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Sunday, May 12, 2002

Compiled by Chris Dolack

CART regular Jimmy Vasser answered questions during a conference call last week before qualifying his backup car at 227.743 mph at Indianapolis yesterday:

Q: Do you feel safer with the new soft walls in turns at Indianapolis?

A: I suppose. I don't really think about it that way. When you put your shield down and leave the pit, you're not really thinking too much about that. You're out to get the most out of the car. I don't think it's going to enable people to try harder or anything like that. It is comforting a bit as a driver to know that people are still concerned and moving forward.

Q: Is it a mental task to keep your emotions even keel while you're at Indianapolis?

A: Yeah, absolutely. I think you should be like that in any event, or as much as you can in life, actually. While at Indy, it's a fantastic event and it's the greatest place in the world, you really need to kind of curtail all of those emotions and treat it not like any other race, but like you'd be doing your job as best you could in any testing situation or any regular championship points race.

Q: Is the toughest time to keep the emotions in check when you're sitting on the starting grid?

A: No. The toughest time is if it's raining and the track is wet and you don't know what time it's going to go. Because you preset yourself for certain time frames, and I find it tough in those situations when you just are kind of that holding pattern waiting to go, either for qualifying or for the race. Once you get in the car and strap it on and turn on the engine, all that goes away and just time to get down to business.