What's it going to bring? I don't know, it's just a different type of competition. You've got two wheels, we're doing, at Indy we'll probably get up around 200 coming down the front straight. It's just different, you know. You've got guys and motorcycles instead of guys sitting in a cockpit of a car. So it's totally different to see.
Moderator:
You mentioned that
MotoGP originated in Europe, but if you look at the past history in the last 30 years, American riders have won numerous championships with it. We've had seven riders now, Americans, since 1978 win the MotoGP World Championship; names like Roberts, Spencer, Lawson, Hayden, Rainey, Schwantz. What does it mean to you as an American to continue that tradition of solid, strong performances in MotoGP?
Colin Edwards:
Well, there was a while there where it was nothing but Australians and Americans. And my dad being Australian, my mom being American, I thought I'm a shoo-in. To carry that on is, you know, even though it's not something we do at a real young age like they do over in Europe, the kids are on pocket bikes at a very early age, usually around here kids get started on a little mini-bike in the dirt and start playing around, and probably by the age of 12 to 15 or something, kind of decide to do something different.
So it always feels like the younger kids are a little bit behind here. They obviously haven't been on pocket bikes since they were 4 or 5 years old like they start over in Italy. But, you know, we're very adaptive. Here today our attitude is different, I think, than most of the world. We've got some pride in where we live and, you know, our flag behind us, and we're a pretty determined bunch of folks.
Moderator:
Definitely, definitely. Well, Melissa, let's open up the panel for questioning for Colin.
Q:
Of course, the item that's on everyone's minds is Pedrosa leaving Michelin after last weekend. I wonder if you can comment. Given that you probably got the best relationship with Michelin, I wonder what your viewpoint on that is.
Colin Edwards:
I don't know, I'm going to try to be real political and skirt around the edges here.
Q:
Is that possible for you?
Colin Edwards:
I don't know, I don't know. You know, I think at the end of the day, you know, grand prix kind of revolves, let's say, first around
Valentino Rossi. Second would be Pedrosa, obviously, and Jorge [Lorenzo] in there, as well. You've got a big Spanish influence.
