Thursday, October 6, 2005
DAN WHELDON: (How is everything right now?): "It's good, good right now. I won the "500" and the championship, I'm back at my favorite track. I had to beg a couple boys in the team to allow me to do this test, because they know I'm always keen to run Indianapolis, but obviously there's three other guys on the team. I managed to do some wheeling and dealing that I've learned from guys on the team and managed to get here for two days." (What is it like to stand with two trophies?): "The '500' still means the most, there's no doubt. I don't think the championship's set in yet. I know from a team standpoint the Indianapolis 500 really satisfied me personally, like I think it did Michael (Andretti), too." (What can you learn testing like this?): "Obviously we're doing a tire test, but anytime you're driving an Indy car over 220 mph - particularly here, Indianapolis is the hardest oval we go to - is you get a lot of laps and the more experience you get in an Indy car, the better. I'm still somewhat behind some of the guys that are more experienced. Look at Dario (Franchitti), he has been driving in America at the top level six or seven years and gives you an opportunity to catch up." (Do you, Buddy and Helio all communicate to one another?): "No, you communicate to a specific Firestone engineer and your own personal engineer, then at the end of the day Firestone gets together, and hopefully Buddy, I and Helio picked the same tires. That's what they hope. You've got a Brazilian, Englishman and American. That's a dangerous combination, and as crazy as the Brazilian is over there, you never know what you're going to have." (And you've got a lot of Indy 500 champions here): "Exactly. That's the beauty about the IndyCar Series right now; there's a lot of Indy 500 champions and champions in general. It's a difficult series right now to win in." (What can you take away from this test, with the "500" still seven months away?): "Obviously, any time you come to this track there are things you can try. We're here primarily for a tire test, and that's what you have to do. It costs Firestone a lot of money to rent the track for two days, and you have to respect that fact. But there's stuff you can learn from a setup standpoint as long as you're not changing the car too much, you can come with something perhaps slightly different. We have a lot of data from the four cars on what happened during the month of May. Like I say, the series is that competitive that you have to keep learning, and you have to keep improving, and there's stuff we found in the last four races that may help us when we come back here next year." (With next year's Indy 500 being the 90th running - a benchmark year - would it add to the prestige of winning for the second time?): "If you're saying 'Do I want to win again,' absolutely! There's no doubt in my mind. Helio, I think he did three years where he won two and then he finished second. I mean, that's an unbelievable achievement, just to win it once I found difficult enough. It would be good, yeah, especially on a year like that (90th anniversary), but to be honest, winning the '500' … as long as you win it, it doesn't matter. It's that big (of) a deal. Everybody that's won the '500' has been hugely talented, and for me, the race means that much. It wouldn't matter what year. I would just love to win it, again." (Talking about four-time winner Rick Mears): "Last May I was here doing an appearance, and someone was talking about Rick Mears and how he won it four times. I thought, 'Man, I haven't won it yet once.' I dread to think about how hard it was to win it four times, so to win it again would be very special."
HELIO CASTRONEVES: (After such a challenging season, has it been nice to come back and test at a track where you have done so well?): "I was running out there, and first off, the weather is very nice. So I said, 'OK, let me meditate here and relax.' I know how it feels. It's a great place, no doubt about (it)." (Even though a lot of things will happen between now and May 2006, what can you learn from this test?): "Oh, man, a lot. I'm already thinking about next year and this place and what we can do to improve the car. Unfortunately this past May we had trouble, so we're trying to answer some questions that are pretty important, and hopefully next year we come back with a much stronger setup and we can prove that we can win again." (Happy with the test?): "Oh yeah, absolutely. The weather is awesome. You couldn't ask for better weather in October. I always come here with a jacket on and (it's) snowy, but it's pretty good right now."
BUDDY RICE: (How does it feel to be driving at Indy for the first time since your accident in May?): "It's good. It's always exciting when you're flying into Indy and you land in the direction where you're flying past the Speedway. It's not a big deal to come back - yeah, the accident was bad, but I was racing in the following (IRL IndyCar Series) round so it's no big deal. It's just great to be back at Indy and running again." (How's the test going?): "Test is going good. Just getting everything situated with Firestone right now, and they're trying a bunch of different combinations and seeing what they need to do to make the car and tire as durable, or compatible, to everything we're going to be doing next season." (The 90th Indy 500 is more than seven months away, so what does a test like this do for you?): "I've tested here a couple times since 2003, and I've never seen it this nice. Tomorrow may not be this good. We'll get a super-late start and be done early because of how cold it's going to be. But it's always good if you can get a test in here, even though you run all month long. There's always stuff to be learned."
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