CART: Tony Kanaan Notes and Quotes, Michigan 500
22 July 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Defending race-winner Tony Kanaans first official practice day in his
#55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes-Benz Reynard was hampered by
mechanical problems in both this mornings and afternoons sessions for
Sundays Michigan 500. Back for the first time since a June 17 final
qualifying run at Detroits Belle Isle left him with a broken left
forearm that required surgery and four broken ribs on his left side,
Kanaan recorded a fast lap of 31.408 seconds (an average of 229.241 mph)
around the 2-mile Michigan Speedway oval this morning. This afternoon,
however, a yet-to-be-determined mechanical problem in his primary car,
and still unfinished repairs of gearbox problems in his back-up car from
this mornings session, forced the team to call it quits midway through
this afternoons hour-long session.
Practice resumes at 8 a.m. EDT Saturday with qualifying set for 11 a.m. EDT. Race time is 1:30 p.m. EDT Sunday with a live broadcast set for ABC-TV.
TONY KANAAN
"Well, the good news is that I feel absolutely great in the race car. The bad news is that we didnt get in a full days worth of work, which is very critical in this series. Its so competitive that every minute on the track is precious. The arm and the ribs were not even an issue today out on the track. The big question is the ability to stay strong for 500 miles on Sunday. But that is the big question at every 500-mile race, whether or not Id be coming off an injury. Tomorrows another day, and well have to hit the ground running starting first thing tomorrow morning in order to get a good spot in the qualifying session."
MORRIS NUNN
"Its great to have Tony back in the car. Hes not holding back, which makes me a little nervous because I really want him to ease back into this. So I think weve reached a happy medium. The bigger concern, as it turns out, is to get our work done on the race car. We had a problem we still havent quite figured out with the primary car in the afternoon session. For safetys sake, we decided to park the car and begin investigating the problem. Unfortunately, repairs to the gearbox trouble we had in the back-up car this morning still werent finished, so we were flat out of luck. Sundays a long day, and well want to be there at the end. Better to encounter problems like these on Friday than during the race."
Text provided by Laz Denes
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