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CART: Texaco Grand Prix of Houston Notes and Quotes

27 September 1999

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

PAUL TRACY, KOOL Honda Reynard: "My car was just perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better car today. My goal was to get ahead of Bryan on the start, and I was able to do so quite easily. Then I just wanted to stay behind Juan until the first pit stop. [On the incident between Juan Montoya and Helio Castro-Neves] I saw it, and then I just told myself to relax and be smooth and do what we know how to do, and I was able to pick up a second a lap. [Regarding his teammate, Dario Franchitti's, pursuit of the PPG Cup] I'll do everything I can. I like to think that I helped the situation with Dario by keeping the pressure on Juan."

DARIO FRANCHITTI, KOOL Honda Reynard: "Thanks to the guy upstairs. The [initial] yellow was very timely. Something went wrong, I'm not sure what, but I had a car I couldn't drive [early in the race]. We pitted out of sequence. I was aware at that time of what had happened to Montoya, and I thought that although things were bad, they could have been much worse. I think we went back to 18th place [actually 19th], but as soon as we pitted, the thing was great. After that, I was just trying to get by people and save fuel. Second place is a good result. I didn't think 10 laps into the race that we would be on the podium. With Montoya's bad fortune, this certainly makes things closer in the championship race."

MICHAEL ANDRETTI, Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Ford Swift: "I'll take it [third place] after the way the weekend's gone. I'm very happy to be on the podium at the Texaco Grand Prix for our sponsor, and we were able to get some points, as well. All in all, I'd say the track was good to race on. It was a really physical race because of the heat. I give the track good grades. Last year was a total, total embarrassment for our team and we wanted to redeem ourselves. Unfortunately, we didn't do it with a win, but we were able to finish on the podium. I'm glad we were able to give them a show."

JUAN MONTOYA, Target Honda Reynard: "This was not the way we wanted to end this day. We had a great car all weekend and we were really fast early in the race. Obviously, I'm very upset about running into Helio Castro-Neves, but the season is not over. We still have two races to go."

WHAT'S NOTEWORTHY

* Paul Tracy's (KOOL Honda Reynard) victory made him the third multiple winner of the FedEx Championship Series season, joining Juan Montoya (Target Honda Reynard), who owns a series-leading seven victories (Long Beach, Nazareth, Rio de Janeiro, Cleveland, Mid-Ohio, Chicago, Vancouver) and Team KOOL Green teammate Dario Franchitti, who won at Toronto and Detroit.

* Tracy's victory allowed him to tie two-time FedEx Championship Series champion Alex Zanardi for eighth place on the CART career victories list, with 15.

* Tracy and Team KOOL Green teammate Dario Franchitti (KOOL Honda Reynard) have finished one-two in three of the past four FedEx Championship Series events contested on temporary street circuits. Franchitti and Tracy finished first and second, respectively, at Toronto and Detroit.

* Tracy and Franchitti became the eighth pair of teammates to finish on the podium in the past nine FedEx Championship Series events. The run dates to Road America where Christian Fittipaldi (Big Kmart Ford Swift) and Michael Andretti (Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Ford Swift) finished first and second, respectively. It also includes one-two finishes by Franchitti and Tracy at Toronto and Detroit; second and third by Tracy and Franchitti at Mid-Ohio; and first and third by Montoya and Jimmy Vasser (Target Honda Reynard) at Chicago and Vancouver.

* Tracy's victory was the 13th of the season for Honda, as well as its 13th consecutive victory on a temporary street circuit, dating to the start of the 1998 season. The last non-Honda-powered driver to win a FedEx Championship Series street course event was Mauricio Gugelmin at Vancouver in 1997.

* Tracy's victory also brought Firestone its 17th victory in 18 events this season and its 35th in 36 events overall, dating to Adrian Fernandez' victory at Japan last year.

* Andretti's third-place finish was his fifth podium result of the season and the 84th of his 16-year FedEx Championship Series career.

* Podium finishes by Tracy and Andretti helped tighten the Nation's Cup race considerably, enabling Canada and the four-time defending champion United States to close the gap on leader Brazil with only two events remaining. Brazil heads to Australia with a 249-242 points lead over Canada, with the U.S. standing third just a point further behind at 241. Points in the Nation's Cup competition are scored according to the same scale used to determine the FedEx Championship Series champion (20-16-14-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1), but only the highest-finishing driver representing a given nation scores at any event. Single points are also awarded to the nation whose driver wins the pole position or leads the most laps.

* Max Papis (Miller Lite Ford Reynard) finished fourth for his fourth top-five finish in the past five events. The run includes finishes of fifth at Mid-Ohio, fourth at Chicago and third at Laguna Seca, a FedEx Championship Series career best. Overall, Papis owns top-five finishes in nine of 18 starts this season.

* Scott Pruett (Pioneer/MCI WorldCom Toyota Reynard) made the 143rd start of his CART career Sunday, breaking a tie with Arie Luyendyk and moving into sole possession of 10th place on the career starts list. Pruett's 10th-place finish, following a season-best seventh at Laguna Seca, allowed him to score PPG Cup points in back-to-back events for the first time this season.

* Gugelmin (Hollywood PacWest Mercedes) finished a strong sixth while moving into a tie with Mario Andretti for fifth place on the CART consecutive starts list with 106. Gugelmin scored PPG Cup points for the third consecutive event, following finishes of fourth at Vancouver, a season best, and 11th at Laguna Seca. Gugelmin had not scored in three consecutive events during the same season since scoring in the final seven events of the 1997 campaign.

* Richie Hearn (Budweiser Toyota Swift) finished eighth to earn his second top-eight finish in the past three events. He also finished sixth at Vancouver.

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