Race No. 17
Texaco Grand Prix of Houston
Houston, Texas
October 2-4, 1998
Raceday Quotes from Houston: | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Finished: 2nd |
| ALEX ZANARDI | |
| The strategy was just one word - surviving. I guess everybody was trying to do that, somebody with more success, as we did, and somebody with less success. The first two starts, was very interesting, very entertaining. With all that happening, the key word was going to be just keep it cool, just hope for the best, just put pressure on the other people, and that's what I kept doing. My car was good, but Dario seemed to have a much better balance. He drove very, very smoothly, very well and never made any mistakes. I was just waiting for something to happen which didn't come. | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Walker Racing Reynard Honda Finished: 21st |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| The right side CV joint went. It was a shame. In the wet we weren't very good but when we changed to drys and after a couple of laps to warm the tires, the car was very good. I was able to push hard and was catching Vasser, when I lost all drive. This was my kind of race weather, these half and half conditions. I raced in England a lot in these kinds of conditions and got pretty good at it. We would have had a good finish. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Finished: 28th |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| This is heartbreaking for everyone. I was using all of my might to turn the car and barely could make the turns. I almost crashed twice after the second stop. Texaco has put so much time and effort into this race and I wanted to give them a win here. I think we could have done pretty well. It's a heartbreaking day for our team, for Carl and for our sponsors Kmart and Texaco. This is really a hard one to take. Christian and I have spent so much time getting prepared for this race and it’s over in just a few laps. | |
 | Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford Finished: 23rd |
| BOBBY RAHAL | |
| Well, I had just gone to slicks and (the track) was a little damper than I thought and the car just pulled itself right in the wall and bent the front suspension. The track was certainly slippery, but we were doing okay today. | |
 | Shell Team Rahal Reynard Ford Finished: 8th |
| BRYAN HERTA | |
| It was a very long day. The first lap incident with De Ferran killed us. But we were lucky that we didn’t hit the wall hard. When we got going again, the Shell crew set me up with a car that on rain tires was quicker than the leader. To salvage an eighth place out of it is something positive to leave here on. We just didn’t expect this weather today. It was dangerous out there. | |
 | Budweiser/Ralph's Della Penna Racing Swift Ford Finished: 9th |
| RICHIE HEARN | |
| This was a race of survival. It was extremely difficult to see out there. I think I was the fastest when the wet tires started to go away for the other guys, but I lost out when the dry tires started to go away. When the rain set in again, it was just a matter of keeping the car on the track. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco Havoline Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford Finished: 27th |
| CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| There is really nothing I can say that can express my disappointment, Greg Moore spun and I had no where to go. It is easier to take disappointment if you know something is your fault but when someone else takes you out, what can you do? We had a really, really good shot at a win today and to have it taken away so soon is unbelievable right now. So many people were counting on us to do well here, including myself. The series is so competitive and you dont get in this position every day. It has been a really long season and I wanted to win this race for myself, Carl and my sponsors Kmart and Texaco. A lot of time has been put into organizing this race by Carl and Texaco and we all were capable of more than what happened today. | |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Finished: 4th |
| JIMMY VASSER | |
| This was a pretty wild day, but we all had to deal with it. I think that with the conditions, and my place in the points, I was being a little extra careful and conservative today. Dario drove a great race, he was out in front the whole time and was hooked up in both the wet and the dry, so he deserves it. But we're still in second place and that's our goal. | |
 | Bettenhausen Racing Alumax Aluminium Reynard Mercedes Finished: 24th |
| HELIO CASTRO-NEVES | |
| I am very disappointed, obviously. I hit one of the Penskes on the first lap--I think it was Al Unser Jr.--and that damaged the right front suspension. The crew did a great job to keep me going, but we were two laps down when I rejoined the race. Right before we pitted to change over to slicks from rain tires, we lost another lap to the leaders. There really wasn’t anything we could do except wait for someone to drop out. We weren’t going to make up the three laps. | |
 | Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Reynard Ford Finished: 25th |
| MICHEL JOURDAIN | |
| At the beginning of the race the car was running well. I was able to overtake Mark Blundell. Unfortunately we had engine problems and it began to loose power. Prior to that, I was running close to Robby (Gordon) and he made contact with me two or three times. When I tried to overtake him he hit my left sidepod and put me into the wall which caused the red flag. | |
 | Visteon Reynard Ford Finished: 11th |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| This was a bad ending to a bad weekend. Even though we were down, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. We came out of the box on Friday and the car was not working right. On Saturday, we had an engine problem and then going into the race it started pouring. But the car was pretty decent considering we were starting 19th. We just kept working our way up, I made some bad moves in traffic which kind of cost me three or four positions, and then we just ran to the end. Now it’s on to Australia and we will see what we can do to make it two in a row there. | |
 | LCI International Tasman Motorsports Group LCI Reynard Honda Finished: 3rd |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| I think the day was difficult for everybody, very difficult conditions. The track was so slippery in the beginning of the race, and we got dry and then got wet again. It was the same conditions for everybody. We just tried to stay on the track, and we did. I knew that if we finished this race, we would finish good. I knew how many points I needed to win the Rookie of the Year and I knew as well it was going to be pretty difficult, because Helio [Castro-Neves] had been running well. This is the second time we had bet for something, and we won, so I'm very happy. | |
 | Arciero/Wells Reynard Toyota Finished: 13th |
| ROBBY GORDON | |
| I am proud and excited for Max, the Arceiro-Wells team and Toyota. It is great to be involved in this continued effort. I am looking forward to running the next two races at Australia and Fontana. | |
 | MCI Arciero Wells Reynard Toyota Finished: 5th |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| This is a wonderful birthday present for me and the MCI Team. It was so hard today with the rain and not being able to see or race under these conditions. I am so proud and happy for MCI, Toyota and the Arceiro-Wells team. I want to enjoy and remember this moment. We have all worked together hard to get here. This is a great day for all of us. Iain (Watt) and Richard (Buck) and all of my guys were fantastic. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Finished: 1st |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| First of all the warmup this morning, we were pleased. We hadn't done too many laps had a good balance in the dry and then the rain comes along. And I was quite happy, because it always rains in Scotland and I drive a lot in the rain and ever since I've been racing go-karts it's rained most weekends there, so that was quite pleasant. But I didn't expect it to be as slippery as it was. The oils were coming up through the tarmac and that really made it quite treacherous to stay on the track. I felt I was just surviving, really just keeping the car on the track but I was pulling away quite well from Paul behind me, so I was quite happy with that. I think we're looking good for a one-two [finish] and then something happened at the end of the back straight. I was turning in and Paul hit me. I don't know what happened there. I was really just surviving the whole day, trying not to make any mistakes. [Technical Director and Chief Engineer] Don Halliday and [General Manager] Kim Green and the guys in the pit called the race perfectly as far as I was concerned. Firestone, Reynard and Honda are obviously the combination to have because of the clean sweep today. Everything just worked really well and I'm delighted. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Finished: 20th |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| We had a really good weekend going. We qualified well and had a good race car. What happened with Dario and myself in the race was disappointing. I need to look at the tapes to understand what happened better. We'll sit down as a team and discuss this as a team. | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Finished: 22nd |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| I was really at my peak, driving aggressively and having a lot of fun, but then I lost it. The tire went off the dry line and that was that! We have to digest this one and move on to Australia and give it our best. I want a win so badly for my Player's team to show them how much I appreciate their work. | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford Finished: 6th |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| It was a fair weekend for us. Not the results we would have liked to have to nail down second in the championship but we didn’t loose too much ground. Franchitti is pretty much on a roll right now. | |
 | Baan Software Davis Racing Lola Ford Finished: 16th |
| ARND MEIER | |
| I’m sure I don’t have to tell everyone how bad the conditions were at the start and finish of the race, but in between it was okay. I felt I should have finished higher but apparently CART has that rule (about the race reverting to the previous lap on a red flag). What I don’t understand is that CART allowed some teams to refuel and fix its cars. We couldn’t do it. I guess I’ll have to read the fine print. | |
 | Forsythe Player's-Indeck Reynard Mercedes Finished: 26th |
| GREG MOORE | |
| It's not an accident, it's just one of those things that happen in racing. The track was like an ice rink. We were floating on water. When the incident happened, the tires lit up, and when I came out of the turn, I spun. It's very disappointing for me and for the Player's team, but with it raining off and on the way it was, what you need is a lot of luck. | |
 | Team Kool Green Team manager |
| BARRY GREEN | |
| Dario drove an excellent race under some of the most difficult conditions I've ever seen. It's a credit to all of Team KOOL Green for preparing a great car, calling a great race and giving Dario excellent pit stops. The team has been performing well all year and it was very frustrating when we couldn't get a win. But now we've got three wins and two more races to go. The team now has the confidence to keep on winning. | |