Race No. 6
U.S. 500 - Michigan International Speedway
Brooklyn, MI
May 26, 1996
Raceday Quotes from drivers and managers at Michigan: | #15 Valvoline DuraBlend Special Reynard Ford |
| photo Mike Levitt | |
FREDRIK EKBLOM | |
| [started inGordon's backup Reynard]: "It was an honor to be able to run his [Gordon's]car. I thought that I wouldn't fit in the car, but I fit really well. I wasvery comfortable in there. When the engine lasted, it was a good engine. Ifelt that. Before the engine went, [the car] felt perfect. It felt reallygood." | |
 | #12 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
JIMMY VASSER | |
| [about the start crash]"I don't know what happened at thestart. I got hit from behind and the car turned violently to the right. Toput a backup car out there and win is a real tribute to the Target ChipGanassi team. It was not as good as the first car, and we tried to make itbetter during the race. Every pit stop, we worked on it. By the end, we hadit running pretty good. It's a real credit to the team. We did less than 100miles in the backup car [in practice for the Inaugural U.S. 500]. We spentabout 80% of the time in the other car. We took it out yesterday [Saturday]for limited laps and it was good. After the incident today, I told the crew,let's get the backup car, and by the time I got to the pits, it wasalready there." | |
 | #3 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
PAUL TRACY | |
| "We had a long day. When the racestarted, our setup wasn't right, and the Marlboro car was handling poorly,which set us back we really struggled through the first half of the race.We finally got it sorted out an the car working okay, but unfortunately, itwas too late to capitalize on, since we were already two laps down. I've gotto thank my whole crew, they worked real hard today an we toughed it out andgot some points, and it's the points that really count" | |
 | #6 Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Lola Ford Cosworth XD |
MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| "I don't know how Imissed the accident at the start. There were tires everywhere. A tire wentright over me. It was like driving in a video game and dodging things.Actually I was lucky today. I was lucky to get through the thing at thestart without damage. Then I was lucky that when my car broke, I was throughturn four. If I had been in the middle of the turn, I would have lost it bigtime. It's unfortunate because the car was really good. We got some goodmomentum at the start of the race and were up to third at one point. I'mlooking forward to getting back in the car at Milwaukee. It's encouragingthat the car was so good because we would like to make it five [wins] out ofthe last six for Newman/Haas." NOTE: The team discovered that the right rearwheel bearing broke." | |
 | #2 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| "We were really loose all day.It took up to two-thirds of the race before I was able to hustle my Marlborocar. Considering the way the car handled, we're happy overall with our day.My crew did one heck of a job and we got some more points." | |
 | #20 Firestone Lola Ford Patrick Racing |
SCOTT PRUETT | |
| "Obviously, I amextremely disappointed. The car was really strong. The Patrick guys did anoutstanding job preparing a great race car. The Firestone tires were workingperfectly. I wasn't even pushing the car, and I was moving up through thefield. Then the engine just let go. There was no warning. It just blew." | |
 | #11 Kmart/Budweiser Lola Ford Newman/Haas Racing |
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| "I thought they[team] told me to pit on my first stop. The pits were closed so I had torejoin the field. I ran over Michael's hose when I was leaving the pits onmy first stop and had to come back in for a penalty and went a lap down. Thelast 20 laps we had an engine misfire. We tried to stay out as long aspossible to get a few points. It makes for a really long day to race thismany miles and only earn one point. It just goes to show you how tough500-mile races are. You really have to work hard to earn the win. Luck helpsalso. We were running with Moreno and he ended up finishing third. I'mlooking forward to going back to Milwaukee. I really like racing on one-mileovals." | |
 | #8 Pennzoil Special Reynard Honda Hall Racing |
GIL de FERRAN | |
| [while congratulating thecrew for rebuilding his right rear suspension following the pre-raceincident]: "You guys did a superb job. The car never really went on a setuppad, but it was really good the first half of the race. Under pressure, thejob you did was perfect. [Regarding his finish]: "It's a shame. After the restart, I was happy and Ithought, 'This is going to be good.'" | |
 | #28 Shell Reynard Mercedes-Benz Team Rahal |
BRYAN HERTA | |
| [about the start crash]"I don’t know what hit me. Afterlooking at the replay, it looks like Jimmy [Vasser] and Adrian [Fernandez]might have gotten together. It almost makes you think something broke withthe angle he hit me. Luckily, everyone’s O.K. I think our backup car will befine. [after the race]"It was a long day for us.After getting knocked out before the start, I didn't think I'd get a chanceto race today. But my Shell crew did a great job fixing the spare car inrecord time. And I was able to run in the top five late in the race. Ourstrategy was to be in position to challenge at the end and we were rightthere. It's unfortunate to lose an engine so late" | |
 | #49 Motorola Reynard Honda Brix Comptech Racing |
PARKER JOHNSTONE | |
| "The dashboard readoutshowed 4.7 gallons when we ran out of fuel. We don't yet know why there wasa discrepancy. We did learn that our fuel alarm works. It came on and theengine shut down right after, kind of like having your house catch fire andthen the smoke detector goes off. After that, we made up one lap and wereready to mix it up at the end. One more yellow and we'd have been right init [before gearbox problems ended Johnstone's day on Lap 236]. "There seems to be some kind of perverse proportional relationship betweenthe faster you run on the track, the slower the time goes when you arecoasting. We were able to make up one lap and were getting ready to mix itup at the end. One more yellow and we would have been right in it, but thanthe gearbox let go" | |
 | #4 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
ALEX ZANARDI | |
| [about the start crash]"It is simplewhat I saw. Adrian moved down to Jimmy, and Herta followed Fernandez, andthey moved down. Jimmy must have gone about five inches and Fernandez hadnowhere to go and neither did Herta. [about the blown engine]"This is terrible. There are nowords to describe how I feel. I suppose I'll receive one point for the mostlaps led, but it's a poor consolation for our effort. The car was perfect,simply beautiful. It's a shame. The car was flying. I guess this is theworst part of racing. We all did a good job. We should have achieved thewin. This bad luck keeps following me. I don't know what I have to do tomake it leave me." | |
 | #31 LCI International Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
ANDRE RIBEIRO | |
| "Our backup car was verygood, but we had a problem with the fuel pickup. It broke about mid-race,and then we couldn't get the last 10 gallons [of fuel] out. It was all veryfrustrating, but then again very good, considering our backup car had neverturned a lap here and we had no telemetry in the race. The Tasman guys did agreat job getting the car out and running for me, it handled as well as theprimary car" | |
 | #32 Tecate Beer/Quaker State Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| [about the start crash]"I was concentrating on Jimmy Vasser, and I was just holding myline for the start. I had just changed into third gear and I was ready tostart accelerating when Jimmy started accelerating. He was very close to me,and Bryan [Herta] was very close to me. I was just holding my line. I couldsee Jimmy moving to the right just a little bit but it was enough becausethere wasn't much room and we touched. Right from the start there wasn'tmuch room and being in the middle, I had no place to go." | |
 | #5 Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Reynard Ford |
ROBBY GORDON | |
| "Assoon as we got in the draft, we had the speed for anybody. Our car waslooking really, really good. We were running good, competitive fast laps.It's just a bummer that we lost the engine. We had a misfire that we weretrying to fix. Maybe there was a relationship between the misfire and theengine going. We don't know right now." | |
 | #25 Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard Toyota |
JEFF KROSNOFF | |
| [about the start crash]"Up in front of me,people were going everywhere. It was just a chain reaction. Robby [Gordon]slowed down and I had nowhere to go, so I hit him. "We were justrunning our own race, just looking to finish and see where we would be atthe end. Everything was running well and the team did a great job in thepits. Unfortunately, going down the backstraight the engine just let go,with no warning at all. It's where we are right now with developing theengine. We made a small step forward today by completing more race laps thanever before." | |
 | #18 Miller Racing Reynard Mercedes-Benz Team Rahal |
BOBBY RAHAL | |
| "I was running with lightdownforce on the car as we were trying to stay with the Hondas. The carbegan to have too much understeer. It just pushed. I was trying top stayahead of the leader [Zanardi] and slid into the gray area on the track. Thecar just skated into the wall." | |
 | #17 Hollywood Reynard Ford |
| photo Mike Levitt | |
MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| "I lacked a littlehorsepower. I'm happy with second place. The crew did a super job gettingthe car ready." | |
 | #19 Panasonic/DUSKIN Lola Ford Cosworth |
HIRO MATSUSHITA | |
| "After the first yellow,I dialed the fuel mix back to 90 percent. From that point on, the motor wasnot right. We made many stops to correct the problem but to no avail. Theboost was also low, maybe 38 inches through the middle portion of the race.It was a difficult struggle, but we kept going to the end." | |
 | #36 Eagle Mk-V Toyota |
JUAN MANUEL FANGIO II | |
| "It was goodto stay on the race track as long as we did to work on the Toyota engine andEagle chassis. We didn't have a chance to run very much during qualifyingweekend and in practice this week, so it was good to get out there in therace and try a few things." | |
 | #34 The Data Control Lola Ford Cosworth |
ROBERTO MORENO | |
| "I had agreat car and a great team. I'm very, very happy with the team. This is thefirst time I was glad to start at the back of the grid, I missed all theaccidents at the front. Some debris hit my car, but nothing happened to it.It has been 10 years since I've run on an oval. I'm pleased with whathappened today." | |
 | #12 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Team Owner |
CHIP GANASSI | |
| [regarding IndyCar'snew yellow flag rules]: "I thought it made for some great racing. With theequipment we had, I should be against these rules, but I'm all for them.They made for some great racing." | |