Race No. 3
Long Beach Grand Prix
Long Beach — California
April 11 — April 13, 1997
Saturday Quotes from drivers and managers at Long Beach: | #1 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
| JIMMY VASSER | |
| "Thing's didn't govery well. We made a lot of changes, and improved a little bit,but not nearly as much as we wanted." | |
 | #99 Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes-Benz |
| GREG MOORE | |
| "It's veryclose. Only two tenths would have lifted us to fourth position.We're close enough to the front runners and we have a good carfor tomorrow. In fact, the car is very constant speed-wiseunderlining this. For the race we need to keep out of troubleat the start going into Turn 1 and then try to move up. Iexpect a lot of yellow flags and hopefully these will happen infront of me. If it's difficult to pass, I'll have to putpressure on the guy in front of me and hope that he runs intotrouble." | |
 | #3 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| "I'm reallydisappointed with my qualifying. We were quicker this morningin practice and were not able to capitalize on it in thisafternoon's session." | |
 | #2 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
| AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| "I just can't finda balance. My opinion is that it's the tire war. The balancechanges so bad on my Marlboro car when I run on a fresh set oftires versus tires with one lap on them that I end up slippingand sliding all over the place. I really think everyone isfighting the tire situation whether they're running on Goodyearor Firestone. It's just that the guys that are in front of mehave their set-ups figured out a lot better than I do. "I'm just really frustrated right now. My Marlboro crew and Ihave done everything to get the car working great for one,quick lap so we could move up on the grid. Now, I don't knowwhat to do because we don't have a race set-up. I've reallypainted myself into a corner. We were at least aiming for oneof the first three rows. We're starting so far back (15th) now,that it's going to be really tough to stay out of trouble.We're not giving up. There's always a lot of attrition at thisrace -- we just have to hope we're not a part of it. We have toconcentrate on running consistently and we'll give it our bestshot to be there at the end." | |
 | #20 Brahma Sports Team Reynard Ford |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| "We worked real hardon our setup this morning. It's really good that we were ableto pick up six places from yesterday. The Ford engine has beenrunning terrific again, so we should be right there for thecheckered flag this time too. It hasn't missed a beat allweekend long. Coming out of the box and qualifying like we hadthe previous two races, out of the top 10 in Miami and seventhin Australia, maybe this will make it that much easier." | |
 | #18 PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes |
| MARK BLUNDELL | |
| "A bit better ,but not what we wanted. We made improvements from this morning,and we seem to be on the right track. Thankfully, we're makingprogress." | |
 | #21 Ralphs/Food 4 Less Della Penna Racing Lola Ford |
| RICHIE HEARN | |
| "It was hardtoday not having enough green laps to run. The same thinghappened in Australia. Just as you go to build up your flyinglap the red flag came out and you had to stop. It really isn'tthat big of a deal but your tires are at the best on the thirdor fourth lap and if you've used that up you have to use whatyou have. We always run better in the race." | |
 | #34 Data Control Payton/Coyne Lola Ford |
| ROBERTO MORENO | |
| "I've learned acouple of tricks in the car, and the team made the setup betterfor me. The end result being a better position up at the frontof the grid. We're going to have to be aggressive tomorrow atthe start so as to not give away the advantage we have earned.The Ford engine, now that the slow speed corners have gotten alittle faster, picks up very well and goes to the top of thehorsepower curve. As I was driving I thought that I must havebeen a good boy because it feels like they gave me 200 hp moretoday!" | |
 | #77 Reynard Ford Davis/Craig Racing |
| GUALTER SALLES | |
| "It was thebeginning of the practice this morning, and coming out of thehairpin my engine got soft. So I was just cruising with my handin the air to stop by the exit of the pits in a safe spot. Gil(de Ferran) was coming and trying to over take Hiro(Matsushita) and he didn't see me, and crashed into my back. Wehad the 14th time from yesterday, and we just couldn't fix thecar in time to qualify any better this afternoon. We'll be setfor the warm-ups and race tomorrow. It's disappointing becauseI felt that I could be near the top 10 position. But the raceis long, and I can finish in the points. I'm not hurt, and asfar as I'm concerned about the accident, it was just a racingincident that happens to everyone at some point." | |
 | #8 Shell Reynard Ford Team Rahal |
| BRYAN HERTA | |
| "We were close on oursetup but not right what we wanted. The first part of thequalifying we had wheel spin off the corners. So, we worked oncorrecting it. But in the process, we lost a little front grip.That meant the car had understeer. It wouldn't turn in as wellas before. We fixed it a little towards the end of the session.But not enough to move up. At least I can trust the guystarting next to me [Herta's teammate and team owner BobbyRahal]." | |
 | #27 Team Kool Green Reynard Honda |
| PARKER JOHNSTONE | |
| "I'm frustrated.Basically, the problem is handling, getting enough grip tobalance the car in the turns. We never found the rightcombination for qualifying." | |
 | #32 Tecate Beer/Quaker State Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| "Thismorning, we had fairly good expectations. I about matched myqualifying time from yesterday with quite a few laps on thetires. This afternoon the car changed. We lost a lot of gripand the balance is not the same. We just couldn't get it back." | |
 | #16 Bettenhaused Racing Alumax Aluminium Reynard Mercedes-Benz |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| "The car wasa little better than yesterday, but we still lack a lot ofgrip. We're also having a problem with push. We need aboutthree days of testing here to get back on track." | |
 | #7 Miller Lite Reynard Ford Team Rahal |
| BOBBY RAHAL | |
| "I thought we had agood car on Friday (qualifying 4th). And it's not that bad now.But we lost traction off the corners both in the front and inthe rear. I just couldn't make the car stick when I turned intothe corners. Of course, I think that was a problem for a lot ofguys today, because normally we all improve our times onSaturday over Friday's. The track usually gets more grip andmore rubber as the weekend goes on. But De Ferran was able tohold on to the pole without driving in the Saturday session. SoI'm not sure the track got much better today. It's a littlehotter today and grip was the problem." | |
 | #34 Payton/Coyne Lola Ford |
| PAUL JASPER | |
| "The good news is that I'mgetting more laps and thereby more practice time. I'm stilltrying to figure the car out from only a couple of test daysand then running in Australia where we didn't get that manylaps either. We had a radiator start leaking in qualifying andthat hurt us quite a bit. Otherwise the car felt real good." | |
 | #40 Brahma Sports Team Reynard Ford Cosworth |
| RAUL BOESEL | |
| "People seemed to slowdown after they did their best lap. I got traffic on my bestlap, and that was it. I'm back on the grid. With the grid sotight, you can't afford to have that happen to you. The teamdid a fantastic job changing the engine from this morning to anew one for qualifying, and everything went smooth. So, I'lljust hope and pray for the race." "This is a good starting place for a Friday. The Ford engine ispretty good. We need to find a better balance with the car, butthe engine ran good. I'm quite happy. Unlike Australia, we alsoshould do a little better in the sessions before the race. Theteam had asked me to try left foot braking. In trying to dothat, they though that in the long run it might be better. Igave it a try, and that's why we didn't qualify as well atSurfers. But we went back Sunday morning, I went back to whatI've done all my life, which is right foot braking and itseemed to pay off." | |
 | #64 Smith-Kline Project Indy Lola Ford Cosworth |
| DENNIS VITOLO | |
| "In all my years ofracing, I have never experienced anything as bad as this. First Miami,and then this. It is difficult to put a happy face on the season atthis point." [The car was withdrawn from tomorrow's race and willreappear in Nazareth in two weeks.]" | |
 | #9 Hogan Racing Reynard Mercedes |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| "We werea half a second faster than the morning session, but we stillneeded another second. We lost our time on the curbs. You haveto run over the curbs. We lose the balance of the car goingover them." | |