Indianapolis 500
Indy 500 Bump Day Quotes -- Sunday, May 18
  Indy 500 Bump Day Quotes -- Sunday, May 18 |
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05-17-2003 11:00 PM |
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 Indy 500 Bump Day Quotes -- Sunday, May 18 BILLY BOAT (No. 98 Pedigo Chevrolet Panther Racing Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone): "After the last couple years, we definitely didn't want to be in that position again. The Panther Pedigo team did a fantastic job of giving me the race car that we could go out and put solidly in the field. It was disappointing to have that incident and not get in the race, but the guys have worked very hard, and they are a great bunch of guys. It feels good to put them in the race solidly and not have to worry about it." (Did it affect your mental preparation to not run last week and know you had to run today?): "Any time you hit like I hit last weekend, you probably need to clear your head, anyways. And that's what we did. We could have gone back out, but sometimes you can get yourself in trouble doing that. You're better off to wait and get prepared and make sure the driver and the car are both ready and come back like we did today. It might have cost us a couple rows on the grid, but 500 miles is a long race, and anything can happen. We have been working hard last week, working on our race setup. I ran over 500 miles myself in testing, so we feel like we got a pretty good race car that can hang with the Toyotas and Hondas." (This morning has been the first time you've been in the car?) "The car I qualified was the car I ran all those miles with last week. That's why we took Friday off. We had all those miles on, and we had to rebuild the car and put a fresh motor in it. It would have been nice to get a few more laps this morning. There was definitely a little bit left in the race car. We could have changed gear and gained a mile an hour because we were pretty hard on the rev limiter. We knew what we needed. And we didn't want to get greedy so we took what we had." (On the love-hate relationship with Indy): "You love to come here, and it kicks you in the stomach, and you keep coming back. This place has such emotion and history, and it's a place everybody wants to get to. Until you take those four qualifying laps, there's nothing like it in the world. It makes you learn to come back again and again. But as cruel as this place can be, you still want to keep coming back because there's nothing like completing those four laps or those 500 miles. I know what it was like when I sat on the pole here, and I can only imagine what it's like to win this race. And that's why everyone comes." (Are you ready to get out of the habit of qualifying on Bump Day.): "I don't know about me and this day. We sort of have a love-hate thing going. Our intention was to put it in on the first day, but after the incident that I had, that didn't happen. It just seems like my luck here has steered me to this day. And you have to take what it gives. Sometimes it doesn't give you a choice." (Do you think this is a trend for Bump Day?) "I think what you have to look at is the quality of the field this year. There are a lot of great teams and a lot of great sponsors. I think the quality and depth of the field has never been better. It's unfortunate that the small guy has been squeezed out. I don't have an answer for that, except for Corporate America to get behind open-wheel racing. That's really the answer."SHIGEAKI HATTORI (No. 5 EPSON/A.J. Foyt Racing Dallara/Toyota/Firestone): "Unfortunately I had an accident last week, but fortunately, my car was OK. My average is getting better and better, and next week I think we'll be OK." (What pressures were on you?): "Today I talked to A.J. this morning, and he said, 'Right now, we don't have to take a risk.' Our car is obviously not set up for qualifying. All four laps, my car was pretty consistent, and that's good for the race." Read Full Story 
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