comptech Racing |
PARKER JOHNSTONE | |
| "I think the chassis actually is working pretty well. We're just slow in the straights. Its not any problem with the Honda engine, I think its more aero [wing settings] than anything else. But still, it was a good improvement from this morning, especially considering that we're one of the few teams not to test here this year." | |
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#5 Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Reynard Ford |
ROBBY GORDON | |
| "We did our quick lap and then came in and did a camber change. I went through Turn One on my next lap and I had some understeer so I put more rear bar into it, which makes it stiffer. I went up to the top and spun because of the stiffer rear bar. It was my choice to put more rear bar in it because I was the one to move the lever. I guess I probably went a couple of notches too many. The penalty [eight minutes in the pits for the red flag] definitely hurt us. I figure we should have been in the 68s. We'll work at it and see if we can get it for tomorrow. We gained about 1.5 seconds between practice and qualifying. If we can do that again overnight, we'll be in good shape." | |
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#18 Miller Racing Reynard Mercedes-Benz Team Rahal |
BOBBY RAHAL | |
| [Rahal is running a special silver and black car this weekend to commemorate Miller Brewing Company's 25 years in motorsports] "The track was pretty slippery and the car wanted to slide quite a bit. We've had two good testing sessions here at Road America and we felt we had a good base to work from with the chassis. I think the Goodyear guys have been working overtime to catch the Firestone boys. I know they've been getting closer at each race. I'm very pleased with Bryan's [Herta, Bobby's teammate] run. He's really come on strong the last half of the year. We knew Bryan had the talent. We just needed to give him the proper equipment and personnel." | |
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#17 Hollywood Reynard Ford |
MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| "The
car is working really well here. We just have to improve on the
exit. I'm still going to much into an oversteer with the car.
But I'm happy. Let's see if I can improve a little bit more
tomorrow. The balance is really decent."
[On having the fastest time near the end of the first session] "We didn't stay there, but this where we should be. But it's hard. This year has been really tough and competitive. We are just building up for next year. The team is still growing and we are getting better and better each day." | |