#17 Kanaan Indy 500 Pole Day Qualifying

Tony Kanaan

#17 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Chevrolet G-Force
86th Indianapolis 500 - Pole Day Qualifying Notes/Quotes - Sat., May 11,
2002
Indianapolis Motor Speedway - 2.5-Mile Oval
Round 5 of 15 on the 2002 Indy Racing League

Tony Kanaan and the #17 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Chevrolet G-Force will
start the 86th Indianapolis 500 in the middle of the second row after
posting a Pole Day qualifying four-lap average of 230.253 mph.  The Indy 500
rookie's four laps were 230.314 mph, 230.381 mph, 230.260 mph, and 230.057
mph.  Earlier, he made an aborted qualifying run during which a light
drizzle began to fall and dampened the track.  Kanaan was not charged with
the first qualifying attempt, despite posting three qualifying laps, and
after a 39-minute rain delay, he was allowed by IRL officials to re-attempt
his initial qualifying run.  He is currently the top-qualifying rookie in
the field, leaving him in position to capture the American Dairy Association
of Indiana's Fastest Rookie of the Year Award.

Felipe Giaffone and the #21 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Chevrolet G-Force will
start alongside Kanaan on the inside of the second row after a qualifying
run of 230.326 mph today, fourth best on the day.  The 27-year-old Giaffone,
who started 33rd in his first career Indy 500 last season, was the second
driver to attempt a qualifying run today and posted laps of 230.030 mph,
230.392 mph, 230.517 mph, and 230.635 mph.  Ironically, the first driver to
make an attempt today, Bruno Junqueira, earned the pole with a four-lap
average of 231.342 mph.  Giaffone, who finished 10th in last year's Indy 500
enroute to 2001 Indy Racing League Rookie of the Year honors, hung onto the
second spot on this year's grid until Brazilian countryman Raul Boesel
posted a 230.613-mph qualifying run some two hours and 15 qualifying
attempts later.  Later, Robbie Buhl stormed into the second spot with a
231.033-mph qualifying run that bumped Boesel to third and Giaffone to
fourth.

Qualifying is slated to resume at noon local time (1 p.m. EDT) Sunday.  All
positions earned today are essentially locked into place on the starting
grid.

TONY KANAAN

"Well, Morris told me all along to be patient.  And he's also told me all
along to be consistent.  Those are the two keys to being successful here at
the Speedway.  I think we were both of those things today, and it definitely
paid off.  I tried really hard to be patient all week and I don't think I
really, really got it until today.  I went out for my qualifying run the
first time and it started to rain.  I'm thinking, 'Great, I'm out on an oval
in the rain.  Just my luck.'  I radioed to the guys asking what we should do
because it was getting wet out there.  I'm thinking that because we took the
green, if we come in, it might count against us as an attempt.  Well, my
team manager called me in, and the IRL agreed that it was wet out there and
let me have a fair shot at it.  I'm very thankful about that.  During the
rain delay, everyone was worried because I wasn't as fast as was in
practice.  But I knew I had a good car, so I told everyone to be patient.
Imagine that ... me telling everyone else to be patient!  So we kept our
heads together during the delay, and pieced together very consistent laps
during the qualifying run.  All four in the 230s.  So far so good after my
first week ever at the Speedway.  This is just a great feeling, to be in the
show.  I'm just thankful to Hollywood, and to Morris for giving me this
opportunity.  And especially to my teammate, Felipe, for letting me have his
back-up car because I was struggling with my primary car earlier in the
week.  He had an awesome qualifying run, too.  Now we get to take a little
bit of time to catch our breath.  My guys have been working so very hard.
We raced in Japan two weeks ago and came right back here and went to work on
the Indy 500.  And, to make life even more difficult, the guys have been
building me all-new (Lola) cars that we're going to start racing the weekend
after the 500 at Milwaukee.  But, first things first, a good result in the
biggest race in the world here will definitely go a long way to energize
this Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing team."

MORRIS NUNN

"I'm very proud of the work the guys have put in, and the job the drivers
did.  Considering the short amount of time we've spent here at the Speedway
... essentially not having run here until last Sunday ... and the little
problems we had to overcome during the week, I would have been happy with
something somewhere in the top three rows today.  A top-10 result was the
goal.  But both of our cars are in the top five.  You have to hand it to the
guys on this team, which people have to realize is a very, very new team.
This is only our fifth IRL race, and we've only been in business for less
than three years.  Now, looking back and being as obviously competitive as
we are, it would have been nice to be on the front row, or on the pole.  But
with just one week here to get it done, and the fact that we are so new at
this as a team, that might have been a bit optimistic.  At any rate, it's
great to be here as a team owner and having had the kind of week we did the
very first time out.  We can feel good about our efforts this week, but then
we'll have to come back and focus on finishing the job on race day.  It's a
long race and anything can happen.  I've got two very confident drivers.
Right now, we're pretty high on emotion, so let's see if we can carry it on
through to the checkered flag.  I'm never confident until I see that car
come around that last turn on the last lap and make it all the way across
the start-finish line!"