CART MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 21, 1999

Roberto Moreno

ROBERTO MORENO: Thank you very much. My pleasure.

ROBERTO MORENO: Well, at this point it is too late to get a drive for the weekend. There is a possibility for the next couple of races after that. I don't want to mention too much at this point yet. We just need play it by ear really. I am just -- what I can say is I am available and ready to drive anything that is out there.

ROBERTO MORENO: Well, it is extremely difficult and very challenging because you always have to fit into a situation that is out there. It might not be the ideal for you and might not be the ideal for the team sometimes. You just have to make it work. So you come in with the attitude to make it work and you get to know the engineers the best as you can; try to assimilate their needs and that is the way you fit in best is when you understand the needs of the team and apply your knowledge to their needs. That is what I have been able to do. I must say the two teams that I have substituted this year, PacWest and Newman/Haas, they made my life very easy because they were ready for me; especially Newman/Haas because I raced with them in the past. I know all the engineers there. I should say I knew them from the past.

ROBERTO MORENO: Well, what I am referring to is starting the season working on testing and preparing yourself with a package, whether there is a one-car team or two-car team, I should say two-driver team or one-driver team, and so you prepare yourself and you develop the setup of the car early enough before the season starts so you have a good baseline of the car, engine package, and tire package that you have and your relationship with the engineers. So it is very important, it works both ways, the engineer to know how the driver works and for the driver to know how the engineer works. That relationship needs to meld into place so you get good results. This is what I am referring to and it is very important to do the offseason testing and develop yourself so when you go to the races if something is wrong on that day you already know how to go back and what to change to achieve the best result. That is what has been missing on me on being a substitute. But I didn't have any other choice. I didn't plan to be a substitute ever. I always been chasing a position in this country to establish myself as a quick driver and what this has done for me this year is to achieve that actually.

ROBERTO MORENO: I think a couple of things. Myself developing on the process because why the other drivers have developed themselves through the test -- offseason testing and the tests before the races, I have to do that during the races. Each time you drive, it is like an airplane, you become better and so half I attribute to develop myself and half for -- I jumped into a team that was already winning races this year and it was just sort of fitting into a very competitive situation.

ROBERTO MORENO: Well, I actually get sad when I hear something like that because it is not my intention. I think this year I have achieved a level and I hope that will generate myself a full-time drive. I don't have to hold any signs like that and it is something that I will be in Houston because as a backup situation just in case. But if the time -- if I had more time before this decision I would probably be driving for another team.

ROBERTO MORENO: I would say it was more challenging. It hasn't made me a better driver, no, because Roberto always -- has had a certain level, but he was never being able to develop that level to show what could be done. It is always difficult, you know, I have changed teams twice this year, but I must say I have been very, very fortunate to be the one choosing -- seeing somebody had to replace (inaudible) I just hope now I can continue that because a driver needs a stable situation to develop to his 100% performance level. A catching-up situation every race weekend doesn't get the best out of a driver ever.

ROBERTO MORENO: Well, imagine yourself-I have got to put it in a way that you try -- you need to put yourself into my situation a little bit to understand that. Imagine somebody that came to the U.S.A. in 1996 and was able to do a full season to learn the race tracks, but not with a very competitive team. And has been chasing a full-time drive with a competitive team since then. When you get the opportunity you don't realize, you try to make the most of it every time because you know it is going to be for a very short time and you have got to perform in that time. But the challenge of it is because you -- everything is against you. And a driver, when he goes racing, he wants to win every race, at least I do anyhow. You try to make the best out of the situation to achieve that. Sometimes I might not show it from the outside because everybody thinks I am a smiling person here and there, but inside, I always perform to my best. I always had a handicap against me facing situations that other drivers have -- had more testing and more knowledge before they got there. A clear example of that is how I performed so well at Chicago when nobody else tested there straight out of the box. In other places I didn't have that situation and I had a bigger handicap. So to answer your question, I always try my best and I always will. I have an energy that motivates me inside because I don't do anything else in life and I am still looking for the break to succeed in this country.

ROBERTO MORENO: Well, I am going to certainly work in every way I can in every way to achieve that. I also work very hard to try to understand the engineering side of things so I can share with the engineer his thoughts and my thoughts and we work like, where I am not driving a little bit, of a help in a way of developing.

ROBERTO MORENO: You see "Old" is not in my dictionary. And it is just -- I look at life you know, the next step, what do I have to do. The best thing in my life is my wife takes care of my two daughters very well. I don't have to worry about them when I leave the house, and I just forget about them and I just get on with the racing.

ROBERTO MORENO: One machine, this year, anyhow, could only drive in oval courses to start because the gearbox wasn't really ready to do any road courses on the IRL. That will change next year, I believe. But that was one thing that was a big difference. Also if you are talking about just both oval racing, IRL, you just keep your momentum going in the lap. The power range is much different and lower than the CART cars and it hasn't got the turbo that kicks in. The power range and how it kicks in, it is very different. The gearbox is very different because, one, you have to select each gear - I don't know how to say - the other one is a sequential gearbox. What else? On the CART car you always -- you are always trying to use the power to the best of your ability. I mean, you set up the car thinking about how much power you can put onto the ground. On the IRL you try to build momentum to go fast. That is the two biggest differences.

ROBERTO MORENO: All they have to do is hire me now. (laughs). You are talking about the chassis or the team?

ROBERTO MORENO: They are different. One sets up -- I can't go into details too much, but one sets up more easier than the other, but they both can perform the same level in my opinion. That is basically it. One you have to worry a little bit more about the aero package. The other one the mechanical package is very important. So it is a tradeoff and once you discover each of them, you go fast. You take, for example, some teams that have Reynard chassis that until they find the trick that makes the car go fast, they are in the back of the grid. Then same thing happens with Swift guys and the guys that found the trick were up front. It is just a matter of finding the key for each chassis. But I do say one is easier to find than the other one.

ROBERTO MORENO: Yeah.

ROBERTO MORENO: Well, I understand next year will be sequential gearbox like the CART cars are. That is what I understood. That is basically -- you can probably use that in the road course if you want to.

ROBERTO MORENO: Thanks.

ROBERTO MORENO: I hope God listens to you and I get another chance somehow; not to the expense of somebody getting injured, but I really hope I can continue. If not, I have got to thank you very, very much, both teams I drove for in the CART Series, because it has been a tremendous opportunity for me and has developed my career further. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you, Christian, and wish him all the best for the next races and if he ever needs me for anything, I will be there for him; not for driving, but even to help him, you know, continue his performance in the team.

ROBERTO MORENO: Thank you. All the best for all of you.