Q&A: Cheever Jr, Lazier and Luyendyk.

Drivers:Eddie Cheever Jr., Buddy Lazier and Arie Luyendyk.

Host:Mike King.

Press Conference:

MK:
OK. If we could take our seats and get ready to begin here. We're pretty close to being on time. A couple of quick things that I need to clear up. First off, we misspoke when we said that we were registering you for the media Pace Car rides. That will be covered by the Corvette reps at lunch. So there is no registration going on at the Corvette table out front. Secondly, if you do not have your Indy Racing League hard card, you're planning on covering the ROP this weekend, you can obtain credentials. You need to fill out your requests at the IMS media table here in the lobby, and then you will be able to pick up your credentials at the Safety Office at 5th and Hulman. I want to make sure we didn't mislead anyone in thinking if you didn't already have credentials you couldn't get them. Our second press conference of the morning as we bring in three distinguished drivers.

Audience:
With beards.

MK:
I personally regard Indianapolis 500 champions as distinguished. But with you, Eddie, it could be a different story. Arie Luyendyk in the middle, the senior member of our staff this morning, if you will. The winner of the 1990 and 1997 Indianapolis 500 Mile Races. He is flanked by Buddy Lazier, the winningest driver in Indy Racing League's history, who took the checkers here in 1996, despite the fact he was driving with a broken back that he had suffered, what was it, about five weeks, six weeks earlier at Phoenix?

Buddy Lazier
Eight weeks.

MK:
Eight weeks earlier at Phoenix. On the other side of Arie is Eddie Cheever, the 1998 Indianapolis 500 champion, who is also distinguishable in the fact that he has been a driver/owner in the series now for seven years. So, Eddie Cheever's team has taken on quite a number of transformations over the years, right now the two-car team with Eddie and Tomas Scheckter as the drivers obviously with the Infiniti power. Arie and Buddy will both powdered by Chevrolet this month of May. So we have a diverse conversation that we will hear this morning. Let's start with opening comments, first, with Arie. You came back last year after a self-imposed one-year retirement. What was it like to be back, and what's it like to be back again?

Arie Luyendyk:
I didn't realise that I would miss driving at the Indy 500 as much as I did. That's why I really came back last year. That's pretty much the whole story. I enjoyed it a lot. I think we were competitive up until race day. Had some problems in the pits, which put us back, so we were out of contention and just kind of drove around to the finish at the end. But we intend to do better, of course, this year. That's why we are here. And Treadway Racing basically has been my home since 1996, since the beginning of the IRL, that's when Treadway Racing was formed. And I've been a part of the team, and it's like -- it's very easy for me to go back there. It's like, you know, family. So not really a lot of adjusting going on. And we are running the G Force this year. Most of the teams are using Dallaras, but we still think we can be competitive with the G Force, with Chevy power. Menards Engines are building our engines. And we're going to start -- we'll test here in a couple weeks, 23rd and 24th, for two days, then come back for the month of May. Meijer's and Coca-Cola are our sponsors this year, besides a bunch of associate sponsors that we have. That's pretty much our program.

MK:
Buddy, Hemelgarn Racing always considered a contender. Not off to the start this season, I don't think, that you, Ron or really any of us expected, but tell us a little bit about your hopes, obviously, going in Nazareth next week, then coming here for the month of May.

AL:
We haven't really had a bad year, we just haven't had a great year. We're hoping that that's coming. But started off the season at Miami, and had a did-not-finish for mechanical reasons. And that really put us back in the points. I think we were 22nd in the points. Had a reasonable race at Phoenix, moved up to 13th. Had a reasonable race in California. California warm-up session, the last three minutes of the last 30-minute session, got sideways, broke the car in half, had to start the backup car, so had to start last. And yet, we're still working our way up to points. Now we're up to ninth in points. Haven't really had -- haven't had as good a season as the two teams that have won races, but other than that, have had a pretty decent season. And hopefully we are able to continue to march our way forward and be in contention at the end of the year for the points. I mean, the big -- for us, of course, the big trophy, the victory to have all year is the Indy 500. And having so many races before the Indy 500 this year, I think it has been really good for a lot of teams. Certainly been good for us to get things sorted out. So when we come here, we have is pretty good idea where our issues are, so we can solve them and be as good as we can about.

MK:
Eddie, the 2002 season has already been an interesting ride for you. We look at what happened at California. You were right there, looked like poised to challenge for a win, and you lose the engine with 10 laps to go, or at least I'm assuming it was a engine you lost or obviously a part.

Eddie Cheever Jr.:
Nine laps to go. That's two miles.

MK:
Excuse me. But bottom line is, this has been a roller-coaster for you in 2002. Is it a good ride or bad ride getting set for Nazareth in the month of May?

EC:
We've totally changed our team. We now run two cars on a consistent basis. The Nissan engine is getting stronger and stronger by the day. We did not, obviously, expect to break an engine in California, but we were pushing the limits of the compromise between horsepower and reliability, and we missed it by a small amount, by 18 miles. We're growing. Red Bull has given us the ability now to focus on qualifying and on the race and on the Indianapolis 500. I have a Tasmanian Devil as a teammate that keeps me very busy. And we could be selling tickets to our debriefing and probably double our budget. But it's great. It's a very exciting season. I am very happy to see that Arie is back. I have always considered Arie to be one of the best drivers I have driven against at the Speedway. Every time you race against him and you beat him, it's a great accomplishment. Buddy is always a fierce competitor. It is an honour to be sitting at this table with them.

MK:
Just before we open it up for questions, to let you know, this represents half -- these guys represent half of the former 500 champions that are entered in the race. In addition to Arie, to Buddy and to Eddie, the defending champion Helio Castroneves, is entered, Kenny Brack, who won the race, obviously, in 1999, driving for A.J. Foyt, and Al Unser Jr., who won the race in 1992 and 1994, also on the entry list. So six former winners entered in this year's race. Questions? Joe, right back here.

Q:
Eddie was so complimentary of the other two. This is for all three of you. Which of the three of you is the best?

AL:
I know who wins the competition for the brightest shirt this morning. That's as far as I can go.

EC:
That's why we're here, to prove that point on the 26th.

AL:
May 27th we'll find out more.

MK:
Arie, that's Monday. May 26th is race day this year.

EC:
Does it take you that long to recover after the race? Are you still dizzy for a day? That's when you open up the newspaper in the morning and you read all about it.

MK:
That's exactly right. You are exactly right. Questions for our three former champions.

Q:
Eddie, you mentioned your Tasmanian Devil there. Can you expound a little bit on that and talk about his progress so far this year?

EC:
We had a pretty wide search when we were looking for racing drivers. There were a lot of different things we were looking for in every driver. And Tom Walkinshaw, who we are working with the Arrows team to develop our car, said, "I have a young driver from Europe. Would you like to try him?" So I said, "Yeah, why not." Kind of shrugged my shoulders and went down. And within 10 laps, he was very quick. He has done very well at all of the races. He has the attitude of what you'd expect of a 21-year-old who, you know, thinks he should be the fastest in every session. It's difficult. It was a difficult relationship in the beginning. I was not at all happy in Homestead, when the second lap or third lap trying to get by me he bumped into me. But he has proven to be a great teammate. He works very, very hard. He pushes the team every day. I can't do anything with him. We play pool, we get in an argument. We play squash, we get an argument. We play ping-pong, we get in an argument.

AL:
Maybe it's you.

EC:
Good point.

MK:
In case the transcriptionist missed that, Arie said, "Maybe it's you." To Eddie. It's on the record.

AL:
He is known to be so easy to work with.

EC:
Be he's great. He is learning. I have no idea what his limitations are. I would not be shocked if he won the 500. I wouldn't be shocked if he won in Nazareth. I will be very angry if he has any more silly accidents. But he has an enormous amount of talent. We have very fast cars. And he works 24 hours a day. He calls me in the middle of the morning with some idea of how we're going to change something. We're having dinner, he will talk about a change in the car. So he is very enthusiastic.

Q:
To follow that up, you came from a background of road racing, where suddenly you were doing some ovals. He comes from a total road racing background into a total oval series. Can you discuss a little bit what he is going through in that strategy?

EC:
In road racing, especially in Formula 3 and Formula 3000 now in Europe, you have to do all of your passing at the beginning of the race. Even like a Formula One race, you've got to get it at the start, you can pass cars the first lap or two. That's exactly the opposite what do you on and oval. In an oval you work, if it's a 200-lap race, you want your car to be the best it's going to be the last 40 laps. It's very hard to stop that enthusiasm for a driver. What you don't want to do with a new driver is to put limitations on them. You want to find a way they can development themselves. Everybody keeps asking me what am I teaching him. There's nothing I can teach them. You can't teach a driver, they have to teach themselves. You just have to make sure you put them in a playpen so they can't hurt themselves. That is the hardest thing with somebody like Tomas, is that he always wants to push and push and push. So that accident that happened in Homestead could have been avoided, and we had a very awkward day and a half talking through it. But if you look at his race in Phoenix, it was impeccable. He fell back, passed them one at a time. And then in Fontana, he was great in Fontana. I was behind him a few times the Fontana and he got boxed in, and it's very hard on a mile-and-a-half oval when you get boxed in, to make sure you just sit and wait for a hole. Because if you go to the left, there's a car. Go to the right, there's a car. If you slow down, there's a guy behind you. Somebody in front of you. So you've got to take the time and the patience. So the biggest thing that he has had to learn is patience. I had the same problem when I came here from Formula One, and I had already raced for 15 years before I came here.

MK:
Questions.

Q:
This question is for Eddie and Buddy, since you guys have been involved in the first three races of the series. So far it's been sort of a Panther and Penske showdown so far. What's it going to take some for somebody else or your teams, specifically, to crack into that party?

BL:
Well, I would have to say they have had a great season, and hats off to them. But there are -- it's such an even playing field. The equipment if the Indy Racing League is so equal. So there'll be teams that will get on a run and have a real good span. We had a pretty good span through the middle of last summer. I think it's all about having the gross average for the season. Those two teams have had, for sure, the best season, it's obvious. But there will be other teams, I think, that will start really getting it together. And, you know, through a 15-race period, you've got to kind of count on one or two bad races eventually, as well. The gross mean average will be, you know, the fighting it out for the championship at the end. But, yeah, hats off to them. They have both done a great job.

EC:
I agree with you that they have capitalised on the opportunities they've had. I don't have the time nor I am sure neither of these other two gentlemen do to analyse everybody else's race. It's easier to analyse what you have and what you have done. I think we could have finished in the top three in Homestead if we wouldn't have had the problems that we had. And we've had some mechanical problems that have put us out of the races. But we could have won two of three races we were competing in. You have to execute everything all the way through. But what Buddy says is exactly right. You have to look at the whole season. Actually, you look at it in two ways, you look at the Indianapolis 500 as being the event that everybody wants to win, and the you look at the race season as a long, drawn out series of races where you have to accumulate as many points as you can.

Q:
Arie, racing just the one race, I know you did this last year, are you that much farther behind the other guys, do you think, going in the month of May, or not really?

AL:
In a way we are, but on the other hand, the Treadway Racing is competing in the series. So they'll always on top of the latest developments of these cars. So engine-wise and cars, as well. So I don't think so. Probably for me, it would be better to do a couple of races before the Indy. But Indy 500 is the race that I want to do, and I'll just stick to that plan. And the nice thing about Indy is you get to spend two weeks here and a lot of miles you can do on the track before you actually start the race. So if it would be just a one-weekend deal, like let's say Fontana, coming in on a Friday, then it wouldn't be possible for me to just do one race a year. But Indy you can. Opening Day on Sunday, and you go the whole week. Then the following week, you have more days and you have a lot of miles under your belt to get myself ready and back into the swing of things.

MK:
Buddy, there was a lot of talk, obviously, last season about the progress of Infiniti and the 35A, and it's obviously been reflected. But the Chevrolet guys, how much of an advantage do you feel that you might have with a Chevrolet engine now?

BL:
I couldn't be happier with the motor that we have this season. It's been -- it's an all-new engine. It's performed pretty much flawlessly, especially for just a new motor. Obviously, the competition has been fierce and seems like they are really catching. You know they're moving hard. But Chevy is moving hard, too. All I can speak is on my team and my behalf, we're very pleased with the decisions that we made enabling us to have the Chevy motor, because we feel like that's the way to go.

EC:
You're happy with it because you haven't tried Infiniti yet.

BL:
Have you tried a Chevy yet, Eddie?

MK:
Did California teach you guys some things that you had to know before you come here to run that engine 500 miles?

EC:
I think Fontana is harder on the engines than Indianapolis is. We spent 90 percent or 95 percent of our race full throttle. And here you won't do that. In all the races I have had in Indy, maybe I have had 30 percent of those races where you did a certain number of laps -- or 30 percent of the laps full throttle. Always on and off, and gives the engine a break. So, those 400 miles I think are tougher on an engine than what you would have around Indy. Did we learn something? We learned a lot of things. Speed, pit stops, engine liability. A lot of things. Engine fuel consumption.

MK:
Questions?

Q:
We asked earlier who was the best, but give us your feelings on being part of this elite group of Indianapolis 500 winners across the board?

EC:
Sounds like an Arie question for me.

AL:
Because I'm one year older than you? He's always lied about his age so nobody really knows how old he is. This race when I came to America in the early '80s, you know, this is the race that you hear about. So this is the race that everybody wants to win, every open-wheel driver. And having won it in 1990 was just amazing. And then what happens, you win it once, and your goal is to win it again and again, because it's such an addictive event. Everything about it, the history -- just everything about it. The way qualifying goes, the amount of people that show up for Race Day, the electricity in the air on Race Day. It's just an enormous. To have won it is obviously an honour, and you feel privileged to be able to say I won the Indy 500, because you don't really have to say much more than that. At least it explains everything. Everybody pretty much knows what the Indy 500 is all about. And it's a lot easier to explain to people what you do when you say I won the Indy 500. Then they know. And that's it. And that's why I'm here again. The attraction to race here is enormous, and will always go on. Obviously, there is a point when you have to say now I have to really retire. So, that's my opinion, a small part of it.

BL:
Just it's a total honour to be part of history. And I'll never forget, we used to go to Lake Powell in Utah, which is a ways out of Vail. And camping out, unfortunately, we didn't have a TV so we would listen to it on radio. And then growing up, my father was in racing. So, you know, as he was trying to prepare himself to become a rookie here. But watching it on TV, it was always -- the month of May in Vail, Colorado, where I grew up, was always a very special month because it was time trials and practice. Just fond memories of the event, in general. And just to have made it, the first time I made the race was 1991, and it was just an amazing feeling. Changes your life as a race driver just to make the field. And to go full circle and actually win the event, it's just -- words can't place how meaningful it is. And to be part of the history, it's a huge honour.

MK:
Eddie.

EC:
I think they both put in words very eloquently, it's -- if you spend your life driving race cars, and you have a passion for this, it is always nice when it's all said and done and you're no longer racing, that you won an event like Indianapolis 500. Our faces will be on the Borg-Warner long after we are no longer here. And maybe my grandchildren one day with walk into the Museum and say, "Hey, we won the 500 one year." But it's such a big event, it's hard to put into words. I am pretty brash when I do certain things. I remember when I was a bachelor, after I won the Indy 500, I went out with a tennis player of mine, Jim Courier, who had won a bunch of U.S. Open championships. There were two pretty girls, we started talking to the girls, it was getting pretty interesting. They said, "What do you guys do for a living?" I said, "Well, he's won the Masters of tennis." They had no idea who we were. I said, "I won the Indianapolis 500." They both got up and said, "That is so lame. I mean, you had us. Why was it necessary to make such a big lie?" So from that point on, I never ever tell anybody I won the Indianapolis 500. I have been cured of that problem.

AL:
They must have been 15 years old.

BL:
I would say definitely exceeds expectation. There are so many things in life when you accomplish a goal, it's a flutter as opposed to the bang that you expect it to be. Wining the 500 exceeds all expectation for the driver. It's fantastic.

MK:
I have always been curious about when you decide to wear your winner's ring. Buddy, you've got yours on. When do you guys wear them and when don't you? I know Brian Barnhart has his on today.

AL:
Did he win it, too?

MK:
As a member of a team. Yeah, he was a winner. When do you wear your ring, Arie?

AL:
I need to have it made larger because it's too tight now.

MK:
So you can't wear your ring?

AL:
No, I have gotten fatter, I guess, over the years.

MK:
Eddie, what about you? When do you wear it?

EC:
I don't like wearing rings.

AL:
Same here.

MK:
Is that right? It might have been helped you out in the bar if you had had the ring on. You know.

AL:
I wore one for a long time.

MK:
Questions for our three former champions. Let me get to you, Dick.

Q:
Arie, earlier this morning Brian Barnhart said in qualifying he expects them to push close to a 230 mile-an-hour lap. Tell us, it was only six or seven years ago where you went 237 and 239 in practice. How frightening was that at those speeds, and are you glad they went to the, you know, new formula to slow them down?

AL:
Well, it wasn't frightening at all because the cars back then had a lot of downforce and a lot more horsepower, and the combination of that to produce those speeds. Also back then, in 1996, the track had just been resurfaced. Firestone came out with a better tire. Got away with the rumble strip. So they gave us a foot, foot and a half more racetrack. And all these factors played into producing those kinds of speeds. The following year, in 1997, they went to the normally aspirated IRL cars with less downforce, and from -- I could do 238 with the old cars. I was doing a 218 with the new cars. It was more frightening to do the 218, believe me, than it was the do the 238. So the new cars were a little bit more tricky. A lot of weight. The engines and the gearbox, that combination, was very heavy. So the car was always on the edge and never really as comfortable as the car doing the 238 speed. So, now we're getting close to, I think, we will get closer to 229 and 230 maybe in qualifying. So it's getting up there again. These cars now also feel very comfortable at those speeds, so there is nothing frightening about it. So that's it.

MK:
Have any of three of you had an opportunity to spend any time on the track since they graded some of the areas? Eddie, you say you have. Is it just incredibly smooth? I mean, the track, there's always been talk about how smooth the surface it is.

EC:
It's not like when you resurface it. But they've taken a lot of bumps out that were in 1. Still a few bumps up high entering into 2. It's even a visually different racetrack because it has different shades to it now, where they've taken some off in one area and some in another. But it has a lot more grip because of that. As cars run, they will put more rubber down, it will get a groove. It didn't have a groove yesterday. I think with all that construction work -- all the construction work they were doing, there were heavy trucks on the track. I think that was upsetting a bit.

MK:
Other questions? Right back here. Let Joe get to you in just a second.

Q:
Thanks. Arie, this is for you. I know your son's an excellent driver. Do you have hopes some day of racing with him here at Indianapolis?

AL:
I think it would be fun, yeah. We're going to -- we're almost certain that he is going to run in the new Infiniti Pro Series, so we're working on that really hard trying to scrape together sponsorship, which is really difficult. But I have gotten to the point where you have to make a decision, OK, are we going to do it or not. We pretty much decided we are going to do it. And he'll drive one of these new cars, I'll go check out the car later to see what it looks like. Looks like Dallara built a really nice car there. So we will see. He has always been from day one very quick and really fast turns and on ovals, the few ovals that he has run in the Formula Ford 2000 series. I am hopeful he will be very competitive in this series and it will lead to an Indy Car ride in the future. He is only 20 years old so. He doesn't sound as Tomas does, but impatience is a word that I can describe him with as well, but that pretty much goes with the age. He can't wait to get the season started, which starts in July in Kansas. And so we're looking forward to that -- or he is looking for forward to it than I am, because it's pretty scary watching your own kid driving racecars.

MK:
Buddy, I recently heard an interview with -- it was a feature, you at home and heard Kara talking, your wife, talking about how different a guy you are away from the racetrack. When you come here, is it difficult wearing a game face for an entire month?

BL:
Yeah, I suppose it is. It's a long month. You know, you've got to be cautious. As a rookie, I remember I probably spent a little too much time, 100 percent into the race and preparing. And it's a long month, so you need to be able to get away and have times to let down, because it's -- it's kind of like a roller-coaster ride. As many years as I have come here, it never seems to change. Two things never change, you never get rid of the butterflies at the start of the race, right before you roll off the grid, and the month of May never seems to always go perfectly smooth. Always ups and downs. Be really quick one day, real slow the next day. So in terms of finding that balance, like most drivers, I think it's pretty important to have, you know, to have some time where you are able to get away from the racetrack and let down with friends.

MK:
All three of you are fathers. Obviously, Eddie, you've got two kids, Arie, you've got three -- four and you've got two now Buddy, but both of yourself are very young. Will they be here with you the entire month, because it's tough when you've got one that's -- what Flinn's 3 and other one just a newborn.

BL:
Jacqueline, the daughter, she is -- I think just six weeks now. It will be nice. That will be my time to let down is to spend the evenings with them. And I can certainly share the feelings of Arie in that, you know, even though he is only 3 years old, my son, Flinn, he races around in his go-karts. I can't imagine having a son -- knowing that they know what they're doing, but there are inherent risks in what we do, and huge consequences for mistakes made. It would be hard to watch your son race. But at the same time, it's what we love to do and you know, racing is -- has a lot of family tradition in it.

MK:
Arie, we talked to your twins there in Arizona. Have they ever seen you race here?

AL:
No, they watch it on TV.

MK:
Are they going to come this year?

AL:
No.

MK:
No?

AL:
No, it's really difficult to take -- first of all, they're in school. School is not over until the middle of May or maybe third week of May. With all the running around we do, there's really no time for the kids that much. Especially with -- most of my appearances are in the evening. They start at 7. Then by the time you get back to the hotel, it's 9:30 or so. So it's really hard. And then the kids really don't have a lot of places to go when they're here. They're not allowed to go in the garage. Not allowed to go hardly anywhere. It's better to leave them at home, I guess. For me, it is.

MK:
Eddie, how about your children. Will they come to see a race this year?

EC:
No. I have a --

AL:
Policy.

EC:
-- policy, as Arie calls it. The month is just so intense and you spend so much time preparing for it, that it's a very difficult to be a father and a racecar driver, for me, at least, at the same time. And the racing would suffer inevitably because I love being with my children more than I do driving race cars. So I think that would really defeat the purpose if they were to be here. No, they will not be coming to the race.

Q:
Since all of you have been racing here for quite some time, Eddie in '90, Buddy '91, Arie I think back in '84.

EC:
'65.

Q:
Yeah, that was it.

AL:
No, that was Mario, not Arie.

Q:
All that time there's kind of the senior statesman status you guys have developed over time, as far as understanding this particular race. But as you look back at what you've learned from the time that you guys were rookies through the years that you won, what would you say is the single bit of advice or less that you've learned in the process of having come here?

AL:
Always turn left. I don't know. I guess respect for the racetrack. Like when I'll come back here in a couple weeks, you know, I won't go out and try to set really a fast time within the first 10 laps. I'll try and get into a rhythm, into a groove without rushing into it. This track can bite you before you realise it. And that's pretty much the advice I give to all of the youngsters. For the new guys, don't think it's just a track with four turns. A lot of Europeans come over and they go, ah, it's only four turns. OK, well you find out for yourself. They'll find out pretty quick it's more than that. A slow approach with a lot of respect is my advice to young guys and new guys.

BL:
I would say I just learned patience and perseverance. It's a long month and it takes a lot to get the most of out your racecar. You can't make a car do something it doesn't to do. So you need to be patient. A lot of times when you're new here, you try to rush things, and that's where you get in trouble. Patience and perseverance.

MK:
Any questions? Got just a few minutes left. Right there in back. I can get Dick.

Q:
Eddie, you have had several drivers here in recent years, but you now have a driver that's driving full time with you, who maybe could beat you on a regular basis down the road. How do you look at that?

EC:
I am paying somebody -- was that a question or a statement? That's sounded like a statement.

Q:
I said how do you look at it?

EC:
I think it's great. Actually, Arie walked up to me in Phoenix and he was saying, "This guy is going pretty good." And if I recall, I said, "This is great. I'm going to be paying somebody who is going to be kicking my ass." I think it's great. Of all the drivers we have had in Indy, one of the biggest disappointments I ever had was when Scott (Goodyear) got caught up in that accident last year. I think that Scott would have had a very good run at winning the 500. I have always chosen drivers that I thought had potential to do well. The team and the company has come way in front of me, my own personal driving ambitions for many years. Do I think I'm going to win the 500? Absolutely. Do I think I'm going to win every race I compete in? Yes, if it goes well. But you want to have members of team that are very competent in what they're doing. You don't need somebody who does not believe he can win. Tomas has true and honest aspirations to become a Formula One race car driver. I think it will be the first time in the history of the IRL that a driver has come through this series with an aspiration of becoming a Formula One driver. And in his case, his father was a Formula One World Champion. I think it's great. I admire his tenacity. I admire his commitment to what he is doing, and I give him every possible bit of equipment that I can, as does everybody on the team, for him to compete. It would be very stupid to block somebody inside of a team because they can beat the owner. His job is to beat me.

MK:
Eddie, your team has had two rookies of the years here. Is that right? Haven't you had two drivers that have been named rookie of the year?

EC:
I remember one. Robby.

BL:
Jeff Ward.

EC:
Jeff Ward, yes, two. Jesus, you're right. I am one of the senior statesman. What did I have for breakfast this morning? Who in the hell are you? Why am I sitting up here with you?

AL:
Who was the other one, Robby who?

EC:
Robby and Jeff Ward. And Jeff Ward could have won the race.

AL:
Oh, Unser.

EC:
Unser.

MK:
He was third that year, right?

EC:
Yeah, it was great. There you go. Jeez, thank you.

MK:
Thanks for confirming that for me. Any other questions?

Q:
Eddie, some people in other series have tried owning and driving at the same time, and find it very difficult to do, and eventually pull out. How do you manage to manage it at this point in your career?

EC:
Up until probably November, I was very actively involved in the day-to-day running of the race team. I made a decision this autumn that it wasn't possible to do that anymore. My driving was -- I made mistakes last year that I should not have done. You drive -- when you're racing, you have to drive on automatic. You can't be thinking what is going to happen at this pit stop? Have we got the flow right? Is the mechanic in the right front going dog to do his job. You just can't do that. I have given all those responsibilities to Richard Caron, who has been with me since the beginning of the team. He is now the general manager and president of the company. I am focusing just on the technical side and driving. I was spending more time in boardrooms than I was in the gym. I was having business meetings an hour before I got into the race, many races last year, which just wasn't possible. I need to thank Red Bull for that. I need to thank Nissan for that. They gave me an opportunity to where we had what we needed to go out and race. But the first job of any team owner is to make sure you have enough assets and sponsorships to go out and do the job. The year we won Indy 500, I was at Marsh's, I believe, the week before and selling potato chips. I was very thankful for the opportunity. I was very happy. That meant that we were going to go Indy. That meant we might have a chance at qualifying, much less winning the race. Your priorities do change. As the team owner you have the responsibility toward all of your employees. As a driver, your responsibility is just to make sure you drive as fast as you can and has hard as you can and get everything done. I can understand why drivers have gone away from the owning and driving at same time. It isn't feasible. Just not enough hours in the day.

MK:
A quick question for each of you, same question, obviously. Do you remember the first time you came in to this place, literally, physically, as a driver, and when you did, did you imagine yourself in Victory Lane, Arie, lets start with you.

AL:
Well, you have these dreams, we all have dreams. One of my dreams was to win this race. Not the first time I walked in here. The first time I walked in I was probably actually intimidated, let's put it that way. Coming here with a team that had never not one of the team members had ever seen the place, let alone seen an oval, and here we are a bunch of rookies from the crew chief to the engineer that didn't really know much about ovals. But, yeah, I always had dreams of winning the race. When I did win it in '90, I had kind of gone through that scenario in my mind, what would I do if I were leading the race with 20 laps to go, with 10 laps to go. So then when it happened, I had it running through my mind. So I was mentally prepared. But I do remember the first time being here physically was way before I won the race in 1981. I took a ride in the bus, that was my first ride around Indy as a tourist with (wife) Mieke, and first thing I thought to myself, I can't believe these guys are going over 200 on a narrow track like this. So I do remember that very well.

MK:
Buddy, what about you?

BL:
My father raced, but I never was here at the race during the time he was racing. But my first vivid memory was I had been trying to make it in racing and had broken a March car mid-'80s and drove it in the back of a pickup truck out to be fixed from Bill Findlay, who used to be a pretty good guy at fixing cars for not a lot of money. Stayed at Speedway Hotel stood on the back of the truck looking over just in awe of the racetrack. First time here as a driver, I think was around 1989, trying to make the race, you know, my dream was just to get in, and just couldn't believe how much money was in each race team and each racecar. And so, yeah, it's really -- it's been a wonderful experience for me, and one I hope to continue for some time.

MK:
Eddie.

EC:
I did what Arie did, I was in a bus during the tourist thing, it was a rainy afternoon, I was the only guy on the bus, and there were spin marks and -- spin marks and marks on the wall. And I asked, you know, what it was, and the driver had a perfect description of the accident what happened and what was the aftermath of every one of those spins. And halfway through the lap I said, "There's no way I'll ever do this." I don't see how you drive a racecar at those speeds and with no catch fence. I raced Formula One, where if you make a mistake, in Spa, for example, which is a big circuit, there is 20-feet of sand, 6 rows of tires, and there's a soft guardrail. And, I mean, by the time you get to the guardrail, you're really not going that fast. Here, you make a mistake, there is no credit. You make a mistake, you pay for it like that. It's a blink of an eye. You barely have enough time to just close your eyes and get ready for the hit. And it took a lot of mental practice to say, OK, go out there and forget there's a wall and just use it as your friend. It's a hard thing to do. Coming from road racing to here is very difficult, but it is -- it has been the greatest experience I have ever had in racing is to come here, more than racing at Monte Carlos, more than racing at Le Mans. There is nothing that ever compared to this. Probably because I am an American. I think this is an American icon. We're a young nation. I was raised in Italy, where you could still walk the same place the Julius Caesar walked. You come here, this has been here for such a long time. It has been here since the start of the car. All car racing started. There is so much history. To come and see the same place where they raced so many years ago is really a very special feeling if you're a racecar driver.

MK:
Arie, Buddy, Eddie, all great car drivers. We've got just a few minutes, I guess, for one on ones. What, do we have one more question? Go ahead.

EC:
We've been missing you.

Q:
Speaking of one of the great Americans, we've got one that put a whoopin' on the field here the last 12 to 14 months, in Sam Hornish. Can any of you speak -- we obviously know that Panther has had a lot of reliability. We know that Andy Brown's pretty good. Can you talk about what you have noticed from Sam as another driver? Maybe Arie has watched him from afar just a little bit. What have you noticed?

AL:
He's got big balls. Right?

BL:
Thank you for coming.

AL:
I have two twin boys, they are 8 years old and I had to explain to them what that actually meant. And they figured it out. They looked at the babysitter, they go, "You've got big balls." But, anyway, he has that, but when everything is working for you, they obviously have everything together, that car is handling very good. And as the equipment gives the confidence, you know, to go for it, you just go for it more and more. He has a good way of finding the limit and he has good judgment, too, because you don't finish, I think, nearly every race the last season and up until and through this season. So obviously he's the guy to beat.

Q:
Either of you two guys that have watched him in traffic, he just seems not to be where the accident is too. I don't know maybe luck and it's being pretty smart, too.

AL:
You guys race with him, so talk.

EC:
What can we say after your comment of having big balls? That's it.

AL:
Well, you've got big balls too.

BL:
He does a fantastic job, he really does. John Barnes, you had mentioned, Andy, the engineer, but also got to give a lot of credit to Barnes for giving him -- for spotting the talent. And I would say he is a super-talented young race driver and you've got to give John some credit for seeing that in a young driver giving him an opportunity. That's what's so great with the Indy Racing League, there's opportunity for talented young race driver.

MK:
That's going to wrap it up. Guys, will you be available for a few minutes for one-on-ones?

EC:
I have got to go.

MK: Eddie has to go. Arie and Buddy will be available for just a few minutes.