SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing):
“We basically just ran the backup car today to shake it down. We were pretty conservative on the setup, especially on the downforce levels. All we wanted to do was make sure it ran properly. We put it away, and the Target team will switch over to the primary car tonight. We expect to run the same program tomorrow with the primary, then go to full runs starting on Monday.”
HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 06 Formula Dream/Panasonic):
“I’m very happy to come back to Indy again. It’s a very special place. We were not planning to push too much today; it was just a warm-up, so I was very patient. Our speed wasn’t that bad, so I am looking forward to tomorrow and into qualifying very much. In Kansas, we qualified fourth and were running well for most of the race, so I think that shows that we have the pace and can build on that.”
RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske):
“It was good to be out on track. It felt great to be turning laps at the Speedway on opening day. There were a lot of familiar faces and a lot of fans. Today was a good smooth start for Team Penske to the beginning of this year’s Indianapolis 500.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 37 Team IZOD):
“My car is very comfortable. We just need to work on the speed. But we’ve got a lot of time to do that, and I have a lot of confidence in the IZOD guys and know we’ll get there. I just couldn’t believe how much weight there was in the (steering) wheel, which is obviously grip, and grip is a really nice thing to feel around here - really nice.”
WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske):
“We went out in our T car today for the first practice of the month, and I felt very comfortable. I have more IndyCar experience now, and it felt very natural to get back to work in the Verizon car here at Indy. We’re definitely happy with the season so far, but the only thing we’re focused on now is being quick here. Verizon partnered with our team last year and we were able to finish fifth in the Indy 500, so I’m excited to be back and to have the chance to improve on what we accomplished last year.”
TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven):
“We just wanted to make sure that all of our cars had the same feel and make sure that we had the same starting point for everybody. So they voted me the guy to do that. They tell me it’s because I’m a veteran, but usually that means you’re old, and I definitely don’t see myself that way, so I’m not sure. But I’m glad to do it, and I think we’ve got a good idea of where we are as a team and where we need to go for the 7-Eleven car.”
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team Venom Energy):
“I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t get more track time in today, but it’s good to be back in Indy. The Venom car rolled off with decent balance, but we have to find more speed this week. We just didn’t have the time today to make some of the changes we’d like; hopefully tomorrow will be more productive.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske):
“It’s always good when you start with a positive wave, there is certainly still a lot of work to go. It was just the right time and the right moment with two cars in front of me. It seems to be very interesting this year: Even if you are away from another car, the draft is tremendous. It is going to play a lot of tricks during the month of May. So far, the 3T car seems to be where we want it, so we won’t touch the car and keep at it.” (On a short, yet positive first day of practice reaching 226 mph): “Absolutely, to start in a positive way certainly makes us feel good about where to go. It was just the right time at the right moment. Obviously, there were two cars in front of me. It’s hard to tell sometimes who’s running a clean lap. But so far the T car seems to be where we want to be.” (On how much time will be spent strictly on race setup before focusing on Pole Day): “We’re talking about, I think, until Wednesday, depending on the weather, working on race setup. Obviously, we have to find out if it rains or not. But first it’s good to keep working on the race car and tire management and not worrying so much about how fast we can go today.” (On the new qualifying format): “Honestly, it’s hard. We always want to change to try to make it better and exciting, especially for the fans. As long as it’s good for the fans, it’s going to be really fun. It all depends on how the week is going to go. You know, you may have a chance to be right up there for the top nine and points. But if you don’t feel you’re going to make the top nine, you still have to focus on making the race.”
DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing):
“Like Helio, pretty solid day, short day but good. It was a good day for Team Target, myself and Scott. To have the car feeling so good was really encouraging. I managed to do a couple laps and saw TK (Tony Kanaan) ahead of me and managed to draft off of him. It was a nice way to start the month. With the new regulations, the IndyCar Series has changed things definitely, but there’s no doubt the Target cars are good. That was a T car, so we’re hoping the other cars will be a little better, too. It’s going to be a long week, here. We still have a lot of work to do. We have to get the cars fast in qualifying trim and race trim. This was a very positive start for our team. It helps that we unloaded off the truck with good cars. We have to take advantage of all the track time we can get in the next eight days.”
JOHN ANDRETTI (No. 43 Team Window World):
“We only did about five laps today, but we did everything we wanted to do with the #43 Team Window World car. I’m really excited about the prospects of it. We came back to the garage, and we’ll make a couple of changes to the car for tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be good then, and we’ll get some more laps in. I’m looking forward to getting back out there.”
DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Team GoDaddy.com):
“It’s really great to be back at the Speedway. I love everything about this place. Today’s practice went well, and the GoDaddy car feels good. I’m really looking forward to the next couple of weeks here.”
PAUL TRACY (No. 15 GEICO - KV Racing Technology):
“We just wanted to shake the car down today, and check for some oil leaks. We really want to get a feel for the car in race trim, race downforce level and just feel it out. We have a small issue on the car that we had to go back to the shop to get a part for, and that’s put an end to our day because it’s only a two-hour practice session. We wanted to be out there when everyone else went out to feel the car out, but we’ve got a whole week of practice. We’ll get this little issue corrected and be back out there tomorrow.”
JUSTIN WILSON (No. 22 Z-Line Designs):
“It felt good to finally get out on track. It was kind of frustrating. We did one three-lap run and had a lot of buffeting on my helmet, so we went back and came back out and the car was great. We missed a lot of running and then did one lap and it started to rain. I had three to four good laps there at the end. The car was running good, feels good, easily flat. It was a good day. We got what we wanted. We stopped the buffeting, did the set-down and double-checked everything. It was a day to check all those maintenance things and make sure everything is exactly where you want it to be.”
VITOR MEIRA (No. 14 ABC Supply Co. A.J. Foyt Racing):
(On getting back out there after last year’s race and accident): “It feels good. The car is solid, no problems. We’re just made sure we had a couple of things done before we get going. Today’s just the first day on the track. There’s a long way to go, so we’re just making sure everything works. We have a brand new car we’ve never run, so we have to ease up on it.” (On the progress of this team the last couple of years): “My confidence with this team has grown immensely. Last year was an improvement from what they had already. This year, we went a step further adding Jeff Britton. Larry (Foyt) has been able to take more care of more of the day-to-day things. A.J. is making the big decisions, and that’s how it is supposed to be. From this point on, we have to grow. We’ve come a long way, and it’s showing this year. Last year, it didn’t. It was a troubled year with my accident and having different drivers. So many things happened. But this year it’s showing.”
ALEX LLOYD (No. 19 Boy Scouts of America):
“We seem to be lucky. We got a good amount of running in around the showers. Our car feels pretty good. We were a little high on our downforce. A lot of people were going for qualifying trim and going for speed. There’s no need for us to rush at it. We just looked at the balance. The balance of our car is very good, so that’s pretty promising. We’ll see how it goes when we start taking downforce off and see where the speeds are.”
DAN WHELDON (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing):
“It has been a busy schedule once the season started. It seems we have either been testing or racing. The guys did an extremely good job in getting the Panther Racing car prepared for Indianapolis. The paint scheme (mostly camouflage) for this month that National Guard and Panther Racing have come up with will be the prettiest car out there. The initial baseline that we did, the car ran very, very well. I’ve been around here long enough to know that it doesn’t make too much difference at this point, but it’s always better to start good than the other way around. It’s very exciting to be back here. I love this track. I really feel that every time we come here that we have a very good chance of winning. That’s certainly very positive. There is a lot of work left to be done. There’s a lot of time to continue to improve the car or potentially get lost. All in all, we’re excited for the month. The Ganassi cars, they seemed quite a bit laid back. I was quite impressed with my boy, Dixie (Scott Dixon). It was one of those days just to shake the car down, make sure everything’s running as it should, do a good systems check and continue to be disciplined with your plan.”
ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Panther/Vision/Fuzzy’s Vodka):
“We didn’t put a lot of emphasis on speed today because it was all about shaking down the car, getting a baseline set up without focusing on lap times, and getting comfortable with the car and team. The team part is already there because I have worked with David (Cripps) and Al (Bodey) and Nathan (O’Rourke) before, and the trust is already there, making it easier to communicate and go out there with a good sense of confidence. Today everything went according to the plan we had laid out for ourselves. We’ll focus on the race car setup at the start of the week and move toward putting more speed into it for qualifying as the week progresses. It’s just so nice to be back on track. This Indy 500 race will actually be my 100th IndyCar series race, and I am so very grateful for the opportunity thanks to the partnership we have with Panther this month and having Fuzzy Zoeller step in with his vodka sponsorship as the last piece of the puzzle.”
SARAH FISHER (No. 67 Dollar General/Sarah Fisher Racing):
“I was very happy to get some laps in today with the Dollar General car and create a solid baseline that we can continue to work from. We will be excited to work on qualifying, but right now it’s all about mechanical grip instead of trimming out for the fastest speed.”
MARIO MORAES (No. 32 KV Racing Technology):
“It was an easy day for us. We just ran 10 laps for a shakedown on the No. 32 KV Racing Technology car. We didn’t want to run much today. We had planned to get ready for Sunday. The car felt good.”
E.J. VISO (No. 8 PDVSA-Jet Aviation-KVRT):
“It felt very natural for me today after being away for a year. I was very comfortable with the car. We didn’t run much today, but it is a good way to start the month. Now we can go step-by-step with our setup and improve throughout the week. After the Kansas race, I feel very confident about our car.”
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INDIANAPOLIS 500 ROOKIE ORIENTATION/REFRESHER QUOTES:
JAY HOWARD (No. 66 Service Central/Tire Kingdom):
“It’s a shame about the rain, but it was good to get some laps in. The car feels good, and I’m eager to put the petal all the way down. I’d like to thank Service Central for giving me this opportunity to be here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Here’s to hoping for dry weather tomorrow!”
TAKUMA SATO (No. 5 Lotus-KV Racing Technology): “It was good to learn the track and get a feel for it and the car. The track here at Indianapolis has very different characteristics. Unfortunately, we had to stop rookie orientation due to the rain. That was a shame. But hopefully we can finish the rest of the rookie orientation on Sunday.”
A.J. FOYT IV (No. 41 ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing):
“I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to run today, but there’s nothing you can do about Mother Nature. For the short time we were out there, we had a telemetry problem with a new antenna, so they replaced that so it should be sorted out. It’s one of those things that tests well in the garage or the pit lane and doesn’t show up until you’re out running. But we’ll be ready to go tomorrow and hopefully we can get some running in. The good thing is that Vitor did get out in the other ABC Supply car and said it was solid so that gives me a lot of confidence because our cars are set up the same. That’s the good thing about being part of a two-car team here.”
TOWNSEND BELL (No. 99 Herbalife Ganassi/Schmidt Racing):
“We just wanted to shake off the rust and get a feel for things again. And, mainly just see that the seat, helmet, belts, spotters and radio all work. It was an all-systems check. Frankly, we accomplished most of that in the two laps we ran before the first rain delay, and everything felt pretty good. It’s awkward to try and not go fast, just running a set speed because we took the option of doing the refresher (test).” (About returning to the seat): “It was great. I was expecting it to feel like a much longer layoff, but it’s amazing how all of a sudden it just feels all so normal. Obviously, Scott (Dixon) and Dario (Franchitti) ran well, so we know we have a good car. So, we just wanted to take our time and make sure all the “I"s are dotted and the “T"s are crossed.” (About getting up to speed after the rain delay): “It felt good to get up to speed. It’s a little strange running around here with the feeling that God is watching everything you do (during refresher test).”
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 30 The Quick Trim/RLR Special):
“This might be the most comfortable car I’ve ever had here. We weren’t using as much track as we have at some other times here, and we were running pretty conservatively today. We just wanted to come in and get a baseline, get a good feel for where we are, but I feel very good about it just with what we did today.”
ANA BEATRIZ (No. 25 Ipiranga/DRR):
(On the excitement of stepping up from running Firestone Indy Lights to the IZOD IndyCar Series): “Unfortunately, I couldn’t run as much as I would have liked today. I was thinking I could go through all phases of the rookie orientation program today and then tomorrow start working on speed. But is what it is: It’s rain. I felt very comfortable in the car. It was easy to drive and get up to speed. I am very excited to debut here for the Indy 500.” (Do you feel your experience driving here before in the Freedom 100 helped you today?): “Sure, the (driving) lines are the same in IndyCar. Turn 1 is still the most difficult one. Probably the most different thing is the racing. In (Firestone) Indy Lights, you can go two-wide, three-wide here. In IndyCar, that is not possible, so I have to remember this in the race. The way you drive the cars is very similar. Of course, you can feel the power of the Indycar. It’s much more powerful. But the way you drive it is much the same.” (On the possibility of having five women in the race): “On the track, we all feel like drivers. We’re all the same. Off the track, it’s interesting.”
JAY HOWARD (No. 66 Service Central/Tire Kingdom):
(On being back at Indy as a rookie given his experience at the track): “It does feel a little strange. I guess it feels a little different. From a joyous point of view, I’ve got some great sponsors on board, and there is no way someone is going to strip me of this chance. It felt good this afternoon. I kept telling them I wanted to go faster, but they said, ‘Take it easy, we don’t want to upset Brian (Barnhart) or anyone.’ I’m excited for the month. I feel relaxed, and I feel good.” (On being involved with Sarah Fisher Racing): “Having Sarah as a team owner is great. I don’t need to tell you or anyone else what Sarah is about; she is a great person, and everyone loves her. I think that being able to relate to her, especially while she is driving, is an advantage to me. It’s great because we go out in very similar cars. Even today, we talked about a bump in Turn 2 which hadn’t been there before, but it is now. We were talking about that before we even went out. It’s just nice to have that relationship where we can really relate to each other. There’s some team owners out there that can’t do that. I think having Sarah as a team owner is a good thing.” (On being motivated and driven by past troubles at Indy and in his career): “After my buddy Mr. Roth pulled me out of the car in ‘08, I was at PF Chang’s, and I got a fortune cookie that said ‘Good things come to those who are patient.’ I thought, ‘OK ...’ I stuck the fortune to the top of my computer screen and every day that I would get pissed I could look at that and think, ‘Keep digging, keep hammering away.’ I just felt that I had come so far in my career and that I had never really had a sponsor except on a race-to-race basis that I had to work harder. Marty (Roth) had promised me so much and delivered almost zero. I realized that racing started to become more business than what it used to be. That’s fine. You just need to realize what it is and work hard. I worked with Sarah, and we got this deal going. It’s great. I’ve got the best sponsors I could imagine. I can’t say enough good things about them. It has taught me a little, but I’m still the same person I was a couple years ago.”
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