Wade Cunningham, J.R.Hildebrand, Mario Romancini

PAT SULLIVAN: We anticipate that Mario will be making his way downin just a matter of seconds. He's doing some other things, as well. We dohave J.R. Hildebrand, and he's proudly wearing that second-place finish hat.Said he'll take it. Didn't look like he was thoroughly satisfied but not thoroughly dissatisfied, either. Tell us about it.

J.R. HILDEBRAND: Well, do you guys really need me on the mike here?

SULLIVAN: It goes all over the Internet and everywhere here.

HILDEBRAND: Great. It's obviously a long race for us, or it's a longrace, seems like a long race for us. It's quite short in relation to whatthese guys going to do in a couple of days. For us when we're on thestraightaways so long, our cars get up to terminal velocity on the straight,and it's tough for anybody to pull away. At the end of the race, I was wellaware of that, that I was kind of getting run on into (Turns) 3 and 1 everycorner, or every lap I should say. I kind of sat there, I was lucky to havea few cautions that allowed me to stay up front when guys were starting tocatch up. I just set my car up to try to run in the lead basically. I usedmy roll bars, used my [?] way tracker to get the car so it could be as quickas it could be up front. You know, Wade has got a lot of miles around here,and I knew that if there is going to be one guy that was going to time thatpass just right, that it was going to be him. I seemed to be able to holdoff pretty much everybody else by either running high or running lowunderneath somebody at both ends of the track. But Wade got the run, andthere was no way I was going to be able to keep him behind me. So I justsort of tried to let him go without getting passed by anybody else and wasable to do that. But just didn't have enough laps to get back around him. Hewas doing a really good job. His car was really fast on the bottom of theracetrack. Once he got around me and I was sort of back in traffic afterhaving been in clean air for so long, you know, I didn't have - I didn'tquite have the car to keep up. I picked up a lot of understeer when I wasbehind him, and I think he knew how to get around the track to give me thatbit of extra understeer. Got a good run on him in the last lap. I thinkmaybe if we had another, maybe if the start/finish line was on the backstraight, would have gotten around him but just doesn't quite work that way.I'm really happy for the team, everybody has done a great job,everybody has worked hard all month to get ready for this race. ARPRO andall my sponsors have helped out and we're back out here. And we're back upin the points lead, and that's where we want to be now, and are lookingforward to Milwaukee next weekend.

SULLIVAN: Mario, one of the great stories of the race is you. 18th to 3rd and fighting up there with all of them at the end of the race. One heck of a job, congratulations.

MARIO ROMANCINI: Yeah, I'm very happy, happy for me, happy for theteam. They did a good job from yesterday to today. We spent a lot of time yesterday trying to figure out what happened on qualifying that we werestarting so much at the back. But that's important, we knew we had a strong car for the race. We knew that from the beginning because on the practice when I was running on traffic, I knew that the car was good, and that's whatI was trying to tell them. I mean, we need to improve when we are running by ourselves, but for the race I think we will go good. I was able to make avery good first lap. I think I passed seven cars, I don't know exactly. This helped me a lot. So, yeah, but the car was really good on traffic,especially when I was running side by side on the high line, I was able topass them on the first turn, which is important. In Kansas we struggled a little bit with that. I couldn't pass them on the high side. So, yeah, I'm very happy and just speechless, I don't know what to say. I want to thank them.

SULLIVAN: Very good. Joe, tell us what we're up to here.

JOE BARBIERI: Firestone, when we took over the series, we instituteda program called the Lucky 3. So we're going to have these guys that are onthe podium draw some numbers. The numbers in here are from positions, notcar numbers but positions 11 through 22. Whatever numbers are pulled, we'regoing to give that team, that car, some additional money to help them sincethey finished so low on the finishing order today.We're going to start with Mario, he's going to pick a number out here. R

OMANCINI: 18.

BARBIERI: So the car, finish position 18 will win an additiona lthousand dollars from Firestone.

SULLIVAN: J.R., let's see who your friends are here.

HILDEBRAND: 15. BARBIERI: Position 15 will get $1,500 from Firestone. When Wadestops in, he'll pick one more, and we'll end up giving that position $2,500from Firestone. SULLIVAN: Thank you very much, Joe.

HILDEBRAND: Wade might be headed straight to the party, I don'tknow. (Laughter)

SULLIVAN: We'll track him down. How about questions for these twogentlemen? Q: Mario, I was -- you know, we spoke the other day, and I was alittle almost flabbergasted by how confident you seem to be, almost brash.You were talking about going to Homestead the first time and doing the teston the oval, and then you qualified 18th, and I was thinking, well, no, butyou really blew me away today. I'm kind of curious about a couple of things.Since most Brazilians seem to have an adjustment period to the oval, butyou've taken to it like a duck to water. I would like you to comment on youroval experience and why you seem -- why you think you feel so comfortablewith it.The other thing is I noticed toward the end of the race, you know,like J.R. and, you know, you were making your runs and then you would get upand then you would fall back. Was that because you were getting into dirtyair or losing air or maybe you can comment on that, too.

ROMANCINI: Well, first, about the ovals, I don't know the first timeI was on an oval in Homestead in February, the first test. The first laps Ithought: 'What am I doing here? I can't handle this car, it's just toofast.' But after some laps I was getting up to speed, and I was feelingcomfortable, and I think what really helped me was the race in Kansasbecause that was my first one and we finished on the podium, too, and I wasfeeling pretty comfortable with the car. That's just confidence. I trust thecar and I trust the guys.More important, I didn't want to risk nothing. I'm really thinkingon the championship this year, so I just wanted to finish this race in agood position to score points after the problem that we had in Long Beach.But now I think we are starting to be more, how can I say this? Moreconfident to -- I'm feeling better working with my engineers, with mymechanics. I know the guys better now, so this is helping us, too. And,yeah, about the last laps I think the guys in front, they are quicker, whichmeans it's more difficult to pass. So this was the main key, I think. When Iwas at the back, my car was quicker than the others, so was easy for me topass them on the outside. When I got -- Hildebrand was difficult, we wererunning side by side, but I couldn't do what I was doing with the others, Icouldn't pass him. So I tried to stay with him and didn't let the guysbehind me catch me because I wanted to finish on the podium after theposition that we started. Q: I seen a couple of weeks ago you were representing Team USA inthe A1 Nations Grand Prix in Brands Hatch.

HILDEBRAND: That's right.

Q: Can you tell us when you compare the A1 Ferrari to this car, isit similar or does it help you bring additional seat time to this car? Also,it was a road course in Brands Hatch.

HILDEBRAND: Yeah, I mean, I'll take seat time anytime I can get it.The car is just, in sort of no particular fashion in terms of better orworse, whatever. They're quite a lot different. Even having had a little bitof seat time in the IndyCar, the A1 car is quite a bit different from that,even. It's not just the power or anything like that. It's much more sort ofyour European-style formula. It's smaller wheel with the big sidewall tireand just the way you work on the setup and the way the car works, because ofthat is quite a lot different than what I was used to driving over here. So-- and then you can get into any race car and you've just got to give ithell, and that's sort of what we did. I sort of -- it was a little bit oftrial by fire in terms of getting used to it and figuring out we need tomake the thing fast. I have to say I was a little disappointed because Ithink we had the speed to be even quicker over there. So I'd say that'swhere those little differences that we had caught us out a little bit. Theseries is quite a lot different in terms of how you qualify, how youpractice. The tires allotment that you get, how the races work, all thatkind of stuff, pit stops. First time ever doing real full-speed pit stops,that was a little bit crazy.So, but, you know, sort of getting back to how it affects what we dohere, I think for the ovals, you know, I don't know that's really going tohelp me much to get around here. But certainly for just kind of keepingthose reflexes close and, you know, making sure that you're mentallyprepared for everything you come up against. I think every time that you'regiven an opportunity to drive a different car, that it gives you the abilityto adapt a little bit better to just different circumstances in general. Sowhether that be, you know, oh, my car, my Lights car is understeering oroversteering or acting a certain way or I've got a track like this or that,maybe a different car that I've driven, I'll be able to pull on thatexperience to be even better at it. So I was really happy to be able to doit, and hopefully we'll be able to do it again next year.

Q: Mario, I talked to Brandon Wagner, who started ahead of you inthe field, and he said he was frustrated with all the yellow flags becausehe could never make a run through the field. Did that actually help youbecause you were able to cool off your tires and continue to make anotherrun?

ROMANCINI: Well, to be honest, I think it helped everybody becausesince from the first practice everybody was having troubles with the rightrear tire, and that was one of the things that I was trying to do on theyellows, I wasn't scrubbing the tires, I just tried to cool them downbecause I knew that I was going to need them for the last laps. And that'ssomething that I talked to my engineer yesterday to, I think. I said to him:"We need an understeering car. We cannot have enough oversteering on thisrace because of the problems that we are having with the right rear tire."And that's what I tried to do. I was playing with my bars, always trying tokeep the car a little bit understeering so then they can last the wholerace.

Q: Being the 100-year anniversary of the Indianapolis MotorSpeedway, by the way, gentlemen, congratulations on your finishes.Congratulations. Being the 100-year anniversary of the Indianapolis MotorSpeedway, what does it mean to you personally just in a nutshell, could you answer that, please?

ROMANCINI: As I said, I'm speechless. Means a lot, especially starting from the back. I mean, it's a pleasure to be here, to be representing my country, to be making good points for the championship, butespecially for me to give back the work that the guys from the team aremaking for me. They are working really hard, and the only way that I cangive them back is with results, and that's the more important for me.Because I think they are very happy now to be with a car in the podium herein Indianapolis is the most important race of the year. So that's for me, that's the most important.

HILDEBRAND: For me, I'd say the same. Indy is huge. It's what our series revolves around, whether it's Indy Lights or the IndyCar Series. Soto be able to have a good run here on such a big stage in front of such ahuge crowd -- I mean, this year's crowd compared to last year, obviously itwas raining last year at this time, but I mean, it's crazy how many peopleare out there. So this is like a Race Day, and we're the big show.So it's really big for us to be able to have a good run here and being that it's the centennial of the Speedway just makes it that much more special. So I think that in the big scheme of things we're all looking to beon the top step on the level up, but I think that it's great to have a good run here this year.

Q: Mario, this is what, I think your third oval. In the last coupleyou've been hot, this one, obviously. How have you adapted so quickly to an oval track when you really apparently hadn't done a whole lot to start with?

ROMANCINI: I really don't know. I mean, last year I was doing theWorld Series by Renault. The car has a lot of downforce, which means thatwhen I was running on fast corners, I really had to learn how to make thathappen because with so much downforce, you really lose the front of the car.So that helped me a little bit. But ovals are different. I mean, I really don't know. I just have a good car, a good car that can keep a good pacebehind the others, and that's it. Just trying to be consistent and don'trisk too much. I just want to finish races.

SULLIVAN: Other questions? Q: Have you gotten used to on ovals having J.R. in front of you,cars alongside you at the speeds you're traveling? Are you getting used tothat or are you still a little nervous? ROMANCINI: No, I'm used to that. I mean since the first test in Homestead, the second day we took the day to just run in traffic so then Icould get used to it. The race in Kansas helped me because I was runningside by side with Cunningham almost 15, 20 laps which gave me confidence to know if you trust the guy running side by side with you, you've got to trustit, he's thinking the same way you are, that you both need to finish therace. So who has the best car will win. Q: Mario, before I forget, I'm just curious about this differentialbetween your qualifying speed and what you did out there today. What did you guys do to race trim to bring this car alive?

ROMANCINI: We don't know. That's what we'll try to find out for thenext race.

HILDEBRAND: I know how that works.

ROMANCINI: Yeah, it's true, we knew we had a good car for the race since from the beginning, but we knew we weren't quick enough to qualify well. I don't know what was --

HILDEBRAND: I can sympathize with Mario here, the last year we had the exact same thing happen. So qualified 21st, so what the heck, you know?And then the race, boom, right back to normal.

SULLIVAN: When things happen for you, you don't question.

ROMANCINI: You just accept it. SULLIVAN: Anything else? Gentlemen, congratulations and thank youfor coming in.

HILDEBRAND: Thank you. Thanks, everybody.

SULLIVAN: Well, the winner of the Firestone Freedom 100, WadeCunningham. Wade, we chatted briefly yesterday and down behind your garage,and it was interesting because you said, "I have a car to win the pole," andyou felt like you should win the pole position. And I got the read from youthat, like a good race driver and former champion, you felt like you oughtto win the race; and you did it, and it wasn't easy.

WADE CUNNINGHAM: No, it definitely was not easy. I felt like I got out of a bar fight and had a few glasses smashed over my head. It was very tough. I got a great start. I have to give kudos to my team. After Kansas,we struggled on the restarts with gearing. We just got hosed really by AGRand Saavedra, in particular. And my guys were amazing. I'm not sure if youcould see the nuances on the track, but my first restart and all my subsequent restarts when I wasn't leading, we made serious ground. That goes down to my engineer, Doug, who did a fantastic job with that after Kansas. But the whole race in general, there was a bit of to and fro-ing thewhole time. The way our gearbox and our ratios, you can't have the idealratio around here for running out front. So I got to the front early on, andit was obvious I knew I couldn't lead 40 laps. I knew right then that Ididn't want to be leading at the end. So I gave up position very early, veryeasy. I never fought J.R. or Sebastian and I let them go, and I justmaintained third place because it seemed like we were going to pull awayfrom the field a little bit.  But it didn't quite work out that way with the yellow flags midway throughthe race and then the long yellow. I think everybody got a little antsy inthe cars, and then it got pretty hectic with Mario very, very high just like Kansas the whole race. When I got shuffled back to fourth, it was difficultwith three cars in front of us. You're trying to find some clean air oncorner entry and you're really struggling. So my first concern was to get to second because that was the best place tobe. As you saw, I leap frogged Mario on the third to last lap and pushed J.R.in Turn 1 and boxed Mario outside and he couldn't get back in. So that gaveme my second place and the opportunity to do what I needed to do to try toset J.R. up. That for me was probably the winning move, because if I hadfought J.R. into Turn 1 and instead of trying to do something to slow Mariodown, the field would have still been bunched up and I wouldn't have had theroom I needed. So that was planned on my part. And then J.R. really struggled with understeer through 2 on that second-to-last lap, and I saw my opportunity into 3. We had a slight headwind, too, so it was a little bitslow than he probably would have like with the gearing, and he just hit thatwall, that headwind, and just slowed down a fraction and I was able to putmy nose inside him a little bit before halfway down the back straightactually. And I boxed him out into 3, and I got that two-, three-car gapthat I needed. And he just wasn't able to maintain the throttle that heneeded after the last lap, and then he had to worry about the people behindhim for once.So it was great and, you know, that last lap was nerve-wracking. I thought they were going to be coming. I was looking the whole time, probablymore than I was looking forward. So when I hit the finish line, it was justa sense of relief and joy.

SULLIVAN: That's a great description. What I was wondering when Isaw it, because I wondered about the strategy near the end, did you at anypoint think you made your move and got to the front too quickly or did youhave any other choice at that time?

CUNNINGHAM: I didn't have a choice because the way the momentum of the track works, we had a slight tailwind down the front straight, and withthe way the gearing worked, if you tapped out on the limiter too early goingdown into 1, you might not have the chance because you've got to go,yourself and the guy in front of you, you have to breathe and he doesn't. Sowhen I was able to carry the momentum through 1 and 2, I had to take him going down into 3. I delayed my turn-in a little bit into 3 on that lap whenI passed J.R., and he just got caught out a little bit and that gave me the room I needed.

SULLIVAN: Pretty impressive. Questions for our winner? Q: Wade, you won this race, you've been a champion in this series.Do you feel like you're having to reprove yourself again? Because I know you think you deserve to be up in the big leagues.

CUNNINGHAM: I feel like I've got the maturity and the ability to doeverything required to be in an IndyCar. I understand the economics of it:There's not many rides going around, and there are a lot of good driverssitting on the sidelines; a lot of veterans who have done really well like Oriol Servia, who came second in CART or Champ Car a few years ago, and hedoesn't have a ride. I know the dilemma facing me. But the only way I saw itto get that opportunity again was to be back in the series and prove myselfagain. It seems that every year they said the new champion is bigger thanthe last, it's just human nature. I'm here, I want to stand at the top ofthe ladder again and be the first driver someone thinks of they want to putsomeone in if the opportunity does come up.

Q: Wade, the question is concerning Scott Dixon. Is there any helpor advice you get from Scott?

CUNNINGHAM: At this track in particular, not really. Our cars are so different. They're able to do so much more with the technical regulations than we are with downforce and rocker packages and damper packages are kindof set for us; we don't have the freedom that they do. But there are generalthings you can ask, track conditions, for instance. Are they having a lot ofproblems with mid-exit understeer just in corner 1? That seems to be something pretty similar with the IndyCars, as well. So when you can cross-reference stuff like that, you know that maybe it's not a set up issue,it's just a track condition or an issue on the day that you're facing.

Q: I'm just curious about what was going through your mind. I saw you pump your fist and you were standing in the car and taking pictures.What ran through your mind when you talked yesterday about being in racing purgatory and what you've been through, and what's been going through your mind at that moment out there?

CUNNINGHAM: This is a very big race, especially for Sam Schmidt andthe Sam Schmidt Motorsports team. When you get into the Lucas Oil car,there's a lot of pressure to perform. Probably not as much pressure as I puton myself, but it is there. So questions are asked when you're done. We had a very, very rough start to the season at St. Pete, a track that I haven'tdone well in the past, and I got second and a host of other problems, and then Long Beach, so we were sitting 18th in points. I'm sure Sam was wondering why he put me in the car. We got to Kansas, and that was the startof the turn around, and we got pole there. We got beat fair and square in therace; we weren't quick enough. I was in the team shop talking with themanager and the engineer, and we worked very hard between Kansas and now toimprove our package. I think it's shown because not only were we thequickest in qualifying and outright speed, but I think today we were thequickest car on the track because I look at the amount of time it took other people to pass the leader, and when I had the opportunity and I was planning to do it, I felt like I was able to make those passes easier than otherpeople were. So I think we've got a very, very strong race pace now that we didn't have in Kansas.

Q: J.R. was just saying that in his mind he had to be second and that was the place to be. When he got out in the lead and saw you behind him, you didn't pass and he said, "Uh-oh, I think I'm in trouble." He alsosaid your experience really paid off. Do you feel that you've got plenty ofexperience and knowledge of the tracks now that you can pretty much handle any situation that you might get yourself into to be able to pull off a win?

CUNNINGHAM: I definitely have more experience than the otherdrivers, but I'm always learning. For whatever reason, the outside groove ofthis track the last two years has gotten bigger, and the grip has improved.So I was seeing two-wide racing, which we didn't have back in 2006 when Iwas running, you just couldn't do it. So no, I'm always learning, I'm alway staking sense of the surroundings around me. But I knew in the first fourlaps that I didn't want to be leading that race, and so when J.R. andSebastian were passing me, I was lifting off from the start-finish line andjust getting back in line and trying to hold position. I knew from last yearthat being in third was a lot more difficult than second because following two cars is monumentally harder than following one with the loss ofdownforce on the front wing. So it was a fight for second for me. I knowJ.R. found himself in the lead and with six laps to go, what can you do,you're not going to give the lead with six laps to go because what if theyellow, just like he was in the lead when it went yellow? And so a lot ofthings can happen. J.R. was doing everything he could to hold on to itbecause that was the hand he was dealt at the time. He drove a decent race,but I think he had that little too much understeer those last few laps andthat's contributed to him not winning.

SULLIVAN: Any other questions for Wade? Q: Yeah, you just said that the track is wider. I've heard a lot ofguys say you can't run side by side through the corners, and I'm standing upwatching this race; yes, you can. Do you think the IndyCars can do the samething?

CUNNINGHAM: No, we're over-downforced for this race as part of theregulations. It provides exciting racing, and I think, too, we don't haveenough ratios like the IndyCars, they can gear to about 25 RPM difference,and we can only do it to 100 each way. So we just don't have the options torun the ideal gearing, and that's I think what makes it exciting because thecar that's in the front isn't running the best gear for the condition. He'spushing a two gear, and it's slowing him down. So exciting racing, that'swhat we're getting here. And I don't know what it looked like on TV, but Iknow how it felt like in the car, and I'm glad it's over.

Q: When you walk out of here, first person to win this race twice,is there any part of you that will say: What more can I do?

CUNNINGHAM: No, I try to have a positive attitude. I'm inherently a positive person. I try to be optimistic all the time. I'm racing in the series because I think if I do a good enough job for long enough and I provemyself against four years of new drivers coming through, that when the timecomes and they do need a replacement driver, for whatever reason, sickness,injury, my name is going to be the first one to think of. That's what I'mworking toward. But so, no, I don't have bad feelings because I'm stillhere. I look at Jeff Simmons, who he drove the old Indy Lights with CARTback in 2000, and he finally got his chance. So I look to that. He drove eight years, I think, or over a period of eight years in Indy Lights andoccasionally did the '500.' So I see what he did and he finally did get his chance with Rahal Letterman, that's what I am looking for.

SULLIVAN: Other questions for Wade? Wade, congratulations.

CUNNINGHAM: Thank you very much.