Race No. 15

Target Grand Prix
Chicago Motor Speedway — Cicero, Illinois
August 20-22, 1999

	Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes
GREG MOORE
We haven't changed the car that much since we got here. The track has changed, though -- it was pretty slippery this morning, but now it is 'rubbering' in nicely. The turns here are slow,so the key is to carry some extra speed in the corners in order to be quickest at the end of thestraightaways. There is only one line here, so it will be important to qualify well on Saturday.

	Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford
MICHAEL ANDRETTI
It's tricky. You really have to drive it hardaround here. I think it is going to be a great race based on that.. Ithink there is going to be a lot of passing. This place is very smooth,probably the smoothest place we race on. The facility itself isfirst-class. Everybody did a great job on this place. THE TURNS SEEM TOBE VERY TIGHT. ARE THEY TIGHTER THAN ANY OF THE MILE OVALS YOU HAVE RUN ONPREVIOUSLY? Yes they are. I don't know any track we race on that hastighter turns than this one. It is a little tricky. You really have tostay on top of it and really have to work it. You are getting it sidewaysaround the corner and everything, you are driving it that's for sure. WILLSHIFTING BE A PART OF EVERY LAP? Yes. There will be a lot of shifting.Everybody will be shifting because there is so much of a difference in speedbetween the top-speed and the speed in the corners.

	Marlboro Lola Mercedes
AL UNSER, Jr.
It's great that we had an extra day of practice to get a feel for the new track. It's very smooth,which allows us to get the cars low to the ground, increasing the downforce and cornering speeds.We do have to downshift going into the corners, so we're probably only going to be able to run oneline through them. The straights are plenty wide to go racing on.

	PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes
MARK BLUNDELL
We had a productive day. We tried a lot of things in a short period of time, but there's still more to do.I had a good lap on older tires, and we have a lot of data to look at tonight.

	Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford
MAX PAPIS
WHAT ARE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONSAFTER ONE DAY OF RUNNING AT CHICAGO? It's like driving a road but you onlyturn left. It is very busy because you are lapping the track in 24 secondsand a lot if going on in those 24 seconds, you seem to be always beupshifting and downshifting. But I think we have the right concept to getaround the track fast. WHEN THE TRACK FINALLY 'COMES IN,' HOW MANY RACINGLINES DO YOU SEE THERE BEING? I think it is going to be more of a questionof being able to brake really deep and carrying the momentum. It won't be aproblem racing side-by-side out there. This is a super smooth track.Probably the smoothest track we race on if you take out the superspeedways.There is also a pretty decent level of grip given the fact that the trackhas not been raced on yet.

	Team Kool Green Reynard Honda
DARIO FRANCHITTI
The track is very slippery. The KOOL car is sliding around so much, it almost feels like we're drivingin the wet. Hopefully, the track will get more grip. Right now, we're struggling with excessiveundersteer; we'll fix it for tomorrow. But we haven't run that many laps. I was trying to do more andmore laps, rather than coming in to fix the car. I was trying to see if I could find other ways to getaround the track faster. We need more track time before we can start adjusting the car. We now have abalance that we can work from, whereas before, we were just hanging on and driving around in circles. Atleast now we know we've got understeer. We'll fix it" Regarding the race: "I think once we get more grip in the track, it should be good for passing andracing. Right now, it's almost like there is a dry line where the rubber has been laid down. If you getoff of the line, it's as slick as ice.

	Team Kool Green Reynard Honda
PAUL TRACY
I like the track. The corners at both ends are pretty similar to each other. It seems that Turns 3 & 4are a little quicker than 1 & 2. The straightaways are long enough that you can get up to speed, draftsomeone and pass them going into the turns. But the personality of the track is going to change over thenext couple of days as more and more cars run on it and the grip level gets better. By Saturday, we'regoing to see some really good speeds. I'm happy with the balance of the KOOL car. I was a littlesurprised we didn't go faster when we put new tires on there at the end of the session. I think it'sfantastic to be racing here in Chicago. The job Chip [Ganassi] has done is just great. There is a lot of hype about the race in town and itlooks like there isn't a bad seat in the house. I think we'll have a full house on Sunday.

	Hogan Racing Lola Mercedes
HELIO CASTRO-NEVES
We made a lot of changes today -- gears, aerodynamics -- and we lost most of the session this afternoon.The car still has a lot of understeer, but I am very, very confident.

	Tang Hogan Racing Lola Mercedes
LUIZ GARCIA JR.
We ran a lot with heavy fuel loads today, and we didn't use our second set of tires.The corners here are tight, so we have heavy braking at both ends.The track is still a bit dusty, so we decided it was better to be careful today.We need to run our qualifying trim, and see how the car handles. I felt like I couldhave been further up today, but I will push harder when it is necessary."

	Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes
PATRICK CARPENTIER
I am still in a lot of pain, and wake up six or eight times each night. If this were a road course, I wouldn't have been able to race.But the oval here is so smooth, it is helping me quite a bit. The Player's team gave me a great car today, but I know we'll have to work hard to stay at the top. The track here is similar to Milwaukee,but the corners are shorter and the straights are longer. We are doing harder braking here than ever before.

	Hollywood Reynard Mercedes
MAURICIO GUGELMIN
We ran two cars today, and both of them were working quite well. We elected to use the T-carafter we had a little problem with the primary car. I have some push in the middle of the corner,but the exit is pretty good, better than on most of the ovals so far. The circuit is constantlyimproving, so we have to read where we'll go from here. The low line is the only one that works rightnow, but I hope that we can get enough rubber to have more than one line, so we can have an exciting race.

	Patrick Racing Visteon Reynard Ford
JAN MAGNUSSEN
Today, the traffic was not bad actually. It is going to beworse tomorrow morning. Tomorrow we will probably concentrate on workingmore on race day setup because there will be more traffic. I had a lot of fun today.

	Team Gordon Eagle Toyota
ROBBY GORDON
It's just exciting. Changing to this chassis has been abig challenge for everyone involved. Today showed that we might just be onto something. The car feels very comfortable for me. We looked at today asmostly an installation day, but as you can tell it came along a lotfaster than we imagined. It seems to be more suited to my driving style. Thechanges we made throughout the day worked well and the car responded. Iknow it's only Day One with the Eagle flying its new nose, but I thinkit got off the ground pretty well. It sure didn't fall from the nest

	All American Racers Eagle Toyota Team Owner
DAN GURNEY
Great first day! Team Gordondid a nice job of dealing with a car they've never worked on and theresults show it. I think there's more to come, as well.