Race No. 4
Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Presented by Toyota
Nazareth Speedway — Nazareth, PA
April 30 - May 2, 1999
Sunday Quotes from Nazareth: | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Finished: 10th |
| GREG MOORE | |
| The new wing package prevented any passing for points. It was mostly a follow-the-leader race. The car got very, very loose towards mid-race. I'm surprised I didn't put it into the wall. In fact, I think this is one of the hardest points I've ever earned. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Finished: 6th |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| We were very good. I think one of the best cars out there. The track position, starting fourteenth, killed us today. But, as you saw we were one of the only people out there passing cars. The rules make it really tough to pass out there. I think we are getting much closer but again, we need to win one of these things. | |
 | MCI Worldcom Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota Finished: 4th |
| CRISTIANO DA MATTA | |
| I'm very excited to finish fourth. It's a great day for Toyota to make history like this. I'm really happy because I have very good memories here. I won here twice in Indy Lights (1997 and '98), and now to do this just makes me very happy. We did everything right during the race. The guys had amazing pit stops, and they really pushed me out front. I have to give them a lot of credit for giving me a good car and helping me get so far ahead in the field. We had a good race strategy today. At the beginning passing was tough, so we opted to save fuel. I was stuck behind a few guys for a while, so all I could do was save fuel anyway. We were stretching our fuel windows, and the yellows came out at the right time for our pit strategy. | |
 | Pioneer Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota Finished: 10th |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| Our first stint was tough. The car was really loose, big loose, but we stayed in it until we could pit. The first yellow gave us the opportunity to make a big change to the car, which we did. It improved the car's handling, but after I went back out I lost radio contact with the crew. John (Dick) was on top of things and could see that the car was getting loose again. He was keeping an eye on tire pressure and feedback from the car, since I couldn't communicate it to him on the radio, and when I came in for the second stop he made another big change to the car. The car improved again, and after that it was a race to the finish. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco Havoline Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford Finished: 7th |
| CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| It was very hard to pass out there today. Sometimes you would get a break and were able to pass but apart from that it was really tough to pass out there. I think the wings did help cut the speed of the cars but I don't think it's the right solution. I think we have the speeds correct in the corner but this is not the right solution for the race. The racing today was not that exciting and maybe we need to look at what we did and revise the rules. | |
 | Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Lola Ford Finished: 16th |
| MICHEL JOURDAIN | |
| It was the best car that I ever had in Champ Series. We must plan better our pit strategy, this time it was a shame what happened. We reached the 13th spot after starting 22nd, but our last pit stop was under green and two laps later the yellows waved, pitting most of the field. That affected us a lot. However, I feel very please that all the crew and I worked together very well for this. We only missed some points as a reward. | |
 | Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford Finished: 13th |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| I feel very disappointed today. The Miller Lite crew gave me a very good car. We had a car to get us on the podium. But again, we had bad luck on our second pit stop as we were in the pits as the yellow came out. I feel bad because I came into the pits and the brakes didn't work properly and I slid into Jim Swanson our (left rear) tire changer. Thanks goodness Jim is okay after going to CART's medical center. But we were given a stop and go penalty. That just killed our chances. It's hard because the team gave me a great car today. | |
 | Shell Team Rahal Reynard Ford Finished: 22nd |
| BRYAN HERTA | |
| It's a shame. I hate not to finish the race. The guys worked so hard this weekend. The car was really loose. The weight jacker in the car broke on us and I couldn't adjust the car. We came in and tried to make other adjustments to solve the problem but it just got no better. We decided it was better if we just brought the car in and park it. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Finished: 8th |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| That yellow really killed us. We went from fourth to eighth. Team KOOL Green gave me a good car and great stops. Truth is, we had a third or fourth-place car. It’s pretty difficult to be positive after that kind of a race. I thought I got held up by some guys who were a lap or two down. But that’s probably not fair to say, because everybody was just hanging on out there. I’m really happy for Paul. It’s his first podium with the team. It’s about time his guys got a break. We had a good car today, but I can’t say the same about our luck! | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Finished: 3rd |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| I made a good start and slotted into third, then Juan (Montoya) and Helio (Castro-Neves) checked out a bit. Suddenly, my car turned into a John Deere rather than a KOOL Honda-Reynard and I started mowing down the front straightaway. I got on the gas a little early and the car came around on me. And after the spin, the car was really bad. The tires were flat-spotted, but the Firestones were great, allowing us to hang on, get the car turned around and have a good finish. Third place is great for Team KOOL Green. It’s better than walking away from here with a mouth full of grass. I’m really happy for everyone at Team KOOL Green. My guys did a great job in the pits. It’s a good starting point. Now we can go on to Rio with a little momentum. | |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Finished: 1st |
| JUAN MONTOYA | |
| I think for the championship, it's great. My guys deserve this win more than me, I would say. I kept it on the road and tried to do my best out there. I lost (the lead) twice with Helio (Castro-Neves). The first time, I think he had a better car. In the second part, I got some traffic and he chopped on me really bad and I lost all my downforce. But they (the crew) got me back out front in the pits. I just couldn't believe it. (They said) 'go, go, go,' and nobody else was coming by so I'll take it. | |
 | McDonald'sForsythe Championship Racing Team Reynard Honda Finished: 23rd |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| We were down on power at the start of the race. We pitted and changed the pop-off valve which fixed the boost problem, but then the throttle started sticking a few laps later. It was a tough weekend for the Drive-Thru Crew. Everybody worked really hard and put in a lot of effort this weekend. I thought we could have finished in the points. I am looking ahead and looking forward to going home to Brazil and the Rio race. I believe our bad luck is gone now. I don't know why but something is telling me that the bad luck is gone. | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford Finished: 5th |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| We really didn't have a car for the finish we had. It is a good result. We didn't test with this car (the Reynard) we tested with the Swift so PJ should give me half of his prize money. We learned a lot but we still don't have the setup on the car. | |
 | Hogan Racing Reynard Mercedes Finished: 21st |
| HELIO CASTRO-NEVES | |
| When I spun the first time, I'm not real sure what exactly happened. PJ was in front of me and using the same line, Montoya was a little lower, so that was good because I had air all the time so I had no problem. When we came back around, PJ all of a sudden, he was in my line and the car just lost control. Fortunately, I was able to pit for new tires and continue. Everything looked great! In Turn 2, it felt like the throttle stuck a little bit but then it stopped, so I figured it was me maybe just not feeling things right at that particular second. I touched the brake, it was fine. I let everybody go, because I wanted to go for the fastest race lap, and as I headed toward (Turn) 3 and lifted off, the throttle stuck and when I hit the brakes the pedal went straight to the floor. The next thing I knew I was in the wall. | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Finished: 14th |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| The team in the pit in front of us did not put a tire in the same place and I hit it. We also had a problem with the pop-off valve at the beginning of the race and it cost me two positions on the first re-start and then an extra pit stop. This didn't help our position on the track. We'll have to start getting the breaks because the guys on our Player's team deserve more than what we're getting right now. It just has to come because we're doing everything we can and the team is tops! | |
 | Patrick Racing Visteon Swift Ford Finished: 2nd |
| P.J. JONES | |
| It definitely helps, definitely, definitely helps. We got a slow start, I have a new team, new tires, new engine, different cars every week. I was in a Swift today, the first oval that we ran the Swift. It took me a little bit more time. For me, I've got to be comfortable with my surroundings, and the car's got to be right there with me, and where I can go fast. I think we're getting there. The car's getting better and there's a feel that I like. Maybe at a couple of the other oval races that we were in, I probably went off Adrian (Fernandez). They were doing so well with Adrian, and I probably went off his setups a little bit too much. This weekend, we had totally different cars, so we went out on our own. I do better that way, doing it myself. I've always had good oval cars when I was at Dan's, so that's probably the biggest difference. | |
 | Team Gordon Reynard Toyota Finished: 19th |
| ROBBY GORDON | |
| We just didn't have it all weekend. The car was awful in traffic. I could run decently in clean air, but once we ran in a group I couldn't hold it. We'd get caught outside and I'd have to let people go by. I couldn't do a thing but get back in line and try to find clean air. It's frustrating. We had high hopes for this race coming in. | |