NASCAR Winston Cup Brickyard 400: Qualifying Quotes (8/1/97)
1 August 1997
Post Qualifying Quotes Friday August 1, 1997 DICK TRICKLE (#90 Heilig-Meyers Ford): "We re not in a real good spot. We have to be in the top 38. We re sitting 33rd right now. Hopefully the track will get hotter and hotter and slower. Everybody ll slow down from this morning. We needed to go faster. We lost rpm s, could be the heat, I don t know." HUT STRICKLIN (#8 Circuit City Ford): "It was no better today. We changed engines, carburetors, intake manifold, some springs, about everything. Everything we ve done, regardless, it just runs the same. It s just one of them things. It s frustrating. Everybody wants to be in this race -- the drivers, the sponsors, everyone -- but it doesn t look good for us." RICKY CRAVEN (#25 Budweiser Chevrolet): "I did as bad of a job as I ve done all year yesterday in qualifying. I did a little better today. We battled to get the car to where I need it. Then, after that, I had to learn how to drive here. This is my third Brickyard but I haven t done much here." ... "The biggest difference here is the speeds we run on a flat race track. It s been very difficult for me to find a track to reference this one to. I asked (teammate) Jeff Gordon yesterday for some pointers. He always runs well here but he doesn t know why, so he wasn t much help." ... "The most difficult thing about this track is you have to roll out of the gas and roll back in it four times. The later you can get out and the earlier you can get back in relates directly to speed. It s difficult to do and easy to make a mistake. You could miss on one turn and the damage will offset three perfect turns." ... "I don t think I ve run as bad anywhere in Winston Cup as I did here yesterday. Anywhere else I would have complained, but this is Indianapolis. I love being here. As bad as I ran yesterday, I still have a sweet spot for this place." ... "There are 19 tracks on our schedule this year. I feel like I have 10 of the tracks figured out. This is one of the nine I don t. Maybe I m just a slow learner." ... "We re certainly behind but I think you ll see the cars that ran real fast by themselves (in qualifying) may not be so fast in the race. It s a whole different thing when you ve got a Ford right behind you and a Pontiac in front of you. And the cars that ran OK in qualifying may run good in the race." KENNY WALLACE (#81 SquareD Ford): (Where did you find 2 mph?) "The other teams won t tell you, but it s geometry." (On run) "I was wiggly but didn t get out of the gas." (On racing at Indy and pressure) "It means a lot. The toughest thing is how young drivers sometimes don t get second chances. It took a lot of hyperventilating. I went out to the motorhome for a while after I knew the car was right. It s hard to keep your mental attitude watching others qualify. When you come to Indianapolis, the home of the Indy 500, you re stepping on sacred Indian burial grounds. Now we re starting to build traditions. " GREG SACKS (#91 LJ Racing Chevrolet): "Whew! Thank God. . . to be in the field for the Brickyard 400! The Little Joe s Team is awesome. As the track heated, I can t believe how loose the car got. I almost spun on turn two and I really had a handful. And we all know how sensitive the Speedway is to the heat. I m glad it s over. I was really blessed." JEFF GREEN (#29 Cartoon Network Chevrolet): "The weather slipped up on us yesterday. Being a rookie I didn t know what I needed to do. We had it (speed) in there yesterday. Just didn t get a good clean lap. . . . The slowest lap we ran was in qualifying yesterday. About spun off turn 4 yesterday coming down for the green. The car was so different between practice and qualifying. When I went into 3 on my warmup lap (today) I knew it was going to be good because it felt just like it did this morning. I was here in '94 spotting for Michael Waltrip and that was my first time here. We ve got a good race car. We may surprise some people. " BOBBY HILLIN JR. (#78 Hanes Ford): "It s still slick out there. The car is loose -- as loose as it s been since we arrived here. The lack of grip really hurt us." DERRIKE COPE (#36 Skittles Pontiac): "I ve got to give the guys a lot of credit. We found something at the end to pull it out. We got a good lap out of it. Our cars have not qualified well this year, but we ve done well in the races. I hustled as much as I could. I m pleased with the lap. We just had to go out and make it happen...I like this place and I run well here. I just don t qualify well here. We just haven t been able to get the speed out of this car until this morning." (About qualifying second day) "Second round always shows its ugly face. You just have to get in there and get four really good corners." (About the start of the race) "I m not worried about starting -- I m just glad that we are starting." BRETT BODINE (#11 Close Call Ford): "This was the best we ve run. We just lack speed. Now that we re in race trim, we should be more competitive. However, starting in that last row means we have a long way to go." DAVE MARCIS (#71 Realtree Camouflage Chevrolet): "I came up short in Turn 1. I thought I drove 2, 3 and 4 well, but I overdrove Turn 1." MORGAN SHEPHERD (#77 Jasper Engines/Federal-Mogul Ford): "I m very disappointed. I finished in the Top 10 in the first three Brickyard 400s. This is a special race. To miss this is truly heart-breaking." TIM STEELE (#61 HS Die/Cimling Ford): "The car was a little bit loose. We just didn t go fast enough. We were quicker this morning, but we came up short this afternoon." ED BERRIER (#95 Shoney's Inn Chevrolet): "It s been kind of nerve-wracking. It s been a rough year for us. We hope this will get the ball rolling for us. Yesterday, it seems like everybody else got loose and we got tight...Yesterday, the track just jumped up and bit us. We put on some new tires this morning and ran better...We just got the car handling better today." (About qualifying for the Brickyard 400) "Getting into the race -- that s a race in itself...It s a big honor to get into one of the biggest races of the year." (About how he got involved with this team) "I ve got a good car owner -- Earl Sadler. Sterling Marlin and Jeremy Mayfield got their start with them. They re working it out of their back pockets." JEFF PURVIS (#12 OpryLand USA Chevrolet): "We struggled early but we knew we had a good race car. We didn t have much practice but I m happy with my time."
