#66 Mears Houston Saturday Qualifying Notes/Quotes

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

Casey Mears

#66 Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Reynard
Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston - Qualifying Notes/Quotes - Saturday,
Oct. 6, 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

Casey Mears and the #66 Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Reynard will
start Sunday's Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston from the inside of the
13th row.   He toured the 1.527-mile downtown street circuit in front of the
George R. Brown Convention Center in 1 minute, 2.789 seconds (an average of
87.536 mph).  Sunday's race marks only the second career Champ Car start for
Mears, who drove a Team Rahal entry and last season's finale at Fontana,
Calif., to fourth place.  He takes over for Alex Zanardi in the #66
Pioneer-WorldCom car this weekend after the two-time series champion's
racing accident in Germany three weekends ago.

Mo Nunn Racing teammate Tony Kanaan qualified 10th with a time of 1:00.548
(90.791 mph).  Gil de Ferran earned the pole with a fast time of 59.421
(92.513 mph).  Bruno Junqueira took the outside-front-row starting spot in
59.943 (91.707 mph).  Kenny Brack qualified third in 59.947 (91.701 mph).

Race time Sunday is 1 p.m. local time (2 p.m. EDT) with a live broadcast set
for ESPN.  Today's qualifying show will be shown on ESPN2 at 2:30 a.m. EDT
Sunday.  The Sunday-morning warm-up show CART2DAY is also on ESPN2 at 11
a.m. EDT.

CASEY MEARS

"We're improving every session, and that's the way everyone was hoping it
would be.  It's still very early, but I definitely feel better and better
every time we're out on the track.  And I know if I got in again this
afternoon, I'd go even faster.  My last lap was going to be my best lap.  I
was three-tenths quicker about halfway through the lap, but I tagged the
wall with my oustide rear tire at the end of the backstraight and that was
the end of that.  It might not have moved me up in the order, but it would
have left me feeling even better.  It's hard to get into a groove with so
many people going off during our session and bringing out the red flag.
Hopefully, tomorrow, we'll have a good, clean race and I can get in as many
laps as I possibly can to get us ready for a real run for the money at
Laguna.  But you never know what can happen at a track like this.  Most
important will be to be there at the finish.  That's how it worked out so
well for me at Fontana last year."

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