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CHAMP CAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 7, 2006

ERIC MAUK: Thank you, and welcome everyone today to a Champ Car media teleconference, where we have the special opportunity to welcome two new drivers to the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford. We have with us today a pair of drivers that will be making their Champ Car debuts at this weekend's Gran Premio Telmex presentado por Banamex in México City at the very challenging Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
We are joined today by a man that needs no introduction to many of you that have been covering The Champ Car World Series Atlantic system for a while. Remember this young man, the 2000 Champ Car Atlantic champion and the 2004 Indianapolis 500 champion. He'll be driving the #7 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone for Forsythe Championship Racing this weekend, Buddy Rice. Thank you for joining us today.
BUDDY RICE: Thank you.
ERIC MAUK: And his teammate for the México City event, the driver of the #3 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone for Forsythe Championship Racing, a young man that's driven in the past two seasons in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship, David Martinez. Thank you for joining us today.
DAVID MARTINEZ: Thank you guys for having me.
ERIC MAUK: Start with Buddy. Both you guys actually got to go test the Forsythe cars down at MSR Houston last week, and it's been a while since you've been in one of these. Tell us how the test went and how it felt to be in the cockpit of a Champ Car.
BUDDY RICE: You know, it was a great test and I'm very fortunate that I was given the opportunity by Jerry Forsythe to come out here and do the season finale. You know, I think it was a big help for us to go down to Houston so I could get familiar not only with the car but with the team and kind of see how they operate.
Like I've been saying I think through a lot of my interviews and stuff, it's a little bit of a homecoming. It's nice to get back into a Champ Car, it's nice to go down and do the season finale and we'll see how things go from here. But this is an excellent opportunity and I'm really looking forward to it.
ERIC MAUK: Gotten to run a couple of road courses here in the last couple years racing in the Indy Racing League at Sears Point, St. Petersburg, Watkins Glen. Tell us what you know about the México City track, what you're expecting from it.
BUDDY RICE: Well, a couple of years ago I was helping out DSTP when Joey Hand was driving so I was able to go to México. I didn't get to drive but I was just helping out the team a little bit. I've kind of seen it before. I've gotten to see video of the track and stuff, and trying to get prepared.
It seems like it's kind of like a permanent road circuit but it's more like a street course because nobody really runs on it until Champ Car gets there. It's going to be a lot like a street course, a lot like at St. Pete when I drove there with the IRL, so it's going to be a constant changing track all the way throughout the weekend, and I think the biggest change will probably come once the race happens, which a lot of these tracks have a tendency to do because they don't have much rubber on them.
It's going to be a doubly exciting time. It's a little bit of a learning curving obviously because of me not having a whole lot of knowledge with the Champ Car, but I think with the experience and the depth that Forsythe Racing has, it's going to be a good weekend.
ERIC MAUK: Congratulations on the opportunity. Looking forward to seeing you down there this weekend.
BUDDY RICE: Thank you.
ERIC MAUK: David, tell us a little bit about this opportunity for you. You've run two full seasons in the Atlantic Championship, you were the only driver to complete every lap of Atlantic competition this season, running with both Bite Racing and U.S. Racetronics, but now the season wraps up and you find yourself in a Champ Car. Tell us about your thoughts heading into the weekend.
DAVID MARTINEZ: It's great to finally get inside a Champ Car, something I've been working toward for a couple years. Finally after working pretty hard in Atlantic, I get a huge opportunity with Forsythe, and it's also in my hometown. I'm planning to make the most of it and have fun.
Obviously I have a really good team behind me and a very good teammate, so I'm going to have to learn pretty fast and hopefully we can do a good job without Paul this weekend.
ERIC MAUK: You've run well at the Monterrey track at Fundidora Park. You've got a couple podiums there. But tell us about your experiences with Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
DAVID MARTINEZ: The Hermanos Rodríguez track has been really good for me in the past. I have finished on the podium a couple times, won races with Barber Dodge Pro Series, and like I said, five years ago, I raced a couple times at the Hermanos Rodríguez track, and the last time I raced here in the Formula 3 car I won, so I'm hoping I'll find myself pretty good on this track like in the past and we can get a good result going.
ERIC MAUK: Those runs in the Formula 3 cars, did they run the old peraltada or through the baseball stadium?
DAVID MARTINEZ: We ran through the peraltada every time I raced. We used different configurations at some of the corners, but most of it is the same. So I'm hoping I'll have a good start.
ERIC MAUK: As we said to Buddy, congratulations on this opportunity, a big step for you, and we're looking forward to seeing you this weekend.
DAVID MARTINEZ: Thank you. I really appreciate this opportunity from Mr. Forsythe obviously. I'm in a place where a lot of guys want to be, so I'm going to try to do my best and make the most of this opportunity.

Q. This is going to be for Buddy. What are you looking for with this race? Are you under pressure knowing this may be a tryout for next season or are you just going to go kind of ease into this thing a little bit?
BUDDY RICE: Definitely have to ease into it a little bit. I've never driven at this circuit and I'm still on a little bit of a learning curve with the car and making sure I understand it.
I have enough experience. It's not going to be any more pressure. I know what I need to do from a driver's standpoint and what needs to happen. So if I just go there, I'll get on with what I need to do, and we'll see what happens from there.
But definitely, obviously the first session we have to make sure we get a good grip on the track and kind of know where everything is at.

Q. Also, Buddy, or this is for both of you, have either of you guys talked to PT over the last 24 hours since it's been announced that he won't be driving?
BUDDY RICE: I talked to Paul last weekend and I also talked to him again on Sunday and also yesterday seeing his prognosis once I found out what had happened.
Obviously he's bummed out. He wanted to go down to México and go run. Obviously he's disappointed. That would have been a lot of experience for both me and David to draw off of once we got down into México and what we need to do as the sessions progressed.
But it still remains to be seen if he shows up down there, probably depends on how he's feeling. But it's definitely a bit of a hit to the team because we could use that experience.

Q. If you talked to him, how much did he really try to get back? In the ten days or two weeks since he hurt himself, how hard did he push to get back there?
BUDDY RICE: I think he pushed pretty hard. It sounds like he was pushing so hard in the latter part of the week that he ended up hurting himself a little bit more, and that's what really, I think, has caused him to sit the weekend out. It sounded like he was pushing pretty hard to make sure -- from I understand he was back to about between 60 and 70 percent as of Thursday of last week going into Friday before the real inflammation started happening.
I don't know enough about the break or exactly where it's at in the scapula, but any way you can look at it, Dr. Terry Trammell, who's a pretty aggressive physician and understands the mindset of race car drivers, for that guy to put his foot down and say no, it's probably gotten worse.
Like I said, Paul is pretty bummed out about it.

Q. Buddy, I wanted to ask you a follow up on what you just said about this race in México City maybe as a trial run for next year. Are you hoping to make the Champ Car a long-term commitment?
BUDDY RICE: Right now I basically since July when I got released I've been looking at everything. My door has been wide open to the whole thing obviously. I want to stay in open-wheel racing. That's been my whole thing. This is obviously an excellent
Opportunity for me to go drive a very competitive car in Champ Car, and basically that's been my whole goal is to make sure I put myself in a very competitive open-wheel car so I can go run up front. Jerry Forsythe has given me that opportunity. There's definitely a lot of things that can happen here, and everything is wide open right now. I don't have anything set in stone.
I definitely want to drive open-wheel cars, and this would be a good fit for me. We'd have to see what everybody else thinks within the team and what Jerry thinks and what they're looking at for the future, but I'm definitely excited to be doing this, and this is, like I said, a huge opportunity.

Q. If I could ask just one more quick one, I'm not sure if you want to answer this or not, but what kind of terms were you on when you left Rahal Letterman?
BUDDY RICE: I was finishing off basically the second year of a three-year deal, and so when I got released obviously in July, they basically negated my third year. I was supposed to be under contract again for next year, and that kind of evaporated.
But I think a lot of that went away because of the sponsorship issues. Bob didn't have any other sponsorship other than the Ethanol deal, and obviously I wasn't in the midst or in the middle of all that. I don't know what the situation was with that, but obviously Scott Sharp is going to Rahal with his own money. He's got the Pátron sponsorship and he's taking it there. That's kind of the situation.
Bob gave me a huge opportunity back in '04, and it's been a good thing. Times are getting a little tough right now and he was lacking sponsorship, so he allowed me to kind of go look somewhere else to make sure I could put myself in a seat.

Q. Hello to Buddy. This is kind of a question for both you and David, but I'll pose it this way: You and I talked right after the announcement that you were going to fill the seat for A.J. Allmendinger and we talked about the audition factor then. Now we have two drivers in a sense auditioning for one seat. Does that have the two of you look at it? You can answer it first, and then David, please follow.
BUDDY RICE: I think obviously the team and Jerry Forsythe and stuff, they have obviously an agenda that they're looking at and things that they're willing to pursue. So we'll have to see how that plays out.
And it's the same thing I said before, every time you get in a seat, it's always an audition. You never know what's going to happen. It's no different than right now I'm not finishing off my third year at Rahal because of certain situations and stuff.
I think every time you get in a seat, it's somewhat an audition, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens after México.
DAVID MARTINEZ: I totally agree with Buddy.
(Transcriber experienced phone interruption here.)
BUDDY RICE: At the end of the day I'm going to put myself in a position to drive a competitive car, and that's what my whole goal is right now and I've been given that opportunity. We'll see where that goes from here. Still, at the end of the day we'll have to see what happens after México. But I'm not worried about the car counts. That's not for me to worry about. There's enough other things to take care of.

Q. Also to follow up, are there any other backup plans, maybe Grand American or something like that or are you sticking to the track, staying in open wheels for next season?
BUDDY RICE: Definitely I'm working on the open wheel thing, but it's not to say I'm working on anything else because at the end of the day I'll be driving somewhere. We're just going to have to wait and see.
I mean, there's always opportunities and there's people calling. There's a lot of things happening all the time, and this is I guess why they call it silly season and things are happening and moving around. We'll see.
I'm focused on doing the best job I can this week for Forsythe in México, and we'll see what Jerry and the team and what they want to do for the future.

Q. Buddy Rice, let's start with you. You're going to be working with Michael Cannon, whom everybody knows had an easy time getting adjusted to working with A. J. Allmendinger. How have you two guys gotten along based on your first test together?
BUDDY RICE: I believe quite well. Obviously it's going to take a little bit. You're not going to have everything just perfect in the first one day of testing or anything after that. But these guys are very professional and they're very well organized, so I think that's also making the transition easier. So I think that once you get down there and get into the heat of the battle, we'll see how it all goes.
Obviously it's going to take a little bit longer than also one race weekend to also understand exactly what I'm looking for or how to explain it to where he understands it. That's part of having a relationship and working with your engineer for years. That's something I've never really had. I've switched engineers every single year since 2000.
We'll see what happens. I'm good at adapting and trying to fit in. These guys have got a fast car, there's no question about it. Allmendinger did a great job winning five of eight rounds that he was in there. So definitely -- there's a lot there and the team is very good, so I think that we should be in a pretty good position.

Q. You are the third face they've had in this particular car this year. How daunting is that?
BUDDY RICE: That really doesn't faze me, like I said. I've been around racing and around this thing for long enough, I know what I need to do and I just need to show up and get on with it.

Q. My question is for David Martinez. David, this will be your debut in Champ Car. Are you more relaxed that it's going to be in your hometown or does that add more pressure?
DAVID MARTINEZ: Well, I think it's a little bit of both. I mean, definitely just coming here to a huge event with one of the best teams in Champ Car makes it easier. But at the same time, people want to see the Mexican driver up front.
I think it helps, and it's also a little bit of pressure, but I think in the end, it's a good type of pressure that's going to keep me pushing the whole weekend, and hopefully I can give them a good show and a good result.

Q. My question is for David. David, how many different cars in different places, different times have you raced on the México City race track?
DAVID MARTINEZ: The first time I raced there was around 1997, I think. It was a Formula 2 car with 200 horsepower. Then I raced Formula 3000, and my last race was a Formula 3 car, which I won. So I have had some good experience actually on this track, and I'm hoping that's going to help.

Q. David, I'd like to know coming in after your first test, how do you feel -- what was the most difficult part about getting accustomed to the Champ Car?
DAVID MARTINEZ: Well, my first concern getting in the car was the physical aspect, although I've been preparing myself pretty strongly these last years. I drove the Atlantic at the beginning of this year, and it was a pretty physical track, so that was my main concern.
At the end of the day, I felt pretty good. I got to do over 200 miles, and I was a little bit sore, but nothing huge. I gained a lot of confidence just getting to know the people and running some long stints, getting to know what new tires do and what loading the car with fuel, how it changes with the long runs.
I mean, I gained a lot of confidence, and I feel pretty comfortable coming into México knowing that I could run competitive times in Houston on my first day, so I'm hoping that knowing this track and knowing the team is going to make things a lot easier this time.

Q. Buddy, my question is what makes you take the decision to change from IRL to Champ Car, considering that you were once a winner in the Indy 500? What made you take that decision?
BUDDY RICE: Well, part of it is I don't have a ride right now in the IRL. Also, it's a long off season and I thought that it was important for me to keep driving.
When you get an opportunity like this to drive a competitive car, I don't think you should pass it up at any time. If there was some sports car races and other things going on, I'd definitely be trying to drive that and I'll be running at the 24 Hours at Daytona in January, as well.
Like I said, I guess I've been saying, it's a little repetitive, but I need to be in a very competitive open-wheel car, and that's what I want to do, and this is an opportunity to do that, and with the opportunity of driving here in the future.

Q. Did you take a step ahead or do you think you went backwards with this decision?
BUDDY RICE: I think if you want to step back and look at things, I think you can look at both series and they both have pros and cons, and at the end of the day, what it comes down to, the best thing would be is if the two series were together and they're not. They're somehow vying for the same demographic to some degree. Obviously the all oval series, other than being in Japan, is an all American series, and Champ Car is a little bit more of a worldwide series.
I think that they both have strengths, and they're both playing off of their strengths, and I don't think it's necessarily a step up or a step back. I think it's a side step right now.
At the end of the day, I want to be driving an open-wheel car, and if I have an opportunity to drive a car this competitive for the future or anything like that, I'm going to definitely take a long, hard look at it and have to decide from there.
I want to be in a very competitive car and I want to go racing, and that's my goal.

Q. Just a quick follow-up for Buddy. About your contract with Rahal, he told you in July you said. Was there an option you didn't pick up for the third year, or were you actually under contract? And how does that affect any future contracts you might sign for '07?
BUDDY RICE: It definitely was not an option, it was part of a three-year deal. How it will affect my future contracts, it won't affect it at all.
I understand Bob's position, and at the end of the day, it was a business decision that he had to make. There's no hard feelings or anything like that.
Those guys over there are a good group of guys, just the way the situation is. That's just the way it goes.

Q. So basically are you getting paid for the final year, or is that just kind of --
BUDDY RICE: No. The thing is that everybody's contract is so different, and obviously we don't have a union so nobody knows exactly what everybody is doing because everybody does their own thing, but no, I will not be being paid on my third year.
ERIC MAUK: We will bring today's media teleconference to an end. I'd like to thank Buddy Rice and David Martinez, and best of luck this weekend as we head down to México City.

End of FastScripts

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