Quotes of the week

Dr. WOLFGANG ULLRICH, Head of Audi Motorsport
"To us, the recent regulation changes made by IMSA appear to have been made at random and are unjustified. A year ago hardly anybody could believe that it would be possible to win a race with a diesel powered sportscar. We demonstrated that it is feasible, and thanks to ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ we produced the world’s most state-of-the-art LM P1. We cannot accept that our life will now be made artificially difficult. Audi, the manufacturer, which has supported and promoted the ALMS for years and helped to make it what it is today, will only continue its American Le Mans Series program if there are again stable and consistent rules, like at Le Mans, which also contribute towards justifying manufacturer’s involvement and expenditure."

NIKI LAUDA, 3 Times F1 World Drivers Champion
''If he had driven with more brains, he could have been just five or six points behind instead of ten. He cannot make any more mistakes. I can't explain it. He's not completely brainless, otherwise he would never have won seven titles, but he does have some big weaknesses and for a long time I have wondered why.'' Lauda thinks Michael Schumacher's biggest weakness is his inability to admit an error. "He's done it his whole career. It was the same with the incident in Monaco and it is the same now. Sportsmen need to know how to own up to a mistake and learn from it. But (team boss Jean) Todt always backs him up.'' (Referring to mistakes Michael Schumacher made during the Hungarian Grand Prix)

MARC SURER, former Swiss F1 driver
"(Michael) Schumacher drives like a go-kart driver."

ROLF SCHUMACHER, father of Michael Schumacher, Ferrari F1 driver, 7 Times F1 World Drivers Champion
''My feeling is that Michael will go on, but I cannot speak for him. It is his decision alone. If Michael has stopped having fun, he will stop.'' Rolf Schumacher continued, ''And if he says 'I can still beat the boys', then I see him going on. If Michael says in Monza, 'I am stopping', then I am sure that will disappoint many people. But life goes on, and there is still another Schumacher in Formula One …'' (Referring to the rumors that Michael will retire at the end of this season)

BOBBY UNSER, USAC and IROC Champion, 3 Time Winner of the Indy 500
"Why would I want to drive down there? I’m not dumb. The world thinks I’m smart. So why would I want to drive down Unser Boulevard if some guy is down there with a gun shooting at people? Cops have a bad habit of covering up for each other. What one says the other one is going to say yes to it. Citizens should have some sort of a right." He says one deputy pulled especially hard on his handcuffs. "He’s got them so tight, it’s really hurting, and I said, ‘My shoulder is just out of a fresh operation. Easy!’ And he says, ‘Oh, no, handcuffs are supposed to hurt.’ You don’t treat good citizens like they’re the worst crooks in the world. Our prisoners get better treatment than this. We did nothing wrong. The (police) report is full of blatant lies. This is a typical police thing when they’re in trouble. I am so mad that steam should be coming out of my ears. They yanked Al out of his truck while the truck was moving. They threw him on the ground and Al's got a titanium shoulder. There's no reason to do that to Al." (Angry comments made to the media after Bobby and his brother Al Unser, Sr. were both arrested while separately attempting to drive through a roadblock to get to their Albuquerque, NM property.) This video of Bobby Unser was a gem! http://www.kobtv.com/snapshotskob/html/27226.html

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, Champ Car driver
“When we caught PT (Paul Tracy) who was having pick-up problems, he just crashed us. He was obviously in big trouble, he was running out of fuel but that’s no excuse to crash the competitor of your teammate. All I can say is that I hope it was clear enough that he tried to crash me in turn 3 on the lap before, he tried to crash me on the back straight when he blocked me to the inside and I had to go around him on the outside, on the marbles. I gave him plenty of room, I went straight braking for Turn 9. Basically he completely overshot the braking point, got sideways and ran into the side of the McDonald’s car. He is on probation so I just hope the race officials do what is necessary to correct that unfair situation because it could have been a brilliant day for the McDonald’s car. We still had the fastest car at the end of the day and turned the fastest lap times consistently at the end of the race. I just asked Paul ‘What do you want from me?’ I had passed him but he crashed into me. I just pushed him because he was asking for it but it didn’t go any further." (Referring to Paul Tracy taking him out on the last lap of the Denver GP)

PAUL TRACY, Champ Car driver
“We had fuel pickup problems last five laps of the race. It was pretty frustrating. I had a seven second lead but when the engine started to cutout Sebastien was able to close in. He made his move in the last corner of the last lap on the outside, and when you already have 35-point lead in the championship and want take that risk over two points that’s what you get. To be honest, I don’t feel bad for him; he’s taken me out plenty of times so I don’t feel too bad about something like that on the last turn of the last lap." Asked if he thinks he will get suspended for the next race in Montreal, Tracy said: "Yeah, they're going to sit me out of the Canadian race. Get real." (Referring to his last lap accident with Sebastien Bourdais in the Denver GP)