Kanaan/Mears Houston Pre-Race Notes/Quotes

Contact:  Laz Denes, 256-657-6190
ldenes@monunnracing.com
www.monunnracing.com

MO NUNN RACING - PRE-RACE NOTES/QUOTES
Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston - Oct. 5-7, 2001
George R. Brown Convention Center - Houston, Texas - 1.527-Mile Temporary
Street Course
Round 18 of 21 on the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series

TONY KANAAN -- #55 HOLLYWOOD/MO NUNN RACING HONDA-REYNARD

**This weekend marks Kanaan's 71st career Champ Car start and his 32nd with
Mo Nunn Racing.  In his Champ Car career, he has one win (1999 U.S. 500),
two poles (1999 at Long Beach, 2001 at Chicago), four podium finishes, 10
top-fives, and 36 top-10s.



**Kanaan stands ninth in the CART FedEx Championship Series driver
championship with 77 points after finishing seventh at Lausitz, Germany, and
eighth at Corby, England, earlier this month.  He has scored points in the
last six events and at 11 of this season's 16 events contested thus far.

**Last year here, Kanaan started 10th and finished 10th in the #55
Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes-Benz Reynard.  In his previous two visits,
he was third here enroute to taking Rookie of the Year honors in 1998 with
Tasman Motorsports, and he was ninth in 1999 with Forsythe Championship
Group.

**In 21 career Champ Car starts on temporary street circuits, Kanaan has one
pole (Long Beach 1999), one podium finish (third at Houston in 1998) and 11
top-10s.  He was fourth on the streets of Vancouver last month, and seventh
at Long Beach earlier this season - both temporary street circuits.

TONY KANAAN QUOTES

"Well, it's back to business in the States.  I never felt so good to get
back home as I did after Germany and England.  That was one of the most
frightening and heartbreaking two weeks in my life, first with the tragedies
in New York and Washington, and then with one of the most violent accidents
I have seen in my 15 years of racing ending the career of my teammate and
one of my best friends (Alex Zanardi).  The President says it's good for
America to get back to work, to get everything back to normal after the
terrorist attacks.  That's the best medicine, just like it will be for our
team to carry on.  I welcome my new teammate Casey Mears.  I drove against
him in Indy Lights (in 1997) and he's going to be a good addition to our
team.  My other teammate was 'Uncle Alex,' but now it feels like I'm 'Uncle
Tony' to Casey.  Although I'm not too much older than he is!  I have to say
I hope it doesn't rain in Houston on qualifying day.  It was a shame in
Germany and in England that I had the fastest car in practice and in the
warm-up session, but we had to start according to the point standings
(because of rain in Germany and water seepage on the track in England).  The
result in England would have been much different, for sure.  I really wanted
to win that one for Alex.  Hey, he's going to be okay and that is motivating
all of us to win one before the end of the year."

CASEY MEARS - #66 PIONEER-WORLDCOM/MO NUNN RACING HONDA-REYNARD

**This weekend marks Mears' second career Champ Car start and his first with
Mo Nunn Racing.

**The 23-year-old Mears made his Champ Car debut driving a third Team Rahal
entry, sponsored by WorldCom, at last year's season finale in Fontana,
Calif.  He finished fourth.

**He steps into the cockpit of the #66 Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing
Honda-Reyard after a horrific accident involving this season's regular
driver, Alex Zanardi, in Lausitz, Germany, on Sept. 15.

**Last year here in Houston, Mears drove a Dorricott Racing Dayton Indy
Lights Series entry, earning the pole and his first Indy Lights race
victory.

CASEY MEARS QUOTES

"Right now, I have to say I'm going into this with an open mind about
everything.  Obviously, we haven't had the opportunity to do any testing.
But I feel really good about this weekend because I won at Houston last year
(in Indy Lights).  I can't wait to get to the track and get started.  But,
realistically, it's going to take some time to get up to speed in a Champ
Car and get to know the team better.  Tony (Kanaan) ran really strong here
last year despite being down on horsepower, so I know the team has a good
feel for set-up there.  I go into every race with the intention of winning
it.  But, given the timeframe, I think a realistic goal would be a top-10
finish.  I haven't run a temporary street course in a Champ Car.  But I have
run on road courses.  I tested at Mid-Ohio with Walker last year.  I also
ran Putnam Park twice with PacWest.  And I ran at Firebird with Ganassi last
year.  So I definitely know my way around in a Champ Car.  I got to spend
some time with Morris (Nunn) in Indy over the weekend and we hit it off
really well.  I'm excited to work with him.  I've heard so many good things
about him from so many drivers.  It'll be great to experience it for
 myself."

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