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FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS: MILWAUKEE 100June 1, 2008Raphael MatosJeff SimmonsBobby WilsonMILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN THE MODERATOR: Thanks for coming in, guys. We are joined by Raphael Matos and Jeff Simmons. Raphael, tell us about your race. RAPHAEL MATOS: I think it was a good race. I mean, obviously we were looking for the win. But I think qualifying yesterday made things more difficult. In the start of the race, I was able to gain a position. I was able to gain another position on the restart. Just put my head down and try to keep the gap to Simmons and Bobby. But certainly we didn't have quite as good of a car, especially in traffic. Especially at the end was very difficult behind the traffic. They had too big of a gap. In the end, I was just trying to hang on to the car. The car was pretty loose coming out of three and four. Sometimes was loose, sometimes was understeering. It was very difficult to find a sweet spot for the balance of the car, especially in the end. I am very happy for the team. I'm very happy for the Andretti Green team. This is certainly a strong result if you're looking in the big picture for the championship. THE MODERATOR: How different was the racetrack yesterday? We saw a lot of problems up in turn two. How different was the racetrack with the conditions? A lot less wind it looked like from my vantage point. RAPHAEL MATOS: Yeah, I think, my point of view, turn one and two was definitely a lot more grip than yesterday. Yesterday at least I had massive understeering in qualifying. That's the reason we qualified so far back. Three and four, the way the wind was blowing, it was pinning down the front of the car. The car was quite loose. Today was fairly good balance in both ends. I think it was a really good day for racing. I think the stock cars running yesterday made our life a bit more difficult, especially in the beginning of the race. After we got some rubber down, it was a bit easier, I think. THE MODERATOR: Raphael with three previous wins: St. Pete in 2006, two of them, and St. Pete again in 2008. Best oval finish was eighth at Homestead in March. Third-place finish here is a big improvement on that. Jeff Simmons, a former winner here at the Milwaukee Mile. Jeff, tell us about your race today. JEFF SIMMONS: No, it was a good race. The car was really, really loose on cold tires. But I knew it was going to come back to us because when we got that kind of short early run, the car started to come in. It did that again once we got on the longer run, got those yellows out of the way. I was just trying to chase down Bobby. He was strong all weekend. I think he led the first two practice sessions, qualified second. Topped the charts all weekend. It was his weekend. We pushed him hard, made him earn it, came up a car length short at the end. THE MODERATOR: You closed up great in lap traffic. After the last caution, there was a pretty long run where lap traffic played in. Talk about your lap traffic. JEFF SIMMONS: I mean, every time you see the guy in front of you catching lap traffic, you're hoping it's an opportunity to make up some ground or make a pass. He was running more downforce than we were. I think he actually probably had a little better car in traffic than we did. But it's hard to say. We would close up a little bit and then he would pull it back out at the next bit of lap traffic. Kind of mattered how you caught it, who it was, what line they were running versus the line your car was working on. You really had to find the spot that your car worked best today. Different places the car would be totally opposite. It made it a hard race, but I hope it made it an exciting race for all the fans. Really exciting there at the end. We really closed up quick. I think one more lap, we might have had something there. I'm just happy for Team Moore Racing, Xtreme Coil Drilling. We finally had a really good effort here, had a really strong weekend. Wish we could have got the win for them. THE MODERATOR: Jeff, a brief confrontation after the race on pit lane with 54, Micky Gilbert. What was going on there? JEFF SIMMONS: It was the other car. I've had a lot of issues this year, but it wasn't me today (laughter). THE MODERATOR: Questions for Jeff or Raphael. Q. (No microphone.) JEFF SIMMONS: The tires held up great. The Firestone tire lasted the whole race. I tried to take care of it early. I had to play with things in the car. I mean, my car was getting looser and looser as the race went on. Like I said, I really had to try to find a good place where my car was happy. Once I was able to do that, I was able to put in some pretty strong laps. I think Bobby was probably starting to struggle a little bit at the end, too. When you catch the traffic, you start working the tires harder. We made them live. I had found a happy spot again, was really putting in some quick laps at the end. We just needed a little more time. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. It's got to be an absolutely thrilling win, Bobby, half an hour down the road from your hometown. Tell us about it. BOBBY WILSON: Yeah, I grew up here, coming to the Milwaukee Mile as a kid. To win here, it's a dream come true. A lot of friends, a lot of family here. Just couldn't ask for a better weekend. We were fast in practice. Didn't get pole, but a win's better. I'm just happy for the Team E crew. THE MODERATOR: We talked about traffic out there. We talked about race traffic, how you were working race traffic. Tell us about your mindset working through that traffic. BOBBY WILSON: You got to be really careful. I realized a lot of those guys were fighting for position. It was kind of a patience thing. You just don't want to ruin your whole race over trying to lap traffic. So I was looking for clean air quite a bit, just trying to make the best of my tire wear, making sure I had enough to win the race. THE MODERATOR: Bobby's first oval win. Two previous wins came at Watkins Glen in 2006, one at the road course in Indy in 2007. Questions for Bobby. Q. (No microphone.) BOBBY WILSON: Yeah, had the race been a little longer, I probably would have forced the issue in the lap traffic. I just didn't care to, didn't want to get into their fight for their position. I knew the time interval and I knew the lap countdown. Just hanging in there, not forcing the issue, not getting into trouble was the key to winning this race. Yeah, Jeff can say that. Jeff was fast today. But I think we had a better car. Had the race been longer, I would have forced the issue. It's just a timing thing. Q. (No microphone.) BOBBY WILSON: My Firestone tires were excellent (laughter). Q. (No microphone.) BOBBY WILSON: When I was by myself, I was actually loose. I knew I had to find a pretty good balance there. When I was running in dirty air, I was getting understeer. I think everybody was battling that. It was just staying on top of it, using the cockpit adjustments, maintaining your tires, running, not pinching the car off, winding it up so you don't get loose or drive into the wall. It was just staying on top of it. THE MODERATOR: With the win, Bobby ties Wade Cunningham's series record for consecutive seasons with a win. That would be three consecutive seasons with a win. You said you've been coming to the Milwaukee Mile a long time. Give us a Milwaukee Mile memory. BOBBY WILSON: I'd have to say I think it was Paul Tracy just dominating here with Penske. I just remember that quite a bit. THE MODERATOR: Sit in the grandstands or down in the infield? BOBBY WILSON: Grandstands. It was usually in the grandstands, so... Q. (No microphone.) BOBBY WILSON: I'm just trying to do the best I can. I mean, we're a start-up team this year. It was put together on short notice. I'm glad to be part of Team E. I'm not just a driver. I'm not just not an arrive-and-drive guy. I'm not like everybody else. I'm part of that program for years to come whether I move up or not. It's a comfortable feeling sitting there and I'm always going to be part of it. Q. (No microphone.) BOBBY WILSON: It was. It depends on the dirty air and everything. When I was by myself, I had a really good car. I noticed a lot of like tire pickup on the caution laps. It just took a few laps to get that stuff off. You'll always have that. Really no issues. Q. (No microphone.) BOBBY WILSON: Not really because I knew there was one to go. Down the backstretch I looked in my mirrors. I know how hard it is to pass here. It was just timing. I was not going to force the issue on I think it was Logan in front of me, Wade, the other cars there. I wasn't really worried. I was just looking ahead. Looking up at the flags, checked my mirrors. He wasn't really there. It was a good show. Q. (No microphone.) BOBBY WILSON: Yeah, I mean, I felt really good in the car, basically put it on cruise control. Just having a good car at this track is the difference between winning and losing. Just have to be smart in traffic and not force the issue, not get yourself into the situation where you're crossing the dirty air, then it gets loose, you catch it and make mistakes. I tried to hang back and not make mistakes, but be under the car in front of me at the end. So it was just timing the laps and timing the time intervals between Jeff and I. Q. (No microphone.) BOBBY WILSON: Well, when I passed Pablo on the outside, I was pretty sure. I was comfortable running that high line. Q. (No microphone.) BOBBY WILSON: I'm happy. I don't look at it like there's any set deadline. You just can't predict what's going to happen in your career. I'm just happy to be racing, being always a contender. We haven't had the best of finishes this year, but we've had some bad luck and stuff that's happened to us that put us in this position. Right now is the time we're going to turn the season around and be strong from here on out. THE MODERATOR: Bobby, congratulations. Thank you for coming on in. BOBBY WILSON: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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