Andretti Green Racing press conference with Dario Franchitti, Bryan Herta, Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon

TOM SAVAGE: We have our four drivers here today from Andretti Green Racing, three of which are in the top five positions for the 88th running of the Indianapolis 500. Middle of the front row, Dan Wheldon at a 221.524; outside of the front row, Dario Franchitti at a 221.471; middle of the second row, Tony Kanaan 221.200; starting 23rd is Bryan Herta at a 219.871. Guys, let's get your thoughts as Sunday approaches. Dan, let's start with you, middle of the front row, you held the pole there for a little bit. Let's talk about your thoughts heading into Sunday.

DAN WHELDON: Nervous right now with these guys around me. No, I'm looking forward to the race. I think it's going to be really tough with the way the cars are this year. They seem to move around a lot, and they're more difficult to run around in traffic. But at least when I'm strapped in the car, I'll be well away from these louts, I'll be safe. I'm really looking forward to it, but like I said, I think it's gfoing to be very, very difficult.

SAVAGE: Dario, real quick, you missed last year's 500 for some incidents off the racetrack. Welcome you back this year. Your thoughts about Sunday's race.

DARIO FRANCHITTI: Again, I'm excited to be on the front row. It's going to be a long and difficult race. We'll go out there and do our best and see what happens. First of all, it isn't as though 500 miles is difficult enough, but the depth of the field and the competition that we're going to have, it's going to make it difficult so we'll see what happens.

SAVAGE: Tony, you're starting fifth, you ran third last year, and you were right there at the end. Your thoughts heading into Sunday.

TONY KANAAN: Well, I think it was a great team effort. We all worked pretty hard toward getting the pole. It was an awkward day in qualifying. Just we tried, we definitely tried. We had the car, and obviously Bryan had to pay the price for us being very greedy trying to get the pole. He was the first car out to have something -- we all agreed to do it, and we all changed it back after what happened. (Laughter) So I guess otherwise we could have all the cars, I think, in the top six for sure. So just a long month. We work together very well. We have a good setup, we just need to see, see what's going to happen on Race Day.

SAVAGE: Finally, Bryan, I think you're 23rd starting position, a little deceiving, you were quick all month. One of the most impressive things I think all month is your qualifying run after you came back after that hard hit in One. Your thoughts after your qualifying run and Race Day this Sunday.

BRYAN HERTA: Yeah, I wish I was starting a little further up. I have, unfortunately, a little experience starting back in the pack here from '95 when I had to start last after I crashed my race car. And I know the first few laps will be difficult with all the turbulence. Really, I have a little different race plan than these guys do going in, at least, is to try and get through the first couple of laps with the turbulence and settle in and try and make up spots and try and get with them so that by the first pit stop -- so that by the first pit stop we'll be in contention or in contact with the lead pack anyways so that we can get on the same strategy as everybody else. Otherwise, we'll have to probably vary our pit strategy or do something different just to try to get back in the hunt with the front guys.

SAVAGE: Very good. Questions for these guys? There's a microphone over here, obviously, and Eric has one.

Q: Bryan, you just talked about what happens if you crash your race car. What is the goal for tomorrow? I assume the goal is not to have anything go wrong tomorrow. What else do you want to try to accomplish tomorrow? And then anybody else who wants to jump in, what do they want to accomplish tomorrow?

HERTA: Well, tomorrow is an important day because we've been off the track now for -- I've been off for nearly a week now, these guys have been off the track for five days. This place changes even from day-to-day, so you can't just sort of do two laps and say the car feels good. You do have to put some miles in tomorrow and really feel the car and get with some traffic. For me, especially, my car has just been rebuilt from the crash on Friday. I just have to double-check and make sure everybody feels right with that.

Q: Bryan, did the Dallara guys ever give you a definitive reason why the wishbone broke?

HERTA: I don't know that I asked.

Q: That has to be a concern.

HERTA: Yeah, it is. But there have been some changes to that part, and we feel confident that that shouldn't be an issue again. So I guess why it broke in the first place doesn't really concern me at this point, it's just making sure it won't break again.

Q: There have been other multiple-car teams here at Speedway, other series, and nobody seems to get along to the extent that you guys do. Can any one of you pick what makes it so easy to work with each other?

WHELDON: Actually, Bryan has a lot of different reasons, and he's going to love to tell you, I'm sure. (Laughter)

HERTA: I don't know, I just think we all – for whatever reason, we get along. Why do people get along? We have a similar sense of humor. We all like to laugh, and we like to have a good time, but we also know when it's time to get serious, that we can do that. And we can really keep those two things separate. We're all having a great time and that, I think, is good for the team. I think there's a very good atmosphere in the team because they know we're happy and enjoy what we're doing. And that kind of spreads down through the engineers and the crew guys and everybody. I think it's a good place to be right now.

KANAAN: I think it all began back in 2002 when Michael approached me and Dario. Actually Dario first because Dario was already there. We made a decision in August to come over here, and everybody thought we were crazy at first. But I think me and Dario, we knew how good this could become over the years. Obviously, we didn't expect -- we didn't know if Bryan was going to be around or Dan or anybody. But in the beginning, it was like me and him saying, ‘Hey, this can be really good.’ And having Michael there, I think Michael has changed a lot. I think Dario shares the same opinion when we joined the team. Obviously, he stayed only for three races. But after that, Dario got in an accident, too, and then Bryan showed up. There was nothing planned, really. We can't say we tried to get along or we worked to get up to this point. Nobody did, it was natural. These kind of things you can't really make it work. It's just natural. And we all have something in common. We like picking on Dan all the time, so that makes it very exciting. It's a great feeling. For sure, it's a good thing to have.

Q: How do you think Peter (inaudible) in this? I see him as a serious guy.

FRANCHITTI: He's very serious, no doubt. He's a great guy to have around because he comes up with so many fresh ideas, and he fits very well into the engineering department, and it allows you to think about other things and focus more maybe, so it's taken some of the load off of him. He's got a pretty good sense of humor, which I didn't expect. He's a funny guy. We have a good time in the engineering meetings. The only problem in engineering meetings is we'll say our piece, and then Tony will say his piece, and then we'll speak again, and then Tony will continue to speak and continue to speak and continue for speak some more.

KANAAN: Can I say something? (Laughter)

FRANCHITTI: So apart from that small problem, we're getting along pretty good over there. Pete has definitely strengthened the team. That's what we're all about.

Q: To follow up even more on the team relationship. Michael never was really known as a tremendously practical joking or jocular guy himself. Does he condone all this, A? B, what's the worse thing you guys have done to him? And C, what's the worse things you have done to each other?

HERTA: We're going to take the Fifth on some of those. But Mike is a practical joker, and believe me, he is right in on it. I think public Mike and private Mike are two very different people. The guy that we get to know, trust me, he has no problem taking his lumps or dishing them out. I mean, it's really like five of us, it's not just the four of us. Mike is right in there. I guess there's probably a limit that we won't cross with him because he signs our paychecks that, you know, Tony is not going to fire me if I piss him off. But other than that, no, I would say Michael -- he understands. Because we're responsible enough to not let it become an issue and impede the work we have to do or what we have to do on the track.

Q: This is for Tony Kanaan. There are reports making the rounds, Tony, that you were hired by Andretti Green for aerodynamic reasons, feeling the size and shape of your nose allows you to get through the air better than anyone else on the grounds. Would you care to comment on that?

KANAAN: No, it's a gift from God, so I guess -- the other day somebody told me, a guy approached me and said, ‘Look, I have to tell you something,’ he was really serious about it, he said, ‘You know, when people get old there's a couple things in your body that don't stop growing,’ and he goes, ‘your ears and your nose.’ And I'm like, ‘Oh, really.’ So I guess my nose is a lot older than me right now. (Laughter) Dario shares the same opinion. But I will tell you, if it's an advantage I'll take it, really. No, I like my nose. It's beautiful.

Q: Tony, you talked a little bit about the chemistry this team has and how it started really with you and Dario. How much did it hurt this team not to have Dario here last year and how much did you miss him? And, Dario, as a follow-up, it seems like you're sitting their scheming. Have you exacted your revenge from the birthday sneak attack?

KANAAN: Well, to answer the first question, I think the team was very well balanced when it was myself, Michael and Dario, and we knew Michael was going to retire and Dan was going to come on board. Obviously, a couple things happened. I missed Dario as a friend a lot, more than anything else. On the team we got Bryan, who was as capable as Dario and the information, they also concentrate on race stuff, and I used to concentrate on qualifying. So I would say it was a big shock just because everything that we had planned, it just went away so quick. Michael retired, then all of a sudden I find myself with two new guys. Obviously, I knew Bryan for a long time. I didn't know Dan. I thought I knew Bryan, yeah, that's a good point. But it didn't take any longer to get to know these guys and to get along. That's why we went from a three-car team to a four-car team. That's why Michael and the whole team saw the strength they could have in four guys. Some people thought we were crazy. They expect us to fail a lot more than actually succeed. We proved that they are wrong. It was a big effect on myself, really, just not having one of my best friends around me and racing with me. Do you want to follow up on the question?

FRANCHITTI: I don't know, you talked for so long I forgot what the question was. Oh, yeah. Well, Dan and I got Bryan the other night, he was on the radio. We got -- it wasn't an original, but there were some cream pies available so we just took advantage of it, and Bryan took it very, very well. Dan here has been the butt of our jokes all season long, so I think he's paid his dues. So that just leaves one person. (Laughter) Did you guys know that Tony is on “SportsCenter” tonight?

KANAAN: No way, I'm not going. I knew it, that wasn't in my schedule today. All right, I'm Brazilian, be careful.

Q: Did you miss Tony as well as a whole?

FRANCHITTI: Yeah. We had some pretty good plans. We talked about it when I signed my deal to come over to IRL with AGR, I knew Paul (Tracy) wasn't coming, and I pushed like hell to get Tony on the team because I felt we were great friends, but I also thought he would be a fantastic teammate. As he said, we had all these plans going, and Michael was thick in the mix there. It finished before it really got started, unfortunately, because of the accident. When these guys were away racing, I was kind of -- I had been in Austria trying to get my fitness back or I'd be somewhere else, I was really kind of out of the loop a bit. So I really only got a chance to see these guys, I came down to Dallas for the last race. And the hospital, yes. When TK busted his arm, I was in there to see about my back. Really at the end of the season, I went down there to Dallas to give him support for winning his race, or for trying to win the championship, which unfortunately didn't happen. It kind of sucks not to be there, as an understatement.

Q: Dan, in America we have an expression put on your game face, which means getting serious at a point when the action starts. When will you put on your game face and all this joviality will go away? And also talk about going out in the middle of that front row.

WHELDON: Well, I think as much as everybody thinks we joke around a lot, there is a lot of the time when we are very serious. I don't think you will find any more serious people in the engineering meetings than we are. I think we're obviously very focused on winning. I think the engineers are pushing us very hard. So from that standpoint we are very, very serious. As far as -- I mean, well, when there's down time, we often have fun. But, for example, on Race Day, we'll know -- I mean, we'll crack jokes at one another, but we'll know obviously it's a very big race for us, it's a very big race for the sponsors. I've got some added pressure because I've got Jim Beam willing to give somebody a million dollars if I win.

KANAAN: I'll give a million dollars.

WHELDON: I think we have a good balance. I certainly am having the time of my life with these guys. As much as I hate to admit it in front of them, I love being around them. They're great for me on the track as well as off the track. I think they can keep me in shape very well. But certainly when I'm rolling off at the start, I think everybody is kind of trying to hype up the first lap, but nothing special is going to happen, certainly from my standpoint. I'm just going to make sure that I'm around until the last pit stop and then see what happens from there. But I think that's the key, trying to position yourself for the end of the race rather than worrying about the start of the race.

Q: Tony, when you came over here and joined CART, you were kind of like in the middle of what was then a Brazilian wave, there were a lot of Brazilians that had come into this sport. Now it seems like it's a British wave, there's more Brits in the race than there are Brazilians. Just talk a little bit about why that seems to have shifted a little bit in that direction. Dario and Dan could comment on that, too.

KANAAN: Well, I would say we had a big Brazilian wave and good drivers and good teams, then Gil retired, so that was a loss for us. All the good Brazilian drivers are gone so we just -- no, I would say there's a cycle all the time as you see year after year. How many years you saw six, seven, eight Brazilians racing CART, then they came over to IRL. I always thought myself it was really, it was too much. But they kept hiring Brazilians, so we must be good, and we must have something that they like. So I think with like Foyt, you know, Dario had his accident and then Felipe lost his job, Gil retired, there was like three or four guys -- Vitor lost his job, too. So it was like five guys right away that went away. I would say you still have a good quality of drivers. And then all of a sudden you see this bunch of people from England, Britain, UK, and I mean they can explain that better than I do. But I think it's a timing, it's just a recycling thing.

Q: Dan, could you speak on behalf of why there are so many British drivers coming in now?

WHELDON: English or British? Actually, I think we all just came to follow him, he looked like he was having a good time and doing well so we were going to try to do the same.

FRANCHITTI: Basically they thought, ‘Oh, yeah, this guy is doing OK over there making some money, so we'll show up and see what we can do.’ (Laughter)

WHELDON: But I think with certainly from my perspective, I don't know whether Dario agrees, I think Formula One is becoming a little monotonous. It's very difficult to break into. It seems that half the grid now have to take money to go and do it, and perhaps you're not seeing the talent there -- I mean, there is obviously a very high level of talent but not perhaps toward the latter half of the grid. And certainly the league here seems very, very competitive, there are some great teams, with the engine manufacturers as well pushing very hard, it makes it very good to be in. So I think that's what is attracting the Brits.

FRANCHITTI: Yeah, I think it's just a case of opportunities at the right time. Dan made the move very early to come over here. Darren (Manning) has been quite recent, as has Mark Taylor. But I think it was just opportunities and you've got to take them when you can get them because in any motorsport right now there's not that many chances, and whenever they might be you have to take them. I'm pretty happy certainly with the moves I've made and where I ended up.

Q: Dan, talking about this Indianapolis 500, go back a year, did you understand at this point last year what this race was all about? How did you feel afterward, and how is it different this year?

WHELDON: No, I knew what this race is all about; it's probably the biggest race in the world and certainly one of the most enjoyable to be part of. I think maybe I'm just coming back more mature. I was still very new to the IRL when I was competing in the race last year.

FRANCHITTI: You were?

WHELDON: Well, I'm more mature than I was, let's say that.

FRANCHITTI: OK.

WHELDON: I think you just get used to it, and you know what to expect and when to expect it. Then I think the biggest thing for me is the fact that you've got to make sure you have a good car in the race because 500 miles around this place is a long, long way. You're in traffic a lot, the track seems to change. Sometimes the conditions can be different from any other time that they've been like a certain way in the month. So that's I think maybe just a slightly more experienced or slightly more mature approach to it than anything else.

Q: I'd like to ask Dan one question. I was looking at the stats from the combined results, and I notice that you have about 360 or 70 laps is all you have run in practice this month, fewer than anybody. Is it because you're comfortable with your car or --

KANAAN: Good teammates. Look how many laps I have done.

WHELDON: No, I think just the way situations have arose. I haven't necessarily needed to do many, and I haven't been able to do many. Obviously, when you're in a team like we're in and you share information and work together so closely, it's not so critical. Either that, or the team has decided to pay me by the lap and --

Q: Dan, to look at another team's youngest driver who came in with you as a rookie last year and gets picked on all the time by his team, when Anthony Foyt, A.J. the IV gets picked on, he's getting chewed out by his grandfather every day or Bobby Unser saying he doesn't belong here; A, do you think that he would have benefited a lot by being a member of this team, would it have made a marked difference in his confidence? B, what kind of confidence change, or do you see an improvement in him this year, and do you sympathize with the way he gets picked on as opposed to your?

WHELDON: Yeah, I definitely -- well, actually you know what, considering what they did to my room in Japan, I'm not sure I do sympathize at all. I definitely think he would have benefited from having these three, and in particular these three because of the way they are. Yeah, they certainly perhaps -- I don't think they pick on me, they just have a lot of fun at my expense. (Laughter) But, I'm a big beneficiary of their experience. If me being the butt of their jokes is the fact that that involves or if that's what it comes with, then I'll take it. Yeah, I guess he obviously has somebody that's very tough on him and perhaps not inspiring him with confidence, which I would not only say these guys do for me but everybody on the team. So yeah, I think he would benefit a lot. He seems to be doing better this year. From my standpoint, I think when you've done a year, it's amazing how much you kind of relax because you know what to expect and you know perhaps what you need -- you know more what you need from the car. I would still say I'm learning a ton. But I think that's a big help for everybody if they have just completed one full year.

SAVAGE: Anything else for these guys?

Q: Just one for Tony, any of you guys. How does all this friendship thing manifest itself when a couple of you are running close together out there in a difficult situation? Is it a confidence factor, or what plays into the race as far as the friendships go?

KANAAN: I would say we've been in difficult situations this year already. Me and Dan in Phoenix first and second, then in Japan. So I would say there is a lot of respect. We all trust in each other very much. So it's a lot more comfortable putting side by side, wheel side by side with Dario or any of my other teammates than it is with somebody else that I don't know. So obviously we're teammates, we need to take each other, that's pure, that's in the team. It's not just even if we don't want to do that, we have to. We race for a big organization that puts a lot of trust on us. I would say the big factor on that is I don't think any one of us are insecure about our position in the team or our driver skills. And that's what actually makes drivers to don't like each other or hate each other or have the big competition because they always feel that the teammate is threatening him for his position. And we don't have that at all on the team, that's pretty well set. The team is supporting the four drivers. And whoever gets that win, it's because he deserves it, he got it on a better day, it was his day, whatever it was. It's not because of a lack of confidence or any hard work from any other drivers or the guys that are on the team. So the confidence is there, the respect is there, and if we find each other one, two, three, four on the last lap here, it's going to be awesome for the team. And whoever wins is the guy that deserves to be in the front. That's the way racing is, it's a selfish sport, and unfortunately we can't win the four of us, so let's try to make the best out of it, keep the respect up and just race clean and fair?

SAVAGE: Anything else?

FRANCHITTI: I think what Tony is saying there is when it comes to race time, we're all there to beat each other as well as everybody else, you know what I mean? We'll handle the joking and stuff, we still want to get out there, and we know that. We're quite happy with that. I know when I go out there, these boys like nothing better than to go out there -- that's why we're out there, we're there to win. If that means we have to beat each other -- but if we can get these guys one, two, three, four, that's what it's all about.

Q: Back in the days of the front-engine cars, the drivers agreed that all four turns were the same, the blueprint of the track shows they're the same. But now we hear they're not the same. What's the truth and why and which is the most difficult and which is the easiest turn?

HERTA: Well, back when I was doing the front engine cars. (Laughter) No, they are certainly different.

KANAAN: Is Turn 1 different than the other turns, Bryan?

HERTA: Yeah, it's about the same as 3. No, they are different, they feel different and they look different. It seems like the biggest factor, though, is the cars are so -- I think the biggest change is the cars depend on aerodynamics so much and that any change in wind direction changes the way the car feels. And one day your car might be really good in 1, and you're struggling in Turn 3. The next day the wind changes and you're struggling in Turn 2. That seems like the biggest factor to me is just the temperature conditions and the wind direction are what change the track more than the physical layout of the track itself. Turn 1 seems to have the least grip of the four, though.

SAVAGE: Last question. Gentlemen, thank you. Good luck Sunday.