Q. Let’s look at Long Beach. As you mentioned, you haven’t raced there in the IndyCars before, but you made a couple starts in Atlantics and Indy Lights. What do you remember about racing there in the past?
DAN WHELDON: “Well, it’s a great track to go to. Long Beach certainly has some history with Indycars, and it’s always great to go to places that have that because I think it makes the event even more exciting for not just the drivers but for the fans, too. So it’s a great place to go back to.”
“I think as far as street tracks goes, it’s very good. You can overtake, you’ve got the long straightaway. If you have a good run at that final hairpin you can draft and hopefully outbrake somebody into Turn 1. But I’m excited to be back. I was always very good there in Atlantics and Indy Lights, and as the competition is so close, it’s really fun to be part of the series right now. You’ve got to be on your game. The team has got to be on your game. You’ve got to have great pit stops. So I think it’s going to be just as exciting as St. Petersburg.”
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Q. After Long Beach we get onto the mile-and-a-half ovals for the first time when we go to Kansas in a few weeks. You’ve won the last two races there. Before that you were second twice in a row. What is it about Kansas that suits you so well?
DAN WHELDON: “I really don’t know, but yeah, I’m hoping I can make it three in a row. I know obviously if you look at the team’s results on the one-and-a-half-mile ovals, they’re very, very strong. Certainly we’re going to try to continue to make the team stronger.”
“I think Kansas is going to be particularly important this year because it leads into Indianapolis. Normally we’re able to have Homestead and Kansas, but with the changing schedule and making Homestead the last race of the season, Kansas is our first oval race before leading into the month of May. So it’s going to be incredibly important for us, so I think certainly with the development that we have in mind and even the experience that we have at Kansas and the experience we’ll take out of Kansas, I think we’ll certainly have one eye on Indianapolis.”
“But I would expect the same thing there. It’s going to be a very intense race. Each year the track tends to lose a little bit of grip, so you’re going to have to work hard on having a good handling race car across the seams that the racetrack has and being fast. But I really wish I knew what made me good around there and Homestead, but it seems to certainly suit my style, and with the fact that I’ve now moved to the National Guard Panther Racing team, I would expect us to be very, very strong, and I’m excited to go back there.”
Q. Last weekend was the first time that you used the alternate tires. How did you guys manage the use of those tires throughout the weekend, and what did you learn about those tires over the weekend?
DAN WHELDON: “Well, it was obviously the same for everybody, and I think that’s something—it certainly added another element to the competition and to the racing that you saw at the weekend. It was new for everybody, and different people played different strategies with the different tires.
I liked the way that we at Panther Racing played it, although certainly with the experience we’ve got now, we’ll probably try and adjust that a little bit at Long Beach. The IndyCar Series is so strong right now and so competitive, and it’s definitely great to watch and great to be part of, but I think it spiced up the storyline a little. And when you have a partner like Firestone that are committed to doing that, it definitely makes it entertaining, and obviously from a spectator’s standpoint, it also adds another element of interest.”
“I thought the red tires definitely give you more I think longitudinal grip so you have better traction, and with the experience that we’ve gained, we will be able to, I think, affect the car’s handling characteristics around that red tire perhaps a little better than what we did at St. Petersburg weekend. But nonetheless, I thought it was a very good contribution to the competition and the spectacle.”
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