Race No. 16

Molson Indy Vancouver
Concord Pacific Place— Vancouver, Canada
September 3-5 1999

	Team Kool Green Reynard Honda
DARIO FRANCHITTI
Team KOOL Green worked really hard to get back into second placeand then I made a mistake. I got half way alongside Juan [Montoya]when he started to turn in. Then I hit the brakes pretty hard and lost theback. It wasn't a clever move, I'll put it that way. I saw the gap and halfwent for it. It was a mistake on my part. It's pretty frustrating to comeback from a bad start and then to throw it away like that. Who knows ifwe had something for Montoya if we got through there clean. It [switchin to slicks] was one of the discussion points. It seemed everybody started goingto slicks and they were heading off into the weeds a little bit. When I wasrunning second, I don't think it was really an option. Even if we went toslicks, there was one dry line and it would have been impossible to passanybody. You can be as fast as you want, but you're not going passanybody. I think rain tires was still the way to go at the end of the race tocome through the field.

	Team Kool Green Reynard Honda
PAUL TRACY
It was a disappointing day for Team KOOL Green, not only me but forDario. We could have finished 1-2 if we had just kept it off the fences.When I got around Juan [Montoya], I spun around and bumped the wall.I'm pretty sure that bent the toe-link and the car was getting increasinglyworse with oversteer as the toe-link became more bent. Finally, I gave itanother brush against the wall. That bent even it more. The car was reallypoor in handling and I was just trying to stay on the track. Over there inthe last chicane, it broke. When I got out of the car and went to the backof the car the right rear toe-link was broken and snapped in half.

	Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda
JIMMY VASSER
I was kinda hoping for conditions like we had today. If it stayed wet, we had to hang on and try to stay on the track. I managed to pick up five or six positions on the track and the rest due to attrition. It was treacherous in the wet, and then it was treacherous in the dry. It was a really tough race, a mental race. I was around a lot of stuff that happened. I just tried to hang on, and lo and behold, we got some points.

	Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes
GREG MOORE
The spin early in the race put me one lap down. Then wedecided to go to slicks to try to improve our position, since nearly allthe other cars were on rain tires. We made the change just a little tooearly. I slid in turn 8 and hit the wall, ending my race.

	Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Lola Ford
MICHEL JOURDAIN
The firsttime that I spun, it was my mistake when I tried to overtake Pruett, thesecond time it was because the brake balance was mainly in the back andafter running for several laps in the eighth position, Jan (Magnussen) hitme forcing me to retire. It was a shame, because we were running within thepoints. Also, I was penalized because my radio didn't work well for the pitstop and when I saw Andretti heading the boxes, I did the same, but thepits were closed, because of a yellow and I was knocked out before I couldtake the penalty."

	Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford
MICHAEL ANDRETTI
WHAT CAUSED YOU TO SPIN AT THE START? I just lost it. Itwas a stupid, stupid mistake. YOU SEEMED TO HAVE A PRETTY COMPETITIVE CARTODAY . . . My mistake at the start of the race cost us a podium finish forsure. When it was raining at the beginning of the race I couldn't eventouch the throttle. The conditions were not very good. It's good to finishbut we could have made up even more positions in the points without theproblems at the beginning of the race.

	Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford
ROBERTO MORENO
YOUMADE CONTACT WITH THE WALL IN THE KINK EARLY ON IN THE RACE, WHAT HAPPENED? We just kept getting faster and faster and as the track dried out I wasreally quick through the Kink. As I went through there I bottomed out andhit the ground. It got me a bit sideways and I hit the wall. I was almostflat there in fourth gear. When the car would bottom out it would reallyupset the car. BEFORE YOU MADE CONTACT WITH THE WALL, WHEN THE TRACK WASDRYING OUT, YOU WERE CONSISTENTLY POSTING THE QUICKEST TIMES. WHAT WAS ITABOUT THOSE CONDITIONS THAT SEEMED TO GIVE YOU AN ADVANTAGE? WAS IT YOUREXPERIENCE? The car was working well. I don't think it was experience, itwas really about the speed. The car was good and I was being very careful.When I was by myself I would push it and try to go faster and faster."

	MCI Worldcom Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota
CRISTIANO DA MATTA
I'm very happy with the way the day went for the MCI WorldCom team.We had a good race, and we had a smart race. It was tricky to run onthe course with the conditions changing, but everyone was in the sameboat. With the rain, the problems were there for everyone. At first,no one could see anything and it was very wet. The track had lots ofpuddles. But then the track started to get dry, and the rear tires wouldheat up pretty quickly. You could run okay in the wet but not so good inthe dry. It gives you the impression that you can push, but you reallycan't. For some it was a problem, but we worked through it. Some guysmade mistakes, but we didn't make any. We had a great pit stop, and westayed clean on the track.

	Pioneer Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota
SCOTT PRUETT
We had lots of little moments of drama today. It's a shame, because in spiteof our problems, the Pioneer car felt great. I made it into the top ten, butthe day just wasn't meant to go our way today. We mistimed our first pit stopby coming in one lap too early. That caught me out behind the pace car when Iexited pit lane, and I lost position. Later I got hit from behind[by #36 Montermini in Turn One], which sent me into a pretty big spin.I did what I could to save position. Fortunately the car wasn't damaged,but I did lose some ground. Then I started to have problems with the pop-offvalve, and I had to come in to the pit so the guys could install a new one.The Pioneer crew worked as hard as they could to get me back out under theyellow, but by that point in the race it was pretty much a lost cause. Weonly had a handful of laps left, and it just wasn't enough for me to workmy way back up into the top ten.

	Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford
MAX PAPIS
CANYOU DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN YOU AND HERTA? I went to brake at theend of the straight and unfortunately Bryan got into the back of me. Iguess he saw an opportunity to pass and took it. We made contact and I slidinto the wall and messed up the transmission box and the rear wheel. We hada car capable of posting a good finish and we could have helped ourselvesout today in the points standings. That's very frustrating."

	Shell Team Rahal Reynard Ford
BRYAN HERTA
WHATCAUSED THE CONTACT BETWEEN YOU AND PAPIS? Max was struggling. He wasreally slow out there and I called on the radio and told the guys that Maxwas holding me up. At the same time Jimmy (Vasser) and Tony (Kanaan) wereall over me and I had to make a move to get by him or they were going to goby me. I went to accelerate by him on the inside and either he didn't seeme or he turned in anyway, and I tried to get back out of the throttle whenhe turned across me and we just touched. WHAT CAUSED TO MAKE CONTACT WITHTHE WALL? I was trying to get by Gugelmin and my car was beginning to comein. I was starting to go to the front and I just got into the power too soonand the car swapped ends and hit the wall which broke the drive in thegears. I hopped out the car and when I got out I noticed there was a fireand the marshal didn't want to come out on the track so I grabbed theextinguished myself and put it out.

	Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda
JUAN MONTOYA
This morning during the warmup, the car wasn't brilliant, and I was kind of concerned about a damp track. But we did some changes after the warmup and the car improved. [Regarding Franchitti's attempt at a pass for the lead on Lap 60] I got a bit concerned when I got into the corner. I knew he was going to go for the move, and he was too far back. But fortunately, it worked out OK. I wasn't gonna be soft with him, just like he wouldn't be with me. I know he scored a few points, but it feels good to leave here with 22 points in my pocket

	McDonald'sForsythe Championship Racing Team Reynard Honda
TONY KANAAN
It was a difficult race. I think we did a good job of staying on thetrack, but we got caught out on our pit stop. I came in in ninth placeand went out in 14th. We lost five positions and those were preciouspositions. It is so hard to pass on this track. I passed a couple ofguys, but it was really difficult. At the end, I was passed by twopeople on slick tires. I couldn't do much.

	Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford
PJ JONES
DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU WENT TO SLICKS TOO EARLY AND DID THAT CONTRIBUTETO YOUR SPIN? Yeah, it went from bad to worse. We thought the track wasgoing to go dry quicker than it did. We gambled and it didn't pay off forus today. We didn't have a very good car in the wet. I was just hangingon -- It was hard. The car was good on the dry track but we just missed onthe wet setup today.

	Herdez Payton-Coyne Racing Lola Ford
MEMO GIDLEY
SOMETIMES A RACE CALLS FOR YOU TO DRIVE VERY SMART AND SOMETIMES ITCALLS FOR YOU TO DRIVE VERY FAST. GIVEN THE CONDITIONS, I WOULD SAY THATTHIS IS A RACE THAT YOU NEEDED TO BE SMART . . . Well I think you had to befast and smart. After the morning warm-up when we were running in the wet Iwas like fourth quick. I knew our car would be very good in the wet.During the race I was faster than a lot of the guys in front of me and I wasjust waiting for them to either make a mistake that would help me get aroundthem or I was just flat out passing them. I was able to pressure a lot ofpeople to day and they would make a mistake. It was just very hard to seewhen you are so far back, that's the biggest thing. The car felt good. Iwas able to save my tires when a lot of other guys were using them up. Wegot a flat at the end which hurt us because it forced us to pit. YOU KNOWYOU CAN RUN WITH THE GUYS UP FRONT, EVEN IN POOR CONDITIONS. WHAT KIND OF ACONFIDENCE BOOST IT THIS FOR YOU? This is good. I know what we can do.This whole package has the potential to run up front. I think we can atleast get the car into the top-five in qualifying and I think Laguna isgoing to be a good place to try that.

	Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes
PATRICK CARPENTIER
There's no better place to get a podium than right here at home, in aCanadian event. The Player's team did just an excellentjob. I'm absolutely delighted. At one point, I was wondering whether thisday would come. But here we are on the podium and now the sun is shining.

	Patrick Racing Visteon Reynard Ford
JAN MAGNUSSEN
In the beginning of the race the car was not great. The tire pressureswere too high and we lost some grip early on. Then with all the yellow wewere just trying to decide when to go to dry tires. I think we made thecall at just the right time. WAS THAT YOUR CALL? I was talking to theguys but I made the call for dry tires and it seemed to pay off. HOW MUCHDO YOU THINK YOUR PAST EXPERIENCE RACING IN THE WET IN FORMULA ONE ANDTHROUGHOUT EUROPE HELPED YOU TODAY? In the beginning of the race I hopedthat it would have played a bigger role but we had so many problems gettinggrip with the tire pressure that I really could do much. But, deciding whento go from wet tires to dry tires was soothing I learned in Europe and Ithink that helped us today.

	Team Gordon Eagle Toyota
ROBBY GORDON
What can I say -- we gambled on slicks too early. Therain had stopped, the track was drying and it looked like we were makingthe right decision. But hey, you've got to know when to hold 'em andknow when to fold 'em. Today, we should've stood pat on rain tires fora little bit longer. It's disappointing. We felt as a team like we hada lot of momentum coming in here after running strong at Mid-Ohio andChicago. We'll be back next week at Laguna to get after it.