From: Michael Powell 

MENARDS INFINITI PRO SERIES PRE-RACE QUOTES

California 100, Sept. 20, California Speedway

FONTANA, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2003 – Quotes from selected Menards
Infiniti Pro Series drivers about the California 100 Menards Infiniti Pro
Series event Saturday, Sept. 20 at California Speedway:

ED CARPENTER (No. 14 Futaba/Delphi/A.J. Foyt Racing Dallara/Infiniti/
Firestone): (At Chicagoland, you finished second in the closest finish in
Pro Series history. Do you expect the same close racing at California?): “I
think we have a chance of breaking that record again. Hopefully, I’ll just
come out on the other end of it. It’s going to be the same type of racing
that we had at Chicago. There’s going to be a lot of side-by-side racing
and battling for the lead the whole time. Hopefully, I can put myself in
position to come across the checkers first this time.” (About challenges of
racing in both the IndyCar Series and the Infiniti Pro Series on the same
weekend): “The hardest part is having to split your time between two teams
and make both teams feel like they are getting all your attention.
Obviously, when you’re in and out of cars, especially during the practice
sessions, I don’t really have as much time to debrief. You have to really
schedule out the time and figure out when we’re going to talk about what
car. You kind of have to flip a switch in your brain. You just have to
realize where you’re at and what you’re doing.”

PAUL DANA (No. 33 Ethanol Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “It should be fun to
go back to a superspeedway. The Michigan race was wild, and I'm sure
Fontana will be the same. We're making progress as a team at Brian Stewart
Racing. We showed competitive pace at Chicago, which was nice because it
had been a while since we've run at the front. We didn't get a result, but
at least we're moving in a positive direction. With just two races left in
the championship, there's not much we can do about the points situation.
We'll just try to bring home some strong results to build momentum into off
season testing and next year.”

AARON FIKE (No. 91 RFMS/Hemelgarn Racing Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “I
think we should have a good race at Fontana. We finally figured out how to
really free the car up for Chicago, and I think we’ll be able to do the
same in California. This season has been a lot tougher to run up front than
last year, but I’m having a lot more fun running the series. My goal for
the last two races is to run up front, try to win and finish decent in the
point standings.”

ARIE LUYENDYK JR. (No. 5 Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “I'm excited going
into California after such a positive weekend in Chicago. My new team
members did a great job, and I am feeling really good about how my car is
going to perform in California. I have never driven at California Speedway,
but I will use my Michigan (International Speedway) experience because the
two tracks are very similar. With three top-five finishes in a row, we have
some momentum going into the last couple of races.”

THIAGO MEDEIROS (No. 36 Genoa Racing Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “I was at
(California Speedway) at the Test in the West but did not test. At that
time, I signed with Genoa Racing. I'm anxious for this race. It's very
similar to Michigan. I had a good race at Michigan, finishing third. I had
a good chance to win that race. I was close but didn't have enough. At
California, everyone will be close together, and the draft will make a lot
of difference. I just want to be in a good spot for the last lap.”

GARY PETERSON (No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers
Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “Everyone at AFS Racing is very excited for
this weekend’s race at California Speedway. The event provides us the best
opportunity to entertain the employees and clients of our primary sponsor,
Automatic Fire Sprinklers, Inc. Because this is a high-profile race for us,
the crew has been working flat out. We are hoping that the hard work and
long hours put in will allow the No. 25 and No. 27 car the chance to score
top results. It has been a long season for AFS Racing. Recently, we made
some changes with the team.  We brought on Mark Weida as our team engineer.
Mark has many years of experience with the IRL, most recently working this
year with Sarah Fisher.”

JEFF SIMMONS (No. 20 Western Union Speed Team/Duesenberg Dallara/Infiniti/
Firestone): “Chicago was a little disappointing, even though we finished
third after starting second-to- last. Depending on how many cars are at
California and Texas, the points championship may be over. Even when Mark
(Taylor) didn't start at Kentucky, he still got 17 points, so it may be
impossible to catch him. The Western Union Speed Team needs to secure
second place in the championship, though. Ed (Carpenter) made up a few
points on us at Chicago, and his car has been especially fast on the big
tracks.  There are several guys trying to catch us in the standings, so we
aren't going to have many friends on the track in California. We need to
qualify well so I can get in a position where I can control the race
somewhat.”

MARK TAYLOR (No. 4 Fulmar Panther Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone): “We tested
at California in the Test in the West at the beginning of the year. The
Fulmar Panther car felt great, and although the conditions will be
different, we have improved the car even more through the year. As always,
I know Woody (Brent Harvey), my engineer, will give me a great car, so we
will be looking to secure the championship this weekend. It will be another
tight race, coming down to positioning yourself on the last lap, and
hopefully, we will be able to come through with the win again.”

IRL Menards Infiniti Pro Series

California 100

At California Speedway

6:30 p.m. (EDT), Saturday, Sept. 20, 2003

Car	Driver	Hometown	Car Name	C/E/T	Entrant	Chief Mechanic

3	TBA	TBA	Brian Stewart Racing	D/I/F	Brian Stewart Racing	Mo Larsen

4	Mark Taylor (R)	London	Fulmar Panther	D/I/F	Panther Racing	Chris Griffis

5	Arie Luyendyk Jr.	Scottsdale, Ariz.	TBA	D/I/F	Sinden Racing Service 	Tim Shank

9	Taylor Fletcher (R)	San Clemente, Calif.	Olive Crest
Foundation/SSM	D/I/F	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Albert Gray

14 	Ed Carpenter	Indianapolis 	Futaba/Delphi/A.J. Foyt Racing	D/I/F	A.J.
Foyt Enterprises	Jack Starne

20	Jeff Simmons (R)	New York	Western Union Speed Team	D/I/F	Keith
Duesenberg Racing	Garry Orton

24	Billy Roe	Indianapolis	Team ISI	D/I/F	Kenn Hardley Racing	Mark Olson

25	G.J. Mennen	Austin, Texas	Automatic Fire Sprinklers	D/I/F	AFS Racing	Wilbur Bunce

27	Gary Peterson	Huntington Beach, Calif.	Automatic Fire
Sprinklers	D/I/F	AFS Racing	Mark Weida

33	Paul Dana (R)	St. Louis	Ethanol	D/I/F	Brian Stewart Racing	Dave Metcalfe

36	Thiago Medeiros (R)	Sao Paulo, Brazil	Genoa Racing Special	D/I/F	Genoa
Racing	Rick Waldeck

91	Aaron Fike	Galesburg, Ill.	RFMS/Hemelgarn Racing	D/I/F	Hemelgarn 91
Johnson Motorsports	Chuck Buckman

92	Cory Witherill	Los Angeles	WSA Healthcare	D/I/F	Hemelgarn 91 Johnson
Motorsports	Chuck Buckman

99	Brad Pollard (R)	Bakersfield, Calif.	Natural Golf/Sam Schmidt
Mtrspts.	D/I/F	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Tim Whiting





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