Race No. 20
Marlboro 500
Presented by Toyota
California Speedway — Fontana, California
October 29-31, 1999
Friday Quotes from Fontana: | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
| JIMMY VASSER | |
| We ran the backup car this morning and everything went pretty well, but then broke the gearbox in the other car during the afternoon session. There's some work to be done, but we'll be ready for tomorrow. | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes |
| GREG MOORE | |
| It's definitely a weird feeling knowing this is my last race with this team. They are like a family to me, so I would like to reward them with a good performance, but I will have to try to race like this is just another race. If I push too hard, there is a bigger chance to make a mistake. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| We ran quick in our race trim so I ma happy with our progress. There was nothing to learn from this afternoon’s session because of the wind. If we were racing sailboats, the conditions would be perfect but it’s not so good when you are driving a 1550 lb. aerodynamic racecar. The wind was the worse in turns three and four. I had to get off the throttle because it felt like I had a 40-knot tailwind. | |
 | MCI Worldcom Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota |
| CRISTIANO DA MATTA | |
| This morning the car was great on its own. I was getting a pretty good tow in the draft, but you really don't want to do too much of that in practice. We made a lot of changes to the car, and you need to be out of the draft to see what the changes are really doing to the car. We ran a full load of fuel this afternoon and scrubbed some tires. We really weren't going for fast laps this afternoon. I think the car will be okay. | |
 | Pioneer Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| We have a great car. I'm very happy with the way the Pioneer car felt this morning. We put in some good laps with the primary car and got her up to speed pretty quickly. This afternoon we ran our back-up car for most of the session because the winds were so strong. We didn't want to take any unnecessary risks with the primary car, so I took out the back-up in order to feel how much the winds would affect the run. We have to hope the conditions will be better tomorrow. We spent most of the session this afternoon doing a systems check, looking at the engine mapping and things like that. | |
 | PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes |
| MARK BLUNDELL | |
| Overall it was a very pleasing day. Everything went well, and the car was pretty quick right off the truck. In the afternoon, we had to deal with some strong winds. We just scrubbed all our tires and didn't hang it out with the wind, there was no point. The car has a good balance. If we can be in the top eight after qualifying, we'll be looking good. We'll be able to work with the car over 500 miles and see what happens. We obviously know our way around this place, since we won here in 1997. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco Havoline Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford |
| CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| The morning session was much more valuable than the afternoon session because of the wind. We didn’t try anything really special, this afternoon was just really about scrubbing in tires. IT SEEMS LIKE BOTH YOU AND MICHAEL HAVE HIT ON A GOOD SETUP. BOTH NEWMAN-HAAS CARS ARE CONSISTENT AND QUICK Yes, we ran pretty good today. I had a small engine problem this morning. After that we switched to the back-up car and we ran really good after that. We are in good shape. | |
 | Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| IS THE SETUP YOU GUYS ARE RUNNING SIMILAR TO THE ONE YOU RAN IN MICHIGAN? The setup we are running is much different than the one we ran in Michigan. In the morning session when we ran most of our laps we were just trying to get a clear lap to really see where we were on our setup so we don’t fool ourselves. I am happy for what we did. We have a very good car. This is the last race for the current Ford engine and everyone at Ford is really trying to get on pole and win the race and we are trying to do that for them. I am very happy with my car. There are a lot of things that we can improve on from tomorrow until the race on Sunday. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| This morning we went out and right away we did a lap of 232 mph, which at the time was the quickest. We broke a gearbox soon after and didn't go any quicker [in the spare car]. I'm pretty encouraged though, but the wind this afternoon didn't help. It just caused us to scrub some tires and we didn't do any serious running. We are reasonably happy with the balance of the KOOL car. We would have liked to get a few more laps. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| It was a pretty good day. The KOOL car was handling just fine this morning and we were able to scrub some tires this afternoon. But obviously we were a little more productive this morning before the wind picked up. I was trying to run on my own and keep clear of any traffic, so we could figure out what speed we could do for qualifying. We have a little too much push in the car right now. We'll just keep dialing it out tomorrow morning. This afternoon you really had to be on your toes in the high winds. The wind could easily blow you off your line. | |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
| JUAN MONTOYA | |
| I think it was a good day, we spent most of it trying to set up a nice car for the race. It's difficult to say who is really quick, because there was a lot of drafting out there. Our main goal this weekend is to beat Dario (Franchitti). | |
 | McDonald'sForsythe Championship Racing Team Reynard Honda |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| Today was a decent day. We were mainly working on race setup. It doesn't really matter where you qualify here as long as you have a good car for the race, and I think we have a pretty good car for Sunday. The wind was a big factor this session, but I think it will be like that for the race and that's why we wanted to run this afternoon. | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford |
| PJ JONES | |
| Both Adrian and I struggled today. We are really struggling. There is something fundamentally wrong with the car so we are just trying to figure it out. THIS IS YOUR FIRST RACE BACK IN THE CAR SINCE VANCOUVER. HOW DOES IT FEEL? It feels great. I wish we would have been able to come out really fast but we will put our heads together tonight and figure it out. | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Walker Racing Reynard Honda |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| It was okay, an uneventful day for us, really. We concentrated on full-tank runs in the morning, but the wind this afternoon was too high to really accomplish much. | |
 | Hogan Racing Lola Mercedes |
| HELIO CASTRO-NEVES | |
| The wind was strong, so basically we just used the time to scrub tires. We were very consistent which is important in a 500-mile race. We tested here earlier and focused on having a good car for the race and I think we have that. The draft was difficult. At one point, you are 50 yards behind the car in front of you, then all of a sudden, you feel like you have to brake or hit them. | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| The wind was very bad in the afternoon, especially in Turn 2, but we were very happy with the car in the morning session it was very stable. The car is very different with a wind package, so we will decide just before the race how to set it up. | |
 | Hollywood Reynard Mercedes |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| This afternoon we ran on full tanks to see how the car would handle in these windy conditions. There was a big difference in the balance of the car between one end of the track and the other, because the wind was blowing right across the circuit. We worked on reading ride heights for these conditions, since most likely it will be the same for the race. | |