Q&A: Sam Hornish Jr and Helio Castroneves.

Questions to and answers from Sam Hornish Jr. and Helio Castroneves in the Indy Racing League press conference.

Moderator:
We appreciate you coming in. Helio Castroneves is 27 years old, born in Sao Paulo, Brazil and currently living in Miami. Of course, he is a two time Indy 500 winner. He had two wins this season, Phoenix and Indianapolis and this is some key stuff, interesting stuff. Five top-five finishes on one and half mile tracks in 2002. His best finish on a mile and half track was third at Homestead and at Kansas, and his worst on a one and half mile track was fifth at Kentucky. So he does quite well on the mile and a half tracks. Average finish has been 3.8. Helio has become the first driver in IRL to become the Indy 500 and Indy Racing League champion in the same year. The winner of the 500 has gone on to win the championship 29 times since the first 500 in 1911, but it's only happened seven times since 1970 when big Al Unser did it. Jacques Villenueve was the last driver to do it in '95.

Sam Hornish Jr. is 23 years old from Defiance, Ohio. He is, of course, the 2001 Indy Racing League champion, the defending champion of the series. He had four wins in 2002, Homestead, California, Richmond and of course last week's race in Chicago. He has two wins on mile and a half tracks in 2002, Homestead and Chicago, and his worst finish this season ironically came here in June at Texas after an accident with Eddie Cheever. His average finish on a mile and a half track this season is 4.8. If you recall, Helio's average finish is 3.8. So those two guys finish right up there at the front of the field. He won the Chevy 500 and he is the defending champion of this race one year ago by one of the closest one, two, three finishes in Indy Racing history. Pennzoil Panther Racing has three wins at Texas Motor Speedway. Sam could become the first driver to win two Indy Racing League Championships, and if he finishes first or second, he wins the title no matter what Helio does. So I will start by asking, I assume then, Sam, the plan is to win the race?

Sam Hornish Jr.:
Always. That's the plan every time I get in the race car is to go out there and be No. 1, whether it's in practice, qualifying or the race. So pretty much the same thing that we've been doing all year.

Moderator:
And of course your plan is to win the race.

Helio Castroneves:
Oh, my plan is to have 13 points ahead of this guy, here. Obviously, if he plans to in, I need to be ahead of him no matter what on Sunday. I'm sure it's going to be a good battle, as always, over here, and I'm sure it's going to decide the championship on the last lap of this race.

Q:
This being Penske's first year in the Indy Racing League, what's your assessment on how well the car is performed?

HC:
Well, obviously, being a Penske driver, representing Marlboro Team Penske, first year in IRL, you have several questions -- several about the track. A lot of tracks we have discovered during the race how the performance, how to setup the gears, and so far, the speed, we didn't have much of a problem. We were able to find out because of those tests, so we really worked hard during the whole season to make sure that at least we are going as much prepared as possible during the race weekend. As everybody knows, normally we have only 45 minutes, and to set up the car in those situation is very tough. But I'm very proud of my team. The team is doing a hell of a job, putting all of the equipment together, being competitive on the field, very special, being challenging in the championship, and I'm extremely happy. So, again, here is going to be a situation that the good news, we have already been here. Obviously, we race at night, which might change a little bit, racing at day, but I'm extremely confident and I'm very happy to for all of the performances of the team this year.

Q:
Sam, what's your read on Penske and how good their car has performed?

SH:
Penske is probably I'm pretty sure that they have the most amount of wins in Indy cars, and they definitely have the most Indy 500 wins as a team. You know, definitely probably the best-funded team coming into this year. If you were to ask me if they were going to do as well as they did, I would say yes. They have done a great job. There's nothing that you can't but if you would ever ask me if I thought that he could do it or they were at a disadvantage, I don't think so, because I think they have got two very good drivers and a very good team to go along with it, to be able to put the cars out there week in and week out and be competitive.

Q:
Helio has a new teammate who is obviously not in the championship hunt. What do you expect out of Max on Sunday?

HC:
Well, it's going to be his first time on this track, I believe. It's not the first time with his equipment, racing it at Indy. I'm pretty sure he's going to do a good job. Max definitely is a fast driver and we just hopefully, with the situation that we have in the
championship, he will be up there, as well, to make sure he can steal as much points from everyone as possible, he especially from Sam. So we just have to see. Obviously, you can never predict, especially this racetrack, especially this race, but it's good that we are in this situation. Obviously, we can't discount the teammate. At the same time, I have to go and do my job, so we're going to keep working hard to make sure we do a good job.

Q:
Sam, what do you expect from his teammate Sunday ?

SH:
I don't know. You have to look at it, there's two hands you can look at it. It could be a professional race or a problem might occur from trying to help another driver win the championship. But I've talked to Max a couple of times, and I don't think he's the kind of guy that would negatively affect the outcome of the championship. I think it's going to be a long race on Sunday, and hopefully it won't be a factor of any other cars. It will just be a duel down to the end.

Moderator:
Sam and I talked briefly after Sunday's race in Chicago. We were studying the mathematical possibility of a dead heat. You are in Texas, everything is bigger in Texas; Sam told me he really would rather win by a lap.

SH:
Hopefully the margin of victory will be bigger in Texas.

Moderator:
No. Dead heat.

Q:
What do you have to do to make your car run fast on this racetrack?

SH:
Just with how closely competitive the cars are, it's tough to be very fast over another car. You have to have your car that works good on the bottom and on the top. One of the characteristics of the car is that it is as neutral of casual possible. You don't want it to be loose at all, because if you are running side by side with other cars it does definitely kick the back end of the car around, but you don't want to be pushed. So basically, just find a happy medium where the car is real neutral. You can run the low line or the high line, the way things shuffle around here, you can't just say, oh, my car works good on the bottom, I'm just going to run it here all day. You're going to get stuck up on the outside or vice versa.

Q:
On Sunday would you like to see it come down to a heads up duel between the two of you, and kind of may the better man win type situation?

SH:
Well, it can't really come down to a heads up duel, because if I finish first or second, I still win. So that makes it tough, as far as that goes for Helio. But, I definitely don't want to see him go out on the first lap. That takes some of the fun I don't want anybody to have any excuses and say that, you know, if so and so hadn't ran into me on the first lap, I would have won. I don't want to have those excuses, either. So I would like to see it go down to the last couple of laps. I don't really, really want to see a whole lot of people up there battling. But whatever happens, my goal is to go out there and win the race, and if I win the race, I know that the points take care of themselves.

HC:
Well, the good news, we are all professionals. So basically, I don't think anybody wants to have any problems out there. Everybody, I'm sure is going to respect each other. It's going to make the show as nice as possible and exciting for everyone. So we'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully, Team Penske is going to be right there to give great support.

Q:
Helio, your thoughts on the penalty that was handed down yesterday after the supposed blocking at Chicagoland last weekends?

HC:
Well, the situation is very competitive and the situation that we were out there in the last few laps, Brian was able to see better than anybody, if he feels that way, he is the one that makes the call. So, he has to do whatever he has to do.

SH:
I have a feeling the penalty wasn't quite high enough. (Laughter). You have to take whatever advantage you can get.

Q:
All of the money, all of the things are on the line, name in the record books that kind of thing, is that important or do you block it out and just go racing? If the prize was a popsicle at the end of the day, would you race just as hard?

SH:
I think we are both the same in the fact that it doesn't matter what else happens. All we really want to do is win the race. You can go out there and you can win the points, you can do something that nobody else has done before and you can win $1 million to go along with it and that's all great. But, you know, I remember when I was five years old racing a bicycle against it didn't matter, just being able to say you won.

HC:
Well, I guess it's nice to have the records. I know these things. But I tend to agree with Sam. I don't think it's that important. Obviously, the championship, for me, it's what I'm looking for right now, and I'm sure people remember the championship instead of just the win. So, I'm going to go and fight as hard as I can with whatever I have in my hands and making sure that I'm going to be there in the end.

Q:Inaudible?

HC:
Well, that's not what happened last week. Everyone is trying to win no matter what, I think that's going to happen the same way; that's going to be the case here. They are going to try to a lot of people want to show the potential that they have, maybe they have got a good chance to win a race. And sometimes the last race of the championship, it's what everybody remembers for the following season. So, I'm sure it's going to be a war again. I remember in Texas here in July or June, maybe they are going to be watching between me and Sam a little careful, but I still think it's going to be strong and competitive race. So that's the good news for me.

SH:
I think that I don't expect anybody to give me any more room than they normally do, whether it was the first race of the season. You don't want them to give you any less, either. It's a tough balance because you have guys out there definitely racing for different purposes. Helio and I are racing to win the championship. Other guys are racing to win their first race of the year, and it's a tough thing to be in the middle of, because, I mean, you want them to give you a little bit more room. If you're right there at the end and you need an extra position, but they are trying to get a good finish, also. So I'm sure it will just come down to whatever it comes down to. Actually, getting to the point where I just wish it was Sunday right now and we could line up the cars and don't worry about qualifying and just start the race. Because there's too many scenarios you have to go through to think about, you can drive yourself nuts by saying: What happens if this guy does this, what happens if another guy does that. I wish it was race time because you're going to find out on Sunday what's going to happen, and I can tell you that the last lap, it could very well be decided on the first lap.

Q:
Did you bring any extra equipment for this race and how do you choose which car to race?

HC:
Other than my family, no, I didn't bring anybody
extra.
Q:.
equipment for the car.

HC:
No. For my team, we keep we have the same thing. We are not having any extra equipment to have any advantage or something like that. Basically it's just another race, obviously the last race, and we are competing in the championship. But, I guess just my guys are sharp, ready to go, as well.

SH:
Our cars pretty much just go through a rotation. We have two cars for the team. That's all we have. If those two don't get us through the weekend, then we are in trouble.

Q:
If it comes down to the last few laps and Helio is leading and you're second and it may take a little risky move to try to take a pass for the lead, do you settle for second or do you go for it?

SH:
I try my best never to put the car to be out of the race, even when the championship doesn't really matter. So I'm sure I'll make kind of calculate what the plus and minuses, but always try to win. If I just sat back and finished second, there's not a whole lot of heart in that. And I believe that's the one thing that I always believe in, that I need to do when I race, put my all into it and always try to win the race. What's the fun of finishing second?

Q:
Helio, is your new teammate going to work out OK for you?

HC:
I hope so. That's why we bring him here. I'm sure he's going to do a good job for the team. It's a shame that Gil was not here. The good news is he's doing well and he's going to come and join us on Sunday or Saturday, so he will be around. I'm sure it's going to be good, for the whole team.

Q:
This track in Chicago in some ways are similar, mile and a half, that kind of thing, looked like you may have been lacking for horsepower last Monday. Anymore this week?
HC:
Well, obviously, the good news here in Texas, you are able to go threewide, I believe the trap, you'll be able to catch a little more, even if you are far away. I believe here you do have more ability to go around, even if your car is not as fast as you can. So, no, we don't have any change. I think we are in the same boat. But the good news is, we do have this track, which probably are going to put more passes in between us. So hopefully we are going to be in good shape.

Eddie Gossage:
I think you all have known Texas Motor Speedway and my position on the Indy Racing League, it is my belief that right outside this building, this series came of age. It is our distinct pleasure to host the championship event of the Indy Racing League. It's all the more pleasurable when it comes down to two champions of this nature, and you're going to hear me say this over and over all weekend: We could not be more pleased, more excited, and more honored by Tony George and Indy Racing League than we are to host this championship event, something we look toward to happening for decades and decades to come. We hope that these two guys have a great race on Sunday and hate that one has to win and one doesn't, but they are both great champions and we appreciate you both. Thank you for bringing your talents here, and we thank all of the drivers in the Indy Racing League for bringing their skills here.