CHAMP CAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 12, 2003

Adrian Fernandez

Roberto Gonzalez

Michel Jourdain, Jr.

Memo Rojas

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: My pleasure.

MICHEL JOURDAIN, JR.: Thank you.

ROBERTO GONZALES: Thank you.

MEMO ROJAS: Thank you.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: It's just a matter of organizing yourself. This is not the first time we are doing it. It's not the first time that we are going to be racing in Mexico, so that's helped us know what to expect and why we've been organizing ourselves to the point of trying to be, you know, more efficient with our time and everything. We're pretty much under control in all those respects.

MICHEL JOURDAIN, JR.: Oh, yeah, I think to come to Monterrey was organized before. It was a coincidence that Mr. President was there, you know, for an official trip, I guess. So they organized meeting him. He was he was in a convention center that is right next to the track. We were going to meet there. So they organized a quick meeting. It was very nice, very exciting always to meet the President. Before that I was with the ex-governor, which is now the Secretary of the Economics in Mexico. The next day we had a press conference with the governor of the state, the mayor. It was a good day. Then pace car rides, driving nice people, a lot of fans, and a lot of sponsors. So it was pretty nice.

ROBERTO GONZALES: Yes, I'm very excited to race there. I've been there the past two years just as a spectator, always wishing to be there driving. So this is going to be my first year. It's very exciting. It's too exciting, I don't know how to express it. Last weekend was a great event. There was a lot of media. It was also a great opportunity for us with the new drivers. We got to get around the track a couple of times and just have fun with the media guys, show them a little bit of what we feel during our hard drives around the track.

MEMO ROJAS: I'm very happy the way the season start for us. Always a podium finish is good to start the season. I had a little bit of troubles with qualifying because my engine blew, but we were able to deal with that. For the second qualify, we were able to get a podium finish at the end. I'm thrilled for this season, especially going to Monterrey, which is for me the first time I race in my country for the last four years. I'm very excited because the sponsors and family and friends are used to watch you on TV, on broadcast, or just during the news, but now they're going to be able to go and watch and see it live. For me, that's thrilling and very exciting. I'm happy to be racing at Monterrey, looking forward to next week.

MICHEL JOURDAIN, JR.: It's been really, really busy, you know, press starting on Monday after St. Petersburg. It was really, really busy those first couple weeks in Monterrey. Right now this week I'm in Columbus in the shop. My personal trainer is right here, I'm working out really hard. On Tuesday I'm going -- actually I'm going back on Friday to Monterrey for some promotions, going back to Mexico City on Saturday, then on Tuesday to Monterrey. I have other promotions Tuesday night or Wednesday, dinners with big suppliers, with Gigante and Office Depot, with a lot of people, the people from Gigante. It's going to be really, really busy.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Sure. Well, it hasn't been that quickly. If you think about it, it's been a while since things like this have happened in Mexico. It's been a process, from different drivers starting from the Rodriguez brothers, then we have Hector Rebaque, Jose Garza (spelling), Bernardo Jourdain, just different drivers, different eras, different times. For a period of time, we really didn't have anything. Really to be able to go to United States or to be able to go to England, it was basically crazy, it was absolutely impossible. So there was not many opportunities to race outside. Our racing in Mexico was good. We have a good championship. But it was just that, it was not very professional in terms of being able to grow towards a bigger series. So for a period of time, racing has grown tremendously in Mexico to the point of having more interest in companies, and this is all part of also the initiative of the Gigante and Quaker State and Telmex, to be able to support us right from the beginning and believe in this project. With a combination of promotions and results and all that, it grew up to the point of making a lot of noise in Mexico, becoming a big sport. Now that has influence in other companies, other drivers to come to CART. It's nice to see it growing because it's something that we always wanted. I think, you know, now with people like Michel and Mario and Roberto coming, you have secured I think for a great part of our immediate future for international racing. And I think also the Mexican local racing is starting to grow even more. Events likes Mexico, like Monterrey, it does good for our racing in Mexico, for the local racing, because it attracts new sponsors, brings in new companies and all that. That's fantastic. It's starting to become a little bit like the Brazilian sort of situation - but not yet as big. If we continue like this and we all put our help to try to keep all this, I mean, I think our future in racing looks pretty bright.

MICHEL JOURDAIN, JR.: Yes, I think I been in a really good situation because, like Adrian says, since we were young, we were in racing. When I was when racing in Mexico started to get a little bigger, the local racing in Mexico, one of the first things I remember is Jose Garza (spelling) leading 13 laps in Indy. I mean, when Adrian came through, went to Europe, I remember that, when he left the Formula (inaudible) in Mexico, that was really big, you know. Everybody was really talking about that. And he tried so, so hard. Like he said, it's what happened to my dad. My dad, when he used to race in Mexico, he could just go on a Sunday with his helmet and he could drive fast cars. But if you try to go to the States or Europe, nobody would help. So for people like Adrian and all the guys that went to Europe, it was so hard. But Adrian was the most (inaudible). He came back to Mexico, racing Formula 3, then in the States. He worked so, so hard at it. He was very smart, he was working on a good team, running very good, good in Indy Lights, brought himself in a different team in CART, started doing good, getting results, worked so hard at the sponsors. I think all that what has helped all of us here so that later Herdez got in, then I came in. Just more and more people started coming. It has changed so, so much. Now the races in Mexico, I mean, the racing world in Mexico is so different in 10 years.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Well, obviously it's something that you don't want to hear. It's definitely one of our favorite racetracks. I mean, it's been the all-time favorite for us. It's going to be deeply missed by all the drivers. But, you know, there were some issues that CART had to fix, and unfortunately they could not be fixed without canceling the event. We all hope that that event can come back in the future and we be able to, you know, go back there and have the solution all fixed by then.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: To be honest, I don't remember anything of that. At that time, to be honest, we have not much influence of Indy cars in Mexico. You know, we knew more about the Indy 500 and Formula 1, things like that. I just don't remember much about it. I really came more in contact about CART and all that after I came back from Europe and things like that. I mean, we knew about it. I think I was very young when all this happened, so I don't really remember much.

MICHEL JOURDAIN, JR.: I mean, in the past, you know, even when we had Houston, racing in Houston was like racing in Mexico. Like in Denver they played the Canadian anthem, in Houston they should have played the Mexican anthem. In racing, it's really big, you know, in all the north of Mexico, Mexico City, all these places. A lot of people that went to Mexico City was their first time. But there's people coming to Monterrey all the way from the north of Mexico, from south, from everywhere. They going to come to Mexico City. Some can only come to one. I mean, if you put the two together is, what, for the three days is like 300 or a little bit more, actually a lot more, let's say half a million in the three days for the two races. We have 100 million people in Mexico. A lot of people that go to one goes to the three. So I think, I mean, both events can be really, really huge. Last year we had both events and they were really big. I cannot see one distracting from the other.

ROBERTO GONZALES: I think what they have achieved has really changed motorsports in Mexico. It's really helped us. They've opened international motorsports to the eyes of business companies here in Mexico. In that sense, we really owe first Adrian a lot and then Michel also, he's been there for a while. We owe like, Adrian said, Tecate, Quaker, Telmex, Herdez, we owe them a lot. I also had the opportunity to live through a little bit of what Michel and Adrian had to live. The past three years I've been racing in Europe. It was basically a time where no other Mexicans were racing over there, so it was like a first timer. We really had to work hard for that. But it definitely is part of what Adrian and Michel have already created.

MEMO ROJAS: I think for me it has been the same, similar to Roberto, I've been able to witness how racing has changed. I remember the first time I saw Adrian race a Champ Car when he was racing here in the road Hermanos Rodriguez. I remember I was like 10 or 11 years old. For me, it was amazing to watch. That was one of the moments that for me pushed me to be a race car driver because I was in love with the car, and then I was able to see how the sport began growing. As Adrian said, it's very difficult to get started. I've been struggling a lot getting support. And right now I'm very fortunate to be involved with the Telmex racing team, for supporting young drivers which is involved directly with the Champ Car ladder system. So I'm very happy, fortunate to be part of it. Hopefully I can follow Adrian and Michel and Roberto's steps in the future. (Questions in Spanish.)