#21 Giaffone Indy 500 Race Notes/Quotes

Felipe Giaffone

#21 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Chevrolet G-Force
86th Indianapolis 500 - Race Notes/Quotes - Sunday, May 26, 2002
Indianapolis Motor Speedway - 2.5-Mile Oval
Round 5 of 15 of the 2002 Indy Racing League

Felipe Giaffone and the #21 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Chevrolet G-Force made
a valiant bid for the win in today's 86th Indianapolis 500 before settling
for a third-place finish.  Giaffone started fourth and ran with the leaders
throughout the day.  He led four times for a total of 11 laps, the last
three from Lap 174-176 before pitting a final time for a splash of fuel
under yellow.  He resumed in third place but chased down Paul Tracy for
second place and was about to pass Helio Castroneves for the lead on Lap 197
when he was held up by the lapped car of Dario Franchitti, Tracy's teammate.
Giaffone lost momentum at that point and Tracy regained second place.  The
race ended under caution after an accident on the very next lap involving
Buddy Lazier and Laurent Redon, just a lap-and-a-half from the finish.
Castroneves went on to win for the second year in a row with Tracy finishing
second just ahead of Giaffone.

Meanwhile, Tony Kanaan and the #17 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Chevrolet
G-Force took control of today's race from the opening laps, but the
27-year-old Brazilian's bid to be the third consecutive rookie race winner
here came to an end just 89 laps into the 200-lap event when he spun in
another car's oil and made contact with the outside wall at Turn Three.  The
fastest rookie qualifier in the 33-car field, and the fastest car during
final Carburetion Day practice on Thursday, Kanaan started fifth and
gradually worked his way into the lead by Lap 64.  He led twice for a total
of 23 laps and was in the lead when the car of Bruno Junqueira had motor
trouble and subsequently spewed oil onto the track at Turn Three.  Kanaan
spun in the oil when he arrived in Turn Three, hit the wall and damaged the
car beyond repair.  He was not hurt in the accident.  Kanaan clocked the
third-fastest lap of the race at 226.123 mph.  He placed 27th.

The 2002 Indy Race League resumes with a Saturday-night race on June 8 at
Texas Motor Speedway in Forth Worth.

FELIPE GIAFFONE

"Right now, third place is really disappointing.  But maybe that will change
over time.  I really thought I had the best car out there today.  The
Hollywood/Mo Nunn team did an excellent job keeping me up front.  I had a
little bit of a push early in the race, which we corrected.  Then I was a
little bit too loose in my second stint.  By the third pit stop, we got the
car just right and I knew I had a chance to win.  Unfortunately, I fell
victim to a little teamwork there at the end with Dario helping out Paul.
But that's his job, I guess.  I was on my way to pass Helio and then all of
a sudden there was Dario, and I lost all my momentum.  I got high on the
track, where the car pushed just a little bit, and Paul was able to get by
me.  I'm 99 percent sure I would have won the race if Dario wouldn't have
been in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I'm just thankful to my team.  I
've had a good car at every race all season, and we're in a strong position
in the championship."

MORRIS NUNN

"Well, considering this is our first Indy 500 as a team, I guess it's nice
to leave here with a third-place finish.  We definitely expected to run as
strongly as we did, especially after the first week of practice here and our
qualifying effort.  It's a pity what happened to Tony.  But that's racing.
Everybody did such a great job and I'm sure Tony's feeling bad about what
happened.  But I hope someday soon this all becomes a positive memory for
him.  As for Felipe, he's disappointed, too, that he didn't get the win.
But we got third place and we have to accept that graciously.  After that
first week of practice, we knew we would have competitive cars and that both
our drivers had a good chance to win the race.  Hey, we're newcomers to the
IRL and we had a strong showing.  There were maybe a couple of question
marks that we erased today, and I know a year from now we're going to be
that much stronger and that much more confident here."