#66 Mears Houston Sunday Race Notes/Quotes

Casey Mears

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

Casey Mears and the #66 Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Reynard
finished 17th in today's Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston.  Mears made
his second-ever Champ Car start - and first on a temporary street course -
from the 25th spot on the grid and moved up gradually as today's 100-lap
event unfolded.  It was the #66 Pioneer-WorldCom entry's first start since
this year's regular driver Alex Zanardi was involved in a racing accident
during the American Memorial 500 in Germany three weekends ago.  Mears, 23,
is the nephew of three-time CART champion Rick Mears.

Mo Nunn Racing teammate Tony Kanaan and the #55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing
Honda-Reynard started 10th and finished 12th today.  Polesitter Gil de
Ferran won for the second race in a row today and took over the points lead
from Kenny Brack.  He easily outdistanced runner-up Dario Franchitti, with
Memo Gidley taking third.

The next race on the CART FedEx Championship Series schedule is next weekend
's Round 19, the Shell 300 at Laguna Seca Raceway near Monterey, Calif.

CASEY MEARS

"That was an education.  We got the whole race in, which was one of our more
modest goals, and I've got to say that I learned a ton.  We brought the car
home with no dings all weekend, and I ran with a lot of guys who were in my
pack.  I even ran lap times comparable with a lot of the guys running
mid-pack.  The hardest thing to deal with, I must say, was figuring out
exactly what I was supposed to do when I saw the blue ('move over') flag.
It didn't happen very often today, but I've never really had to deal with
that before.  Hopefully, the farther along we go, I won't be seeing any of
those blue flags!  I'm thankful as can be to the whole team for being so
patient with me all weekend long, and for giving me this opportunity, to
begin with.  We're leaving here on a positive note, I think.  And we'll be
ready to really give it a go at Laguna."

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