INDIANAPOLIS 500 (INDIANAPOLIS) - POLE DAY QUALIFYING QUOTES

TOMAS SCHECKTER (#2 Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “It was OK. I think I had a decent time. It’s not the best four laps we have done. Maybe there is a little bit more; we will see. Hopefully we can stay in the top 11. That is what I care about.”

BUDDY RICE (#15 A1TeamUSA/DRR Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “It’s going to be really close. We’re going to have to wait and see. We slowed up a little bit since this morning. Some of that is going to be weather. Some of it is going to be the wind, just a little bit of everything. We’ll just have to wait and see. It’s going to be really tight. There are three or four of us vying for two spots. It’s going to be really tight for that 10th and 11th spot.” (Being it’s such a strange day, in years past you could go home right now. But you have to stick around to see how this thing plays out. What are your predictions?): “Yes, we’re definitely not going anywhere. We’ll see if we can squeeze into the top 11 here. We’ll just see. We’ve had some issues the last couple of days that were out of our control, which held us back a little bit. But we’ll see what we can come out with. But I think it’s going to be close.” (Where is Dreyer & Reinbold headed? In your eyes are they moving up in IndyCar racing?): “Before the Kansas issues, which were once again out of our control, we were ninth in points. Three top 10’s, and we were running good. I don’t see why we can’t keep that up. Right now, all the top teams have brought extra cars here this weekend. That’s why the top 11 is going to be tough to get into for a couple of the smaller teams. We’re going to have a chance at squeaking in there right now. Today’s not over. Going out first, we know where we are at.”

RYAN BRISCOE (#12 Symantec Luczo Dragon Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone): "Hopefully I don't have to go back out. I'd rather not. We'll see. I don't know what to say. This is amazing, really. To be in front of the Target cars at the moment is a big surprise to me. They seem to have had something over us all week. The great thing is the team is a lot of guys working together. It'd be great for us to hold on here. So far, it's looking good. We really haven't been rushed into running the limit. This morning, we were getting close. The balance was perfect, but we knew what we had to do for qualifying. We've really just been watching the wind to see what we have to do with gears and setups. We really had a nice, consistent run. Hopefully I don't have to go back out today, but we have to be ready to do so.” (Regarding the IndyCar Series): "I love it. It was new to me two years ago. Great people. Any time I can come back, I'm happy to do so." (Did the breeze have much of an impact today?): “I think I went about as quick as I’ve been all week without a tow. I think everyone’s been thrown off by the tows out there with really high speeds. Really, this is what it’s been like. It looks like where I had the advantage was over the four laps. We just kept the tires a bit cleaner and more consistent. I’m pretty happy at the moment. There’s still a long time to go today. The car was really solid. It’s the best I’ve had it so far.”

SCOTT SHARP (#8 Patrón Sharp Rahal Letterman Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “Those were the four fastest laps we were able to put together, and it shows that we able to get our hands on the car better.” (Comparing qualifying at Indy to other tracks): “Indy is unique in that it is a 2.5-mile track and most other tracks are a mile to 1.5 miles, so they are longer laps to begin with. Everywhere else, you need one good qualifying lap. You’re on fresh tires. They are a little stickier, where Indy is a culmination of four laps. So the freshness of the tires are gone in about a lap and a half, so you have to have good handling to do the rest of the run quickly.”

SCOTT DIXON (#9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone): "It's going to be a long day. We're not real happy with the car." (About the weather): "It was so nice this morning. You come out now, and it's difficult running. The wind is going to change things a bit. If it picks up, it will make it worse." (About the qualifying format): "I think it's cool. I think it is a very good way to do it for the fans. It's going to keep them on their feet throughout the day. It's fantastic, and it's good for me because I have another try." (About the run): "We were hoping to put in a decent run to start with, but that wasn't the case. We missed quite a bit on balance. "(It was) frustrating, really. I think we were way under the window. The first lap didn't feel too bad. I thought it might come in a little more. We had lots of understeer. I was kind of thinking about waving it off to start with, but the team was adamant about putting in a time, I think. It is something we can at least sit on and work on later in the day. As the run went on, the push built, and I had to lift on the last three laps in (Turn) 1." (About the racing conditions): "The conditions today are so different than what we've been running with. It's frustrating. I think we missed by a bit too much. We have a long day ahead of us. We have the car to do it. We just need to make sure we tune it the best we can." (Is there is a scenario where you would not make another attempt today?): "No. Not if it was my decision. If some crazy thing, obviously, like rain comes, but we have a lot to work on." (About running without a draft): "The best you can do is (practice) with no draft. It's hard at some points. I think through the week we've had some good runs with no draft, but the biggest change today was wind direction. I think all week there's been a tail wind going into (Turn) 3 or a cross wind. Today, it's going into (Turn) 1. It has affected everything you do."

A.J. FOYT IV (#22 Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone): "We dropped off a little bit from this morning. Obviously, the weather changes quite a bit. That's not the speed we wanted to (run). We really haven't found any speed this week. We probably have to wait until tomorrow." (About how comfortable he has been): "I'm comfortable with the car. The car's not bad. We've got it trimmed out. There's just some reason we're not getting the same mile an hour like the other (Vision Racing) guys." (About whether he will run again today): "I don't see much of a point if we're 2 miles an hour out of the 11th place spot, and I doubt we're going to find it in the next hour or two." (About the qualifying format): "It's exciting for the fans, I think. The top 11 makes it a really exciting day. It's going to be a tight day until 6 o'clock. Unfortunately, I probably won't be a part of it. I think it is good for the fans, and tomorrow will be good."

DARIO FRANCHITTI (#27 Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “The pole (Scoring Pylon) over there has a beautiful look about it, with the 27 and the 11 up there at the top. A rain shower would be good right now. I’m very happy. I think the relief will come at 6 if nobody goes quicker than us. The happiness comes from the fact that the whole Andretti Green team all year is finding the speed. Last year, everyone was commenting on the fact that we weren’t as dominating as years past. I don’t think we’re going to dominate anyone, but we are there, and that’s cool. A pole is always nice, but the pole here at Indy would be tremendous. Come ask me that at 6.” (If you keep the pole, Tony Kanaan says you won’t be happy about getting up so early for the front row photo session): “If it stays like this with TK and me, 1 and 2, I’ll get up at 5 tomorrow morning.” (About the setup): “We were doing a science project, Tony went one direction, and I went the other. I have to say, I liked Tony’s (setup) better. I’m using Tony’s setup. That’s the breaks sometimes. So I have to say thanks to him. I don’t know if it’s going to stand up, but I’m looking forward to the race.” (About the run): “As soon as I saw the speed on the first lap, I thought, ‘Ah, that’s pretty good.’ I was working all my adjustments in the car, as I was driving around corner to corner. Because the car was so close to the edge, I had to change it each corner. So I was busy in there. I had some information from Tony today that the track’s like this. So I knew I could commit 100 percent to what I wanted to do. The last lap, I could feel my leg shaking a bit coming out of (Turn) 3 because all the adrenaline had kicked in. I knew it was a fast run.” (What if it doesn’t stand up?): “I don’t know. You think, ‘Is the pole that important?’ It’s very important, but a position in the top few rows is what it’s about. I think it would be stupid to throw that away. I’m hoping that it will be quick enough, but with two red cars and I reckon, for sure, Wheldon is going to try to do another one. It would be lovely for it to happen (to keep the pole) right now, but I would take a starting position in the first two rows and then go try to win the race.” (Where’d you find the extra speed?): “It’s a secret. I have to thank the whole team, everybody at Andretti Green. Regardless if this time stands up, we have made so much progress in a year. Last year, we just weren’t in the hunt with speed. And we all are now. The guys in the shop, everybody, is working hard, and my teammates. We’re all on the same setup. We’re all driving the same kind of car, and we’re all able to help each other and that’s big.” (What do you think of the qualifying format?): “I think it’s very stressful for the drivers, but the fans love it. I’ll be quite happy if I’ve done my qualifying for the ‘07 Indy 500. I don’t want to go back out there. I don’t think we will unless a lot of people go out quicker.”

KOSUKE MATSUURA (#55 Panasonic Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “It’s very difficult. You know, four laps. Especially with this kind of wind. The wind pushed me out in Turn 1. It’s very scary.” (What was your goal when this day started?): “Of course, I want to try to get into the top 11. I think we can get in the top 11. Maybe we’re going to try it again. We’ll see.” (Overall, how’d the car feel?): “In the morning, it had a little too much push. The engineer found a little more front grip. I think that was a huge gain for us. We’re going to try it again. We’re going to try a little different downforce, and we’ll see this afternoon.” (How has this new format made qualifying?): “It’s difficult, especially with this wind.”

MICHAEL ANDRETTI (#39 Motorola/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone): (How do you feel about your run?): “So-so. If I could have done in the first two laps what I did in the last two laps, I’d be a lot happier. I think we’re going to have to requalify.” (Did your team surprise you at all today?): “Yeah, I think Tony (Kanaan) showed that we had speed as a team yesterday. Today, Dario went out there and did a beautiful one. I hope it holds up.” (Why is this worth coming back year after year for just this one race?): “I really wanted to come back this year because I thought as a team we were going to be more competitive than last year, and we are. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get my car up there with the other ones. That’s the challenge we have, unfortunately, that I didn’t think we were going to have this year. I came here only because I want to win it.” (Did you think you’re safe today, though?): “No, I don’t think so. I think we’re going to be right on the bubble. If I could have run a 222.9 or 223.0 average, I think I had a shot at it. I think you’ll see Carpenter requalify. I think you’ll see Simmons requalify and Buddy Rice, as well. It’s far from over.” (It was never like this in the old days was it?): “No, it wasn’t. It’s really, tough on the nerves, for sure.” (As a team owner, talk about having three of the top five qualifiers): “I very proud of the team. They’ve done a tremendous job, especially the teamwork with Tony and Dario. Tony did some things during his run that they passed on to Dario that worked for him. It was teamwork, again.” (Do you still get any butterflies or goose bumps when they tell you to go qualify here at Indianapolis?): “Nothing like it – big time.”

ED CARPENTER (#20 Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “It’s not bad. Today, everyone was a little slower than this morning, than what everyone was expecting. The time I put up, I think is borderline right there for what will take to top 11. I’m confident, confident that it can keep us in there. If we have to go out and get some more speed later, we will. But we are going to sit on it until later in the day.” (Tell me about your week. We keep hearing that people are surprised to see Ed Carpenter so high. You guys seem to have had a pretty good month so far.): “I feel that they say that every time I run good anywhere. It’s like eventually people are just going to have to start giving me a little respect that I can actually drive these things. It doesn’t surprise me at all. The team has done an awesome job. I’ve got 100 percent confidence in the team. This is what we are working for right here at Indy.” (Did you get out of it what you had hoped to in this first go-round of qualifying?): “I think so. We were going to go out with a little less downforce. It was getting hotter, so we decided to put a little in so I could do what I did, to go out and put four good ones (laps) down. That number that I ran is right about where we think it takes to go top 11. See if we are right, see if we are wrong. But at the same time, I think there is more speed in the car if we need to get some more out of it. But I think there is more there.”

DAN WHELDON (#10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone): (About the run): “I’m kind of disappointed. I’m not going to sit on that time, there’s no way, as good as we’ve been all month. There’s no way. It wouldn’t be fair to anyone at Target Chip Ganassi Racing because there’s a lot of effort that’s gone into this whole month. Right now, we can go back out without it detracting from our race preparation. That’s certainly what the intention is. There’s definitely more speed in the car. For some reason, we just didn’t get it out.” (Do you know why you didn’t get the speed out?): “Yeah, I think so. Putting it right is another thing. We’ll just work toward trying to get back some speed and see where we end up.” (Was the wind a factor?): “It certainly didn’t help. I’ve done out laps of 225.6 this month so we know there’s plenty of speed in the car, but for whatever reason, we didn’t get it in that particular run.” (About the how qualifying here varies from other races): “That’s what Indianapolis is all about. It’s a challenge, and that’s the good thing about it. If it was easy, it wouldn’t be Indianapolis. That’s why I like it. That’s part of it. I wouldn’t change it for the world. Obviously, my car didn’t perform as well as I’d like. It’s good you can go back out and you can have a go. Maybe third will stick, but I’m not going to sit on that. I’m going be bumping into Chip if he thinks I’m going to sit on that.” (What do you think of the format?): “You’ve got to remember that the race is the big thing. As sick as I am, that’s what keeps me so enamored with this event. It makes it a lot of fun. It’s great for the fans. That’s what it’s all about. It’s a beautiful Saturday, and there are a lot of people here and it should be exciting for them because they deserve that. From a driving standpoint, one of the things I love about Indianapolis is the apprehension and the fact you can come back out. It really keeps you on your toes. It’s, I guess, what you guys call a ‘barn burner.’ It will go right down to 6, and I think particularly today, with the weather as hot as it is, there will be a lot of people waiting to go until the last part of the day. It should be very interesting. For us, we just hope we improve because that was a dismal performance.”

MARCO ANDRETTI (#26 NYSE Group Dallara/Honda/Firestone): (About whether he will get bumped today): "Hopefully not, but the way I look at it three guys have to be beat me right now. I'm ninth. It's not a hard time to beat, so we might have to go again." (About how he would describe the month thus far): "It's definitely been frustrating. For whatever reason, my father and I cannot get to our teammates’ speed. Of course, I'm not going to be happy if my teammates are number one and two, and I'm down here. I'm happy (my teammates) are one and two, but that's just the month of May." (About how his nerves have changed since last year): "Last year, I think I had a car that I knew in my mind before I went out it would be easy, and this one wasn't easy. I knew that." (About how his feelings have changed from finishing second last year): "I lost the biggest race in the world by just a little bit, and my thinking hasn't changed since I got out of the car last year."

DANICA PATRICK (#7 Motorola Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “Well, I think it’s a pretty strong showing for AGR for sure. Dario went out there and tore it up. I think for me it was a pretty average run. I don’t think we hit it perfectly. That’s why we are 1 mph slower than them. We’ll have to figure it out and have to see if it’s worth redoing it or not. From past experience, it doesn’t really the end of the world if you don’t start on the front row or pole position. But you still want to give yourself your best shot.” (What speed were you hoping for?): “I was hoping for the high 224s. But it was pretty much a 224 flat and about it. There was some handling issues that definitely contributed to it. We’ll have to see how big the problem was. If either of our teammates that have gone out so far done anything tremendously different, that would be a pretty quick fix. We’ll think about if we want to run again or not.” (If it was up to you, would you go back out?) “Well, if it was up to me, right now. Right now I would. I would say, ‘Dario, what the heck did you do?’ and go do it.” (Tell us about your week. You guys have been improving throughout the week as the days have gone along. What are your thoughts?): “I think that over the last day or two here, we’ve been finding things that make us go quicker. Overall as a team, we are getting stronger. I think that is really good. Really good to be ahead of Team Target, and one, sort of, Penske is gone. We still have yet to see those guys yet. The satellite Penske.” (Is it frustrating to be 1 mph slower than Dario? Knowing how competitive you are, is it killing you?): “Yes, I think what we’ve been seeing this week, though, is just one little thing can do that. As always, with being the teammate that goes out first, you can always tell them, ‘Look, the car feels like this right now.’ From there they can hopefully apply that to their car and go faster. There are so many big positives with having so many of us out there on the same team because we can help each other. I don’t know if that’s what happened out there or not. But he (Franchitti) went well. So I’ll pick him and his engineer’s brain. We like to give ourselves the best shot.” (Does this day get any easier, being that you have been through it a few times? A lot of the drivers say that this is one of the most nerve-racking moments of the month.): “No, Race Day is pretty much taking the cake on that one. Qualifying day is nerve-racking, sure. But it is what it is. You are by yourself; you go out there. I trust myself. I was just hoping I had good intuition with the car and do the right thing. Whatever comes out, comes out. But when you get 32 other people out there with you, that’s when you don’t know what is going to happen.”

TONY KANAAN (#11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone): "I would think that first of all, we try to stay out of drafts all week. A lot of people are just drafting and looking good for a day. If you're confident enough, you don't need it. Sometimes drivers, and I understand perfectly why, need to see their names up there every day. It makes you more secure and pumps you up." (About his qualifying run): "If I'm going to get beat, then I'd rather get beat by my teammates than anybody else. Me and Dario (Franchitti) worked all week to develop the setup. We came up with a couple differences. I went one way for qualifying and he went another, and his way was better."

JEFF SIMMONS (#17 Rahal Letterman Racing Team Ethanol Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “We made good progress between this morning and qualifying. Now we know we have a shot at that top 11. I think we’re going to get bumped out once the Penske guys run, but I think we can go quicker. We know what we have now, and we know what we need to do. I think you’ll see us back out again later having to make another run to bump our way back into the field.” (This is only the beginning of your day.): “Yeah, this is a long day. Every day in May seems pretty long, but this is one of the longest ones.” (How important is it to get in the top 11?): “You don’t want to have to deal with the pressure and all that again. You want to get it done as quickly as possible. Then, you can start concentrating on only your race car and stop worrying about qualifying.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES (#3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “We stopped practicing before we went out there, and actually, two runs we did before that were quicker than that. In this situation, you want try everything, and we’re trying to get the pole position. We didn’t go and practice. We went straight to qualifying and during the run, it was very hard. I don’t know if the wind changed, as well, plus the car changed. It was very difficult, and it spoiled a lot of speed. It’s not the speed that we want. We triggered the wave where everyone wants to go out. We want to go out again, but we need to watch what the other guys are doing, as well.” (What did you change on the car): “We’re talking about a hair. An unbelievably small change. We’re in a situation where every little bit counts. It’s just the beginning.”

SAM HORNISH JR. (#6 Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “The same thing happened, just in different parts of the run. The first run, I got a little bit wide at the exit of (Turn) 1, and I couldn’t get the car to turn down in there. The second time, we got a little bit of a push. Both times we ended up in the same scenario where I was getting ready to close my eyes and being ready to hit the wall. It’s pretty risky. We definitely have the speed to do it; we just can’t keep the car handling right for the whole run. It’s like we have the car on top of a pencil. One way or the other, we can’t get it right where we need to be. I guess second won’t be too bad.” (Do you want to give it another shot?): “I don’t know. I was nervous enough waiting as long as we did. I don’t know if I want to try it again. We’ll talk to the bosses and see what they want to do.”

SCOTT SHARP (#8 Patrón Sharp Rahal Letterman Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, after second attempt): “Great effort by the guys, we did find a little bit of speed. It was very close to Michael; it handled well. On that last lap, it just slide a little bit, made my speed go down by about a mile per hour, and I was real worried that it was going to drop overall lap time. And it did, enough that we just missed getting Michael. A real shame, but the guys did a great job and we had a good run, and we’ll just go do it tomorrow. We won’t go back out today.”

DAN WHELDON (#10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, after second attempt): “I’d love to get pole here one day. I’m going to have to come back to do that. But the important thing is the race, and looking forward to that.” (How would you explain to someone that’s maybe not familiar with all the ins and outs of racing; How you can be so quick during the week and be a dominant team, then qualifying day just not be able to find it?) “If I knew that, I wouldn’t still be qualifying.”

TONY KANAAN (#11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone, after second attempt): "It was a pretty tense moment when I was in the car. I was convinced that I could do it. I think my warm-up lap was a little bit too quick, and I lost it on the last lap. For 23 years, it has been me and this guy (Helio Castroneves), so it won't be the first time, and it won't be the last time. Congratulations to him. I think he did a good job and so did I. I have to thank my team. We got five cars in the top 11. Obviously, we lost the pole, but Andretti Green Racing is sticking together as teammates, and five cars in the top 11 is part of it." (About the drama of vying for the pole): "It was two things. When Helio went out, they asked me, ‘Do you want to go?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ Michael (Andretti) was already secured, and for me, it was either sixth or 11th; it wouldn't make a difference. I'm a racer, and I wanted to go for the pole, and I wanted to give this team what they deserved and all the work the engineers have done. I wanted to do it for Dario (Franchitti), as well. I think Dario had it for all day, and I wanted to give it to him. I'm pretty happy, and I think we have a pretty good car, so let's go race." (About the qualifying format): "Eleven is a good number, isn't it? We promised the fans, so here it is. Guys, May 27th – I promise you – you will have a lot of fun."

JEFF SIMMONS (#17 Rahal Letterman Racing Team Ethanol Dallara/Honda/Firestone, after second attempt): “Well, the car’s not bad, but we’re having to do too many things out there to get it around through each corner. It’s just not real consistent. It’s doing the same thing when I make the changes, but it’s not consistent all the way around the track. We just didn’t quite have the speed today. We missed out earlier on our run and probably could have put in a better time and been a little safer. We might have been in the field right now. We’ll come back tomorrow and try to put it in the show as well as we can and still work on the race car.” (Are the conditions of the track that much different than when you went out earlier?): “It’s pretty similar. We slowed up a bit, though, for sure. I’m not sure exactly why that is. It may be just sliding around a little bit more. We just didn’t have it today.”

DARREN MANNING (#14 ABC Supply Co./AJ Foyt Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone): “Yeah, we kind of struggled getting out late at the beginning of this week. We didn’t get much running today, either. That kind of hurt us. I’m still a little loose. I just had to try to hang on to it. I think I just chose the wrong gear to run in. I think we could have had it with a bit more gear.”

DARIO FRANCHITTI (#27 Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone): (About losing the pole): “All in all, we knew Helio would be strong. Him, Hornish, Wheldon, Dixon and, of course, Tony, they really outdid themselves. With the position we are in, we couldn’t have pulled out to have another go at it. We’re starting on the front row; hopefully we will have a very strong race car. With Andretti Green being able to put in five cars today, that is very strong. It was just a phenomenal event here. We’re going into the race with a lot of optimism. We’ll see what we can do come Race Day.” (The fans enjoyed the new format, how did you like it personally?) “Obviously, a long wait here. I hated it. I’m glad the fans enjoyed it. They were getting so into it. When one guy would come close, they would all cheer. When Helio would be out there, they would cheer. They had a great time, I think. It kept everyone on the edge of their seats all day. The guys going for the pole, also those in the bumping process. I really think it was a success. But what a horrible stressful day, though.”

DANICA PATRICK (#7 Motorola Dallara/Honda/Firestone): (About not getting chance to make second attempt): "Overall, it was good for our team, obviously. Maybe we can get the day off tomorrow, but I'm not sure. That's really good for us. It was definitely exciting there at the end. This qualifying setup is almost turning into a practice session, like a gambling practice session. You go out there and run a bit. We saw Sam (Hornish) run again right away. We saw a lot of action. It's not a straightforward qualifying day, but there isn't a lot that is straightforward about Indianapolis. It is unique in the same way. For myself, I would have loved to go out. I practiced after my qualifying, and every one of my laps was faster than my qualifying run. It would have been nice to go out there. It was going to take a good chunk of time to get up into the thick of things because there was a lot of people right at the 225.0 and 225.1 (mph) range."