Race No. 12
US 500
Presented by Toyota
Michigan Speedway — Brooklyn, Michigan
July 23-25, 1999
Friday Quotes from Michigan: |
Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Practice Position: 4th |
| GREG MOORE | |
| We're fairly happy with today's performance. This track has always been good to us. This is a strategy race for both the teams and the drivers. Pit stops must be perfect, and our Player's team is tops at that. The driving part is like a chess game, where leading is not the most important thing, but remaining on the lead lap and in the best possible position for the white flag is where it counts. I got that last year and it paid off with a victory for the Player's team. | |
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MCI Worldcom Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota Practice Position: 17th |
| CRISTIANO DA MATTA | |
| got slippery toward the end of the first session, and our afternoon session was interrupted by rain. We did not have enough time to really find out what the car has in it and if we are going in the right direction. We had problems with our primary car this afternoon, so I didn't really get to know either of the cars very well today. Qualifying tomorrow will be interesting, because if the track conditions are the same again, we won't get the best lap, the kind of lap this car is capable of doing right now. But it is this way for everyone. It would just be nice to be able to run this track flat out, the way the Champ cars were meant to drive it. | |
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Pioneer Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota Practice Position: 11th |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| The Pioneer car has felt great all day. We made some gains from this morning to this afternoon, and our performance this afternoon was a great way to end the day. Overall, I'm very happy. It's only Friday, so we have to work hard to keep this momentum going through the weekend. But it's always good to have a quick car out of the box, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things will continue to go our way. | |
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Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Lola Ford Practice Position: 35th |
| MICHEL JOURDAIN | |
| Things went very bad today. On the main straight the car is very slow and on the turns it is loose. Hopefully tomorrow we will get a better setup for the car. | |
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Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford Practice Position: 3rd |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| We came here testing and I knew we had a pretty good car. Ford has a very fast engine for this track. This morning, we worked on getting the car more trimmed out. [Lap speeds of] 227, 228 [miles per hour] ... those are real speeds and that makes me very confident for the race. Coming out of Toronto and into this place, by the fifth or sixth lap, it really seems like you're flying. You really feel the speed, especially when you're going into the corners. | |
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Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Practice Position: 13th |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| I’m generally okay with the way the car is handling and the speed that we’re getting. We’re not out there searching for tows (drafts from other cars that allow for faster speeds). We’re concentrating on finding a good race setup and getting the car to work in traffic. We still need to find some speed. I’ll sit down with the Team KOOL Green engineers this evening and we’ll see what we can come up with. | |
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Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Practice Position: 9th |
| PAUL TRACY | |
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When the session started the car was very loose. But Team KOOL Green kept working at it – we didn’t panic – and we got the car working pretty good. I’m still not completely happy with it. It’s not the way I’d want to race it on Sunday. We’ll keep working at it.
We’ve taken more and more downforce off the car to compensate for the drag of the Handford wing, so the car is very, very nervous feeling right now. We’ve got so little downforce on them now, you’ve got to keep working right up to the limit. Running with the trucks isn’t a big help, either. It’s kind of slippery for the first 20 minutes of the session. You’ve just got to stay on top of the car the whole time and be prepared to change the car as the grip level comes and goes. | |
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Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Practice Position: 1st |
| JUAN MONTOYA | |
| In the morning we were just trying different things because the setup wasn't where we wanted it. We came back in the afternoon, and the weather didn't look too good, so we concentrated on bedding some tires. We ran a good lap on old tires and a good lap on new tires and the car was fantastic. I'm really looking forward to the race. You've really got to be smooth here. On other ovals, if something goes wrong, you can still catch it. Here, I wouldn't even try that. | |
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McDonald's
Forsythe Championship Racing Team Reynard Honda Practice Position: 6th |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| On the last lap of the session, the engine failed in the middle of the corner and I hit the wall. The right front suspension was damaged, but we should be able to run that car tomorrow. It's hard to know with everyone running in the draft, but I believe we have a good car for the race. I don't think we are the fastest out there right now, but the car is not bad. | |
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Hogan Racing Lola Mercedes Practice Position: 19th |
| HELIO CASTRO-NEVES | |
| The car is pretty good. This is a tough track for us with the Lola, because we've never run here. The drag from the rear wing is really bad. We're working on getting a good race car. Qualifying is not the most important thing here, but we're trying very hard to find something for tomorrow. | |
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Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Practice Position: 8th |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| We put in a good day's work today. Sixth this morning was good but this afternoon the rear of the car was unstable, with a full tank of fuel and worn tires. Once the Player's team corrects this, we will be in top shape for the race. | |
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Hollywood Reynard Mercedes Practice Position: 2nd |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| We started with a good race car today and had two productive sessions. The car handles well in traffic, which is always a relief when you know you're going to go 500 miles. This afternoon, we had full tanks early, and I was trying to get into traffic to see how the car handles. At the end, I was able to get a tow for the quick lap. | |