Q&A: Paul Tracy, AJ Allmendinger - Pt.1.

Heading into the third round of this year's Champ Car World Series, Paul Tracy's decision to remain loyal to CART instead of going to the rival Indy Racing League looks a good one, as he sits proudly atop the point standings with a 100 per cent record.

This weekend, the series moves to Long Beach, a circuit that has, in the past, been bountiful for the Canadian, who heads to California hoping to become the first driver since 1971 to win the opening three races of the Champ Car season.

There will be more to keep an eye on for Tracy than just his Player's Lola-Ford, however, as prot?g? AJ Allmendinger makes his second foray of the year into the supporting Toyota Atlantic series. The reigning Barber Dodge Pro Series champion qualified an impressive third on debut in Mexico, before a rookie mistake dropped him down the order.

Eric Mauk:
Today's guest is the points leader of the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford, the man who has won the first two races of the season, Mr Paul Tracy. Paul has won the first two races of the year, has 43 championship points, holding an eleven-point advantage over Michel Jourdain Jr, and is looking to become the first driver since the formation of CART to within the first three races of the season - and the first champ car driver since 1971 to win the first three races of the year, Al Unser Sr. was the last man to perform that feat.

Also joining us, the reigning Barber Dodge Pro Series champion, moving up to Toyota Atlantics this year, going to make his second start of the year in the RuSPORT car at Long Beach, AJ Allmendinger. AJ, thanks for joining us today.

AJ Allmendinger:
Thank you for having me.

EM:
Paul, starting with you, obviously the first two races of the year with your new team - Player's Forsythe Racing - lived up to everything you could have hoped for?

Paul Tracy:
Well, it's been a great start to the season. To start off with a new team, Team Players, and I think we have surpassed our expectations for the first couple of races of the year. Our goal was really just to finish the races and get points. And to come out of it with two wins and most laps led and 43 points has just been fantastic. We just need to try to do a good job this weekend in Long Beach.

EM:
Obviously, you are a two-time winner at Long Beach and you won your first Champ Car race at Long Beach. Tell us how you feel about going back there.

PT:
I feel good. My last win at Long Beach was 2000, and I seem to always run well there. I am enthusiastic about going there this weekend. [Team-mate] Pat [Carpentier] has been testing yesterday and he's testing today [Tuesday] over in Phoenix, so we are learning more about the car and my engineers are over there watching the tests. I think that we've got a good chance this weekend to help get a good result.

Q:
I wanted to find out first how this series feels to you now with a lot of the changes? And what were your expectations coming in, you were talking about surpassing them, but what were your expectations with everything changed around?

PT:
You know, I knew it was still going to be competitive and hard to win. I thought that coming to a new team and being surrounded by new people at the beginning of the year, I felt would be a little bit harder. In testing, we weren't the fastest car in testing over the winter, so my expectations were really.... Maybe my expectation levels were that I could win the first couple of races, and I knew I had a good team around me and maybe it would take some time. You know, to come out of the first two races with two wins, has been great. So, you know, I think still, my goals are the same. My goal is the championship and to try to score points in every race. I think that's going to be the most important thing is to finish in every race.

Q:
Did you feel like you would have more of an advantage being one of the more experienced drivers?

PT:
Well, I think my experience level is important. A lot of the tracks, other than St Pete, I've been to and raced at before, and a lot of the newer drivers don't have that experience. So, I think going into the first day of practice in qualifying, I think that's an advantage, but obviously some of the new drivers have proven that this doesn't take them very long to learn a circuit, and one person in particular is Sebastian [Bourdais]. He's fast on the second day, he's been able to get on the pole both times with no track experience coming into the weekends. But, you know, experience does help in the race, and race distances and the first day of practice.

Q:
Speaking of the Indy 500, you're removed now from what happened last year. What are your thoughts on what happened last year, have you put it behind you or is it still a sore spot?

PT:
Well, it's something that I don't really think about from day-to-day. But, you know, I still feel, and know, that, based on the evidence that is there at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in their film department, I know that I won the race. It's really politics that have dictated the outcome of the race. There's really nothing I can do about it. That's just the way it is, and I move on and concentrate on my new team and what I have to do.

Q:
Would you go back to race in the Indy 500?

PT:
No, I don't think so. My focus is to do a good job for Players and Jerry Forsythe, and their focus is on CART. So that's what they pay me to do and that's what I want to do.

Q:
The question I have to put to you is that there's starting to be buzz about whether this is the year for you, is this a championship season things are going swimmingly? How do you feel about keeping those feelings in check and how do you approach it?

PT:
I think all I can do is keep doing what I've been doing, and that's training hard over the winter and getting prepared for the races, each individual race that comes up. A lot of people weren't picking me as a favourite to win the championship before the season started. Now we've had two races, I guess, really, all I can do is just try to go into each race and try to minimise the mistakes that I can make on the racetrack and minimise the problems.

You go through a weekend and you make thousands of decisions on what you're going to do on car set-up or this or that, and try to make all of the right decisions. Hopefully, at the end of the day, we've made more good ones than bad ones and that will translate into more wins and good finishes. So, I really would just take it race by race and concentrate on each one that comes up.

Q:
Do you feel that you've been relatively fortunate in the races that, Sebastian has basically caused his own trouble, or at least the team?

PT:
Well, we haven't put ourselves into a problem yet because we've made good decisions. When the yellows have all been out, [the team] have made clear-cut decisions on when to come in and not to come in. We've been back in a situation where we've been stuck in traffic, like at St Pete, you know, where you could make a risky move and maybe damage the car trying to pass somebody. I think as a whole, the team has made good decisions and I've made good decisions, and that's translated into a couple of wins.

Q:
Going in [to Long Beach], you've won the first two races but you've traditionally been a slow starter. Have you readjusted your goals now, do you see now record-chasing as well as a championship in your future? It's been 30 years since somebody has won the first three races of the season?

PT:
Not really. Like I said before, I know that there's been 30 years since somebody won the first three races, but I don't really get caught up in that. All I want to do is do a good job and finish the race and get some points. I know that if we can start up front going into a race weekend, and I know that, if we come out of the trailer with a good car and start close to the front, then I can win in any situation, but that's the goal going into the weekend is to make sure that we get a good car, a good set-up together. And then when the race comes, I know that I can do a good job. That's really all I'm concentrating on, is just getting through each weekend end, like I said, without makes mistakes.

Q:
Have you been happy or impressed with what Players has done in terms of communicating what your needs are with the car and ensuring that you are getting the best car every weekend?

PT:
Well, I certainly don't have any complaints as of right now. In the off-season, our testing didn't go super great. I mean, I was decently quick, but I wasn't setting the pace anywhere. But, then, that was a little bit by design because I've never been super, super fast, just at qualifying or anything like that. It's more on race day when I'm able to perform.

Q:
A bunch of us are writing about some of our favourite Long Beach memories on the Champ Car web site, and I was going to right about the '93 race. Of course, it was your first win, what are your recollections of that?

PT:
It was a great win for me. My first win was at Long Beach, and it came off Phoenix when I was really dominant at Phoenix. I was leading the race there by two laps and ended up putting it in the wall. I came into Long Beach with my tail between my legs and came out to dominate that weekend. We got a couple of flat tyres throughout the race too. We had problems throughout the race, but still came out of it with a win, which was great.

Q:
You alluded earlier to how Sebastian has really caught on quickly, and it seems to me that there was a time when you ran and led some laps but did not win until Long Beach. Can you talk about the jump he has to make to win?

PT:
Well, I think it's just getting the whole weekend to come together. It's not just about qualifying or practice times. You have to be able to get through the whole race. A lot of guys have come into the series with a lot of speed, but that doesn't translate to a lot of race wins. I'm sure he's capable of winning races and is going to win races, but you've got to get to the finish of the race and we have to keep finishing well and keep building up a fairly big points gap. I think that will help us at the end of the season.

Q:
You are back together with Tony Cicale, you have a new engineer in Todd Malloy and you have a pretty good relationship with Pat, can you talk about that relationship and how it all has maybe played a part in your early success?

PT:
I think, in any racing team, a driver has got to be comfortable with the people he's surrounded by. Coming to a new team, I've been fortunate enough that the team was able to put some people around me that I've worked with before. One being Tony Cicale, who I have had great success with. And, then, I've got Todd Malloy on the team, who I worked with at Team Green for five years. There are some other key people that are on the team, Phil LePan, the team manager - I've never worked with him but I've known him for a long time. So that's made the adjustment from one team to another fairly easy because the learning process is probably cut it in half because we've just really had to learn about the car and not learn about individual idiosyncrasies about how to work with people. The key people around me I've known for a long time.

Q:
What about Patrick Carpentier, sometimes team-mates don't always get along but, in this case, you two seem to get along quite well?

PT:
We get along, and I think we both have a mutual respect for each other. I think he respects what I've been able to do on the racetrack and I respect what he's done, although we are both learning. I'm looking at his telemetry and he's looking at mine. I've learned a lot of things that I've seen in the past few years with Dario [Franchitti] and Michael [Andretti], and I think the same goes for him.

Q:
Having an unaccustomed lead in the championship early in the season, do you now go into a race like Long Beach still wanting to win the race, and are no less focused on that than ever, but maybe you go in there with a somewhat more relaxed and more confident frame of mind? Maybe, if Friday does not go to plan, for whatever reason, can you can sort of take it in stride rather than getting bent out of shape about it. Do you feel a lot more relaxed than in the past?

PT:
I would say I do, because I've been able to win the first two races. I think, coming into the season, like I said before, I was not the fastest guy when we went to testing. And coming into the season I think, for the first race, my anticipation was that I wanted to do well but I wasn't thinking that we could win races. I wanted to have a good finish and get a good handful of points.

I think my own anticipation was a little bit higher and my anticipation level was wanting to do well and do good for Players and prove to them that they hired the right guy. From that standpoint, I am more relaxed because I've won the first two races and everybody is happy, so I'm happy. I'm not going to Long Beach to sit back in my heels though. We are going to take it like we do every weekend, and that's to go out there and try to win.

Q:
Do you feel that you are driving as well or better than you have before?

PT:
I think so. I'm still learning as a driver. I'm 34 and I feel I'm in the best shape and conditioning of my life. So I feel that there's still a lot left on the plate to do and I don't feel burned out at all. I feel that right now my energy towards racing is at a peak.

Q:
Where do you see yourself in five years?

PT:
Sometimes I don't even see where I'm going to be in five minutes. I don't really have a five-year plan. I don't think right now that, the way auto racing is in North America, you can make a five-year plan. I know that I want to continue and enjoy what I do. I don't really have any other plan other than that I love racing and will continue to race in whatever until I am not happy doing it.

Q:
Do you see yourself in any other form of motor sports besides Champ Car?

PT:
Well, the commitment level is obviously very high and the performance level - it's all about performance. If you're not doing well, then you're on the outs. I think, from my standpoint, as long as I'm competitive racing in Champ Car [I'll race here] - and when the day comes that I'm not competitive, then maybe I'll try something else. There's things that I want to do other than open-wheel racing. I'd like to try sports car racing. I'd like to race at Le Mans and maybe race at Daytona in a Winston Cup car. There's definitely things that I would like to try and do other than just open-wheel racing.

Q:
You have competed several years in Champ Car, but you compete in other levels, also. Do you remember any year that you got such an exciting beginning of the season in other levels?

PT:
I think the year I won the Indy Lights championship in '90, I think that year I won nine of twelve races. It was so long ago, 1990, and it doesn't really translate to what I'm doing now but, I mean, I'm happy that I got off to a good start and it's a nice change. Normally, like I said, I'm a slow starter and it takes me a little while to get going. I think the advantage is that a lot of these tracks that we are going to go to in the next five or six races, I know very well, and I know the car and I know the crew guys I'm working with. Hopefully, we can do well throughout the whole season.

Q:
You mentioned sportscars and stock cars. Is there any consideration of going to F1 in your future?

PT:
For me, I'm a little too old for F1 now. Everybody in F1 is looking for the next 22-year old superstar, so I think my time has kind of passed for that.