Race No. 12
U.S. 500 — Presented by Toyota
Michigan Speedway — Brooklyn, Michigan
July 25-27, 1997
Sunday Quotes from drivers and managers at Michigan: | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Finished: 24th |
| Photo: Scott Hughes JIMMY VASSER | |
| "We had a gearbox problem, the car just would not go into gear. It's unfortunate for the whole team, we had a pretty good car today. We had a small problem on the first stop when Alex pulled into my pit box by mistake, and that cost us some track position, but the car was running good and there was a lot of racing left. This was an important race for us, I felt we needed a good finish here to bet back into the points chase. We had an opportunity to run well here today, and that's what is really disappointing." | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes-Benz Finished: 27th |
| GREG MOORE | |
| "I'm still not sure what happened, it's very frustrating. Right after the start I felt that something was wrong with the car and I pitted during the first yellow. Then I went out again because the team thought they had fixed the problem, but unfortunately it was not fixed. I am very disappointed because we could have won this race." | |
 | Marlboro Penske Mercedes Finished: 4th |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| "My hat's off to the entire Marlboro Team, the cards were really stacked against us today and we came out with a pretty decent finish. First off, I had my helmet stolen yesterday. Then we lost all of our telemetry at the start of the race. Mid-way through the race I lost radio contact with my crew so we were working off the pit board. Overall we had a good race and we were able to battle back from being a lap down. The car was good during the early part of the race, it was handling well and comfortable to drive. Unfortunately, we developed a big push during the last segment and weren't able to hold off the #5 (Gil de Ferran) car. It's too bad because we were really hoping for a podium finish but we really hung in there and were able to score some good points." | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Cosworth XD Finished: 21st |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| "The car was flawless, perfect. I'm really disappointed! I wanted to win this one. We may have given away the championship here. We should have come away leading the points but now we're going to come away with nothing. This is a real heart breaker. We really deserved the win. From 19th to first, and then to have this happen. We could have probably lapped the field by the end of the race. It was a walk in the park from the first lap The car was that good. When we were by ourselves, the car wasn't that good but when we were in traffic it was great. I'm surprised the gearbox failed. Everything was working fine. It was probably an oiling problem." | |
 | Marlboro Penske Mercedes Finished: 20th |
| AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| "In the beginning of the race, I was just trying to get used to my Indy car again because I had just finished the IROC (International Race of Champions) race less than an hour before. My Marlboro car was a little loose, too, so I wanted to take my time and stay out of trouble until I could come in to make some changes. During my second pit stop (lap 35), I had my guys make a front wing adjustment which got the rear end of the car settled down. We were also starting to get some cloud cover which gave us the rear grip we needed. After that, my Marlboro car was hooked up and there was nothing I couldn't do on the track--we could run with anyone and we were turning lap times quicker than the leaders. All of a sudden, my engine let go (on lap 98) and it was the end of our day. Obviously we're very disappointed, because I know we could have been right there in the end. We're not giving up--this just makes us more determined to get a win under our belt." | |
 | Brahma Sports Team Reynard Ford Finished: 14th |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| "I don't know what happened. I was cruising along in sixth gear not taking any chances waiting for the end to make a move and then between turn one and two the nose just washed out I thought I caught it but just ran out of room. It's a shame. The Brahma guys did a great job preparing the car, Ford had produced a strong reliable engine and obviously the Firestone tires are outstanding on the speedway oval." | |
 | PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes Finished: 2nd |
| MARK BLUNDELL | |
| "Obviously I'm very pleased to have achieved my best finish on an oval, and for it to come on a demanding superspeedway like Michigan makes it even sweeter. Our car had a lot of understeer at the start, but the Motorola crew did a great job in working with me to make it better throughout the race. When we went to the optional tires, the balance came good. At the end, we had to go back to the primes, so I just kind of cruised to the finish to make sure of the points. The tires overall worked very well. At the end of the race, I got a lot of pickup on the tires, which gave me a vibration, and my left hand fell asleep. But it's still working." | |
 | Ralphs/Food 4 Less Della Penna Racing Lola Ford Finished: 22nd |
| RICHIE HEARN | |
| "The car just wasn't right. It started getting loose not long after the start, and the problem just kept getting worse. Then the engine started getting hot on us and put us out of the race. We developed a water leak in the warmup, so that probably had something to do with it." | |
 | Kmart/Budweiser Swift Ford Newman/Haas Racing Finished: 16th |
| CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| "The right rear wasn't on tight and I spun exiting the pits after the wheel came off. It happens. We were running ninth, two laps down. We weren't really impressive today anyway. It would have been nice to score some points but I guess it wasn't to be. It was more of an endurance race than a sprint race. The points were looking good at the halfway mark. I think we would have finished in the top-six probably. It's a long way to go for zero points." | |
 | Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Lola Ford Cosworth Finished: 13th |
| MICHEL JOURDAIN | |
| "I don't know why there are a rash of gearbox failures today. We were fifth or sixth and this could have been our best finish. But the gearbox broke like so many others today. I'm very disappointed. We lost a couple of laps early, and were able to make some back. So we got a lot out of today in the pits, and on the track where we made a number of passes as well. It's a shame we didn't get to finish today." | |
 | MCI Arciero Wells Reynard Toyota Finished: 8th |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| "Today was a great achievement. It was the first 500-mile race I have done and to make it to the finish is fantastic. This is a good starting point for Toyota and MCI. I took it easy at the beginning because I didn't know what the car was doing. I just pushed harder and harder as more of the race was coming. I was learning what the car was doing. In the middle of the race the car was very loose car so we were trying to get a better balance on the car with each pit stop. I want to thank the guys on the crew. They worked extremely hard today with an engine change this morning and on the pit stops." | |
 | Pennzoil Special Reynard Ford Davis/Craig Racing Finished: 10th |
| GUALTER SALLES | |
| "That was a long day at the office, but I'm very happy to have scored my first top- 10 finish in CART and the first top- 10 finish for Davis Racing. The INDUSVAL/-Marlboro Reynard Ford Cosworth was a good car in the corners and had probably a bit too much drag down the straights, but it was a good car. The only problem was on my fourth stop, when I had to avoid Bryan Herta coming out of the pits while I came in. I hit the brakes hard and killed the engine. When it wouldn't restart, we had to change the ignition box and lost a number of laps there. Before then, I had a good run with Bobby Rahal for a number of laps before he went out and racing like that teaches you a lot in a hurry." | |
 | Shell Reynard Ford Team Rahal Finished: 5th |
| BRYAN HERTA | |
| "I think we had a top-three car today. Unfortunately, I stalled in the pits on our next to last stop and I lost a lap. I was trying to baby the transmission because my crew said that a lot of gearboxes were breaking. It's hard to ease out the clutch and take it easy out of the pits. You are so used to hitting the throttle hard and taking off during a pit stop. So, when I ease out, the car just died. It's tough on everyone in a 500-mile race -- drivers, crews, officials, cars. Taking home fifth isn't that bad. I really felt bad for Bobby (Rahal, Herta's owner and teammate). He was hooked up today. I think he was faster than Zanardi and could have won this race." | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Finished: 25th |
| PARKER JOHNSTONE | |
| "I was two-thirds of the way through Turn 2, and the car was balanced perfectly. Something let go in the right front. I doubt if I slowed down more than a few miles an hour before impacting at a fairly steep angle into the wall. It's a testimony to CART's safety and rules committee, and to Reynard for building such a great car, that I was able to jump out of the car. I also have to credit Bell Helmets, because when I crashed the right front suspension came back at me in its entirety and hit the helmet on the left front side." (On the pit stop difficulties) "I came in and was really pinched for space, because Bobby Rahal's crew was out. I got into the box a little crooked, and just as I was getting ready to leave, Gualter Salles came in. I got squeezed, and unfortunately with the steering lock being what it is on these cars and the angle at which I came into the pit box, there wasn't enough room for me to snap the car out of the box. The guys pulled me back, and because I'd been riding the clutch so hard waiting to go, I overheated the clutch and stalled the engine. They pulled me back, got us restarted and I got back out." (On the Davis Racing crew member he made contact with in the pit) "I'm very sorry if he was hurt or injured in any way. According to Dr. Olvey he's okay and back out working in the pit, and I'm very happy to hear that." | |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Finished: 1st |
| ALEX ZANARDI | |
| "You always have to be lucky to win a 500-mile race. I think we had an advantage today with the Honda engine. It seems to suffer less from the heat than the other engines and I think that was a factor, too." | |
 | LCI International Reynard Honda Tasman Motorsports Group Finished: 23rd |
| ANDRE RIBEIRO | |
| "We definitely had a fantastic car and set some good lap times, but something happened with the gearbox. When the yellow came out, I tried to downshift and only had fifth gear. Then that went. It is a huge disappointment when you have a good car, but we are able to be competitive and that is the main thing right now." | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group Finished: 26th |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| "We had an electrical problem. The car was better than I expected up until that point. It was not completely great, but I could hang on to the others and I was able to pass a few cars. It started getting loose at the end of the life of the first set of tires, but it was decent. Unfortunately it was short day." | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Reynard Ford Finished: 3rd |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| "This was not an easy race for us. We went down a lap with the pit-stop penalty and had a lot of understeer through most of the race. But every pit stop we made changes and persevered and by the end of the race, we had a good car. When the car is good, it is easy to be fast, consistent and yet take good care of your equipment so it is there for you at the end. Today's heat was tough on equipment and caused a lot of retirements, but our engine, car and tires held up well, These 500 milers are always tough races, so a podium here is that much sweeter." | |
 | Bettenhaused Racing Alumax Aluminium Reynard Mercedes-Benz Finished: 15th |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| "Apparently, there was some kind of electrical problem. I just shut it down when I lost power going down the backstretch. But I can tell you that I had the best car out there today. I was flat out, the car worked really well in traffic, the engine was strong and we had great pit stops. Even though we didn't get the result we wanted, this has been a very good weekend for us. We never tested here at all, but we came off the truck with a very quick race car." | |
 | Miller Lite Reynard Ford Team Rahal Finished: 17th |
| BOBBY RAHAL | |
| "I was trying to pass (Dennis) Vitolo and I went to the outside to go around him. But he just kept putting me higher and higher on the track and I hit the marbles. I knew I was going to hit a ton. It's a testimony to these cars that I could walk away from a crash like that. It's frustrating to have a car so good. We had a great chance to win this race. It's tough racing here and hitting the wall. Going these speeds it (hitting the wall) has happened before and it's going to happen again. We had a few problems early but the crew made the correct changes. My car was almost perfect. It's a shame to be taken out of the race like this." | |
 | Hollywood Reynard Mercedes Finished: 6th |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| "We had a good car all day. We saved the car really well because everybody else was breaking down. They told me to slow down, but I was already slow. On the yellow, the car just died on me. It had been running perfectly, but it started running rough like it dropped a cylinder or two and then it quit. It was the spark box. They replaced it, and the car ran fine, but I lost five laps. I had a couple of other problems... I nearly went into the wall in Turn 4 at one point when I was trying to get back within two laps of the lead, and later I had a left front tire explode. I made it all the way back to sixth, and did a 232 [mph lap] in the race. There was only one stint when the car wasn't as good. I've got to get this monkey off my shoulder pretty soon." | |
 | Brahma Sports Team Reynard Ford Cosworth Finished: 18th |
| RAUL BOESEL | |
| "Something broke in the gearbox when we made the pit-stop. The car was good, plenty of power and grip. We made improvements to the car on every pit stop and I was just pacing myself With the way Scott (Pruett) and I were running I though it was going to be a really good day for the Brahma Sports Team." | |
 | Smith-Kline Project Indy Lola Ford Cosworth Finished: 7th |
| DENNIS VITOLO | |
| "This is great. The beginning of my season really started off very difficult. So one, just to finish is good. A top-1O finish is excellent. The team did a wonderful job with the car. I was able to race where I thought I should have qualified. We had a turbo or similar problem in qualifying that hurt us obviously. But in the race I was able to race with the cars that I thought I should have been able to qualify next too. And I had a lot of fun racing." | |
 | Hasseroder Project Indy Lola Ford Cosworth Finished 12th |
| ARND MEIER | |
| "The race was actually shorter than I thought it would be. There were a lot of yellows. It was easier than I think. I was busy with a lot of drivers on my rear. I was just trying to go faster and faster and learn some things. At the end I went faster. The super speedway is much more fun than a little oval. On a big oval you can really play with other people on the track, run against and side-by-side. Most times that's impossible on the little ones." | |
 | Team Kool Green Team manager |
| BARRY GREEN | |
| "We must've run over some debris and cut the right front tire pretty badly, because it went down pretty fast. The tire came apart, and Parker crashed. It's tough, because we had a long way to go yet, and the car was very fast." | |
| Hogan Motor Leasing Owner | |
| CARL HOGAN | |
| "The gearbox just froze up, just like what happened in St. Louis. We led another race and we had a good car and he was comfortable. We feel we had as good a car or better than any out there. It's just one of those things with these gearboxes in these ovals, they won't last. Some of the other cars were having the same problems way before us. I guess there was some kind of a structural failure within the gearbox." | |
| GERALD DAVIS | Owner, Davis Racing |
| "The boy (Gualter Salles) did all right today. Everything we asked of him he did including running aggressive on his restarts and the team helped him out with excellent pitstops all day long. A run like this, even with the sparkbox problem, can only instill a lot of confidence in the driver and with the team. Everyone did an excellent job today." | |
| DAN GURNEY | All American Racers Team Owner |
| "On our second pit stop today we noticed that the clutch had begun to deteriorate which increased the difficulty to engage in first gear after the stop. We called Juan in at the end of the race because the engine oil temperature stabilized at quite a high temperature. In one lap, we saw an increase of 13 to 14 degrees, historically that is a problem of serious nature. We also noticed a few other problems. On the pit stop where we pitted for fuel only, we noticed blisters on the left rear tire but it didn't seem to effect the lap speeds. On the final stop we changed the tires and when we attempted to leave the pits we broke the dog ring. But what it came down to, was the concern with the engine's oil temperature and what that indicated. This race was quite an accomplishment for Toyota and our Toyota competitors." | |
| PacWest Racing Group Team Owner | |
| BRUCE MCCAW | |
| "I think the most important thing to note is the consistency of the PacWest cars at Michigan over the last two years. In six starts, we achieved three podium finishes and three other top-six finishes. Mauricio clearly had the fastest car out there today. Except for a minor electrical problem, which the team was able to cure, he was the guy to beat. He did a tremendous job, as did Mark in coming home the runnerup." | |