Race No. 9
Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland
Presented by Star Bank
Burke Lakefront Airport
Cleveland, Ohio
June 25-27, 1999
Sunday Quotes from Cleveland: | Marlboro Lola Mercedes Finished 5th |
| AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| "It was great to get a top-five finish today. We found a good race setup, and the Marlboro Team Penske Lola stayed with me all day long. Goodyear and Mercedes performed well and were right there with us. The whole team did a super job. It was a good time out there today-except during the downpour when I couldn't see out of my visor. The Marlboro car has been performing well during the race. Now we need to focus on qualifying better." | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Walker Racing Reynard Honda Finished 2nd |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| "To begin with, everything was normal. I was staying with Juan throughout the first stint, but when the rain came that messed everything up. I came straight in and put wets on and went out there while it was raining. I was able to get past Juan and open up a gap. Unfortunately, it didn't continue to rain. When the full-course yellow came out, we went for the restart and I just couldn't get the tires up to temperature fast enough, and Juan was gone. After that, it was all I could do to maintain the gap. Second is a good result for us in terms of the championship, but I have to admit we're a little disappointed." | |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Finished 1st |
| JUAN MONTOYA | |
| "I think the race went quite well when it was really wet, but when it starts to dry, the car doesn't work so well on wet tires. The same thing happened to me at Portland last week. I was first in the wet, then the track started to dry and I ended up 10th or something like that. The car was good on cold tires, after that I tried to build up as much of an advantage on Gil [de Ferran] as I could. We had some troubles early in the year; we made some mistakes, but now things are much better. The Honda engine is working well and I'm thinking in terms of winning the championship, so I'm happy." | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Finished 3rd |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| YOU HAD QUITE A FEW PROBLEMS TODAY. OVERALL ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE OUTCOME?"I think we have to be pretty happy with the results. It all started on thegrid. When I got in the car the radios were not working. I couldn't hearthe team but they could hear me. So we had a real problem during the raceexcept for when it was yellow. I could talk to them at that point but whenit went green I couldn't. I was making all the calls on my own with thetires and everything and I think those calls were okay. On the first pitstop they said I went to fast exiting the pits. I think they told me that Iwent 51 which is one mile per hour over the limit. I guess our speed limitthing is set a little wrong so that was a little disappointing. I think Imade the right call on the first set of tires. I took on rain tires earlierthan most guys and made up a ton of spots there and that put us right backinto the race there. When we were out there in the rain it was like drivingon ice. Over on the back part of the track it was as bad as you can get, itwas really slippery. I think the driving out there was pretty good. Withit being as slippery as it was I thought you would have seen more cars intothe wall than you did. It was really bad but we were able to keep it on thetrack. In the end Juan (Montoya) was gone. I was starting to work on Gil alittle bit and then my engine shut off. I thought my race was over. Ireset the computer and it kicked over again and basically kept running. Soconsidering all that I will take third today." CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE ENGINEPROBLEM YOU HAD? At one point my engine just shut off. I thought I wasgoing to be out of it. But I reset it and it came back on. I lost ten or soseconds so that was a little disappointing." WHAT WAS YOUR REASONING FORPUTTING ON RAIN TIRES WHEN YOU DID? "I got a stop and drive through penaltyand then it started to rain after that. And it turned out to be the rightcall. I wanted to be one of the first guys on rain tires." | |
 | Kmart/Texaco Havoline Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford Finished 12th |
| CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| "Wellthere is nothing to say. I blew it like five times today. I don't think Ihave ever made this many mistakes in a race as I did today. First, duringthe start of the race I went on the inside and I got to a point where therewas no angle for me to turn in and everybody just blew by me on the outside.I lost a lot of positions there. Before the rain came out I was looking atthe sky and thought it was going to go by. I thought to myself that thatmaybe I was going to make it and then I didn't make it. It caught me bysurprise and then I spun a couple of times because I was on slicks. I washaving a hard time making it back to the pits and when I did I spun. Soonce we got the race restarted again I said, ok, I am going to start to makeup position here. I got by Mike (Andretti) and missed the line a little bitand spun so then I was two laps down. At that point I just wanted to bringthe car home. At least we scored a point." | |
 | Shell Team Rahal Reynard Ford Finished 6th |
| BRYAN HERTA | |
| WAS IT A LITTLEDISHEARTENING TO SPIN ON THE FIRST LAP AND LOOSE ALL THOSE POTIONS THAT YOUMADE UP IN QUALIFYING? "All you can do is say okay, now I am 24th. Youjust have to get your head back and get with the program and make uppositions every time you can." HOW DID THE RAIN AFFECT YOU? "I have neverseen a track get as wet and slick as quick as this one did. There was somuch water coming down that even under yellow the car was tricky to drive.Everybody was tip toeing around. There were rivers running across the trackso when you would go through those the car would go straight through them.CART did a great job again. They waited out the storm, they got the trackdryers out there, the vacuums out there, and got the track in raceablecondition quick. They did a great job all race. There were a lot ofinstances where cars were parked just off line and they managed to get themoff the track without going full course yellow. I think you have to saythat the CART officials and the safety guys really earned their moneytoday." YOU HAD AN ON TRACK RUN IN WITH MEMO GIDLEY LATE IN THE RACE THATCOST YOU A FEW SPOTS. CAN YOU DESCRIBE THAT INCIDENT? "I don't think I cansay what I want to. The guy drove like an idiot today. I know Memo and heis not a bad guy. Maybe he is feeling pressure because it is only hissecond race and trying to establish himself but the things he did today werenot proper. I lost two spots because of him and I lost a lot of time in thebeginning of the race because of him too." YOU AND PAUL TRACY HAD ONE HECKOF A BATTLE WITH ABOUT 30 LAPS TO GO. . . . "It was a good race. The move Imade on Paul and the move I made on (Al Unser) Jr., I tell you, I was atmaximum attack. I was sideways and I had everything laid out in that move.I just barely made the corner and pulled it off. It is just sick to work sohard to get those spots and then to loose them to something stupid." | |
 | Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford Finished 16th |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| "I had a very goodstart moving up from 22nd to 17th in three laps but then after thateverything went down hill. Today was the end of a very difficult weekend.Everything that could go wrong went wrong both on my side and the teamsside. So, we just have to turn the page and go on." | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford DNF - Classified 19th |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| WHAT CAUSED YOU TO HIT THE WALL? IT LOOKED LIKE THERE WAS A BIG PUDDLE ATTHE APEX OF THE CORNER. WAS THAT A FACTOR? "That was basically it. Iclipped the puddle and that got me completely sideways and that was it."HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TO DRIVE OUT THERE DURING THE RAIN? "The visibilitywas very difficult. I couldn't see where I was going. I basically wastrying to figure out where the car was going because it was very difficultto see. After that my car was good on wet tires but the setup was not verygood for the tires. My car started to oversteer a lot . When we put drytires back on the car was pretty good. It was just a matter of keeping iton the track." "The conditions today were very difficult. The Tecate/Quaker State/Patrick Racing Ford-Cosworth was working reasonably well. We had a good start and moved up a couple of places. Then the rain came and the visibility was zero. You had to be very careful." "After the long yellow there still was a lot of water on the track. We switched to the dry tires and I was running good, but I caught a puddle in Turn Eight and spun. It's unfortunate because I think the Tecate/Quaker State/Patrick Racing Ford-Cosworth was a top five car." "The biggest disappointment is not finishing in the points here really hurt the Tecate/Quaker State/Patrick Racing Team's chances for a championship. Several of the drivers that finished the race of me are also ahead of me in the points. But, it is still early in the season and we have time to catch up. We haven't even completed half the races. We just have to be consistent and finish well the rest of the season." | |
 | Patrick Racing Visteon Swift Ford Finished 15th |
| P.J. JONES | |
| "We had a toughday. I got held up in the beginning. I was trying to get by a few cars butwas being held up. You know, when it started to rain I was going to come ina lap earlier than I did and I should have done that. I blew that callbecause on the next lap I spun. That cost me the twenty to thirty secondsthat I needed to stay back on the lead lap." DID THE RAIN CATCH YOU OFFGUARD A BIT IN REGARDS TO HOW QUICKLY IT STARTED AND HOW MUCH THERE WAS?"Oh man, you couldn't see anything." "The Visteon/Patrick Racing Team had a tough day today. We qualified too far back and then on the start we got caught and dropped back even farther back." "I waited one lap too many to change to rain tires. You couldn't see and I was following another car into Turn Three. He went inside and I went outside. Unfortunately he pushed the water to the outside and I went through it and spun the Visteon/Patrick Racing Ford-Cosworth. Then, to top everything off when the safety truck tried to tow me the rope broke." | |
 | Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Lola Ford DNF - Classified 27th |
| MICHEL JOURDAIN | |
| Herdez Viva Mexico Ford-Cosworth Finished 27th -"After trying to get by Memo Gidley I spun. Then after I tried to get goingagain I couldn't get third gear to win and then that caused fourth gear tofail. It's too bad because we had a good car today." | |
 | Team Gordon Swift Toyota Finished 9th |
| ROBBY GORDON | |
| "That was the most fun I've had in a CART race sinceJapan. What a blast! I couldn't talk to the crew because my radio wasbroken, but I could hear them. We went to rain tires before everyoneelse and that put us up in great shape. The car was good in the rain.=20When we went to slicks early - I think before the rest of the guys, aswell - I caught the front and we had some great dices. Paul and I wentdown the back straight side by side into that first right-hander andthere was no way I was going to lift. I was banzaiing! But he got me,later, doing the same thing. We were running fourth and I cutthe right rear tire on something, which forced us to pit. I'm happyabout the top-10 finish. We needed that. This race is sogood, I'll be really angry if we let it go. Look at the fans. They'restill here going nuts. I don't understand it. I just know if itdoes go away, CART made a big mistake." MIKE HELD (co-owner): "Wow! We had no radio out of Rob's car, rain,spins, you name it! The rain adds so much excitement to these races,especially at a place like this. The crowd was screaming and yellingwhen they were racing down the back straight and into Turn One. I can'tstop smiling. That was fun - the most fun I've had since Indy!=20Actually, I was smiling even more when Robby was fourth with 12 minutesleft to go. That was truly exciting! But we'll take ninth, the pointsthat go with it, and build from here. To start 24th and end up with agreat run like that is a good feeling." | |
 | McDonald'sForsythe Championship Racing Team Reynard Honda DNF - Classified 22nd |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| "It was my mistake. My guys did a very good job. They called me in butI couldn't come in on the lap I was supposed to and change tires.Michael (Andretti) and, I believe, Cristiano (da Matta) were in front ofme. There was a lot of spray and I couldn't see to come in. I couldn'tbrake to come in because I wouldn't be able to control the car. Therewere other guys that couldn't do it as well, so that makes me feel alittle better. We had a good start and we moved up to 10th.Unfortunately, I can't control the weather. To finish the race you needluck, and I don't think luck is on my side right now. It's time to turnthe page and go to Elkhart." Steve Horne, Team President: "I think we had a reasonable car in the race. It's unfortunate. Wewere coming in that lap, didn't make it and had to go around in verydifficult conditions." | |
 | MCI Worldcom Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota DNF – Classified 25th |
| CRISTIANO DA MATTA | |
| "There was a big, big puddle in the turn. I was still on the slicks,and I was going slow because it was so wet. We thought we'd be able to get one more lap out of them before making the change (to rain tires). But unfortunately, the conditions were wet enough for me to spin. Thankfully I was going slow enough to be able to bring the car into the pit. We thought the car was fine, but when I went back out I noticed itwasn't good. It's too bad, because we had a really good car today." | |
 | Pioneer Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota DNF – Classified 25th |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| Pruett, having survived the mid-race deluge, ran as high as fourth today. After a final pit stop, Pruett was running tenth before engine trouble ended the day for the #24 Pioneer Electronics/MCI WorldCom Toyota/Reynard. "We were pleased with the car's performance today. We were moving up through the field all day, and the guys worked really hard to get me outfront and keep me there. The conditions were crazy -- lots of puddlesand water running across the track along the straights. Cleveland is a place where you really have to push hard, and we were pushing the limits everywhere -- the car, the engine, everything. We were in the thick of it all day, but unfortunately it just didn't work out." | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Finished 7th |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| "I had a good start to the race," remarked the Joliette, Que., driver, whowas sixth on the grid but had to hold off two cars that made a passing moveon the first turn. "I went to the outside and the two cars behind metouched on the inside. This worked out quite well for me." "Overall, I'm satisfied with the results, and after the testing thePlayer's team will be doing at Mid-Ohio later this week, we should have agood ride in Elkhart Lake (site of the next race on July 11)," saidCarpentier, who collected six points in the drivers' standings to move intoa 12th-place tie. | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes DNF – Classified 25th |
| GREG MOORE | |
| "It's really disappointing because I had a very good race car," statedMoore, who is fifth in the drivers' standings with 69 points. "We went allthe way to lap 65 and it was holding up very well. Where it hurts most isin the championship points. The Player's team will have to work hard inElkhart Lake to come back with the points' leaders." | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda DNF – Classified 25th |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| “I’m very disappointed. The throttle cable just snapped on me. Full power was becoming less and less when I was on the throttle. The guys could see it from the pits on the telemetry. I guess the cable was stretching. I came out of the last turn and the engine cut off. I thought that I might have flicked the ignition switch off, but I hadn’t and the pedal had gone to the floor. I’m very disappointed because the rain was what we needed. I love racing in the rain because we’re usually fastest every session whatever the track. “It’s just bad luck. If we could have kept going in the rain, I think we would have seen the #27 Team KOOL Green car moving toward the front.” | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Finished 4th |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| “I made a great start… I don’t want to tell my secret (He went from 8th to 4th). Well, it seems to me that everyone funnels to the inside and I always go to the outside and gain a bunch of positions. When the rain came, it was really wet out there. My suit is soaked now. The KOOL car was great when it was dry. In the wet I think we were a little too stiff because the car was really nervous. When it was partially wet we were one of the first ones to go to dry tires. I really had to hang onto the car. “I was fighting hard towards the end of the race. I wasn’t going to take a big risk though because I wanted to finish fifth and pick up 10 points. I just kept the pressure on Bryan (Herta). I felt that if I kept enough pressure on Bryan that he would make a mistake and he did. We started eighth and finished fourth, that’s great. Our goal was to finish in the top-five in all the remaining races and we did just that. We’ve got a good streak going.” | |
 | PacWest Hollywood Reynard Mercedes DNF – Classified 21st |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| "We had a nice run going before it started to pour with rain. We were running in the top group and the car was really very good. I was comfortable with the balance and we were conserving fuel. When the spotters said that the skies were clearing, I thought: "I can live through this." We stayed on slicks but unfortunately the water was deeper than it appeared. I aquaplaned on the bottom of my car and clipped the wall in Turn 8. [The left-side contact irreparably damaged the suspension on Gugelmin's #17 Hollywood PacWest Mercedes-Benz and he retired on lap 34]. I was going straight ahead and the next thing I knew, I was being sucked off-line like the wall was a Hoover. About three or four of us went off in the same place at almost the same time. It's too bad because we had been having a pretty positive weekend." | |
 | PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes Finished 8th |
| ROBERTO MORENO | |
| "We were looking pretty good until the rain. Our plan was to save fuel early on and we were doing an excellent job. When it started to shower, we put on slicks but unfortunately we had to come in for rain tires a lap later. After the downpour [which began at approximately lap 33], I would get completely soaked every time I went through Turn 1. The car was a little too stiff in the wet conditions to really put the power down, but the car was very, very fast in the dry." (On his spin in Turn 8): "A lot of people were going off there. We were still on slicks and I just tried to keep it straight to save the engine. Unfortunately, I bent the front wing end plate when I spun through the grass, and we had to pit to fix that." | |