CART MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 30, 2000

Gil de Ferran

GIL de FERRAN: Good afternoon.

GIL de FERRAN: Yeah, it's a wonderful transition, really. Everything is working out quite well. I mean, obviously when you join a new team and everything is about the -- about the package is new, it really takes a little while for you to acclimate to the new engineers, to the new -- for me in particular, to the new tires, and, you know, learn a little bit the ropes about how to -- to extract the maximum out of the team. But, you know, that process is really been ongoing ever since November -- November last year. And, you know, every time that we -- that we test it throughout the winter, we got a little better, little by little. We started the season already well, but, you know, with -- as each race passes, we again -- we seem to perform a little bit better, you know, and we seem to slowly be ironing out our short-comings. I think things obviously are already going pretty well, but I still think there is more to come. You know, there is -- hopefully we'll continue to improve as the year goes on since this is our first year together.

GIL de FERRAN: Listen, we were not out of sync, shall I say. We were all together in the same fuel strategy. You know, when we had to do about 100 laps on a fuel tank which was extremely tight, which is we got out of the pits; we obviously needed one yellow. So as soon as we got that first one, we were okay to go to the end. I mean, still, we had to save fuel, but we would have been okay to go to the end. But then we had that -- another one or two, and that really kind of made it easy to get -- to get to the end there. So it was no problem.

GIL de FERRAN: We obviously are going to start with a similar car to what we ended up with in Nazareth. And obviously the car proved to be very competitive in the race, and we're going to, you know, probably put a variation of that setup to start with.

GIL de FERRAN: Well, I think, you know, they did a great job on the car, you know. Basically, ever since we got the cars -- or even before we got the cars in November, you know, Team Penske has been -- especially Penske cars in the U.K. has been working very carefully under development of the car. And not only in performance-enhancing development, but on reliability-enhancing development as well. And I think actually this morning I wrote a note to the guys at Penske cars and said, "Look, a lot of the credit for this win really has to go to you guys, as well," because I think they have enhanced the performance of our car as well as the reliability. So I do believe that the Penske Reynard is a better car than the original Reynard.

GIL de FERRAN: I guess it's kind of hard to sort of measure, but, you know, certainly, a very emotional moment for me. I mean, there's no doubt about it. And, you know, it's difficult to put everything in perspective once you -- as soon as you get out of the car, because you're almost like in a different mode, you know. You're kind of that work mode and you're all business when you sit there in the car and really trying hard not to let the emotions run too high, because it can have a tendency to ruin one's performance. But as soon as you get out of the car, slowly things start to sink in, and as every minute passes, you know, I became move overwhelmed with the whole thing. I guess it's the old saying, "the higher the challenge, the bigger the reward," and maybe I was feeling a little bit of that.

GIL de FERRAN: When? You mean right after I got out of the car?

GIL de FERRAN: I mean, he had a -- kind of both speechless, I suppose. You know, we kind of looked at each other's eyes and, you know, I guess there was not much that needed to be said. He's a great guy. I tell you, I really like the guy. He's -- to me, I mean, he's directly and primarily responsible for -- for the success.

GIL de FERRAN: Well, you know, Nazareth, that's always been extremely difficult racetrack to get it right. In fact, you know, that's part of the reason why I was so happy about the whole -- the whole win and was -- probably winning on one of the tracks which I consider most difficult. It's a source of great pride for me. So, I mean, it was -- you know, it's renowned for being a difficult track; that you can drive consistently fast and be good in traffic, as well, because, I mean, Nazareth, you don't race by yourself; you're always racing traffic. And I guess, you know, both traffic and having a consistent car, people probably had it in -- had difficulties to varying degrees. All I can say is that my car was extremely good both in traffic and very, very consistent, probably one of the best oval cars I ever had.

GIL de FERRAN: Well, as far as we are concerned, obviously, all of the signs are going into Milwaukee are positive. I myself have not tested there, but Helio, my teammate had a good test. I think we have a decent setup and if you put that together with our performance in Nazareth, you know, you have to say that we probably will start with a half-decent car over there. I think that bodes very well for the Milwaukee weekend. As far as the Championship is concerned, to be quite honest with you, it's so early in the season that all I do at this time of the year is not even look too much at the points table. It's just tackle one race at a time. You know, we've got to get to the end, and get to the end amongst the first three or four if possible. And if we do that, most weekends, most race weekends -- then most likely we'll be fighting for the championship in the last three or four races. So I really just start to pay attention to the points table like when it's about, you know, like four or five races to go, and see what happens. So I would say at this point, you know, everybody is my enemy, you know what I mean. It's hard to kind of point one guy out or another. So we've just got to look at each race as they come and try to do the best we can.

GIL de FERRAN: It's not that -- it's not that important. Each race is very important at this time of the year, but I'm not focusing my energies against anybody in particular, do you see what I mean. I'm not racing against one or another driver, you know. I mean, at this time of the year, you race against everyone, and then later on in the season as the points table -- it goes through a variety of transformations, but as we come to a close of the championship, you then have to start to focus on another driver. And, you say, well, okay, I've got to finish in front of him, and him, you see what I mean. But it's far too early to be doing that right now.

GIL de FERRAN: I did indeed. Part of it, anyway.

GIL de FERRAN: Extremely good performance by Juan, and his team, actually. I mean, they, in my mind they did a wonderful job. I mean, one cannot forget that that's his first race in that sort of equipment, and, you know, not only Juan's job on race weekend, but his team's job on getting acquainted and familiar with those technical rules is -- was really very, very commendable.

GIL de FERRAN: I guess that's why I'm raising the point, because I know it's not easy. Obviously, Juan's performance on Sunday was fantastic, but one cannot lose perspective that, you know, being the team's -- his team's first race on that equipment is -- it was really -- the whole thing was quite impressive.

GIL de FERRAN: I mean, it's hard to say. I mean, in my mind, neither the Ganassi team or Juan needed to make any point, even before the race. I mean, they are from my point of view, they have always been first class that's why I've always enjoyed racing against them so much. They are probably one of the best -- Juan represents probably one of the best driver's in the world, and the Team Ganassi is probably one of the best race teams in the world. So, I mean, that's -- that's what to me makes the whole thing really enjoyable is racing against them, it's really quite fantastic because when you do finish in front of them, it's -- it makes it all that more significant.

GIL de FERRAN: Indeed.

GIL de FERRAN: Yeah, very much so. In fact, right after the race somebody asked me on an interview, "So, that's the least difficult challenge you have ahead." I said, "well," it's just -- I really considered Nazareth one of the most challenging tracks for me, and, you know throughout the years, I've really worked very hard to become a half-decent oval driver. And really, you know, one of the challenges that I felt I had in front of me was to win one of those ovals, and to win Nazareth, in what it is probably one of the most oval of the ovals, you know what I mean, it's a source of great pride for me.

GIL de FERRAN: Well, you know, I mean to be honest what I found is a team of great talent, you know, that maybe needed a little bit of a catalyst. And, you know, right from the start, I was very, very impressed by the team's commitment, generally speaking, which I suppose is a direct reflection of Roger's personality himself. I mean, nothing is too much, and no time is too awkward, if you see what I mean, to get something done. And that -- you know, I felt that that was there from the start, and obviously, the other thing I felt was because they are going through such hard times, you know, everybody somehow, you know, as a group and individually, I think somehow everybody managed to, you know, put everything behind him. And they were all -- with the major and very single-minded focus towards succeeding in the future. So I think if you put everything together, you know, all the new equipment and a couple of, you know, a few additions in the personnel board and everything else that Roger put together, it's obviously becoming quite effective.

GIL de FERRAN: Well, I don't know, I mean, I really have not -- have not had an opportunity to race wheel-to-wheel very much with either Juan or Jimmy very much this year. I mean, we've been close, but not really fighting with wheel-to-wheel just yet. It's hard for me to judge at that point before, but obviously looking from their results so far, you have to say that there is definitely a major improvement over the performance of last year. But as far as Honda is concerned, I think they are going doing a great job. The engine is proving to be quite reliable, as -- I guess that's not so unusual, it has a very good fuel economy, and I know they are working extremely hard right now. So I think, you know, if I look now towards -- towards the end of the year, I still think the Honda is the engine to have.

GIL de FERRAN: It's not that I've never driven there. I've raced there many years; five times, to be more exact. It's just that we have not together tested this particular year, so we -- I have not had a chance to fine-tune our machine, this year's tires, this year's car, to the Milwaukee Mile. I mean, I know the track very well. Our engineers at Marlboro Team Penske know the track very well. And we should start with a decent setup, since the Nazareth setup and the adjustments we made in the car in Nazareth should translate fairly well to what we're going to use in Milwaukee. And when we get there on Friday and start running, you know, we'll see how it goes.

GIL de FERRAN: I don't know, it seems that that those tracks, the simpler that they look, the more difficult they are. It's a very, very tricky racetrack, a little bit like Nazareth. It's very difficult to have a car that is consistent throughout a full-tank run, and it usually full-tank run. Sometimes you get guys that can go fast and qualify, but come the race, they really have a major drop in performance.

GIL de FERRAN: Thank you very much and thanks to everybody for being on the call.