#66 Mears Laguna Seca 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
Honda Grand Prix of Monterey - Qualifying Notes/Quotes - Saturday, Oct. 13,
2001
Laguna Seca Raceway - Monterey, Calif. - 2.238-Mile Road Course
Round 19 of 21 on the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series

Casey Mears and the #66 Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Reynard
qualified 18th for Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of Monterey.  The 23-year-old
nephew of three-time CART champion Rick Mears,  who is replacing the injured
Alex Zanardi for the second race in a row, clocked a fast lap of  1 minute,
10.425 seconds (an average of 114.403 mph) around the the 2.238-mile Laguna
Seca Raceway road course.  It was the sixth-fastest time in today's first of
two qualifying groups, and the 18th-fastest time overall.

Mo Nunn Racing teammate Tony Kanaan and the #55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing
Honda-Reynard qualified seventh today after a fast lap of 1:09.515 (115.900
mph).  Current points leader and defending series champion Gil de Ferran
grabbed the top spot in 1:08.596 (117.453 mph) with fellow Team Penske
driver and defending race winner Helio Castroneves alongside on the front
row after a lap of 1:08.678 (117.313 mph).  Rookie Scott Dixon qualified
third in 1:08.972 (116.813 mph).

Race time Sunday is 1 p.m. local time (4 p.m. EDT) with a live broadcast set
for ESPN.  The Sunday-morning warm-up show CART2DAY are set for ESPN2 at 11
a.m. EDT.  Today's qualifying highlights can be seen on ESPN2 at 2 a.m. EDT
Sunday.

CASEY MEARS

"This feels great.  We're making progress.  It's starting to sound like a
broken record, but it's happening right before our eyes.  We're a long way
from being all the way there, but every time we go out, we all learn
something.  I'm learning how to improve the car, and I'm getting more and
more comfortable all the time.  I thin, for sure, that we have a lot more
work to do.  We repeated our times with both sets of tires during the
qualifying session, so that means we're consistent.  Considering where we
are on the grid compared to last weekend (25th in Houston), I'm a little
more in the mix, so we can use a different strategey.  I can make my charge
earlier since I'm not starting so far back.  Hopefully we'll be able to make
some improvements to the car overnight, and then more during the race, and
bring home a good result.  I'm not here to run in the back.  I'm here to run
up front.  But I do realize I'm still learning, and we're all learning about
each other, and things will take time.  But we're definitely closing the gap
on the front of the grid.  That's where we're seeing our improvement."

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