CART: Arciero-Blair Driver Max Wilson Starts 3rd at Cleveland

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

July 1, 2001

"I am so proud to be part of this new team," said Wilson. "This is a tough track, I’m learning the track and the team is learning the track. We made a lot of changes to the car after the practice and I think our time would have still put us in the top-ten or top-twelve starting positions. Our qualifying time of starting third will give us an advantage going into the first turn, which is tough here, instead of starting in the back. Starting third also gives our team a big boost of confidence; all of the guys have worked so hard. Scoring our first points last weekend finishing fourth and starting third here is great. I like driving in the rain or the dry but our car was decent in the dry on Saturday. We have had so many challenges this year. But they have gone smoothly since Larry Blair formed this new team with the Arciero Family, changed us to Ford-Cosworth power and added a new general manager things have gotten better and better. It is hard to be a rookie and be on a new team but we are moving forward."

MAX WILSON (#25 Redback Networks Ford-Cosworth) - Qualified 3rd - "I think it was a pretty good run. We were struggling a little bit during practice, especially since neither I or the team have never been here before, so we were playing around with the car a lot during practices. After this morning's session I sat with my engineer and talked about a good set up for the car. We came up with a good solution and the car improved a great deal for qualifying."

WHAT DID YOU CHANGE THAT HELPED YOU FIND ALMOST A SECOND AND A HALF? "Actually this morning I think we could've been a little bit faster. We didn't put new tires on because we started with new tires and nobody else did that. And then towards the end of the session we planned on putting on a fresh set, but the car wasn't too good so we decided to save them for the race. We also changed a lot of things with our suspension which helped a lot, so I think that was the difference."

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN A TRACK THIS BUMPY? "No. It's much bumpier than any other place that I have been."

DO YOU THINK IT'S HURT YOUR PERFORMANCE? "No - I think it's the same for everybody. For me it was a bit difficult yesterday to find a reference point on the track because it's flat and you don't have curbs, so it was hard for me to find my way around. But now that I've been on the track a lot more since then, I think I'm okay."

YOU RACED ON AN AIRPORT CIRCUIT BEFORE THOUGH, RIGHT? "Yeah, but that was a much smaller airport that was much narrower, more like a street course. This airport is much bigger and much wider and a lot bumpier than the one I raced on before."

Text provided by Robbin Herring

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