Quotes Of The Week

“We unloaded here this weekend and we were absolutely horrible. We were so bad we didn’t know what was going on. These guys worked their tails off and never gave up. We worked on it and worked on it — made changes to everything — and finally figured it out. It’s a new year — I guess it’s a new me. It’s a new team here being with the 18 team here. To put it in victory lane five times this year, that’s something that is pretty special. Thanks to Steve Addington (crew chief) and all these guys. Thank you to my fans and of course all the other fans that are out there, too. This has been a phenomenal year here. It’s been special." Kyle Busch, NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, Joe Gibbs Racing, winner of race at Infineon Raceway

"One thing I like about Tony [George] is he really welcomes competition among manufacturers. In that way he's unlike Kevin Kalkhoven who thinks the manufacturers are the devil. I'm sorry to say that mentality reduces you to strictly club racing. In my opinion, motor sport at any level needs manufacturers and without manufacturers the top level of the sport is nothing. Like I say, racing is all about the manufacturers and without Honda, the IRL would literally have nothing. But Honda would welcome competition. They want competition. But you don't go out there and invite manufacturers. The scenario you want is to have manufacturers come to you and ask if they can participate. But all of this is going to take time to develop." Mario Andretti, Legendary F1, IndyCar, Sports Car and NASCAR champion.

"A great race, a fantastic result. The win came my way because Kimi had a problem with his car and at the pace he was running, it would have been hard for me to beat him on the track. I would have been happy with second place but of course, the win makes me even happier. I want to thank the whole team and our partners, especially Shell. I am leading the championship and that's a nice feeling, but I am well aware it means nothing because I am aiming for the title and to do that, there is still a long way to go. In the first part of the race I was struggling a bit to stay in touch with Kimi, then when his exhaust broke, I managed to get by. In the second part, I thought of managing the situation, making sure I made no mistakes, especially when there were a few drops of rain. We have to continue working this way, race after race, right to the end of the championship." Felipe Massa, F1 driver, Ferrari, winner of French Grand Prix

"I feel cool. It's all good. I'm still here, there's nothing you can do to get me out of it. There's nothing you can do that can distract me. You can keep on giving me penalties and whatever you want to do and I'll keep battling and try and come back with a result. I stayed out of trouble and drove what I thought was a fair race." Referring to the Vettel pass [at Magny-Cours], he explained "I was ahead but I lost the back, corrected it and went over the curb, which I don't particularly see as cheating, but rules are rules." Lewis Hamilton, F1 driver, McLaren-Mercedes

“We haven’t been up here much this year, especially after the season we had last year, but the team has been doing a great job all year. We’ve been in a position to win races and be on the podium, and it seems like whole world has conspired to keep us off the podium. But we broke that today, which is great. It was a nightmare when it first started raining. I came down the back straightaway and it was like there were a million cars everywhere. I thought what are these jokers doing, then I almost ended up wrecking myself. When we were on slicks right then, it was unbelievable. I was doing everything I could, going as slow as I possibly could, and I almost ended up crashing. There were a lot of changing conditions, and they favored different cars at different times in the race. So it was an exciting race. It’s great to get the first win for us this year. The team never gave up hope. It’s fantastic." Jon Fogarty, Grand-Am driver, GAINSO/Bob Stallings Racing, co-driver with Alex Gurney of winning car at Mid-Ohio

“What a great day for Target Chip Ganassi Racing and a great birthday present for myself." (About decision to stay out and not pit): "It was a good call not to do it, but Chip's not here, so if they had called me in, I don't think I would have come in anyway." (About donating winnings to charity): "My wife and I drove from Chicago to here and we saw the flooding and it was just heartbreaking. I thought it was something that Scott [Dixon] and I should do and fortunately, we were able to." Dan Wheldon, IndyCar driver, Target Chip Ganassi Racing, winner of Iowa Corn 250

"What the FIA doesn’t have, which is the most important thing for them, is an agreement with the teams which they would have with a Concorde Agreement. The teams can do what they like. At the moment what we are trying to do, to keep sponsors happy, is say we can’t break away, but it could well be that that will happen. There is no agreement between the teams and the FIA. There is a commercial agreement that has been signed by the teams and FOM, so the teams can do what they like. Max has nothing has nothing to do with finance. The FIA has a clear, clear, clear agreement and signed agreement with the European Commission that they are the regulators of the sport. They are not anything to do with money. If Max comes back and says we should give more money to teams, I will tell him to mind his own bloody business." Bernie Ecclestone, President and CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Association

"People don’t know what’s going on. If you are a big, big organization, you don’t know what decisions to take. I am responsible to our shareholders, the teams and the manufacturers, who have an awful lot of money invested. Max is responsible to the people in wherever who have got no money invested and nor has the FIA got money invested – all they’ve got is money that comes from Formula 1. If there was no Formula 1, the FIA would be in serious trouble. The Jewish community controls an awful lot of the finance which comes into Formula 1, directly or indirectly. They say the FIA shouldn’t let somebody like Max represent them." Bernie Ecclestone

Race fans cannot possibly be as dumb as NASCAR's top officials seem to believe they are. If they were, fans couldn't find their way to the track if they lived next door. David Poole, The Charlotte Observer

“It’s impossible to pass. Where do you pass? There’s a couple braking zones [at Sonoma], but that’s about it. You just wait on people to screw up. We’re struggling a little bit. We always do. I’m not very good at road racing, so we just try to do the best we can. … I’m just trying to get through the weekend. I'm gonna screw up. Trust me, I'll screw it up. It's good to know you've got a cushion." Dale Earnhardt, Jr., NASCAR driver, Hendrick Motorsports

"You can print out Human Resource manuals all day with 'zero tolerance' references, but it makes no difference if the real-world culture doesn't match up to those stated standards. When NASCAR refused to slap Petty the wrist [about his comments in 2006 that NASCAR is not a sport for women], it at least contributed to a culture that led to this mess. You reap what you sow." Josh Stewart, Motorsports Journalist, Long Island Press

"It was nice to see that I could go under Marco Andretti [in Iowa] without him pinching me." Ryan Hunter-Reay, IndyCar driver, Rahal Letterman Racing

"I'll tell you what, Indianapolis did live up to Indianapolis. It lived up to the hype. You know, I got there and I thought, well, this is going to be like, you know, a big Homestead track or something like that. And it wasn't. You know, the car moves around a lot in the race. Straights are so long. The corners feel like they have almost no bank to them when you get into them because you're going so fast. It really lives up to it. I was really impressed with Indianapolis. I thought it was going to be a little bit more straightforward than it was. It surely wasn't. That was definitely a challenge." Ryan Hunter-Reay