Question: Tony, you’ve had at least one race victory in every season in the IndyCar Series, won the championship in 2004, and as Michael just alluded to, some changes for you, too, in getting used to a new engineer that you had worked with for a long time. Tell us a little bit about some of your goals now for 2009.
TONY KANAAN:Well, every year we talk about the same thing. I think the goals never change, especially when you’re a part of the team that is the most successful team in IndyCar Series. So we’re looking forward to the championship, and obviously we’re looking forward to Indy.
I think the changes were good. It’s taking me a little bit of time to adjust with my engineer just because I spent only 13 years with Eric (laughing), so we’re not going to do it in a couple tests. But Allen is very good. Allen has been with Dario (Franchitti). They won the championship and the (Indianapolis) 500 together. He has a different way of working so I’m just getting used to it. But again, I’m excited.
We know what we’re going to face, and we know exactly where we needed to improve last year, and I think we’re not leaving anything on the table. The engineers have been working really hard, the drivers, too, so I think we expect to have a great year for sure. The competition is getting tougher and tougher, so we’ll see what’s going to happen. But I’m excited.
Question: One other question for you: Towards the end of last year you wrapped up a new multi‑year deal with the team. Does having something like that, especially a multi‑year contract, does it change your approach at all, change the amount of pressure that you feel, anything like that?
TONY KANAAN: As a driver, of course, because I think if you think about you’ve got to renew again, then you don’t think about it in February, but it starts to get up to June you start worrying about it. But to be honest, the pressure is always there. It’s not because I sign a five‑year deal that I can just say, OK, whatever, they have me and I can just drive around. I mean, a five‑year deal can become a two‑year deal or a one‑year deal if you’re not performing. It’s all about the team and the performance. I wanted to stay there, they wanted me to stay, and hopefully it’s more than a five‑year deal once I retire or whatever we’re going to do after that.
But it’s a good feeling because I know they trust me, and they know I trust them. But the pressure, we’re going to keep adding pressure to ourselves every year, especially if we don’t win every championship and every 500. It’s just a great feeling to know that I’m part of a family that I’m going to be there for a long time. But it doesn’t relieve any pressure on myself I would say.
Question: With the year’s experience that the transition teams had after coming over from unification, do you see them basically on even par with you guys, and is this really going to create an even more wide‑open battle for not only race victories but also for the championship?
TONY KANAAN: I think it’s the same thing. I think they have a year under their belt. They’re good teams. They’re very capable of catching up. Last year they already gave us a little bit of a hard time, so I would say right now for sure it’s going to be tougher. Newman/Haas, it’s always going to be Newman/Haas. And KV now with Mario (Moraes), it’s going to be tight. It’s going to be tighter than ever. I know every year we say the same thing, but for sure after the transition, this year is going to be tough.
Question: Tony, can you talk a little bit about what you expect this year? We’re going to probably see fewer cars I would think, but we’ll have some more veteran drivers. How is that going to change things?
TONY KANAAN: I think it’s like we just said before, it’s going to be the toughest year. We’re still going to have, I think, 22 to 23 cars. It’s still quite a bit. But the quality is definitely higher and the teams are a step up now that they’ve made the transition. It’s going to be definitely a lot more exciting year, especially some of the drivers switched seats and are going to other teams, and I think that could raise the bar even higher.
It’s going to be definitely, I think, a great championship.
Question: The fact that you have that kind of consistency with your team compared to the musical chairs on the other side, how much of an advantage does that give you?
TONY KANAAN:I would say maybe just in the beginning, if we can get a head start, then it’s going to be hard to catch. But to be honest, you saw ‑‑ we spoke before and we made several changes in the team, too. Although it’s still the people that used to work in the team, but we moved some chairs. We also are taking a little bit of time to adjust. The only advantage will be how consistent and strong we can be at the beginning of the year because that’s what’s going to really dictate who’s going to win this championship.
Question: And Michael, F1 is going to the total wins format. What are your thoughts on that? Is that something the IRL would look at?
TONY KANAAN: Mike, whoever wins most races is going to be the champion, it’s not going to be by points.
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