Race No. 6
Motorola 300
Gateway International Raceway — Madison, Illinois
May 21-23, 1998
Pre-Race Quotes from Gateway: | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
| ALEX ZANARDI | |
| [On last year's inaugural race at Gateway InternationalRaceway] The first race here was incredible. I gained the leadthree times. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to keep it on the circleonce the race restarted. The three times I gained the lead weredue to faster pit stops. | |
 | Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
| AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| [On thedevelopment of his car] I have the best team in the business.We're continuing to develop and learn about the '98 MarlboroPenske Mercedes with the goal of winning the [PPG Cup]championship. We've made gains in the first five races, and we'rereally looking forward to the rest of the season - If you want tosee and talk to the best of the best - Moore, Zanardi, Fernandez,Vasser, Herta, de Ferran, Andretti, Tracy, Ribeiro, Rahal - cometo the Motorola 300 in St. Louis on Memorial Day weekend. It'll bea great show for the fans. See you at the races. | |
 | Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
| ANDRE RIBEIRO | |
| [On a fresh startat St. Louis] We are going to St. Louis with good hopes. The St.Louis track is similar to Miami and Japan and we've shown thatthe Marlboro car performs well on this type of configuration. Wehad a good test there in April, so we should have a strongperformance this weekend. To go here [St. Louis] at this point ofthe season will be good for the whole team because hopefully, itwill be a new beginning. | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Walker Racing Reynard Ford |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| [On learning from his rivals] I tend to look at other drivers'performances to see if I can extract something that will benefitme. I typically watch [CART] races on TV [replay]. I watch othertypes of races. I watch Formula One, Winston Cup and otherraces and try to pick out interesting things. These might help toeducate yourself or polish your own abilities I've always done thatand found it helpful. I think it doesn't matter how good you are, youalways have a little bit to learn from other people. I'm alwaysstriving to become better. | |
 | Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford |
| BOBBY RAHAL | |
| [On the GatewayInternational Raceway oval] It's fast and it's fun. It's similar toPhoenix in that you're flat [on the throttle] through [Turns] 3 and 4.As fast as it is, passing is tough. And though the corners, aretight, there's room to race. I give [Gateway chairman] Chris Pookand his staff a lot of credit for getting the track ready to race lastyear. It's a terrific setting. I enjoyed driving there and I think they'regoing to be very successful. [On the fuel fire in his cockpit duringlast year's Motorola 300] Almost as soon as I smelled somethingburning, the flames were in the cockpit. I was able to get the carsafely off the track and jump out.. It was a scary few moments.Fire is the driver's biggest fear. I've had a few before, but youcould smell the body work burning first. This time, the smell andthe flames came together. I was pretty fortunate. [Rahalsustained minor first-degree burns and minimal second-degreeburns on his upper right arm in the incident. He was treated onsite at the CART Mobile Medical Facility and was back in the carthe following weekend at Milwaukee] | |
 | Hogan Truck Leasing Reynard Mercedes |
| JJ LEHTO | |
| [Onbuilding on his success at Rio de Janeiro] I'm excited about therace in St. Louis for many reasons. First of all, we're coming offour best finish yet [10th at Rio], and I think that momentum willhelp pump up the team for the race in Hogan's [Racing]hometown. Secondly, we had a good test at Gateway right beforeNazareth, so for me, I have a certain measure of confidencegoing in that maybe I didn't have at the tracks where we haven'ttested this season. Since this is my first year on ovals, every bitof test time I can get helps. Rio was a very important race for usin terms of engineering the car. We were able to get a very goodset-up on the car for the race and it showed in our result. I canonly think that the improvements will continue. Our entire packageis continuing to get better and better. Firestone, Mercedes-Benzand Reynard have not halted their development programs andhave consistently given the teams a superb product to race with. [On the support of St. Louis for the Motorola 300] The city ofSt. Louis has really been great in getting behind the event andmaking it a major sporting event in the area. We have thingsplanned almost every day during race week. So, I'm very excitedfor the entire experience. I think it should be great fun all the wayaround!" | |
 | Budweiser/Ralph's Della Penna Racing Swift Ford |
| RICHIE HEARN | |
| [On competing atSt. Louis] I think St. Louis is going to be one of the toughestraces this season. By changing our aerodynamics package withthe super speedway wing, it's going to greatly reduce ourdownforce, but it'll allow for more passing and a better show forthe fans. I think you'll see a lot of passing going into Turn 1. Mostlybecause we will be braking and downshifting there. So, it is anopportunity if you come off Turns 3 and 4 pretty quickly, and if youcan run right with somebody coming off the corner, you can getthe draft and pull out and then outbrake them into Turn 1 there.You will possibly see some passing going into Turn 3 as well,because as the track widens up, you will be able to have twogrooves through [Turns] 3 and 4. | |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
| JIMMY VASSER | |
| [On the uniqueness ofSt. Louis] All ovals have their own little characteristics and St.Louis is no different. Now, with the downforce changes that wehave encountered in the rules, it throws a new twist into the race.There will be a lot less downforce this year, so I think we'll bedownshifting going into Turn 1. | |
 | Hollywood Reynard Mercedes |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| [On theuniqueness of Gateway] First of all, the track has a very uniquelayout, with one end a tighter radius than the other. It's importantto have a car that works well at both ends of the track. The otherthing that is very individual about this race is the 300-miledistance. Normally, on the short ovals, we run 200 miles, so theSt. Louis event will require a lot of strategy about pit stops on thepart of the teams. Since that is one of our strong points, weshould be in good shape. [On the after-effects of his accident atNazareth, April 27] Actually, my back felt better at the end of therace in Rio than it had all week. The doctors said I was one of thefittest drivers, and that really helped a lot. The race in St. Louis isvery physical, with incredible G-forces, so everyone will be put tothe test. | |
 | PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes |
| MARK BLUNDELL | |
| [On driving theMotorola-sponsored car at a Motorola-sponsored event] We planon turning the support for Motorola in its home race into a positiveperformance on the track. It's fantastic to see Motorola's level ofcommitment to the FedEx Championship Series, and itspresence at St. Louis will add an extra bit of sparkle to the wholerace for us. [On the FedEx Championship Series season todate] We're at the level of winning races, because we've shownthat, and I think we have the potential to go to the next level.We've been competitive in spurts this year, but we have to get tothe point that we were at toward the end of 1997, when we wererunning in the top five every race on the circuit. Gateway would bean ideal place to regain that form. | |
 | Visteon Reynard Ford |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| [on turning the seasonaround] This season has been really tough. The Visteon guys aredoing a great job preparing the cars. We just have to keep ourheads high until we can turn this around. There's a lot moreracing left in the season, so we have time to get back in thechampionship hunt. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| [On continuing hismomentum at Gateway] We're starting to build a littlemomentum at Team KOOL Green, what with finishing second atLong Beach and winning the pole in Brazil. We seem to gain alittle each time we go out in the car and it is only a matter of timebefore we grab that first win. And it would be only fitting for met todo it here at Gateway, since this is where I led my first ChampCar race. I have unfinished business that I need to take care of atGateway. Last season, we were leading the race and pullingaway, all while running a very conservative pace. Then, thegearbox exploded with 27 laps to go - Bang! It was all over. I'll betrying to finish the job this time around. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| [On defending hisMotorola 300 championship] It's anybody's race, that's for sure.We're running the smaller speedway-type wings this year, sonobody is certain how their car will run in traffic and raceconditions. Fortunately, Team KOOL Green has a good basicsetup and I'm confident that we'll have a good car come raceday. [On the challenges of the Gateway oval] You tend to likeany track you win at, but I think Gateway is one of the best shortovals I've ever raced on. It's smooth and wide, which makes forlots of passing and wide-open racing. [On his victory atGateway last year] There was no way he [Patrick Carpentier,whom Tracy passed with two laps remaining for the victory] wasgoing to get away from me. I was picking cars off one-by-one as Igot faster throughout the race. Patrick was trying to conserve fueland I was able to get a good run on him along the frontstraightaway. The fans must have ate it up! | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| [On last year's runner-up effort at St. Louis] Gateway was a goodrace for me last year. I started fifth on the grid and was runningstrong all day. Towards the end of the race, I was leading for 25laps. I thought for sure we were going to win, but then we had togo lead a little bit to conserve fuel. It was still nice to get secondplace on the podium. This year, I want to be on the top step of thatpodium. | |
 | Baan Software Davis Racing Lola Ford |
| ARND MEIER | |
| [Onthe controversial conclusion to the Rio 400] I really don't see anybig reason to talk about it because I didn't block him [runner-upAlex Zanardi] and I didn't slow him down. It's disappointing that hethinks I cost him the race when Greg [Moore, the race winner]made an excellent pass on him. I didn't have anywhere to gowhen I got between them. I very well couldn't put them into thewall, but that's all in the past. [On the upcoming Motorola 300] I have no problems with ovals.I'm happy to get the chance totake the car out in St. Louis. After last season's disappointment ofnot racing here [Meier crashed during the race-day warm-up], I'mreally looking forward to this race. | |
 | Forsythe Player's-Indeck Reynard Mercedes |
| GREG MOORE | |
| [on thequality of competition at St. Louis] I'm excited about going toMadison for the Motorola 300. I really like the track because itallows for close racing. Turns 1 and 2 are much slower than[Turns] 3 and 4, and there's always a lot of passing. We had agreat car last year, but we were forced to pit late because of a flattire. We haven't tested at Gateway this year, but the Blue Crewhas done a great job of setting up the car, so I'm pretty confidentgoing into the race and coming out with the points lead. | |