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NASCAR WCUP: New Hampshire notes and quotes, Pontiac teams

16 September 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

JIMMY MAKAR, CREW CHIEF, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(HOW MANY VARIATIONS OF ENGINE CONFIGURATIONS DID THE TEAM BRING TO NEW HAMPSHIRE, NOT KNOWING EXACTLY WHAT THEY MIGHT NEED?) "That's the big question. Until we actually get on the racetrack and see how these things accelerate and react to the racetrack, we're not really going to know. We've got, I think, four combinations including our qualifying combination to bring up here and try to run. A lot will depend on one we hit the racetrack, we'll see a little bit more and be able to make a better 'guesstimation' of what we're going to race with."

(ON THE LOSS OF TRACK TIME TODAY) "It's certainly a big hindrance, a big problem for us because we need track time to decipher what is going to happen with the race car - what kind of gear ratio we're going to run, what kind of a spring-bar combination it's going to take to handle going through the corners at different speeds, driving in a little bit deeper. So much is going to change. There are so many questions, unanswered, that until we get on the racetrack we're not going to know. Track time was going to be at a premium here this weekend. Now with the rain, it's at even more of a premium. We need to get on the racetrack and tune on our race cars a little bit and more than anything, give the drivers a feel for what they can do around the racetrack. Where are the brake points? How far in can you drive? What do we need to do to make the cars better for them? I'm hoping we get some sunshine here soon."

(ARE THESE ENGINE RULES AN UNCOMFORTABLE VARIABLE WITH REGARD TO THE POINTS RACE?) "Everybody is going to second guess what kind of rule NASCAR came up with to come up here. Whether you agree with it or not, I think the bottom line is you've got what you've got. They make the rules and we come up here. I think the big difference is going to be how each team handles it and goes to work. You can moan and groan and complain about it and focus all your energy doing that, or you can be the guy that takes the lead and decides that I'm going to make the best out of this situation that I can. I think that's the way we looked at it. We weren't going to change the ruling, like it or not. We needed to work very hard and be better than everybody else at adjusting to this. We just looked at it as an adversity. Whoever overcomes adversity the best are the ones that are going to come out on top. I think you're still going to see the same race teams that always seem to rise to the top rise to the top, just because that is what they're good at. That's what got them here to start with."

JOHNNY BENSON, NO. 10 AARON'S PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(ON THE LOSS OF TRACK TIME) "What can you do? It's going to be interesting. We knew that coming into the race and now with the rain, it's really going to be something. We'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see how it all turns out."

(DOES HE HAVE A THEORY AS TO HOW THE CAR MIGHT DRIVE?) "It's hard to say." "You can sit there and look at it on paper, play with it on computers and do whatever anybody thinks they can to be the best when they get here, but you won't know until you unload the car and get on the track. I really don't know what to expect yet."

"It's all going to be in corner. When you restrict the engine, you have to pick up momentum somewhere. There is obviously a limit in how fast you're going to go. But it will be interesting to see what the total track time is going to be and where you can try to improve to make that better."

KEN SCHRADER, NO. 36 M&M'S PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(HOW DOES HE FEEL ABOUT NEW HAMPSHIRE INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY?) "I've got no problems whatsoever with this racetrack. We had two really bad incidents, and they both happened at the same place at the same racetrack, so all of a sudden this racetrack got a big black mark against it. We have racetracks where you hit just as hard and at just as much of an angle. It's just that they happened here. Definitely there is room for improvement at a lot of different places, in the cars, in the walls and all kinds of things. But I don't think it's a big issue at just this track, in particular.

"We know what happened was tragic, but I think it definitely was coincidence that they both happened at the same place. We've got a handful of tracks that it could have happened at just as easy."

(ON RUNNING RESTRICTOR PLATES THIS WEEKEND) "As far as the plates this weekend, I'm not a huge fan of that. But I think NASCAR did good just by making some kind of step. We've been through this before. What was the right thing to do? Who knows? What was the quickest and simplest thing to do, which we knew what the results would be? I think that was it."

(WILL THIS BE LIKE RUNNING A BUSCH CAR?) "I think it's very much going to be like a Busch car. From what I was told, the horsepower is a little bit less than the Busch car, even. It comes down to the fact that 3,400 pounds on 10 or 11-inch tires - whatever they are - are only going to go so fast through the center of that turn. We might actually bump that speed up in the very center a little bit this week. You always try to go through the center as fast as you can. But when you're going so fast getting into the turn, you have to get rid of that many miles per hour to get slowed down to make it. Now you're not going that fast getting in so you try to carry more through. I think it will be a real good race. I'm not worried about that at all."

(DOES HE WORRY ABOUT GETTING HURT IN A RACE CAR?) "First off, there is no one that makes you climb in these things. If I really thought I was going to get hurt, I wouldn't climb in the damn thing. I'd be going home today. I'd be waiting for the rain to quit first - I'd want to be as safe as I could - and then I'd be heading home.

"This is not a real dangerous sport, statistically. You look at other sports. Some of these guys are trying to hurt one another - standing there boxing and stuff like that. I'm not in to that stuff. I want to go around a track the same way with everybody else, with everybody going to same direction. This is a whole lot safer than a lot of other things."

Text Provided By Al Larsen

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