"There have been a number of positives this weekend," he said, "The public enjoyed a good show and the atmosphere has been fantastic since we first arrived."
JEFF GORDON, one of the 'visiting firemen', was asked if he ever seriously considered following up on the F1 offers tendered his way after his 'Trading Paint' F1 exhibition with Montoya at IMS. He said it was flattering, but he had to consider where he was at this point in his life. He said he thought his time had passed for
Formula One. It would be hard to step away from his current NASCAR career. He admitted he was contacted by several teams, and was 'bombarded by Bernie and some other team folks'. Currently he is with a top team, running top equipment. "Unfortunately, for me, that opportunity wasn't coming for me in
F1."
Gordon visited the
SPEED TV booth and sat in on the action for a while, but he wasn't the only driver on a busman's holiday Sunday. Gordon's NASCAR Nextel Cup team-mate, points leader JIMMIE JOHNSON and wife CHANDRA, and Penske Cup driver KURT BUSCH also came. RAY EVERNHAM, Dodge Cup and Truck team owner was at a meeting earlier in the day with
McLaren principal, RON DENNIS, talking about their mutual plans to share information between their respective teams and manufacturers in F1 and NASCAR, McLaren and Chrysler-Dodge. Evernham was with his driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, ERIN CROCKER, who was taking time off from running two races in Kansas. She had her best Truck finish Saturday with a 16th, and a second in the ARCA race.
Open wheel racing was represented by Champ Car team owner CARL HAAS and his CCWS champion SEBASTIAN BOURDAIS, as well as CCWS team co-owner/driver, JIMMY VASSER. Also seen were ADRIAN FERNANDEZ, currently a team owner in both IRL and Grand-Am and winner of the recent Mid-Ohio Rolex Series race; RYAN BRISCOE, and STEFAN JOHANSSON, who has run the Indy 500 and many sportscar races since quitting F1.
