CART MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 6, 1998

Steve Horne

Tony Kanaan

TONY KANAAN: I think we race on the same tracks from the CART, so that's a pretty good deal because we have, you know, we race like a couple hours before Indy Car, so we know all the tracks and everything. We are with the CART teams all the time so I can know the peoples and they can watch my race. But the most important thing, I think, is the tracks. You can learn the track very quick. You going to use this in CART, so.

TONY KANAAN: Thank you.

STEVE HORNE: I think that's one of the interesting things about the CART Championship. Each year it gets stronger and stronger. I think the level of competition gets higher and higher. I think you'll see some new faces come onto the radar screen. You'll maybe see a few fade off the radar scene. The core group, Michael Andretti, I fully expect to see Bobby Rahal and Bryan Herta. The core group is going to be the same. And there's going to be some young guys. I'm sure Tony is going to be up there challenging later in the season for strong positions. Our chances overall, I think they'll be a lot better, I hope, than '97. Obviously we ran Lola in '97. That was very difficult for all of us and our drivers. At least we're starting on equal footing with equipment.

STEVE HORNE: First of all, you know, I've been a big proponent of Indy Lites in terms of its ability to prepare drivers for the FedEx Championship. I told Tony this before he drove the car. It's going to feel like a big Indy Lites car with more power, be a little wider, but it's all going to feel about the same. I think he's proven that. I think Indy Lites prepare the drivers very well in terms of chassis setup and that sort of thing because it's a spec series. So anybody that gets to the front obviously knows how to set up a car. I think the biggest difference, this is the thing that will take a bit of time, the length of races, and the strategy and the pit stops. Those are things that Tony has got to adjust to and we can only really start adjusting once the race starts. That's really my feeling. I think, you know, we've proven as a group that we can have rookie drivers win in their first season. I think the level of competition is probably even tougher than what it was three or four years ago, but I think the potential is there, Gordon, to win races. The level of competition is extremely high. Let's just see what happens. But I'm pretty confident we'll do a bit better overall than what we did last year.

TONY KANAAN: I wish I know the CART, it's a very tough season. Like he said, we start pretty early, start testing. I think Steve give me that opportunity, so he need that. We start like this in Indy Lites and we did pretty well two years. Much earlier we start, much confident I'm going to be in the first race with the car. It's a different car. We have a pretty good engine, pretty good chassis, I think the best tire. So we just, you know, like Steve says, I going to take a little bit more time to, you know, know everything like the pit stops and race strategy and everything, but I think we should -- I wish I can win a race this year.

TONY KANAAN: Thanks.

STEVE HORNE: Good question. I'm not going to answer that right now (laughter). We don't know, Ned, we're still working on that. It's getting real close to a decision on what we're going to do. We cannot wait much longer on deciding who, what, when, where and why, we'll drive the second car. I can't answer it right now.

TONY KANAAN: At the beginning of my career, the Formula One was the top in Brazil, much famous than the CART and everything. So I went to Europe. Then the things start getting very difficult in Europe because they want a lot of money. Formula One, they have just four good teams, then you cannot go to those four teams. You start with the second group. I think I start in the second group, never going to have a chance to show your potential. You're still paying a lot of money, the same amount of money, like $5 million, $6 million to race, a small team. Didn't show nothing. You can't afford that because, you know, your sponsors want the return. So they invest a lot of money and they want you to win. You cannot win with this kind of teams. So in '95, I was talking to the vice president from Phillip Morris at that time. He showed me the other way, Indy Lites, then go to Indy Car. He told me it's not going to be easy, but is going to cost the same amount of money, but I'm going to have a chance to win in Indy Car. I was pretty exciting about the program. He show me, you know, Tasman and everything. I accept his opinion. But it was difficult. Like you remember, '95, December '95, we had like eight drivers to try to take two seats. So was pretty hard for me. Fortunately, I did pretty well. I changed my mind. I came to America. I think was the best thing I did in my life because right now, you know, like three years ago, if you ask me -- if you was asking me what I'm going to do, I can't answer you. Right now, I'm a CART driver. Honestly, I didn't expect that kind of early. I thought I'm going to be like 25 or 26, I can arrive. That came earlier, so I'm very happy.

TONY KANAAN: I think, you know, Steve can answer, he can answer better than me. Indy Lites, I did it my way. In Italy, you know, in the shop. Then after that, Marlboro, and Steve, Indy Lites Marlboro was very important to me, they take both the years. Indy cars happen just for Steve. I think he can answer better than me.

STEVE HORNE: Well, Jeremy, obviously, as you know, Phillip Morris South America set up the Marlboro South America team. They gave us the budget. But they gave us a clean sheet of paper in selecting drivers. Tony came highly recommended. You know, in the first season, first five laps, when we did our first test in Indy Lites, it was obvious to me that Tony had the ability. So he was picked purely on merit. I think another important part is drivers do get picked on merit, but they have to understand the commercial side of racing as well. Phillip Morris did a very good job I think of educating Tony and Helio and the other drivers that drove on the team. So the commercial side is important. Tony is working hard with some Brazilian sponsors we've got right now. But this is commercial business and he's learning and understanding very well that side of racing, as well.

STEVE HORNE: Obviously we did touring car last year. Had a lot of fun and success with Neil Crompton. The series has faltered so obviously we won't be continuing with that. Neil is going to continue to work with the team both on the commercial side and hopefully he'll be doing some races in IMSA this season. Indy Lites is just rolling along. We set ourselves an even bigger challenge of trying to repeat as champions with Cristiano da Matta and Airton Dare driving for us. Right now the two drivers in Indy Lites and Tony signed up to drive one of our champ cars. So it might be a slightly smaller, more focused group than we had last year, but, you know, I think we can -- we'll still be running at the front in both series.

STEVE HORNE: George, no, it's not a question. Tasman had two franchises within CART right now. Our intent is to run two cars. It's getting late to make a decision. You know, we were obviously caught out a little bit the end of last year. We knew Adrian Fernandez was leaving us. But when Andre left, it put us behind a little bit. Trying to find an experienced driver, I think it's very important for us to have an experienced driver alongside Tony. That's probably the biggest issue right now, finding someone that has the kind of experience we think can add to the team. You know, the list is not very long of experienced guys out there right now. So that's where we're at.

STEVE HORNE: Yeah, we have.

STEVE HORNE: Well, we've actually been out testing with both cars, the '97 car and the '98 car. Obviously on the engine, the Honda, as they always do, continue to improve, the performance is improved in all areas. The thing that's really been a very pleasant surprise, because it's a very difficult thing to do, Reynard has improved the car, you know, by a fair margin over last year, in my opinion. It kind of looks the same, but maybe Tony can answer better than I can, but I think it's a lot better race car. A lot of credit to Reynard at this stage. Unfortunately, everybody's got one. I think the standard has been raised in terms of chassis performance. Tires, go without saying, Firestone continues to be the best. You know, Reynard is the thing that's really not surprised me but pleasantly pleased me, I guess. They've made a very good improvement with the car.

STEVE HORNE: Why don't I start, Tony. Really this is a deal that Firestone put together to promote their new Dayton brand. As you know, they're going to sponsor the Indy Lites series this year with the new Dayton, Daytona tire. And really Al Speyer from Firestone called me and said they would like to run a car, Daytona 24 hours, then everybody can figure out the connection there. He asked if Tony could drive. I think that's what's going to happen. They're testing I think later this week. Really, it's just I think a do for Firestone and their Dayton brand.

TONY KANAAN: Well, it's a new experience for me. I always run in the single car. I did in my life a couple races with the touring car. In that, it's a very long race. I'm pretty exciting. I know my teammates just for seeing the newspaper and everything, Robbie Buhl and Mark Borkowski. So we'll see. I'm pretty exciting. I hope I can do well.

TONY KANAAN: Thanks.

STEVE HORNE: Thank you. I wish you wouldn't keep reminding me (laughter).

STEVE HORNE: If the pace car is up in front of you, you have a choice of hitting it or passing it, I say pass it (laughter).

STEVE HORNE: Thank you.

STEVE HORNE: Right.

STEVE HORNE: That's a hypothetical question.

STEVE HORNE: (Laughter) You've watched our team grow, watched what we've done. I think the thing today in the CART FedEx Championship, it used to be there was always an unfair advantage, whether it was the engine in '95 perhaps, Firestone tires, whether it was a disadvantage like the Lola chassis. But I really think now it's coming down to who's got the best driver. That's why we're excited with Tony, been able to do a long-term deal with him. We've got that ingredient firmly locked in place. I think anything we do or any other team does, the driver is probably now the last final ingredient that has to be at the top of the tree. There are no more hidden advantages. You've got to have a Michael Schumacher or somebody like that, Jacques Villeneuve, because there are no other secret advantages. That's what we're trying to build for the future with both of our cars.

STEVE HORNE: He's allowed to stall it two times then I hit him with a hammer (laughter).

TONY KANAAN: We did a couple tries. My worst fear was stall the car. That's the most, because Steve is getting very angry if I did that. A couple times I'm stall the car, but because I was worried about bringing up the rpms in the engine. Then when they said, "You can bring up how much you want," then I bring up and I did pretty well. But I think, you know, I'm not worried. I think I need just learn just to be comfortable. Like I never did the pit stop in my life, so right now it's come with the race. It's part of the race. I think I need try to getting the pit limit later, you know, than everybody, like right after the pass the white line, to don't lose too much time, try to stop the car straight to give easy life for my mechanics to change my tires and put the fuel on. Then I think that's it. Watch out with the other cars when I going out of the pit. That's it. But I'm not worried. I think we going to do a lot of pit stops before the season starts, so I will be, like Steve said before, for sure I'm going to learn a lot more in the race because it's going to be everybody together. But I think the first race is going to be difficult. The second one is going to be a little bit easier. Then it's going to come like, you know, the race. Like the start, the restart, everything.

STEVE HORNE: Absolutely. Give me your home phone number, will you (laughter).

STEVE HORNE: Well, I think I talked a little bit about, you know, trying to get that hidden ingredient.

STEVE HORNE: We traditionally have had drivers stay with us a very long period of time. Andre Ribeiro was with us for four years. Tony is 22 years old. He's driven for us for two years. I think we both know each other well enough right now. I think it takes three years at this level of competition to really get the best out of each other as a group, as individuals. So that really, if you say five years, gives another two years to maximize it. Tony will only be 27 at the end of his contract with us. I'm a firm believer in long-term relationships. Hopefully, you know, we can build on his success as a driver, we can learning a lot from each other. So I don't think it's unusual. The other thing is, I have a lot of confidence that he's going to be a star and I want to keep my hands-on him.

STEVE HORNE: Thank you.

STEVE HORNE: Helio Castroneves who drives with us this year and finished second, a very close second to Tony in the Lites Championship. Then we had Louis DaPalma from Argentina. Actually, we picked three drivers out of eight that year.

STEVE HORNE: We called it the Gong Show, four-day Gong Show out there where we really put the drivers through the drills. Tony and Helio just stood out head and shoulders above the rest.

TONY KANAAN: From the airport. I'm in Columbus airport right now.

TONY KANAAN: I'm going to the shop right now to make my seats. I didn't pick up my bag yet, but I'm still alive.

TONY KANAAN: We have Jeff is Jefferson. Steve, my chief mechanic, it's Elvis because his hair, you know is like Elvis.

TONY KANAAN: I cannot do with her because she's a girl. She can take like offense. I call her Sister, you know. I call her once Mom. She always try to kill me. Right now she is my Sister. I just lost my place. I have a deal with deal with Steve to December 31st, I was the president for Tasman. Right now I'm nobody like before (laughter).

TONY KANAAN: I always been training a lot. But I change a little bit. Actually I running every day. I just put a little bit more miles on my running. I did like five miles in the last year. I start to do seven and eight. Don't try to pushing so hard, but just a specific exercise like neck because the car is going to be pretty tough for my neck. My normal exercise, going to workout and do some exercise for my arms. The most important thing is the aerobics, the stamina. I working very hard on my running and I'm swimming a little bit also.

STEVE HORNE: Like I said back in the beginning, I don't know what our driver is going to be, what our package is going to be yet. I'm still trying to put it together. To talk about it in pieces is not the way want to do it right now. I just don't know right now. Hopefully I would say within the next three or four days it will be put to rest, we'll know what's going on. That's where we're at.