Q&A: Barnhart, Jenkins, Goodyear, Hamilton.

"I'm actually doing great. I'm up, as you can tell, walking. I've been in racecars, I've tested for A.J. [Foyt] at Phoenix, and I've tested my super modified, Silver Crown cars for George Snyder, getting laps in. But the situation that I have is I had a lot of nerve, muscle, skin damage as well as bone damage. So my feet tend to go to sleep like in race-type conditions. And they do that throughout the day really just - I'm good walking but when I do certain things, they bother me." - Davey Hamilton

RON GREEN: Good morning. First of all, I want to thank all of you for coming out on such a beautiful morning and to get everyone excited for the month of May. My name is Ron Green, I'm the director of public relations for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We have a busy day planned ahead of us, a great day and hopefully it will help all of you to get kick started in your coverage for the month of May.

All of the programs this morning will be here in the Trackside Conference Room. We move upstairs at 1:30 for the Chevy program, which will include two major announcements regarding the pace car and then another Indianapolis Motor Speedway announcement we're looking forward to.

A couple notes on the day. We will be providing transcripts at the end of the day for all the programs. There is a mult box in back if you need to plug into that. Please turn off your cell phones in here for all the programs this morning. Restrooms are available on the third floor. This afternoon during the pace car rides we'll have a few other programs going on. Lines last year for the pace car ride were rather lengthy. So we scheduled programs, spread people out and have a full afternoon of activities. I had a few questions this morning already regarding credentials for the month of May. Deb Taylor on our staff is outside, and just check with Deb on the status of your credential for the month of May.

We have our full PR staff here today to help you. That includes Deb Taylor, Tina Mendenhall, Josh Laycock, Eric Powell and Joe Crowley. Paul Kelly, as many you know, is back at his keyboard and he'll be helping with the transcripts. Paul is back in his home in New York. Mike King is going to host most of our programs today and we'll turn it over to Mike in just a few minutes. Again, enjoy the day. If you have any questions regarding May or any of the programs today, just grab one of the PR staff members and we'll be eager to help you.

I want to thank your attendance this morning, it's an early morning but I think it's going to be very exciting to see what these guys have to say for the month of May. Mike.

MIKE KING: Thanks, Ron, and we appreciate all of you coming out here to what looks to be a beautiful day here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Very quickly, just to go through the itinerary with you for those of you who may not have it to let you know what's happening.

First off, we're going to start with our first panel talking about what to expect this month of May. At 9:15 we'll be talking Infiniti Pro Series with some drivers. As we talk about the Inaugural Freedom 100 that will take place, it was announced a couple of weeks ago, Ed Carpenter, Paul Dana, Arie Luyendyk, Jr. and Mark Taylor, who is 2-0 on the season as far as the Pro Series goes, will be here.

At 10 a.m. Kenny Brack will be here with Bobby Rahal. Of course, Kenny, the '99 500 winner and the '98 series champion.

At 10:45 Michael Andretti will be here for the countdown to his final Indianapolis 500. As Ron mentioned, at 11:30, the media luncheon and the pace vehicle announcements will take place on the 4th floor here in the WorldComplex.

At 12:40 it's the pace vehicle photo op. From 1 p.m. until 2:45 the media pace vehicle rides. At 1:15 and at 2 p.m., as Ron mentioned, since the lines were so long last year and people were basically just having to pace and wait for their turn, there are going to be a couple other things for you to do.

At 1:15 to 2 p.m. we'll be talking about the evolution of the IRL IndyCar Series chassis, and that will includes Les Mactaggart, Phil Casey, and driver Robbie Buhl. Also at 1:15 and 2 p.m. Joe Negri and Rick Voegelin will be talking about the Chevy Indy V8 engine program. So you've got lots to choose from here today.

What to expect this month of May, we've got a distinguished panel here this morning led, of course, by the senior vice president of operations for the Indy Racing League, Brian Barnhart. In fact, Brian is the only person up there that's distinguished. (Laughter) That's not true at all. Sitting next to Brian is the former voice of the Indianapolis 500 who I was more than happy to assume his role once he moved to the TV side, Bob Jenkins. Next to him, who is certainly distinguished - Scott, I didn't mean to overlook you at all - Scott Goodyear, the former open-wheel great who finished second twice here in the Indianapolis 500.

And Davey Hamilton - also, I don't want to say former driver for Davey, because even though he is not in a car this season and is joining us as our driver analyst for the IndyCar Series broadcast on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. He's made it quite clear to us this is probably just a one-year commitment and he fully intends to be back in a car next year.

So we'll get brief opening statements. Let's start with senior vice president of operations for the Indy Racing League. Brian, what do you think, month of May 2003, what do you expect?

BRIAN BARNHART: I expect nothing but great things. I mean, I sit in here and, you mention the beautiful day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway again, they're all beautiful days there. You know, it really gets the goose bumps going, you get excited as you approach the month of May. There is truly nothing like it in motorsports. For this activity to be taking place, I know we're late March and we've got another event on the IndyCar Series schedule before we get going in May. We've got rookie orientation in late May and we've got another test in Nashville as well, so we've got a race and a couple test events scheduled. But the excitement is already starting to build. It's going to be a fabulous month.

We've really had some great additions to the IndyCar Series field on a full-time basis with the additional cars being run by Mo Nunn and Chip Ganassi Racing, the additions of, as you mentioned, Team Rahal with Kenny Brack. It's nice to have Kenny back, the '98 series champ and '99 Indy 500 winner is driving for the 1986 Indy 500 winner, and that's really nice to have them joining the field. And, of course, the very powerful Andretti Green team is here, and Tony Kanaan has sat on the pole at the first two races of the year. Scott Dixon won at Homestead, and Tony was able to win from the pole at Phoenix. So we've had a couple of great events and the excitement is just starting to build. So we're really looking forward to a great month.

KING: Bob, the 500 has been part of most of your life. What about as you get set for another month of May?

BOB JENKINS: Yeah, it's always special. Having grown up not too far from Indianapolis, I always look forward to the month of May rolling around. It's been a part of my life as long as I can remember, since I was five or six years old. And every year gets more exciting to me. I have, of course, been a part of coverage of it since '79 and in various capacities. But every year is a little bit more special, and I think this year is probably as important as any one that we've seen in recent history with, as Brian indicated, the inclusion of more teams, more drivers with a variety of engines. It just makes for a lot of stories for us to be able to cover and to capitalize on during the month.

As far as what we'll be doing, normal coverage of qualifying on both ESPN and ABC and, of course, our regular coverage of the race. So I'm excited as usual.

KING: Davey, I know it's now difficult for you to sit in that analyst chair and to come back here when you so desperately want to be back in a racecar. But stepping out of the car this year to complete your recovery and now assume an analyst role, is the month of May going to be different for you from those when you show up here as a driver?

DAVEY HAMILTON: I look at it a little bit different. It's still the Indianapolis 500, I'm still excited to be here even though it's a different role. Obviously, like you say, I want to get back in a racecar as soon as possible, but it's just not in the cards this year. The rehab is coming great, I've come a long ways, I feel great. Unfortunately there's some issues once I get in the race car that doesn't allow me to compete, in long races especially like the 500 on a competitive level.

So now I'm excited to come back with the radio. This is when I was young, I listened to it on the radio and I watched it on TV and so I'm just kind of looking at it a different way. This is how I learned to love the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500 from the radio and TV. Being on that side of it is exciting and who knows, I would to like to get back in this thing next year if at all possible and if all the healing goes as I hope to and my feet get better as time goes. But if not, this gives me another avenue as well to further my career in motorsports.

KING: And to let you know, if you haven't had a chance to hear Davey, he does a great job with us. He has jumped in full bore as far as the analyst role goes. In addition to working with us as the IndyCar Series analyst for our broadcast on the Radio Network, Davey is also the analyst for the USAC broadcast on Speed TV, he is also the analyst for ESPN broadcast of the Infiniti Pro Series broadcast this year. So he is getting a dose of media this year.

Scott Goodyear, every year when you come back, of course, you officially announced your retirement but everybody looks at you and thinks so close every time that your name comes up. Is it sweet or is it sour to come back to the Speedway and watch them go around here during the month of May?

SCOTT GOODYEAR: You know, I don't think about that very often until I come here and guys like you get a chance to remind me about that all the time. (Laughter)

JENKINS: Actually, we do every single time we can.

KING: I just wanted to be the first for this coming month of May to remind you how close you've come.

GOODYEAR: On that, I'll tell you a quick little story quickly. There was a CD that came out last year -- what was that one?

JENKINS: "Voices of the 500."

GOODYEAR: "Voices of the 500," and Paul got a copy of it. Anyway, we were listening to it one morning on the way into the race track and Paul is sitting up front and he's trying to find the tracks and all that sort of stuff, and then we get to 1992 and whose voice is on it except Bob's. So Paul turns it up and we're listening to this thing and all the voices are there, and "Who's is it going to be?" and it goes into the whole thing, and we all know how the ending comes. So we're driving along and the ending comes and I just listen to it and I turn around and go to Bob, "Bastard." (Laughter) I said, "Could you not change the ending of that just once?"

JENKINS: Like it was my fault.

GOODYEAR: Then a good thing I heard a little trick they were going to do, Bob was actually going to do a re-recording of that and send it in my mailbox for Christmas. I had heard that and got hold of that information so he didn't bother doing that, it wouldn't have been that much of a joke. But that would have been quite good.

But I can certainly remember coming here as a kid in the '70s, I was go-kart racing, and I just wanted to go see the Indianapolis 500 as a kid, as a spectator because I loved cars and didn't have any aspirations at that time of being here at the Indianapolis 500 because I was way too young. I remember we raced an event in Batavia, New York in a go-kart on a Saturday and then drove all night just to get here to be able to watch the first of my time coming here. And I can remember walking through the gate and just being awe struck basically.

Then as I got through my career looking like I might have the possibility of coming here and racing at the 500, it just sent goose bumps through my body, just even thinking about it, and then coming here and doing rookie orientation, going through all those motions and still driving through the gates this morning, you know. You're driving to something that is so full of history and is so, so special to so many drivers that come here that go through rookie orientation and make the event, and even those that don't make the event. It lives with them forever if they don't have that opportunity to race here because there are different layers of coming to this racetrack. Either you're attending it or being part of it as part of the crew or driving it or as a team owner.

I felt that last year because as a driver you don't really participate in what's going in around you on Sunday morning. You certainly know that it's a huge event. You're so focused, you get in here so early, you don't pay attention to what's happening. I remember standing up in the booth and telling these two guys that, "Would you look at this? Oh, my God, look at that. I can't believe that." Stuff happening, people funnelling in and all the atmosphere that's actually going on, as a driver sometimes you miss that because you are so focused on what's happening.

I mean, I can't really remember the jets going over and Jim Nabors singing and all these things happening because you're in your own different world basically. So it was nice last year to be able to participate as part of the broadcast team and sort of take part with that and see what goes on and see the other side that I hadn't seen before. So it was pleasurable as far as that aspect was concerned. I sort of look forward to what's happening next month

There's going to be a lot of drivers coming here for the first time for the rookies, going through rookie orientation and getting prepared for May. Whether you've been here numerous times, a dozen times, it doesn't really matter.

I think Michael Andretti is going to be here for the 13th, 14th time possibly, 15th. I'm sure if you ask him, it's going to be the same thing, the excitement that's there, the electricity that's in the air is tremendous. For the rookies, I can recall when I came here the very first time going through rookie orientation and then being allowed to be able to try and qualify for the 500 was something very special. I'm sure these drivers will find the same thing again.

The competition just keeps getting tougher. When I was here in '95 with Honda, there was a lot that goes on when you're participating with an engine manufacturer. And with the three engine manufacturers here this year, there's no doubt that each one of them want to be in Victory Circle, so there's a lot more pressure on the teams, on the drivers, on the crew, to perform, to make no mistakes. I think you're going to see that up and down pit lane. It always seems to build when you come up to Fast Friday for qualifying, for Pole Day, and I think that 's going to be more prominent this year with the engine manufacturers taking part.

Obviously, when you get yourself running through the next couple weeks, getting prepared for the race itself, the drivers are going to have to start doing long runs and longevity is going to be an issue and fuel mileage and all those things that take place at any other event just seems to grow in proportion to this event here. I think there's going to be a lot of pressure on all the teams, drivers and crews, as I mentioned, just to perform to say that they won the Indianapolis 500, probably more so this year than ever.

KING: We're going to open it up. On a real quick personal note, allow me to say what a pleasure it is to be able to work with all these guys. With Davey and Scott, I've had the opportunity to share the broadcast booth and their precision on dissecting what happens on the racetrack and obviously their careers and Davey's tenacity in coming back from those unbelievable injuries at Texas. Bob's professionalism and his love for this place and what he knows about the Indy 500 and open-wheel racing in general. It's a pleasure to know Bob over the years. And, of course, the exceptional leadership that Brian Barnhart provides for this series. I think it's certainly one of the reasons that the IndyCar Series is where it is today in just eight short years.

Let me just add that that personal shot there at the beginning was just a little joke, except Brian being distinguished.

Let's open it up. Anyone have questions for any of our panellists about what to expect? Joe is on that side with a mike, I've got this one, just raise your hand, we'll get it to you.

Q: Brian, hopefully we've got three weeks until Japan. Given the world situation, what plans do you have for security and to make sure this event goes on without a hitch?

BARNHART: Well, as we move forward in our schedule, we at this point in time see no reason not to conduct the Japanese event on April 13th. We've got a little more time to continue to monitor the world situation. We've been in contact with the appropriate agencies on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, with the Japanese government, with the security from Twin Ring Motegi. We've been in contact with Homeland Security, the FBI and the State Department here on the U.S. side as well. We're going to continue to monitor what develops overseas. At this point in time, as I say, there's no reason not to go. Should there be a situation arise in the next week or ten days that would change that, then we would react accordingly.

At this point in time all we can do is stay educated on top of it and make the decisions in the best interest of everybody. We would not do anything that would endanger any of our teams, fans, drivers, any of our participants, sponsors. We are going to continue to stay in touch with the appropriate government agencies and monitor the situation and make the decision before departure date to continue to go or not. Like I say, something would have to change pretty dramatically in the next week to ten days to change the course of the event.

KING: Questions? Bruce.

Q: Brian, how concerned are you over the prospect that during the month of May that there could actually be a tough time getting a full field of 33 cars just because of the equipment situation?

BARNHART: I don't think we have concerns of getting 33. I'm not sure we'll have the car count number that we've had in the past of being in the mid forties, but I think we'll probably be in the upper thirties to right at 40. So I don't think fielding 33 is going to be a problem. And I'm probably more excited than I've been in previous years. Even though the car count may be down, it's going to be a much higher and a much deeper field. You know, you look at the quality of the teams and drivers that have come into what we're looking at.

Even if you only have seven more cars than the field can accommodate, you have to keep in mind somebody can look at that and say, well, you can only have a bump day where only seven cars can bump, and that's simply not the case. You have unlimited combinations, because the cars that get bumped have spare cars and they're going to come back. And each car has three attempts to go out. When you multiply those seven cars bump seven cars, and those seven cars get their spare cars out and those seven cars all use three attempts, we don't have enough time in the day for all those cars to go through that. So Bump Day is still going to be, as historically is around here, unlike any other day in qualifying in the world. It is the most nerve racking.

One of the advantages I get in being able to give the drivers their instructions to qualify - and it doesn't matter if it's Pole Day or Bump Day - I tell you what, like Scott said, whether you're a rookie or a veteran like Michael Andretti coming through here, every one of those drivers will tell you there is no experience in motor racing like qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. That's simply because of the format involved, the three attempts per car, the three days to run, the fact that there are no provisionals, and the fact that it's not a simple run.

Four laps, ten-mile qualification run is something, and you guys have seen it so often around here, a guy will go out and his first lap will be four to five miles an hour faster than his fourth lap. And when that guy is starting to fall off like that and that driver has his hands full, the team has a real difficult situation, averaging those laps out and is this going to be good enough and where it puts them on the grid. So when you look at all the pressure-packed situations that goes into it, we've still got a great and exciting Bump Day, and just the month of May, like I say, you always look forward to.

KING: Scott, as many times as you qualified here, was there ever a time you rolled out there thinking this is routine?

GOODYEAR: No, not ever. To echo something Brian is saying, you just don't really know how that car is going to be over four laps. The pressure is on the driver more so there than I think the race from the simple fact that you've got the car as perfect as possible, you've had to sit down with the engineer and come up with something that you think is going to be just exactly what you want as far as wing settings and the temperature change as it always does from the last time you get on the track in the morning until the time you get to qualifying, especially if you're further back in the queue, tire pressures, wing angles, all those things that go with it. Then when you come down to the green, it's pressure.

Everybody says it's only four laps but I'll tell you something, it doesn't matter if you're qualifying at LeMans, which is eight and a half miles around, it takes you just under four minutes to do that. Here you're going out there for four laps and it's the most pressure that you've ever had because you have to be perfect on every entry, on every midpoint, on every exit and you're trying to make the car as free as possible to a point where it doesn't come around on you to get the speed out of it. It's never been routine, and I've started on the front row and I've started on the back row, it doesn't matter. You feel good once you're in the event, that's for sure.

KING: Davey, that two and a half, three minutes, does it go slowly or does it go quickly?

HAMILTON: The first year it goes real slow actually. The first time I did this, it's like these guys say, once you make the race, you're relaxed. You get out there race time and if the car is not right, you can wait for a pit stop and you can pace yourself and you can do different things throughout the race. But with qualifying, you know, your ass is on the line. You're four laps, running as fast as you can go, hanging the car out more than you have done all month long knowing that you have to get in this race. There have been situations where my car hasn't been the best. There have been other situations where my car was great and it was easier but it's never easy. When the car is not right and you're hanging on to it, it's the most difficult four laps in motorsports.

KING: Questions?

Q: Brian, you had the SAFER barriers put up last year, have new cars, new chassis this year, there has been talk about speed up and down, and adjustment, where do you think we're going to be at this year, what kind of speeds are we going to be looking at here at Indianapolis?

BARNHART: That's a little unknown for us since we haven't had a car test yet as you mentioned with new chassis, new engines, new gear boxes. We were a little faster at Homestead this year than we were last year. We were a little slower at Phoenix this year than we were last year. So we've done some things as well coming to the Speedway that have multi-benefits.

One of the fundamental principles about the Indy Racing League, obviously, is controlling costs. One of the things that we've done this year is eliminate some of the suspension options that are available to teams that used to have the standard wide track suspension and then they'd have narrow kits. They'd have narrow, they'd have super narrow, they'd have ultra narrow, and those obviously make the car skinnier and get through the air better. Those were basically used in qualifying setups here at the Speedway, and then most everybody put the wide track back on to race with. We've eliminated those suspension options in the interest of cost, for one, but also that also slows the cars down because now everybody is going to have to run the wide track the whole month of May and you won't have an option to qualify on.

The wing package that we run right now, there won't be any minimum wing angles. There's kind of a self-imposed, at least from what we've seen in the wind tunnel. The wing profile we're now running, once you start getting very, very far in the nose-up negative position, if you go too far, that starts adding down force and drag to the car. That in itself will not allow a car to run as little a wing as they have run in the past. So we've got a couple of things in place from that aspect that I think and will naturally slow the cars from the speed that they ran last year.

Also, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had reground the surface last year and there was a lot of grip in the racetrack last year. Some of that will naturally be gone just because the surface is a year older than it was a year ago. I wouldn't be surprised if we're a little quicker than we were last year, but that's still in a speed range that, you know, with the construction of the cars and the emphasis on safety that the Indy Racing League has, it's in a range that we're comfortable with.

As you say, Tony George and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway continue to be the leaders in innovations in safety. The SAFER barriers were up last year, and we have continued to do development work on that over the course of the last year. They'll be in place again for the month of May as we move forward for next month's race.

KING: Brian, given to the unique set of circumstances that led to the finish last year in the 500, as far as race control goes for this year's race, have there been any procedural changes or will it be pretty much as it operated last year?

BARNHART: Well, we always look at our rule book at the end of the year and evaluate any situations that have developed over the course of the year, whether it's technical specifications, procedural or operational rules. And after May of 2002's race, it was no different. We went back and examined that. There's really only a couple options. I guess to answer your question quickly, we have not changed anything procedurally or from an operational standpoint in regards to what happened last May. We went back and looked at it. Your options are to either race back to the flag or to go back to the start-finish line of the lap before. If you look at that situation of that scenario, you can easily come up with reasons why not to do either. If you go back to - and obviously for safety reasons, it is not in our best interest of the IndyCar Series to race back to the flag.

If you go back to the previous lap with a track that's two and a half miles long, you could easily have a different leader at the start-finish line of the lap before, have somebody pass somebody in Turn One, lead for two miles, and if a yellow comes out at Turn Four, and if that's the white flag lap, you're going to give the race back to the guy who's now been in second place for two miles. So it doesn't make a lot of sense to go back to the lap before, and it certainly doesn't make sense to race back. The procedures and rules that we have in place are the best for the IndyCar Series, and after examining them we've not made any changes operationally or procedurally.

Q: Brian, as you mentioned, all new equipment this year, new chassis and engine and everything. There's been some concern in the industry that there might be a shortage of the new equipment during the month of May. Has any consideration been given to grandfathering and allowing the older equipment to run this May to guarantee a full field?

BARNHART: As I mentioned earlier, Bruce, we don't have any concerns of meeting at least 33 cars. We anticipate, as I say, probably 38 to 40-car/driver combinations. Part of the reason we went to the new equipment is safety-mandated changes and we've been very pleased with the way those cars are performing. There's no thought or consideration given to grandfathering any old equipment.

Q: With the Pro Series Racing this year, when will they be practicing? How much time will they get to practice, and also what would be a rain date for the Pro Series?

BARNHART: Right now we're trying to finalize a schedule with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but I think preliminarily we're going to do an open test for the Infiniti Pro Series cars, I believe it's April 17th will be the first time that they're on track. They'll be on track all day long in an open-test format. I'm going to go off the top of my head here, I believe Thursday, May 15th is going to be their first activity on track when we share with the IndyCar Series. They will run in the morning, probably run in the ballpark of 9:00 to 11:30, so probably get two and a half hours that day of practice on track, and then the IndyCar Series would come back and run from noon to six.

Friday, the 16th, will be the same type of scenario, they'll get a morning practice session. We'll run the IndyCar Series for an hour or two, and then we'll come back and qualify the Infiniti Pro cars in the afternoon. Run the IndyCar Series more for the rest of the afternoon, and then do Infiniti Pro cars with a full tank session probably from 5:30 to 6:00 that night, and that will be their final practice. Come in Saturday the 17th and we'll start the morning with IndyCar Series practice for a couple hours, shut down, do pre-race for the Infiniti Pro Series. And I believe the Infiniti Pro Series starts at 2:00 on the 17th. At this point in time, rain date would be Sunday, the 18th, I believe. That's not been finalized, that needs to be worked out with the Speedway people as well.

BARNHART: I think we would probably do the race before Bump Day gets going. I think qualify Sunday is (noon) to 6 p.m. So we would run the pro race before that. I don't think we would take any qualifying time away from the cars on Bump Day.

KING: Brian has to attend a meeting, we need to get him out of here. He will be back around ten o'clock. If you have any other questions for Brian, if you could hold those. We'll keep Bob, Scott and Davey for just a couple minutes. Brian, I know you've got to go. We appreciate it. We'll see you back here shortly after ten. Anyone else with questions for Brian, be assured he will be back in a little over an hour but he has to attend a meeting. Any other questions for our remaining panellists, Scott Goodyear, Bob Jenkins or Davey Hamilton?

Q: Davey, talk a little bit about your prolonged recovery and what it's meant to you to still be involved in racing at this point.

HAMILTON: Well, it's definitely been a long recovery. Obviously the wreck happened almost two years ago this coming June. Thank God for the IRL and IMS for putting together the best medical staff in the world as far as I'm concerned, Dr. Kevin Scheid (?). It all started with Dr. Bock putting the program together. They were the ones that were able to save my feet in Texas. They wanted to amputate. So I've come a long ways from them. I'm actually doing great. I'm up, as you can tell, walking. I've been in race cars, I've tested for A.J. at Phoenix, I've tested my super modified, Silver Crown cars for George Snyder, getting laps in. But the situation that I have is I had a lot of nerve, muscle, skin damage as well as bone damage. So my feet tend to go to sleep like in race-type conditions. And they do that throughout the day really just - I'm good walking but when I do certain things, they bother me.

Not a lot of pain but just I focus too much on my feet and not enough on the driving part of it. So I'm just trying to overcome that. I am going to work very hard this year, continue testing. Hopefully try to get in some short-track racing, get back in the sprint cars and some midgets and stuff. Just take it kind of like a rookie again, so to speak. I feel I just need to get the endurance back up, make sure I can race a long race and be able to focus on the race and not my feet.

The encouraging part of the whole thing was when I did get back in the race cars, yeah, I got back right up to speed. That wasn't an issue, which was nice to know that the feeling came back, the enjoyment of driving a race car came back. I definitely want to do it again. God willing, my feet will get healthy enough to where I can do that.

Q: Bob, I'm curious, you anchored the 500 the first time as the Voice of the 500 in '89; is that right?

JENKINS: '90.

KING: I know what I experienced in '99 the first time I did it. What was the feeling like for you? Because you had been a part of the network for quite a while at that point.

JENKINS: I was scared. (Laughter) Yeah, I had been on Turn Four I believe from '81 to '90, so I had observed the race from that standpoint. And I guess I was aware of everything that the anchor had to do during a broadcast but it didn't sink in until we went on the air. And to coordinate everything - you know, in television - which of course I had been working with ESPN - in television you're basically sitting in the booth and you're taking direction from your producer and sometimes a director and you're basically following what they tell you to do and what they want to do.

But when I was given the job of anchoring the 500, I suddenly realized that I had to keep track of what I was saying, which wasn't easy, but also coordinating getting information from all of the reporters on the turns. You had to somehow work in your four or five pit reporters and have some idea of where they were and what they wanted to say. Plus you're watching the clock and trying to do your commercial breaks at about the time that you have told the affiliates that you are going to do them. And it was quite an experience. In fact, I have always said and will always say that that was the most difficult job that I have ever done in broadcasting, was anchoring the 500. Quite frankly, I was happy when I went over to the TV side and left the job to you. (Laughter)

KING: Scott, Davey hasn't experienced it yet, but being out of the car on race day here is different in how many ways and still working the event?

GOODYEAR: Well, for me I was ready because I went from being full time in 2000 to just doing the 500 was my plan anyways for the next few years and got involved in the Infiniti program and did a lot of development work there and to get ready for May of 2001. So for me I guess I was more taking in everything that was going around us on race day last year more as a spectator and more in awe of everything. I'm not sure that I ever really missed what was going to be happening as far as if I was driving a car. I did feel that a couple of times throughout the month, I think on Fast Friday because I always loved it because it was always pure speed and it was a day that you trimmed the car out and still try to keep your foot flat all the way around.

I walked down in Turn One and I was watching the cars go around and I found myself standing there more starting to think as a driver and watching the cars go around, sort of feel it through my body. Then realized that I came down here to sort of watch the cars and take some notes and get some information. I found myself not doing that. So I had to turn around and realize and say, okay, that's not what I am here for. So there's only been really a couple instances I think that for me it was that situation. But I was more focused on race day last year once we started to get going just to make sure that, you know, I was doing everything I was supposed to be doing, didn't miss anything. You're very much aware that you're going live on TV every time you do it and you want to make sure that you are prepared for it. I approach it the same way I did when I was driving, just try to be prepared.

As Bob said, you know, I find TV very busy, so I'm not sure that I will ever be able to do radio, because the TV is - you know, when you're in a race car, you're driving and you've got the hum of the engine going and you're by yourself and you're focusing on what's going on in front of you, trying to make the turn. Obviously you're dealing with the cars in front of you, people trying to get past behind you, occasional radio information coming to you. You don't watch the dash that much these days because it's all by telemetry so if there's something going on, you get an alarm on the dash which lets you know that you should pay attention to something going on with the engine or what have you, and there again through telemetry they're watching it in the pit. So it's almost easier sitting in the car driving it, because when you're sitting in the booth you're passing notes back and forth to each other, you're paying attention to what's going on your screen, the scoring and timing monitor, you're listening to the
producer in your ear. And even when you're talking, all of us, the producer is usually talking and somebody is coming and calling up from the pits and they want to report this next. So whenever you hear us talking, we're talking with somebody talking in our ear, which is not the easiest thing to do. I said this a few times, and I said it to my wife Leslie when I came home after the first event last year, I said, "Thank goodness we have three kids and they all talk at the same time." (Laughter). It's one of those deals where you're driving down the highway, okay, we're going to stop, who wants to go to Subway. "Oh, I want to go" - they have all talked at the same time and you've heard every one of them and it's exactly what goes on, so thank goodness for three kids.

KING: Scott, Bob, Davey, thanks. We have our next press conference set in about five or six minutes. These guys I'm sure, if you need to get one-on-ones, would be glad to hang around for a few minutes. It's a pleasure to be associated with you and I look forward to the month of May.