Indianapolis 500
Kanaan-Andretti Third-Place Transcript
  Kanaan-Andretti Third-Place Transcript |
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05-24-2003 11:00 PM |
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 Kanaan-Andretti Third-Place Transcript MODERATOR: We are delighted to have Michael Andretti and Tony Kanaan in for our first press conference. Helio Castroneves is on his way. Obviously, a couple of big stories here. Michael, you led laps. You were strong. You made this comment on the public address, 'I will turn my attention now to being a car owner.' This guy, Tony Kanaan, who had an incredibly strong car last year, crashed, ran a great race today, finished in the third position. It's got to be an incredible range of emotions for you right now, Michael.MICHAEL ANDRETTI: Really, it is to the point where I am pretty numb at this point. It was a day that could have been great, and yet ended up pretty good. I think we had a race car to win the race, I really do. I was really quite surprised. I was able to lead the race with the setup that I had on at the moment. We still had a lot more speed left in the car to dial into by trimming it. The handling was very good. I fell actually back behind the two Penske cars saving fuel. Everything was going great. Then I came out -- I think I was lapping somebody, I downshifted, went back on the throttle and all of a sudden, I just didn't have any power again. It ended up being a freak deal, another freak deal for me. It was the throttle linkage that broke inside the engine, one of the butterflies broke and that was it. It's a shame, but then I had to change my focus. First thing I did, I came in the pits, I looked up at the pylon to see where the other guys were and started cheering and really felt bad for Tony because he was very quick. I think he was the quickest car in the racetrack, but he lost his track position early in the race when he made that pit stop and got caught. I was lucky. I just saved my lap, but he lost his lap, and so the rest of the day was catch-up for him. Because of that, I think that's what cost him the race because I think if he had track position at the end of the race, he would have run away. It was a shame that happened to him. But other than that, the whole team did a great job. I feel real sorry for Dan. He was doing an awesome job and made a little bit of a mistake there. Robby had some problems in the pit and ended up with the gearbox breaking. At least Tony bought it home again for us. I am proud of him. Proud of the whole 7-Eleven crew. The other thing is, as Tony said, he was looking at the big picture; looking at championship and he's back in the lead in the championship, so that's awesome. Read Full Story 
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