INDY RACING LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 21, 2005

Ryan Briscoe

Scott Dixon

Chip Ganassi

Mike Hull

Darren Manning

PAUL DANA: First of all, thank you for having me here. We worked with Ron last year, with Hemelgarn, and also the sponsor, which is the Ethanol industry. It has been the program's intention since late last year to step up. It is going to happen. We are going to be at the first race in Homestead. It's just, given the size of our program on the Ethanol side, there's over 25 companies involved that make it happen, and some late issues coming together with formalizing the program, we've been unable to do a formal announcement yet. I have done two tests with Ron. He kept an '02 spec Dallara up and running in his shop specifically for the purpose of being able to take drivers he worked with in the Pro Series and start getting them experience in the IndyCars. We did a day at Phoenix and a day at Homestead in the back part of '04. We're waiting on pinning down some equipment details. We will most likely be at the Phoenix open test and we expect to have a formal announcement between now and the Phoenix open test. Part of it, the Ethanol industry, they've got a new color scheme and a new logo that is going to be a part of the announcement. It's a lot of details unfortunately we weren't able to make it here, but it is happening and you can look at us for Homestead for the first race.

TOMAS ENGE: I would like to also thank you having me here on the stage. Well, first of all, basically the deal was done between me and Panther Racing quite late. It was on Tuesday this week. And, obviously, I was not able to participate with them before Christmas when they were testing down here on road course test, which I missed that, these one or two days they were here. Well, these two days we've done, it was quite great for us because we done a lot of work, like everybody else. But I was really surprised the first day, the first morning, that I was quickest. I thought, you know, just everybody else were just looking around and not driving fast or whatever. But the main thing was that we get so far really well with the team, or I get with the team really well. And everybody is like helping me a lot to get into the series, which is going to be difficult for somebody who has been doing 13 years on a road courses only and have experience just with two races on ovals. Tomas Scheckter, my teammate, is a great help, as well. We get on really well. We know each other from past Formula 3000 already, as well. I just wanted to thank you so far to the team. They are doing really good job for me.

KOSUKE MATSUURA: Yes.

KOSUKE MATSUURA: You know, first of all, I'm very happy to driving with Fernandez Racing. Obviously, I couldn't win last year, but I have like so many good races, like Michigan, Kentucky, Motegi, Indianapolis 500. But, you know, last year, I was really unlucky season. Hopefully, you know, I have some more luck and hopefully win one race this year.

RYAN BRISCOE: Yeah, it's great to be here. It's fantastic having the opportunity with Chip Ganassi Racing. It's an amazing team. They're greatt people to be working with. I've had a great test here. I seem to be adapting quite well to the car on the road course. It's not so difficult to adapt to. It's a good car to drive. It's really responsive to setup changes. We've been able to get through our entire program and make some good improvements. That's been really good. Especially with Toyota, as well, we've been working a lot on the engine with the drivability, so on, which it's all new for road course racing. We've been doing a lot of work there. It's been a very positive start.

RYAN BRISCOE: I guess the overall lap time wasn't terrific, but during the day I reckon our times were pretty quick. I was doing 11.1s on old tires, and that was pretty competitive. We never really got much track time at all. I think we only did around 30 laps or something. We had an engine change during the day, also a big stop during the morning. We sat most of the day on the sidelines. But when we're on the track, it was looking good. Yesterday was more about just trying various car setups and so on rather than looking for actual pure speed on the track.

PATRICK CARPENTIER: Whatever you want is fine. Patrick is fine.

PATRICK CARPENTIER: We had dinner together last night.

PATRICK CARPENTIER: No, not teammates. But we raced together. Actually for me it's a good thing with Red Bull Cheever and Toyota coming back together because used to be with Toyota in Formula Atlantic when we clinched the championship. It's certainly good to be back with these guys this year. I'm looking forward with the ovals and everything. But with Alex, we raced together in IndyCars, a little bit in Atlantic, but I was never his teammate. He's a very good guy actually. We get along pretty well. We're going to share a lot of information this year to try to be up at the front all the time. We had a first test at Sebring in December. It was first to understand the car a little bit. We made some major improvements for this test here the last couple of days. There's still some to go. But we're looking forward to it actually. I think we're strong engineering side on the team, I'm looking forward to it this year.

PATRICK CARPENTIER: Yeah. It clicked very well, especially with Ian, my engineer, who does a very good job. We started a little bit slow on Tuesday, then jut kept working our way up and up and up and getting closer every time. We're really happy about that. There's still a little bit of work to do, but I think we definitely know where we're going. So I'm looking forward to what's coming.

DANICA PATRICK: I'm 22.

DANICA PATRICK: 23 since.

DANICA PATRICK: Well, you know, I guess I am sort of young still, but I expect to do well and I expect to move up the ranks. I guess if I had a five-year plan when I was 15 or 16 years old, I'm a year off of what I thought I would be doing. It's exciting. Sometimes I have to step back and realize that it's happening and I'm driving IndyCars. 14 years later, this is my 14th season, and I'm driving for a great team, Rahal Letterman. I have great sponsors, Argent, Pioneer, Honda. It means a lot that they stand behind me and believe in me like the team does, and lots of people. So it's exciting. I'm ready. Let's begin.

PATRICK CARPENTIER: For me, I always loved ovals. It's always something I wanted to do but never had the opportunity to do the Indy 500. For me, with everything coming together, like I said earlier, with Toyota and Red Bull Cheever, there was a great opportunity. I'm really looking forward to that. I love the close racing. And from what I've seen on TV last year, it's pretty spectacular. That's why I switched to the IRL.

PATRICK CARPENTIER: Yeah, there were quite a few. Michigan was a great event. There were a few that had good finishes and good racing. I really enjoyed that. I was watching Buddy and a couple of these guys battling together at the front. It was fun to see. The finish is really close, and it's something I like.

PATRICK CARPENTIER: From what I remember, not too many years ago, but a few years ago with Al Unser, Jr. at Milwaukee, we did eight laps side by side. This day was the most enjoyable race I've ever done, and it was on an oval. So for me to come back and watch these guys on TV, seems to be a lot of fun. For me it was a natural decision to do that. I've been speed skating when I was young. It was on a short-track oval. Always kind of been involved in some way, not with an engine, but on oval racing. So for me to come back to that is fantastic.

PATRICK CARPENTIER: What about the 50,000?

KOSUKE MATSUURA: I got twice. Is the same prize money at last year?

KOSUKE MATSUURA: Just trophy.

PAUL DANA: The IndyCar team is just Hemelgarn Racing. Roger Johnson, who is the leading team owner in Silver Crown, is a partner in the Pro Series team. He actually owned the car I raced all last year. When we step up is just Hemelgarn Racing. The formal name will be Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing. And, no, we don't have a motor program confirmed yet.

PAUL DANA: Smooth.

TOMAS ENGE: Flat out.

KOSUKE MATSUURA: Be careful wall.

PATRICK CARPENTIER: Ride the wall if it's faster.

DANICA PATRICK: Determined.

PATRICK CARPENTIER: Yeah, we ran at Sebring before Christmas and, the last couple of days.

PATRICK CARPENTIER: Actually, I was pleasantly surprised. The car is really, really smooth around the corner. The other one, it jerks a little bit more into the steering when you're turning. This one is really smooth. I was really, really impressed from it. When I heard a little bit I was afraid of what it was going to be. I heard some stuff about the shifting and downshifting. It downshifts really well. It upshifts really well. It brakes pretty well, too. Before December, we had some brake issues, which we all fixed for this test, the last couple of days. The last couple of days have been a lot better. Every time I get back in the car, the improvements are huge. So to me it's a fun car to drive actually. It's a car you can throw around quite a bit and push. So I really like driving that car. I really do.

RYAN BRISCOE: Yeah, I don't really know what to expect. Hopefully I'll just adapt to it and it won't be a problem. But I'm sure it will take a bit of practice and it will take maybe a little bit of time to build up some confidence because it's very high speeds, it's close racing. I've been watching a lot of the videos of the races and so on. It's definitely different to anything I've done before. But I had a test at Phoenix in November. I did lots of laps around that track. Had to get a feel of the car for the speeds and so on. It's quite daunting in the beginning, but in the end you sort of get used to it and you don't notice the speed too much. Tomorrow's going to be the first time I ever drive with other cars around me on the oval. I just want to get as much track times a possible and just work up to it.

RYAN BRISCOE: Well, it's difficult because, I mean, they try to help out, we talk about how you're supposed to run the car setup-wise. There's a lot of strategy involved in the race. They're helping me out with that. But in the end, a lot of it's going to come down to getting personal confidence in the car.

DANICA PATRICK: I think they're good guys to learn from. Vitor is like the king of going high. I'm sure he'll be good for a little bit of knowledge of what that's like. Buddy obviously, too, can drive on ovals. They've got experience, unlike myself. Same as Ryan, I haven't driven on a big oval with other cars. So it's going to be different. When I was at Kentucky and drove a little bit, I have driven on a big oval. But the team told me to go out there for, you know, 30, 40 laps at the end of the day and try up, try down, try the different lines. It was dirty up high because I was the only one running around. At I'm going up high, I'm inching one wheel at a time. I'm like, This is crazy, how am I going to go three abreast? I think the track will clean off, you get a high line, just keep your foot down, sounds like. Simple as that, right?