homestead

Race No. 1

Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami
Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex — Homestead, Florida
March 19-21, 1999

Sunday Quotes from Homestead:
Index of Quotes available

MICHAEL ANDRETTI RAUL BOESEL PARTICK CARPENTIER
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI LUIZ GARCIA JR.
ROBBY GORDON BRYAN HERTA RICHIE HEARN
P.J. JONES MICHEL JOURDAIN JR. TONY KANAAN
GREG MOORE MAX PAPIS SCOTT PRUETT
JIMMY VASSER CHRISTIANO DA MATTA

Vasser Pict Target
Chip Ganassi Racing
Reynard Honda
Finished: 4th
JIMMY VASSER
We made something out of nothing today, and my guys deserve a lot of credit. We had great pit work and great calls from Tom (Anderson) and Julian Robertson. We really lucked out on the second yellow. The car was pushing badly and I was barely hanging on, trying to keep from getting lapped. At the end, I was out of rubber and running on fumes and didn't have anything for Dario, so we'll take fourth and move on.

Moore Pict Forsythe
Player's/Indeck
Reynard Mercedes
Finished: 1st
GREG MOORE
What an awesome job by the entire Player's team! I had confidence in all the guys on this Player's crew. They're really outstanding in everything they do, and I think that stood out today. It's too bad for Patrick, being assessed the penalty. We could have had a 1-2 finish for Player's because we had the two fastest cars on the track today.

Andretti Pict Kmart/Texaco/Havoline
Swift Ford
Finished: 2nd
MICHAEL ANDRETTI
We hung around the top most of the day. We had a good first pit stop where I made up a bunch of positions. I think I went from fourth up to second. Things were going very well and on the next pit stop the guys did a great job but I stalled. That's what gave Greg the win because I did not make it out before him. Basically it was a game of track positions and I gave up all my track positions on the second pit.

I had one go at Greg at the restart and we almost got together. I was a little upset at the time but as it turns out it was the pass for the win so I guess it is okay. From then on we worked to bring it home. We were attacking Greg but there was no way to catch him because there was not enough traffic in front of us to get a good run on him. I saw some cars there at the end and wished that there would have been another five or six laps because I think I would have made it a bit more interesting.

I also had to worry about Dario, he was flying. All in all we had a good weekend. We got some of the points we wanted and we said we would come in here and try to finish second and go on to win the rest of the races.

I think the Swift is a good race car, we should have won the race. We finished second and will take it. I am also very happy the work Ford and Cosworth did on the engine. It almost won us the race today. I really don't think we would have been up here if we hadn't had Firestone tires. I think it was a bold move, but a smart move. We are still learning the Firestones and I think we still have a lot to learn.


Pruett Pict Pioneer
Arciero-Wells
Reynard Toyota
Finished: 22nd
SCOTT PRUETT
I'm disappointed, because we were running pretty good. We picked up a lot of positions after the first restart and were holding steady. We were going into Turn 1 three abreast, and de Ferran moved in front of me. He cut off my air, and I got loose and went into the wall.

C. Fittipaldi Pict Kmart/Texaco Havoline
Newman/Haas Racing
Swift Ford
Finished: 9th
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI
I'll take ninth place. There is still a long fight for the championship in front of us and I am happy with these points. Obviously I would have been happier with more, but I'll take these. At competitive as it is now, you definitely have to finish every race.

Jourdain Pict Herdez Competition
Payton/Coyne
Lola Ford
Finished: 18th
MICHEL JOURDAIN
All the weekend was very hard. We had a lot of push and we were changing the car constantly, trying to find a cure. After the technical inspection -yesterday, the team worked to fix the car and in the warmup the set up was completely different than in the previous days. Again, the team decided to make further changes and we choose a conservative setting to be sure that it was going to work.

Despite in some parts of the track the car was still pushing, in some the car developed looseness. However, the car seemed to show improvements, but it's difficult to say, mainly because the pedal throttle problem. We were forced to pit early because the throttle pedal was sticky and they had to disconnect a sensor linked with the throttle, to avoid to have a misfire because it reacts when the throttle is failing. Later I was black flagged due to the car was leaking oil and this pit stop was longer than expected to fix the problem. Regarding my last pit stop, it was just to get fresh tires. This race, it was difficult to be consistent, mainly with the throttle problem, but what encourages us to try to get better results is that the car showed some improvements during the race.


Papis Pict Miller Lite
Team Rahal
Reynard Ford
Finished: 5th
MAX PAPIS
I am really, really happy. We had a fantastic race. The Miller Lite car ran great. I am really proud of Tim Cindric, my engineer did a great job to put us there at the end. If were not racing for fuel in the last twenty laps I feel we could have gone to the podium.

Herta Pict Shell
Team Rahal
Reynard Ford
Finished: 12th
BRYAN HERTA
It's a shame where we finished. The car was pretty good. We had a problem with the right rear hub, not on just the first stop but on every stop. The first stop we were not aware of it and the next two the right rear tire guy made an adjustment but there was not a whole lot he could do. It kept jamming up the wheel gun and preventing us from taking off the right rear tire. I am very disappointed with the result.

Franchitti Pict Team Kool Green
Reynard Honda
Finished: 3rd
DARIO FRANCHITTI
We could have won this race. I talked all weekend with my engineer Don Halliday about being happy with a top-five finish. We were ninth here last year, so I'm pretty happy. At one point in the race, after my first stop we were pulling away and I thought we could win this thing. I had great pit stops from the Team KOOL Green guys. However, we may have played it too conservatively trying to make sure everything would be okay. The Firestone tires were great all day and we had fantastic mileage from the Honda. The car was great. I really like driving on ovals when the car is setup like this.

Boesel Pict Team Kool Green
Reynard Honda
Finished: 27th
RAUL BOESEL
There was no place to go when the crash occurred in front of me. I went low to avoid the cars and I got hit from the left, which damaged my suspension and sent me spinning. What can I say? It was a tough day for Team KOOL Green and car #26.

da Matta Pict MCI Worldcom
Arciero-Wells
Reynard Toyota
Finished: 14th
CHRISTIANO DA MATTA
It was a great experience. The whole team did a great job, during the entire weekend and especially the race. My first objective was to finish the race, and we did that. We had really, really good pit stops, and I'm really happy with the way the engine and chassis ran all day today. It was the longest race I've been in so far, but from inside the car it didn't seem so long. I'm happy to have this one under my belt.

[On the late pit stop:] I started to lose tire pressure in the rear, so I had to come in to change it. It's too bad, because I lost a lot of positions. I'm disappointed, because we were running strong all day.

[On starting sixth:] This is awesome. I am so proud of the MCI WorldCom team and Toyota. We were biting our nails a little bit for a while, because we had a long [qualifying] line behind us. To say I am very happy right now just isn't enough.

Kanaan Pict McDonald's Forsythe Championship Racing Team
Reynard Honda
Finished: 21st
TONY KANAAN
I think we had a problem with the fuel pressure. I got a warning light and then the car just stopped. Obviously, I'm disappointed. I had a car capable of finishing in the top ten here, and that was our goal today.

Fernandez Pict Tecate Beer/Quaker State
Patrick Racing
Reynard Ford
Finished: 20th
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ
For me the engine was running fine. I didn't feel like I had an engine problem. I had no indication there was a problem. When the yellow came out I started to slow down and then the back of the car came around on me. I feel bad for the crew. They worked so hard and really gave me a great car. I think we could have won the race.

Garcia Pict Tang
Payton/Coyne
Reynard Ford
Finished: 24th
LUIZ GARCIA JR.
I was running right behind Richie Hearn and we were both running as slow as we could on the track and when Raul's car was coming down I went low but his car was rolling and there was nothing I could do. This was not the way I wanted to start out my first ChampCar race that's for sure. I was feeling good and we had a good start. I was working on defending my position and I got a good run off of turn one and then I ran into problems.

Carpentier Pict Forsythe
Player's/Indeck
Reynard Mercedes
Finished: 7th
PATRICK CARPENTIER
I'm very happy because I think this race showed that I can be with the front-runners. But I'm disappointed at finishing seventh because I know I could have been on the podium. The Player's car was perfect.

PJ Pict Patrick Racing
Visteon
Reynard Ford
Finished: 13th
P.J. JONES
Considering we got lost on the setup on Saturday I think the team rebounded well. The team did a great job on the pit stops. I should have been twelfth today but I screwed up and cost us a point. The checkered came out and Bryan and I were a little ahead of the leaders and I thought the race was over so I lifted a bit and Bryan got by me. We were a little off all weekend. I had some good cars this weekend but we need to keep at it, and we will.

Gordon Pict Team Gordon
Reynard Toyota
Finished: 19th
ROBBY GORDON
My first reaction is that it can't get much worse than this. But, in general, it was a good weekend. We only didn't get the final result we had hoped for. We learned a lot just getting ourselves here and getting through the weekend. But we learned that there is a lot more to learn, still. We'll go back to California and look at all the things the team has to do yet to gel.