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CART: Vancouver Saturday Qualifying Notes/Quotes, Robby Gordon

5 September 1999

Robby Gordon

#22 Johns Manville/Panasonic/Menards Toyota-Eagle

Qualifying Notes/Quotes ­ Saturday, September 4, 1999
MOLSON INDY VANCOUVER
Round 16 of 20 in the CART FedEx Championship Series
Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Qualifying time - 62.104 seconds
Qualifying position - 19th

Robby Gordon's qualification time of 62.104 seconds was good for 19thon
omorrow's grid in the Molson Indy Vancouver.  The time was an
improvement from yesterday's provisional best of 63.168, but not enough
of an improvement to gain starting positions. Race time tomorrow is 1pm
PDT.

Quotes

ROBBY GORDON ­ "The car's not bad, I think I said that same thing
yesterday.  We just need to get off the corners faster.  The gear ratios
we ran today made the car faster, along with a couple of other changes,
but we're still off when you look up the grid.  A couple of the drivers
got into the 60's today (60 second lap times), and we're still looking
to dip into the 61's.   The bar just keeps rising.  To gain a full
second from provisional day to pole day is great, but there's still
another second in there we have to find.

"For the race we'll be in good shape.  It's going to be hard coming from
the 10th row, but I've had to do that a few times this year.  Like any
street race, attrition is going to play a big factor.  We need to keep
our eyes open to what's going on all day and try to make the race work
for us."

MIKE HELD (Co-owner) ­ "We know the game where we're starting, so we'll
just have to get it on and get it on all day long.  It's tough back
there, especially at a track like Vancouver, but it sounds as if the new
passing areas are pretty good.  If this holds true in a racing mode, we
have a good chance to move forward.  In Chicago the crew did a great job
of making the car better during the race, if we can do that again here,
we can have a good day."

STEVE ABRAHAMS (Hospitality coordinator) ­ "These Canadian races are
always fun, but there are way too many fans here.  I went out to find a
good spot to watch Robby in qualifying yesterday and it took me the
entire session to drive through the masses!  What's the deal here?  Does
everybody play hooky on Friday in Canada?  I couldn't find a space on
the fence to save my life, let alone a place to park the golf cart.  I
think CART should do something about this.  Really.  Maybe they can
reserve some spots for the hospitality people on a regular basis during
Fridays."


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