Race No. 7
Miller 200
The Milwaukee Mile
West Allis, Wisconsin
May 29-31, 1998
Raceday Quotes from Milwaukee: | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Finished: 8th |
| ALEX ZANARDI | |
| We did what we had to do, but miscalculated a little bit on the fuel. If everyone did everything perfectly, then I guess there would be thirty winners. If the is to be another winner other than me, I am glad that it is my teammate and friend Jimmy. We were looking forward to a good finish to help us in the points today. It was not as high as we wanted, but at least we leave here moving forward in the points race. | |
 | Marlboro Penske Mercedes Finished: 3rd |
| AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| We had a great day today, what can I say? The Marlboro car was strong right from the beginning and we were hanging with the leaders. I want to thank Andre [Ribeiro] and Tom German [Ribeiro's race engineer]. We used their setup today and the car worked really, really well. We were doing everything we could to try and catch these guys. I was praying for traffic, but when it came, they got through that traffic as good as can be done. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Finished: 26th |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| I was going into the corner with Carpentier and he just chopped my nose off. I don't know why he did it. This is the first time I've ever raced against him and now I know what I'm dealing with. He was running good and I was running really good. He outbraked me but he shouldn't have come over my nose. | |
 | Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford |
| BOBBY RAHAL | |
| We didn't have a great starting position, but I think we ran a good race to finish in the top five. Every race this year has been decided by a fraction of a second, so if you're off just a little bit on one run, it can set you back that it's hard to get it back. It's unbelievable just how right everything has to be all day long, all race long. The fans were super and it was very rewarding to hear their ovations. | |
 | Budweiser/Ralph's Della Penna Racing Swift Ford |
| RICHIE HEARN | |
| [Finished a career best 6th] Today was kind of like Rio a little bit for us. We were already at the back of the line, and I only lost three spots coming in early (for the pitstop), but it really paid off. I got in the lead there, and was begging for somebody to blow their motor and sure enough somebody blew their motor. I only had about three or four gallons left, and that made all the difference. I knew I had a good race car all weekend because I was able to run in traffic. I just wasn't able to get the ultimate speed out during qualifying so I was really disappointed in my starting position. But we got some breaks and the car stayed consistent which is the key for any one-mile oval. The engine was fast and good on fuel mileage, so everything worked out well for us. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco Havoline Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford |
| ROBERTO MORENO | |
| The engine started to cut and then come back, cut and then come back - very suddenly maybe three or four times in a corner. When it went off and came back on in the middle of Turn 4, it came on too quick and I spun. It broke the wheels loose. I was lucky I didn't crash. It caught me by surprise. I did a reset with the switch and it came back on, and we were fantastic, pulling away from the leaders in fact. But then it started to happened again. We changed all the basic electric stuff, but it didn't help. So we called it a day. It's been a very bad weekend for the Kmart team, but at least we were able to get together and come and fight following Christian's accident. I'm very thankful that Carl (Haas) thought to call me in his time of need. I also need to thank the Penske Team and Roger for allowing me to do this get going again in racing. | |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Finished: 1st |
| JIMMY VASSER | |
| We came here and tested about a month ago and we were very quick. We knew what the numbers were supposed to be, but for some reason, we couldn't get those numbers out of the car when the weekend started. Alex [Zanardi] was kind enough to open his book to us for qualifying. We used his information and the car was fantastic. We've been working as a team to figure out the black art of one-mile ovals. The car changes so much from the beginning of one fuel run to the end. We had a decent car. It was solid, but it wasn't super fast. I don't think we were the fastest car today, but we were the most consistent, and those are the cars that usually win on one-mile ovals. It was a good pit stop," said Vasser, who has scored PPG Cup points in 44 of his past 51 starts, dating to Milwaukee in 1995. "It gave me a cushion and that allowed me to take my time in traffic. We came out of the pits and went 'straight lean' [fuel mixture] right away, knowing that it would be close. I've got to thank [engineer] Julian Robertson and [Target/Ganassi managing director] Tom Anderson for making that decision, and Firestone and Honda were the perfect combination again. It feels great to have done well on ovals this year after all the trouble they gave us last year. This is the last short oval of the year, so we'll have to wait and see next year if this is the beginning of an oval dynasty. We were able to save a lot of fuel at the beginning of the race, so at the end we had to be careful, but didn't have to force it. With the way the cars backed up at the end, we did not have to conserve as much at the end as we thought we might. It feels great to have done well on the ovals this year after all the trouble they gave us last year. this is the last short oval of the year, so we will have to wait to next year to see if this is the beginning of an oval dynasty, but the main thing is that we got another one and we will use it to build on for this year. | |
 | Bettenhausen Racing Alumax Aluminium Reynard Mercedes Finished: 2nd |
| HELIO CASTRO-NEVES | |
| Since my big crash at Homestead [on the season-opening weekend], it's been very tough for me on ovals. It's been tough to get comfortable and confident, but everything is starting to get very good for me now. I'm just so happy. I'm learning patience in Champ Car racing. It is a long race, with very many pit stops, you just have to be patient. That's what I did last week at St. Louis [where Castro-Neves finished seventh, a career best prior to Sunday]. These guys, Al [Unser Jr.] and Jimmy [Vasser], they're the best. It's very good for me to be in this position right now. At St. Louis, I just wanted to finish. I have made some rookie mistakes this season and there is definitely a learning curve. You just have to be patient. When the time is right, you go for it. I thought I could pass Jimmy in traffic, but then Tony started yelling at me to save fuel. I had a big gap on Al (Unser Jr.) and then on the last turn, it started to run out and Al almost passed me. I crossed the line just ahead of him. | |
 | Hollywood Reynard Mercedes Finished: 21st |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| I had a lot of action for only 102 laps. We had a good handling car all weekend, but it was very loose from the start in the race. I still almost made it through the first stint without loosing a lap. Then Gil blew up and there was smoke everywhere. Russell (Cameron, Team manager) got on the radio to warn me and I backed off. Greg must have not known there was a problem because he hit me in the back. It was a hard hit -- I'm surprised I didn't crash the car. | |
 | PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes Finished: 12th |
| MARK BLUNDELL | |
| It was a long and hard race for a single point. At the beginning of the race, the car felt reasonable, but it went away. I struggled with a severe vibration for the last 130 laps. That was causing a lot of difficulty. We've been battling the handling all weekend and that was the case in this race. But we earned one point, and that point may be all-important at the end of the year. | |
 | Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Reynard Ford Finished: 15th |
| MICHEL JOURDAIN | |
| With half tanks the car ran well, but when the tanks were full the car had a push and at the end of the tankswere empty the car went loose. I just tried to finish the race in the best position possible, trying to avoidany contact with anybody, since the chassis was not well. | |
 | Visteon Reynard Ford |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| The Visteon Team really deserved better today. That was one of the best race cars that I've ever had, but we had an equipment problem that affected our refueling. So our race was not as smooth as it should of been. It's a frustrating experience to waste an opportunity to finish in the top three because of something neither I nor the crew could control. | |
 | LCI International Tasman Motorsports Group LCI Reynard Honda Finished: 17th |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| It was a tough weekend for us all around. I was fighting a loose car all day, but we did manage to finish the race and I learned quite a lot this weekend. | |
 | MCI Arciero Wells Reynard Toyota Finished: 16th |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| I really want to thank the MCI team because we stuck together during difficult conditions and we got the best out of the car that we could. Today was difficult for us but I’m looking forward to the future. The car is in one piece -- that’s what is important. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Finished: 4th |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| The car handled good all day. After the last stop, the crew told me to start saving fuel so I was running the Honda on the leanest setting possible. We were still running reasonable lap times. For the last five laps, I was running at half-throttle around the whole track and not braking, just trying to keep my momentum up. I probably only had half a gallon left at the end. My compliments to the Team KOOL Green guys. They gave me great stops again. This kind of helps make up to them for crashing out of the race on the first lap at St. Louis. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Finished: 7th |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| It was definitely a frustrating day today. The KOOL car was great and we led the race, but we just didn't make it happen in the pits. We were leading the race and came in, and then we left in sixth place. Once you get behind guys like Zanardi or Al, Jr., you're not going to get by them. We'll take the points and hopefully fix the problem for Detroit. | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Finished: 25th |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| Michael and I both knew we has a car to win. I had the corner and came down close to the door, but Michael didn't accept I had it (the corner) and back off, so we both ended up going out (of the race). Normally when a driver out-brakes you going into a corner, he has to give it up, but Michael didn't. I don't blame him, I don't blame myself, it's 50/50. More than anything, I would say it was two guys being aggressive early on in the race. It was bad for today because we had a great car. Hopefully we'll turn things around in Detroit. I didn't see him (Andretti) in my side mirror. I thought I had the line. Coming into turn three, Michael braked much sooner than I expected and I had the advantage. Since the outside line had less grip, I slowly started going for the inside. My left rear wheel touched his right front, I spun and hit the wall. That was the end of the race for me. | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| From where we started, this was not bad, but I'm not pleased. We just didn't have the car. It could have been worse. In thinking about the championship, we are hanging on there but hopefully we can turn things around a bit in Detroit and score the type of points that you need to sustain a championship run. Here, just one-mile ovals have not been our cup of tea. The car had a lot of understeer. We just couldn't fight for any positions. It was very difficult. | |
 | Castrol/Degree AAR Racing Reynard Toyota Finished: 14th |
| P.J. JONES | |
| The car was really good at the beginning, I don't know what happened. It just went extremely loose towards the end and caused us to back up a little bit. Finishing 14th isn't exactly what we had in mind, but we did have a pretty good run. I just wish that we could have held on at the end. | |
 | Forsythe Player's-Indeck Reynard Mercedes Finished: 13th |
| GREG MOORE | |
| We had a great car. I feel really bad for the Blue Crew. They gave me a car that was running really well and would have given us a podium finish. It's unfortunate when you have a situation like today. I had a good run on Mo (Mauricio Gugelmin) and was pulling out from the draft to pass him. Mo saw the smoke from Gil's (de Ferran) engine and hit the brakes. The guys did a really great job of getting the suspension fixed and me on the track again. I'm happy with our finish. I can't wait for Detroit. I think we'll definitely be strong there. | |
 | Team Kool Green Team manager |
| BARRY GREEN | |
| What can I say about Dario's effort? What a great drive, in only his second year on ovals. Paul had a brilliant drive, but we struggled a little bit in the pits and with fuel mileage in the last segment. Paul is a hell of a man to work with. We should have done better for him. | |