CART MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 2, 2000

Adrian Fernandez

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you. It's my pleasure.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Well, basically that is a very, very simple track. There, basically when you are coming into Turn 1, basically you come in top gear and you take a flat out that corner; that's always when the car is balanced. But it's so wide that you basically have lot of room in the outside. I like to keep my car tied to the inside. And it's a little bit bumpy in the exit of Turn 2, and that's why it's good to keep the car inside; and I like to drift the car to the outside of the wall on the exit of Turn 2, just to make sure I don't scrub speed at all. And coming into Turn 3, there's a medium-type of braking, not too heavy. There's some people that shift two times; sometimes you shift once, it just depends on how your car is working. We normally shift just one time. And then basically it's just trying to put the power as soon as you can into the exit which is coming into the main straight. It's very important to come out very good up to -- into that corner, because that's going to give you the top speed into the whole track. So that's very, very important to, you know, to keep the momentum there. But as you can see, it's a very, very simple track, but the most important thing is to really balance well, your car, and have a good starting setup, which we have had in the last two years.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Last race, to be honest, I think it was the package that we have, the new package, the new wing package that we have for this year. I think it was better, because the cars were a little bit more stable through the corners. Still, the passing I think was a little bit similar which helped me in the last two years, but, you know, watching the race last night, I could see there was quite an excitement race and there was quite a few passes. The thing is this long straight allows you to drive yourself behind the people and make the passes possible. So I think there were some opportunities. It's never easy to pass, but that goes with every single track. But in this particular track, it was exciting to make some passes. The only problem is this particular track, it's a little bit dirty outside line because they don't use the track for the whole year. If that track could have been used through the whole year, I think it would be even more exciting because then you could use different lines. But unfortunately, because of that, the line is very, very narrow, and if you go off line, you could see like this with drivers going off line, and just basically losing grip; it makes it more difficult.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Sure. Well, from Nazareth, I mean it was unfortunate that we had to have the race a little bit early in the season. We basically were asking for trouble there at that time of the year. You know, it's going to be fine to go for one day. We have everything there. Of course, the temperature is going to be a little bit different, but at the same time, it was -- it was very good temperatures on Friday and Saturday prior to Sunday when it snowed. So we don't expect too many changes, and we have basically all of our setups and we feel pretty good for that race. In terms of the season, to be honest, we started very, very strong. We started leading in Miami; unfortunately, we had some engine problems. And then in Long Beach, we were very strong; that's another race that I think we had a very, very good chances of winning and also we had an engine failure. I was very proud of the response that formula company gave us in terms of, you know, the actions that they're going to take. You know, the engine has been very strong and it couldn't have come at a better time in Rio. I was getting a little bit frustrated, especially with qualifying, and we didn't put the right aero package for Friday and Saturday, and we just missed it there and we missed the setup and that's why we started so bad. But then for Sunday, we basically had a good car and concentrated on our own work and it was just great to lead again. You know, sometimes you lose some, but sometimes you get some of your luck back, and I think that's what the case in Rio. So I think this is going to be a very strong year for us. Japan is coming on, and that's a track that we know very well. We have won in the last two years. We have a good setup. I feel very confident on it. You know, I think this could carry good momentum into Japan. And I think this year Patrick Racing is going to be a force into the season, and hopefully, we can keep the momentum and have a little bit of luck, and with that, I mean, you know, not having problems like we had in the last two races.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Well, I think the first race, there was a lot of attrition, and that helped -- and that helped the winner. Second race, there were some cases also there with some of the top drivers that were running strong they had also some problems. But at the same time, I think if you have -- if the luck runs with you and you have a good pit strategy through the race and the yellows come at the right time for you, it can happen, and that's what makes it exciting for these -- in this series. Even if you start on the back, you still can win. And I can assure you that if -- especially in a street course, for example, in Long Beach, if you don't have that many yellows and it goes into a normal way, the track, the race, and most of the winners -- sorry, the leader drivers they qualifying from, they don't brake, then it's very hard, you know, to do that. In our case in Rio, it was a little bit different because we basically gained a lot of position by staying out on the track while -- in the first pit stops. So we stretched our window and we conserved a lot of fuel as much as we could; so when we came into the pit, we were 13 and then we came out 7th. And that was basically because I did like two or three laps more than like the guys who pitted earlier, and that's the key thing in some of those tracks. Every track is different, but I think that will be the case all through the year, but you always want to qualify in the front because you don't want to take those chances because it makes your life a little bit more difficult.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Well, in Rio, it's a very, very hard track, hard on the gear box. Like you saw, there was guys coming out with gear box problems. It's very rough. There's -- the back straight is very hard, so that's hard on the equipment. I don't know about the other races. It's just, you know, so early in the season. Some engine manufacturers, some people, they are having some problems on some -- some chassis problems, and I think that always happens a little bit at the beginning of the season, and I think as the season goes on, that's going to start getting better for everybody. So at the moment, just the important thing is just to try to finish and not having that type of problems. You see Montoya having three in a row, and I have two in a row and I was -- you know, I could see his frustration, because I could have been very frustrated again if something would have happened to me, especially if you're in the front, you know. So we just have to keep going. It's a long season, but very competitive and it can be anybody's race next time.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: It is and it is not. The last race start, I basically had a good race start and managed to have a -- a decent gap for me and enough for me to keep the lead, and I think that wouldn't be a problem to keep the lead to the end. But then again, if the -- you know, the yellow came because of what happened to Tagliani, then he just -- at the end, it makes it easier for you, in a way. I mean, to secure at least that win. But to be honest, once I have the rhythm, I prefer to continue at that time. But then it's much more difficult to restart for like one lap or two laps, because every time you restart, especially like in Rio, the tires are so dirty, it's so much easier to make mistakes. But once you keep rolling, it's better to keep rolling for everybody.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: You mean keeping the throttle down?

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Yeah, there's some drivers -- I don't -- I can see his frustration, you know, especially when you're leading and you've been dominating the whole weekend. I could see that, like a desperation thing, just trying to -- trying to go back as soon as he can, you know, to the track. And unfortunately, it just didn't work. He was trying to spin the car around. I tell you, I've never seen so much smoke in my life, so thick and so much; it was just amazing. I've never seen something like that. And I think that's what he was trying. But the car was, you could see on TV, the car was going reverse and he was -- he was going forward, and the car basically -- the car was not spinning, unfortunately for him. Any time you spin when you're leading and there's just a few races to go, it's just very frustrating, and I'm sure he was very frustrated and trying to do anything possible. Unfortunately for everybody, it got a little bit difficult there. For me, it was easy because I saw the whole thing and I have no problem passing him because I was -- I just came in the inside. But then for Paul and the rest of them, it was a difficult situation because they couldn't see where they were going. You know, you have to just be careful and just be patient. That's what -- you know, Tagliani is a very good driver and time will come, you know, with experience. I say that's always the toughest part of racing, you know, just those last few laps. I remember in Japan, my first win, my restart I was so worried about putting the power down to Turn 3 and 4 on the restart and not spinning, you know, and making sure that I was not making mistakes. And once you do that once, then you get the confidence and then you try to focus more every time and then you learn how to do it and then it's fine.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Yeah.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: I think -- we have new wings this year, and I believe they are the same wings that we used in Homestead. And I think in Homestead, we reduced the stop speed by ten miles per hour. I don't exactly the remember the top speed we had last year during Motegi, but I could think that it could be, I don't know, maybe 210 or -- I don't know have exactly the details of the speed, but I believe it's like around 210 or something like that. And then into Turn 3 should be like 170-mile-per-hour corner, something like that, 160. The corner in 1 and 2, that's basically flat-out, and I should just feel that corner is around 200, 190 -- 190 to 200, something like that. I don't have exactly the right numbers in my head.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Well, for example, this time I'm going on Thursday, and I'm going with my girlfriend and we are basically doing some tourist through Tokyo. And we have a good friend from Oakley there and he's going to take us around. I like Japan a lot, and Tokyo is a fascinating city, very clean. The culture is so different, which makes it very interesting. So I like to go around different restaurants, different places, see how Japanese people live, you know, and we go with friends that have friends that actually live there. And, you know, it's interesting to see how they live, how their houses are. So we just do a lot of tourists, and I do a lot of PR, we go around, different things, playing games or doing different things with Firestone, some of our sponsors, Quaker State sometimes. So things like that makes it interesting sometimes. So we try to be on the track like 12 o'clock on Wednesday, and, you know, I go around the track -- sometimes we go to the museum. Like the first year, we went on Tuesday to the track and just went around the track and walked the whole facilities. It's impressive. Not just the track, there's just so many things there on the track, on the complex on Motegi. And once you are there, basically, for the drivers, because we stay right there on the hotel, there is not much for us to do, and unfortunately, that hotel is extremely quiet. There's like two channels on TV or three channels on TV. I think there's just one in English and there's just one restaurant. There is not a gym, there is not a swimming pool there. They are a karaoke bar, which two years ago all the drivers got together and that's the only thing we did when it was rained out on Saturday. So once you are on the track, there's really not much to do. That's why we like to go a little bit early and spend some good time in Tokyo.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: It's been huge. I just feel so proud that this race happened. Everybody in Mexico has been just waiting for this to happen for a long time, and to have this as a reality, just an amazing achievement for us. I've been racing here for, I believe, like nine years, including Indy Lights, and it's been a slow-but-sure process of success for us. And now, this race is going to be another one. And I assure you, this is going to be one of the most supported races of the year, and everybody is asking for tickets, everybody is asking for information about the racetrack and everything, and it's just amazing. I think it's just going to be a fantastic race. We have a lot of support. Every time we go to Mexico, it's getting bigger and bigger. You know, unfortunately for Mexico, we don't have that many athletes like you have here in America in so many sports. So, you know, people tend to go to the athlete that is succeeding, and at the moment CART in Mexico is very big. So, they follow us very strongly, not just in Mexico, but in the different tracks of the circuit that we have.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: This is something that it has started, I tell you, something like five years ago, even before Pat. And Kirk (phonetic) also has been there before, trying to -- trying to, you know, to do something about the race there. But for some reason, things got cold, it never happened, and it wasn't maybe the right time. And then, the last -- since I joined Patrick, I've been talking to Pat about it, and, you know, he has a lot of influence with the different team owners, and I went and talk also to different team owners, and I spoke with my sponsor. So basically I helped putting the pieces together, and then I, you know, Pat and Kirk (phonetic) started working on the plan and then Pat was responsible for making the approach with Jerry Forsythe and Ron Dixon and the whole thing. And I was always there behind, helping in any way they wanted me to support them or to help them. But I have to say that the work has been put by Pat Patrick and his group, with Jerry Forsythe and CART, and inside of Mexico with Tegate (phonetic) and the government of Monterrey, and I have always been on the back supporting this event. So when the news came positive, it was just one of the greatest news I have received this year.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Yeah, it's going to be a permanent road course. It's going to be -- it's going to be -- it used to be a place here where they used to melt steel, and now it's a park. But they still have these burners and everything and it's just like a decoration now. There is like a theater, open theater where there is concerts. It's like a park around and there's other things. So the planning, the track is going to be a road course around all in this big park, and then we have a convention center there on the back. So that's right behind the pit; so that's going to be very good for any type of event and things that CART will need through the weekend. And the planning is also to have different concerts and things through the night. And it's just going to be a whole event, not just a race, but it's going to be a whole event. And the track is going to -- I've been working with Ron, talking about the track, and of course, he has a lot of experience, but the details of that, they are still working on it. But it's a track that hopefully will have enough passing areas and it's very hard, you know, when you see it on paper and then when you see it in real things, it's very hard. So for me, it's very difficult to -- to explain how, you know, how it will be these areas where we can pass and everything. It looks like it's going to be a lot of good positions to pass, good turns, fast corners, slow corners, a good rhythm track, and the background on the scenery is just beautiful. So I think it's going to be an outstanding facility. And I believe that after the race is done, that it's going to be converted like in a park again and then opened when we come back for the race for the following year. A little bit like Melbourne, but this is a permanent course. It's just going to be converted into a track just when the race comes.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: No, not at all. I don't know why, but Motegi is -- I don't know if it's the pavement or what. And just Motegi is a very smooth -- it has just one bump, as I say, at the exit of Turn 2, but more outside the line. But the track is very good. You have more room to work with it. I don't know, in Rio, they washed the track for two weeks and they scrape it. The problem is when the champ cars get into the track, with the forces that they generate with the downforce, they scrub the pavement and it becomes like sand and it's -- I mean, it's unbelievable. It's really unbelievable the amount of sand that is generated there. I can't believe that there's not even more accidents than what we have there because it's so limited, the line there.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Carrying this momentum for the whole team?

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Right. Well, I always believe there is all a lot of talk before the season starts, and I don't like to talk too much about the -- you know, before the season and there is so much, oh, we're going to -- remember how the testing went before, and LOLA went to testing and Firebird and Michael and Christian were like two seconds quicker than anybody or something like that, and it just goes on and on and all that type of stuff. And I don't like that, to talk too much about it before the season starts. I like to concentrate with my team on what we do. People are asking things like, "How do you think you're going to do?" I just go back on what we've done in the past, and the past we've been very strong. We finished fourth one year in the championship, we finished sixth last year, which I didn't compete four races; I broke my arm; started with the Swift that didn't work at the beginning and then we had to change to another car, etc., Etc. And so do I think I'm going to have a good season? Of course I think I'm going to have a good season, because basically most of the people have been there with me now for two years. So this is the third year I'm with my same engineer, John Ward, with a whole group of mechanics and everything. There's just been some minor changes. Of course, now, I have a good teammate, a new teammate, Roberto Moreno, who has a lot of experience with (inaudible), which I also used to work also with it my first two years of racing. And of course, the whole thing looks good. And then, you know, we proved that straightaway, in spring training we were not that fast, but we were training, testing other things. People start getting worried and all that and blah, blah, blah, and when people get surprised. You were nowhere in spring training and now you are very fast on the race. Well, it's just we like to perform when you have to perform. We like to try some other things and we're concentrating over things that are very important at the time, and that's the experience that we have been able to achieve through these few last years. And I think that's what has made the team very strong. And, you know, Miami was a little bit -- not a little bit, a lot of frustration because we were very strong. We pass Michael like in Lap 20, something like that and then we inherit it lead from Montoya when he broke, but we were basically very comfortable on the lead and unfortunately we have our problem. And then we go to Long Beach, and I was very sick at Long Beach. I had something (inaudible) from something I ate or something that happened there and I couldn't sleep through those days, but then I still put the car in good position on Friday. And then on Saturday we slipped back a little bit to fourth place, but still the fastest Ford, and we were looking very strong for the race. And unfortunately we had a problem with our engine and the rear wheel slipped and that sends me to the wall. So I was getting frustrated because we were really very strong, and Moreno proved also in Long Beach, he was leading until he has his problem. So coming into Rio, the team was working, everybody was down, but we were trying to just forget about it, just concentrate on our thing. Then in qualifying, we had some problems, but there is where the team shows its strength. We concentrated on our own strategy and our own game and our own car. The car was better for Sunday, and we had a fantastic win. And I think now, you know, we should have won maybe in Long Beach, we should have won maybe in Miami, but now we have a few more -- 18 races -- 17 races to go. And, of course, now everyone is excited because we are back on the hunt on the points. And we have no points coming into Rio. We were last with zero points; so now we are carrying some momentum. So we are coming into a strong race which we know, we have a good setup. So I feel we should be very strong on the races for the year. As I said, I feel if we have a little bit of luck and everything comes our way, I think we have a lot of chances of winning the championship, and I do really believe on that.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Well, I'm talking about luck of things like what happened to us last weekend, you know, the things breaks or things completely out of your control. Now if you're making a lot of mistakes, that's not luck. I try to concentrate on the things what I can control, and I prepare myself physically mentally to be ready to race, and I try not to make mistakes, the same with the guys. Last two races, basically, it was nothing us or the team we did. It was just unfortunate situation we had on our engines, and Ford worked really hard on that, as I said and they came back very strong and apologized with what happened. And they just responded pretty strong. That's why we win it from there because they are the first ones they want to win bad, and, of course, they didn't like what happened. So now, you know, there is -- they are working very hard, and that's what I feel that if we keep -- if we have a little lit of luck that things like that don't happen to us, I believe that if I finish every single race of the year, I can finish in the Top 3, Top 4, Top 5 easily all through the year. And maybe, you know, we can win three, four five races and that would help us to, of course, win the championship, but I think we are going to be very strong through the whole year.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: I am not surprised. You know, a person would say, well, you know, they say Adrian is underrated and all that. To be honest, I don't pay too much attention to that. I just go by the records and from what I have done. When I started my career in racing in CART, I was not in the right teams in my first four years, and that didn't help me achieve the successes as early as other drivers have been able to achieve it. But, you know, that was my situation, and, you know, deal with it and my opportunity with will come. And since I joined Patrick, you know things have changed. And of course, you know, with Patrick, we have been growing and we have been able to achieve success and we are just trying to get better and better. Competition is very, very strong, as you have seen, but this team and myself, we have grown together and have been able to prove that we can win races and we are for sure one of the strong candidates to be able to win the championship. And I think the consistency that we have had in the last few years have proved that. Now, why the press or sometimes they don't rate you highly, you know, I don't know, but that's not something that worries me. I just worry about my own performance about how to improve, how to get better, how to get better with the team, how to get to the next level all the time. And the results is what will speak at the end.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: What I have to look at as a driver is to not make mistakes and do well and have intelligent and strong races all the time. And hopefully we will have good cars in most of the races from now on, and the ones where we will not have good races, be patient, stay in the hunt, and, you know, get as many points as you can, but try to finish all the races. And the things that are completely out of our control, hopefully we had our share of bad luck already for the races of the year. Paul has been very consistent, which he wasn't last year; so at the moment, that part is working for him. Of course, I'm sure he's wishing that trend will continue. But one or the other, I think you see the Top 3 drivers are the only drivers that have finished the three races. On the other hand, the rest of us, we have had our share of bad situations that have happened to us. So you just -- you are going to have some problems through the year. There's so many -- you can't get away with those ones. It's very rarely when a team goes through completely free trouble -- I think the only guy I remember was Jimmy Vasser, not last year or something, but two years ago that he finished every single race and every single lap, or I think Max Papis, I don't remember. But very rarely that that happens, and it will -- what I would like to have is a season where I have the least the least mechanical problems than other teams and hopefully my results -- I will accumulate enough points to win the championship.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: In my particular case, this is a business for me, and it's -- well, it's a business for every driver. It's our profession. I think I'm glad I'm doing something that I love and I can get paid for that. But as you may know, my other job, apart from being a race car driver is basically taking care of my -- our sponsors. I am in a particular situation where I sign the sponsors, I take care of the sponsors, Quaker State and Tecate, who have been with me now for seven, eight years; and that in its own is a lot of work. So I have like maybe nine, ten people working for me in Mexico and in here. And basically, you know, I make sure that everything is running smoothly and there is -- everything is running good with the team and everybody is coordinating the right things, and then my itinerary as a driver, that's the other part, I have to do on my appearances. So I have a lot of hats to deal in at this time in my career. But to be honest, I enjoy it and it's maybe more work than other drivers, where other drivers maybe be able to after a race, may be able to just play around and just get ready for the next one, and they may have to do some appearance, but then they don't have to do so much. I have to do this extra work, but at the end, it's been exciting also, because I have learned the other side of the business, which I think it will help me in my future, whatever I do after racing. This gives me a lot of knowledge about business, a lot of -- I do a lot of -- I go to a lot of schools and I go to a lot of appearances, a lot of public speaking engagements. So that has helped me a lot, also, through my career. So I have learned so many things that I think prepares you so much better in life, and I'm very proud of that. And also it keeps me in control of my destiny and instead of maybe you have a bad year and a team will decide that you're not good any more for any reason. In this case, as long as I am work good with my sponsors, that will never happen.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Thank you very much, and I will see you in Japan.