INDY RACING LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 6, 2005

Travis Gregg

Bryan Herta

Danica Patrick

TRAVIS GREGG: Hi, Tim.

TRAVIS GREGG: The game plan is pretty simple. We have to go there and win. We got (inaudible). So our goal is to win. Definitely getting the pole will be important, too, getting extra points. I do some configuring for the finishes, for the last few races. It could come down to the points. Depending on how Wade finishes, it could be close.

TRAVIS GREGG: Yeah, maybe a little bit. You know, Chicago is a little bit different than Kentucky and Texas. But it's pretty similar. You know, I think it just helps me out mentally, basically. You know, I've been there before, so I expect to run a little bit better.

TRAVIS GREGG: I think the Watkins Glen race will really be important. There we'll have to finish relatively close to Wade. I'm just hoping to do well on the ovals, and step it up on the Watkins Glen race. We should be okay.

TRAVIS GREGG: Yeah, I mean, you know, I wanted my first win. I had a bit of success last year winning the pole, finishing second. I wanted to, you know, come in this year and grab some wins. Definitely the main goal was winning the championship. But, you know, I definitely gained a lot of experience this year, and hopefully it will further me along in my career as I race, try to get into the IndyCar Series.

TRAVIS GREGG: I think another year in the Pro Series would definitely be, you know, a valuable experience. This is my first full year in the Menards Infiniti Pro Series, so I think even another year in the series would help me out even more, give me that little edge.

TRAVIS GREGG: Yeah. You know, I don't think the pressure's really on me. I think the pressure's on Wade to keep finishing high. He's been in the top five every race all year. But I think if we just keep doing what we're doing, we'll be good.

TRAVIS GREGG: Oh, yeah. I mean, this is what it comes down to. I mean, you have to know when to take chances and when to, you know, kind of settle in and settle for what you can get. Definitely, it's an experience.

TRAVIS GREGG: You know, I feel really good. We raced at Chicago last year. You know, we're going there this weekend. I feel fairly confident in myself and also with the team, good history there last year with Thiago winning the pole and the race. That plays a big part of it. You know, the team, they're comfortable with me and I'm comfortable with them. They know how I drive. I think all of that works together and develops a good understanding of each other.

TRAVIS GREGG: Maybe a little bit. I was just talking with some of my friends, what I could do to step it up a little bit different. Maybe next time when I win, there will be something more to go along with that.

TRAVIS GREGG: Oh, yeah, I'll have to step it up for sure.

TRAVIS GREGG: Well, we did a lot of testing this year on the road courses. I think our performance has improved a little bit. I also have a shifter kart that I ran pretty much all day yesterday. I'm kind of sore from the hour and a half straight I went one session, then my ribs were kind of sore. I'm just trying to do whatever I can, training in a different series -- not a different series, but when we went out to California for Sonoma, I did the driving school out there. Just little things like that, just really pounding it pretty hard at my family's go-kart track.

TRAVIS GREGG: I think it's pretty much me. It's kind of frustrating at times. But I just need to step it up. I can look at the data between my teammates and myself and really kind of find out what I'm doing, what I need to be doing better. I think it will come along. It's just a little bit of a different learning curve for me.

TRAVIS GREGG: Actually, I've never really seen Watkins Glen up close. I know they have a really long history there, especially with the IndyCars returning. As far as what to expect on the track, you know, I'm not really certain as specific to Watkins Glen. But just like every other road course, you know it's going to be important to go out there in that first practice session and just get a feel for the track, know where you need to be, then really work on getting speed that second practice session for qualifying. I really haven't -- I've watched races on television at Watkins Glen, but I've never really been there in person.

TRAVIS GREGG: All right, thanks.

BRYAN HERTA: How are you?

BRYAN HERTA: Okay. Well, if I went third and second, then I guess I got to win this year (laughter). You know, Chicago is one of the -- really, it's a mile and a half but it's one of our superspeedway events. It's one of the tracks where we run in a pack of cars side by side. You know, it's that type of racing, one of those places. You know, just really expecting just a very close race, side-by-side finish is pretty common there. I had the opportunity with a few of the Honda teams to test there last week. It's one of the few tracks we actually tested on this year before we get to race there. Hopefully at least on a two-day weekend where the track time is limited, maybe that will give us a little bit of an edge.

BRYAN HERTA: For me personally?

BRYAN HERTA: Well, no, because I'm not leading the championship by 79 points like Wheldon is. You know, it's been a good year. We've had -- like you said, we've had some good results. We've led a bunch of races. I've had three poles and finally got that first win for the XM guys. Had some definite high points. Like you said, we've finished out of a bunch of races and there have been a couple races where we weren't as competitive as I was hoping or expecting. You know, I think the speed has definitely improved this year for my car, with the 7 car, but the consistency still is not quite where I hope it will be. Looking forward to next year, hopefully that is the one thing I think we've shown championship speed, but we just haven't shown championship consistency. That's the area where I hope we can continue to improve.

BRYAN HERTA: Well, that's the challenge, isn't it? I mean, I think we asked ourselves those same questions at the end of last season. We had such a great year with Tony winning the championship, and we won a whole bunch of races. You know, I was really impressed with the attitude of the engineers and the crew guys and everybody on the team over the winter, was not, "Hey, we finally arrived, we're doing what we want to do." It's, "Shoot, these guys are going to come gunning for us next year, we're going to have to keep it up big time if we want to keep our momentum going." And they did. I think it's going to be the same kind of thing. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I'm not signed for next year. But, you know, I fully hope and plan to be back with the team. But, you know, I think the first thing really for the team to do is to get all four of us back under contract. They've got Tony right now. I think they're close with Dan. Hopefully they'll get Dario and I all signed up and we'll keep that consistency. I think that's been a big part of our success, is to just try and keep whatever formula it is that we've got going, it seems to be working, so let's not mess with it.

BRYAN HERTA: Well, it's not what I've been told by the team. You know, I don't have any reason to doubt them. No, I think it's just a timing issue, you know. This is really, you know, we're just getting into August or September, and this is the time of year where those things start really getting situated for next year. I'm at the end of a two-year contract. I don't anticipate any changes. But as they say, you know, it's not done till it's done.

BRYAN HERTA: I know.

BRYAN HERTA: Well, I think, yeah. You know, from the driving standpoint, the four of us each have very different backgrounds. We're actually pretty different characters. I think the different types of experience and the different sort of approaches that we take to racing, I think it's kind of -- I've learned a lot from my three teammates. You always learn from your teammates. But I've learned a lot from these three teammates. Just beyond that, you can't give enough credit to really Kyle and George, Tino, Pete, all the engineers. There's so many people on this team who contribute to the success, you really can't put it down to any one or couple of people. It's just been the whole group and the way we've been able to work together that's really made it happen.

BRYAN HERTA: No, you know, don't think about things like that, especially when you're racing against somebody. You're just focused on the time at hand. I mean, I never -- it doesn't surprise me. I mean, Mike has had a great history in racing. It's his background, what he knows, what he does well. I'm not surprised that he's put together a team. I'm pleased that he's hired me to drive. It's not something I kind of thought five years ago, "Hey, it would be great if Mike put together a team and hired me."

BRYAN HERTA: That's right.

BRYAN HERTA: I don't know. I don't know how to answer that really. I don't know exactly. I think it's two things. It's probably, one, a willingness on all of our parts to check the ego a little bit at the door and just accept -- instead of looking at your teammate as enemy number one, which is kind of more normal in racing, is to say, "Hey, how can I learn from this person and work together to make all of our cars better so that hopefully at the end of the race we're battling each other instead of everybody else?"

BRYAN HERTA: Well, I mean, Mike a lot. I mean, Mike always tells us, you know, he wants to be the guy we go to if we have a problem. If we're fighting amongst ourselves, if we have a disagreement, we always try and talk it out, work it out amongst ourselves. But if we can't work it out on our own, Mike is the guy we go to. He's got good perspective. He's been helpful at trying to mediate issues when they do come up. You have four competitive guys. I mean, you don't want the impression that we're all just, "Hey, everything's great all the time." We fight and argue and disagree a lot. But we kind of use those challenges to remotivate ourselves. Believe me, nobody wants to beat anybody more on the track than we want to beat each other. By the same token, we understand we can help each other, too.

BRYAN HERTA: You got it. Thank you.

DANICA PATRICK: It was good to be able to get on a track before the race. The only other track I'd ever been on before at all was Milwaukee. It was in Atlantics, so it was quite different. It's nice to have been to one before now, and I just feel more comfortable going to it from the standpoint of how the car feels from the difference between qualifying and race setup with full fuel, how it feels running in traffic with people around me, you know, how the first, second, third groove feels on the track. It really gives me a lot of confidence going into the weekend knowing what to expect.

DANICA PATRICK: I just, you know, hope I have a strong end of the season. That's going to kind of, you know -- I'm really -- I can't ever put a number on it. I don't think it's the right thing to do. I think that you have to use the circumstances provided. If the car is extremely fast this weekend, I'm going to hope to win. If the car is a little off the pace, I'm around like seventh or eighth or something, you know, I'm going to hope to do that. You always hope for the best, meaning winning, but you have to use circumstances provided or you're just kind of putting too high expectations and only going -- and that will only result in frustration and disappointment.

DANICA PATRICK: I mean, I think they provided racing for me. They got me to the racetrack, got me go-karts, supported me.

DANICA PATRICK: I probably knew after a year or two. I then made it my full-time career forever probably at about 16 when I left school.

DANICA PATRICK: I have to say that I'm not much of a history buff. I don't really get into that side of it, so I don't really know. I know it's a very historic track, though. I know that there have been some amazing drivers that have come through. It's a special place with great fans. But outside of that, I mean, I was born in 1982. I think the racing that had happened was well before that. My parents were probably young. That's about all I know.

DANICA PATRICK: I think it's been a year of, you know, great things, lots of fun, learning, exciting things. I think there's a lot of great things that happened on and off track that have impacted myself, the series. And hopefully other people in the series, too, will result in the good things that happened.

DANICA PATRICK: I've enjoyed myself. You know, there have been times when things have been extremely busy, but it's been tolerable, it's been exciting, it's been a lot of fun. I'm never going to have this year back in my life. I'm trying to do my best to just enjoy it while it's here and hope for better things to come still. But I'm excited for a break. I'm excited to get married.

DANICA PATRICK: I don't know. I mean, a little bit probably just because it's closer to home. But, you know, a little bit also because it's getting towards the end of the season and I'm hoping to have, you know -- I really want to have a good race to close out the season. I feel like I'm learning more, better prepared for the events as we go along. My expectations, you know, get higher. But at the same time they're all very important, and that's why, you know, I still get really nervous before every event. They all mean so much. You want to do well at all of them.

DANICA PATRICK: I'm not sure what you mean it's more about my personal life. What do you mean?

DANICA PATRICK: I don't think that's accurate, though. I think, you know, like you said, the question was about how did I start racing. That's racing. I think that lots of questions have to do with racing. I think I'm fortunate enough that I have a lot of people writing articles and doing stories, which I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm so lucky. But, you know, people want to know more. I mean, I think that we see that with, geeze, all the magazines that come out these days about, you know, gossip and everything. People want to know about personal stuff. I think as the articles go on, I mean, we haven't raced for two weeks. I don't know. I just think that people want to know more about everyone these days. I don't know. I think personal questions will come up, but I do still think that they're mostly all about racing.

DANICA PATRICK: I'm sorry. Do I feel like I've set up a good personal base to drive a race car?

DANICA PATRICK: I feel like I'm learning. I'm continually learning. I think that everybody is. I don't think that anybody ever stops. That's why it's so difficult, just because people continue to learn all the time. So I'm going to do that, too. It's always going to be the same, that the rookies learn -- your first year you're going to learn a lot more than in your second year and third year. But, yeah, I absolutely do feel like that. I think everybody's pleased. I think that I feel like everything has gone very well this year.

DANICA PATRICK: I think I've always known that. I think I've always done the best job I can to capitalize when people are interested and want to do stories. You know, of course, as your career's starting, going along, it's much more -- they're much more sparse and rare, and you need to do the best you can when they come along. I've always known that the marketability side has been needed. I think I knew that because if it was just great drivers that made it, I think the field would be different. I think there would be a lot more race car drivers probably. It would be a much larger field. But, let's face it, that's not what it takes. It takes a lot more than just driving a fast car. You have to present yourself well. You have to represent your sponsors well. You have to do a great job on the track. You know, I think I've always known that.

DANICA PATRICK: Probably not. I do feel fortunate that I've been able to be exposed to media throughout my whole career. I mean, ABC came and did a special called The Passion of Play, with Anna Kournikova and Tara Lapinski. It was an hour-long special. We were all 14 years old. They came and did interviews, they taped us at the house, they taped me at school, at the track. Later on in that same year, MTV came and did the same thing. I have had to perform in front of a camera, be composed in front of a camera, speak well. I promise you, I wasn't what I am today then, of course, because I was just starting. But, yeah, I do feel like the amount of exposure I've had throughout my career has definitely prepared me for what was to come this year.

DANICA PATRICK: Interviews? Well, "strongly recommended" is what it probably was. And "strongly recommended" means pretty close to mandatory. But I do still have a say so. At the end of the day, I would have probably done just about all of it because it was all important and it all went a long way. I understand that it helps me and it helps, you know, the sponsors and the team and the series, too. But I guess I do have the ultimate decision. You know, there's obviously a lot of pressure to do it all because, you know, everybody wants exposure.

DANICA PATRICK: Well, I think it was probably -- it was the year before Atlantic. I did some Barber Dodge stuff. Probably 2002, sometime in that area. It was Team Rahal that was the first ones to actually come through and help me with that kind of thing. But along the way, there have been people that have put in good words. I know Lyn St. James has definitely helped me with some things along the way in recommending me. But an actual PR department didn't come until Team Rahal.

DANICA PATRICK: How do you do it?

DANICA PATRICK: I think you have to have something inside of you that can. Some people are shy and probably won't ever get there. You know, you have to be comfortable. You have to be confident. You have to try, as far as media, you know, to do it more. The more you do it, the better you become. As far as racing and progressing through the ranks, I think I say this time and time again, but I really believe it, if you don't have the complete passion and the complete dedication and everything that it takes, you won't be able to go through all the difficult times. I say that because when I look back, some of it was, and I didn't realize it, because I just wanted to do it so badly, I wanted to make it to the top. I think it takes that kind of dedication to get through the tough stuff. I'd say just make sure it's a passion.

DANICA PATRICK: Well, I have to say that I never really -- I wasn't really the kid-loving kind of type. I have always taken my job very seriously. You know, that's obviously a personal thing. That's something to be discussed with my husband to be. But at this point in time in my life, I'm very dedicated to my career, and I will do -- I will be doing that for as long as I'm excited and interested and having fun with it. Then the stuff after will come after. Like I said, that's something sort of personal. Again, right now, career.