Quotes of the week
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, Champ Car Atlantic Championship driver, Global TV Analyst
"He's not as good a loser as he is a winner." (Commenting on runner-up Sebastien Bourdais' whining about being blocked by winner Robert Doornbos during the Mont-Tremblant Champ Car race)
"He may not follow directions all the time, but when he's told to push he's going to be laying the hammer down." (A backhanded compliment made about fellow Canadian Paul Tracy during the Mont-Tremblant Champ Car race)
07/02/07
WILL POWER, Champ Car driver
"The good thing about Champ Car is you just never give up. It's great like that. I mean, you can almost go a lap down and then come back and finish on the podium. It's just really, really good racing."
JOE NEMECHEK, NASCAR Driver
"I had very little warning before I spun and crashed into the wall," explained Nemechek. "I felt a slight vibration and it (the tire) just let go. I hit the wall pretty hard and there was just too much damage to the car to get it repaired. It was a very disappointing and frustrating way to end the day."
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, Defending 3-times Champ Car Champion
"It's got nothing to do with finishing second. I think if I was to finish second fair and square that's fine. But the way Robert drove today, to me, it's completely not like him. I think he's much better than that. He knows exactly what he's done. And that's fine, that's fine. It's all right, it's just….. He knows exactly what he's done. I don't need to comment about it. It's just a shame. We're not supposed to drive like that in Champ Car. We're not allowed to block, so period. He changed lanes about three times when I was picking a side. That's the way it is."
MARIO ANDRETTI, Legendary Formula One World Champion, 4-times Indy Car Champion, IROC Champion
"There's no other way," Andretti said. "Neither side can really prosper to the level they deserve by themselves. They need all the assets together, to go back to the way it used to be with open wheel racing in North America. There would be no losers, it would be all winners. This has to happen and it should be sooner than later. Edmonton would be a bigger event if you had everyone participating. I know because I've been somewhat in the middle of it [negotiations between Champ Car and the IRL]. We seem to get close, we seem to agree on a lot of huge issues and then everything just comes apart." At times, he admitted, both sides just need a good smack up the side the head to get them to realize the damage they're doing to the sport he loves. "Get a nice little hammer and give them a bong … see if the light goes on. The drivers have one career and you don't want to go through your career with the perception that, 'You know what, you won some races, but what if so and so from the other side had been there, maybe you wouldn't have won?' That's lingering out there and that's why I will never, never stop trying to be some sort of force to try to bring them together, one way or another. Speak to any team owner and they all agree this needs to happen. Speak to the principals and they agree. It's just a matter of finding the formula … it's a matter of being resilient and not giving up because ultimately we all know that needs to happen."
DAVID COULTHARD, Formula One driver, Red Bull-Renault
"It will end at some point, but in the meantime I'm driving every bit as well as Lewis Hamilton – I just don't have the car to show it," said Coulthard. "I know I can do something remarkable, although it may not be obvious. I do this job because I love it – it's not about money – and I do a good job. I give value for money. Obviously, I want to compete and race because Formula One is the pinnacle of motorsport and I believe I can make a difference."
GEOFF WILLIS, former Technical Director, Honda Formula One
A year after leaving the team, Honda's ousted technical director has described the Japanese outfit's 2007 campaign as a "nightmare" caused by bad management. Willis, who walked out of the Brackley factory last July following a demotion, hit out at the tendency to manage "by committee" after the RA107 failed to race to a single point in the opening grands prix of 2007. "Oh dear! What should have been a development of the competent 2006 car has turned into a nightmare. It looks as though most of the lessons of 2005-2006 have either been forgotten or ignored, and the development momentum of the last races of 2006 lost. (Honda) must start to realize that F1 isn't a place for management by committee, however well intentioned."
PATTIE PETTY, wife of NASCAR driver Kyle Petty on the inspiration behind creating Victory Junction Gang:
“It was over 10 years ago that Kyle and I rode through Camp Boggy Creek in Florida and Adam was with us and he said, ‘Can we not take everything I do and everything Daddy does and all the money that’s raised in racing and build a camp like this?’ And (the camp organizers said) ‘You’ll need $30 million’ and Adam said, ‘Mom, they spend that much on tires. With all the fans that there are in racing and all the drivers and all the crews, Mom, I believe we can build this place.’"
NED JARRETT, former NASCAR champion, on retiring at just 34
“I vowed that however far up the ladder I got, I would quit when I was there. I would not go down the other side because people have a tendency to remember you for the last thing you did and I did not want them to remember me as a “has-been." To this day, forgive me for boasting, I’m the only driver who retired when he was still a champion."
NED JARRETT, former NASCAR champion, on calling the 1993 Daytona 500, which was won by his son Dale Jarrett:
“(CBS) turned the broadcast over to me and allowed me to be a daddy that last lap and call it as I saw it, as a dad. That was very, very special to me and the family – and it still is. Certainly the most memorable thing, even including driving, that I did."