Roger Penske, Tim Cindric, Rick Mears, Helio Castroneves, Sam Hornish Jr.

SAM HORNISH JR.: He says he doesn't know what "decrepit" means.

MODERATOR: It's like you are cranky and old.

HELIO CASTRONEVES: I figured.

MODERATOR: Helio has his visage on the trophy twice, as you well know. He won the season-closing event at the Texas Motor Speedway. Team president Tim Cindric, a gentleman who has engineered many great runs for Marlboro Team Penske. Before we forget, the gentleman in the middle was the 1962 United States Auto Club Road Racing champion, Roger Penske. He began his racing career in 1958, retired after the 1965 season. We're coming on a 48th anniversary. Sam Hornish won the 120th Indy style race for Marlboro Team Penske. This team has won 13 times at the Indianapolis 500 and there have been 11 national champions that have ran through Marlboro Team Penske. Roger, you came here and won with Mark Donohue. As I was thinking about your run here, I suspect when you won here with Mark, it involved a variety of things. It involved finding the right driver, surrounding him with the right people, having finances and doing all that hard work that you did with Mark on the skid pad, trying to find the right combination to go fast. I would assume those ingredients for success have never changed. Welcome back to Indianapolis.

ROGER PENSKE: Thank you. We welcome all you here today. Obviously, this is another race, another year. What we've done in the past only gives us experience. I've said it before. We probably have over 800 years of experience on our team this year as you add up each one of us that have been to the track and have competed here in the past. We build on that from the standpoint of loyalty from our people, and certainly turnover is important in any business. The less turnover you have when you look at our crew chiefs, Rick Rinaman, Matt Jonsson, these are fellows that started in the organization at the bottom and have worked their way up. Many of the people in our company, quite honestly, that's really the progression and our mission.

From the Indianapolis perspective here in 2005, we talk about drivers. Rick obviously has set the standard with four wins for us. He's been a valuable coach for Helio and for Sam. Helio this morning, I saw him talking with Rick about a certain corner, some of the things that they were talking about vis-a-vis the racetrack this year.

We've been fortunate to have success here. I guess, as you know, we've had some disappointments. Here they are worrying about fielding 33 cars. I was here in '95 when we couldn't even get in the race. That's the great part of this race. We talk about other types of racing, but I think winning the Indy 500 for me has been the ultimate. It continues to be. One isn't any better than the other. The one we're worrying about is the one we're involved in here in 2005.

With Sam's experience, and certainly he was a guy, I've said it many times, was beating us like a drum as we came into IRL. To get him on our team, we were very fortunate. There's no question of his capability. Helio, having won this race back to back proved that he can qualify well, he can race well, he can win here. I think that's important. To me, we've elected, not because we couldn't run three or four or five cars, certainly if you've got four good cars, statistics say you might have a better chance. But what we've tried to do is stay with the team that we have, the two people, and move forward on that basis.

I think there's a lot going on out on the track the last few days. I like the compressed schedule. It saves us time, money, tires and also risk. Let's have the risk in the race and not just because we're trying to run so many laps during the month of May. From our perspective, where are we as we enter into qualifying tomorrow? Both drivers have been over 225 miles an hour. We've been trying to run the majority of our laps in four-lap segments just to see how we can be consistent because it's not one fast lap here, it's got to be 10 miles. I think people were surprised, Sam sitting on the pole in Motegi. Our race pace was not as good as we expected it to be. Hopefully it will be different here in 500 miles. There's lots of cars that can sit on a pole. I guess our goal first is to try to be in the top 11 so we can be set tomorrow and then move on to the next important piece, which is race setups, and then getting our car prepared from a quality perspective and reliability as we go forward.

The month has gone well. I think certainly the track has a lot of grip. There's no question. Rusty (Wallace) called me last night, said, "Tell me about the track. Is it OK?" There's been lots of stories. I think the track is in fine shape. I think the new qualifying procedure, we need something different. I think change is good. This will make an interesting day tomorrow because there will be a lot of competition, not just for the pole, but you've got two races going on tomorrow: one for the pole and one to be in the top 11. I think that's going to create some interest and some strategy. The fact that you can run the same car and not have to run back and get another car, I think that's taken the complexity out and let us focus on qualifying.

I'm pretty excited for tomorrow. I think our chances in the race are as good as they've ever been. What we need to do is execute. Last year Sam had a great chance, got in the lead, then we bungled it in the pits for him, got in the back, then was in an accident. What we need to do is have a non-defect day on Memorial Day.

MODERATOR: Tim, obviously in more the modern phase of Marlboro Team Penske, you had two drivers that not only produced for you but got along famously. We're talking about Gil de Ferran, who left on top with the victory at Texas, and his good friend Helio Castroneves, who won twice. You're in your second year of working with this tandem of drivers. To hear them talk, they feel as if they're beginning to mesh themselves in terms of the chemistry. How about from your perspective? In many ways you have lots of talent, but sometimes having lots of talent puts additional pressure on you to get that talent going in the same direction.

TIM CINDRIC: Yeah, for sure. I think one thing that we emphasize more than anything else is it's a team. It's Team Penske, it's not two individuals competing under the same banner, but it's a team. It takes a while to create that chemistry. People forget, the only thing that Gil and Helio had in common when they first came is they were both Brazilian and they both drove race cars. They weren't big buddies before that. It took a while. For me, at the end of the 2000 when Gil won the championship in CART, Helio was trying to prove himself in our organization, as was Gil. When Helio came here and won the Indianapolis 500 in 2001, I think that balanced the scale a little bit. Then they continued to grow together because they got that monkey off their back.

Sam coming into our organization, being from a one-car team, not really knowing how to adjust for a teammate, that type of thing, it took a while to really learn how to work together. That's not a fault of Sam or Helio or what have you. But now, again, Sam had his success in the first race, Helio won the last race of the year. I can see a similar progression as we go forward. The only one that's not working completely against you out there is your teammate.

MODERATOR: Let's open it up to questions.

Question... Roger, a year ago in the New York Times you had a piece that got people talking again in open-wheel racing about getting the two groups involved back together. There's been some meetings, including somewhat recently. Would you still vote to see one open-wheel series? Do you think there's been any progress in that direction?

PENSKE: I certainly feel it would be nice to have one group, then we could be talking about one series, getting all the momentum behind one open-wheel formula. I've not been involved in any of the discussions at this point. I was real disappointed that we had a very fair opportunity and it was a time that we could have put this together, which could have been very effective I think in 2005. But the parties didn't want to get together based on what was discussed. I'm really not involved in it at all now.

Question... Roger, along those same lines, this is the 10th running since the split. Do you feel that this race particularly has healed within the racing community and also do you feel that it's healed, as far as the American public is concerned, being involved with NASCAR, too, how much of an avalanche to get out from under does this race face with just the onslaught of publicity of NASCAR?

PENSKE: Well, I think that if you look at the three races that they have here, the Indy 500 from a fan perspective and the number of tickets they sell is No. 1. Then I guess the Brickyard would be No. 2 and the Formula One race would be No. 3. There's no question that it's maintained its prestige as an event. Our matriculation over here a couple years ago, the fact that Rahal came here, the fact you have Newman/Haas running here, you're getting the best oval racers or open-wheel racers in North America, the teams competing here, which I think is what we want. That's only going to drive this. You're going to see some great racing. Quite honestly, I look at the races that I've been to over the last year in IRL, and the finishes, the strategies have been as close as I've ever seen. Sometimes many more passes than you see in NASCAR on a weekend. But from the standpoint of the onslaught of NASCAR, you know, NASCAR is a different business. They've had a consistent leadership for 30 plus years. They run 38 times. We run 15 or 16 times. We have open wheels. They have closed wheels. I don't think you can compare the vehicles.

Unfortunately, because of the split, there's a lot of people that dropped off the open-wheel bandwagon and go other places. We always seem to talk about the negatives that are going on in the open-wheel sport where there's a lot of positive every night. NASCAR nation, this is always about stories. I think what we need to do, the first question really was, can we get it together? I'm an advocate of that. I'd do whatever I could to try to see that happen. We'll just have to see. I think the matriculation to road racing, we had a very successful St. Petersburg race. We're going to go to Watkins Glen. We're going to go to Infineon on the West Coast. That will open up some new markets. Time will tell. I thought it would have been back together two or three years ago. I'm probably not a good one to predict the future.

Question... Roger, I hate to belabor the point, but you've got an awful lot invested in your move over here. You have a lot of reputation that you've staked in coming over to the IRL. Do you feel that there's a coherent direction with the way the series is trying to sell itself? From time to time, it seems there doesn't seem a real coherent plan to try to create interest in the other events throughout the series.

PENSKE: Well, when you have momentum, you can make mistakes, and people don't see it. I think, you know, with open-wheel racing, we don't have the kind of momentum you'd like to have in a sport, and therefore the problems we have get magnified. I'm committed. I know there's been some stories that I'm getting out because we have this Porsche program. That's absolutely not the fact. It was an opportunity that came to us, and we have always been in multiple series. We're fully committed. We're going to run a two-car team. We've got a great sponsor. I'm going to stay in it as long as I'm physically able to and try to be here when we have one series. We've got the drivers. Certainly Tim has come into the team and has longevity for many miles ahead of me for the future. We're going to be open-wheel racers. We're going to look at other series, there's no question. But I don't think that you could say today that I'm disappointed. I'm more in the fact, what can I do to try to make it better? That's really why I get up every morning.

Question... Helio and Sam, can you guys talk a little bit about what's going on out on the racetrack here this month as far as the speeds, the new surface, and just how you guys think you can stack up against those Hondas tomorrow.

CASTRONEVES: Well, we're going to keep working. For sure, the track is different from last year. Sam came test here I think even before the month of May on tire test. Unfortunately, was a little issue on the surface. That's why they decided to make some change on the track. In fact, it gave more grip, you know. I don't think it's enough grip to have side-by-side racing like you see in other racetracks. But, for sure, speed-wise, it's increased substantially from last year to this year. "Substantially," that was pretty good, huh (laughter)?

So basically Honda seems to be obviously doing their homework. But, you know, Toyota has been doing a lot of work, as well. It's so tough when you have so much competitive guys. Even Chevy, it's been doing their homework. It's just a matter to be on the right place on the right time. They get the momentum from last year. They keep carry on. We work together with Honda, and we know every race they come with something, even if is one or two horsepower, but every race they come with something different. That's what we try with Toyota, together with Toyota. So everybody's working. Not only them, not only our team, but everybody. Well, hopefully we're going to do our best. That's the only thing we can give, our best for qualifying and the race.

HORNISH: The track is quite a bit smoother than what it was last year. It's a shame that it didn't end up the way they thought it was going to because they thought they were going to come back this year with a track that had the smooth characteristics of new pavement, also a little bit less grip than what we had, it would slow down the cars a little bit, you'd have to run a little bit more wing. Right now we're in a position to where everybody is peeling as much off the cars as they can. When you're in a horsepower situation, it would be easier to try to run less drag, less downforce and less drag, and to be able to make up for that by being able to be a little bit more on edge. But when everybody is peeling everything off because of the amount of grip, it really leaves you to just do the best that you can in qualifying and prepare for the race because it doesn't really seem to matter who qualifies on the pole. I think we were 11th here last year. 23 laps into the race, we were second behind Buddy. It was just go out there and try to do the best you can because the race is a whole different situation. That's why we're here, to win. Being on pole would be nice, but I'd rather be first on the 29th.

Question... Rick, contrary to popular belief, there's so many people who still keep talking in reference to the great old days which probably has been sweetened by memory. How do you feel about your victories as opposed to Helio's victories? Were yours tougher, the competition tougher? How can someone say that and come up to Helio and say, "You won against a bunch of guys who weren't as tough as when you were racing"? How do you address that?

RICK MEARS: Mine were a lot tougher (laughter). -- No, it's all relative. You know, it's all relative. I think today it's more difficult because there's more competitive teams. But, you know, back when I was running, there might have been not as many competitive teams, but the ones that were competitive were very competitive. So, you know, you really had to run just as hard. You had to do all the same things. It still boils down to the basics are pretty much the same: trying to get the balance of the car, get the car handling the best it can be out there, be ready for the shootout at the end, and position yourself, be in the right place. So all those things I think are pretty similar. But I do think probably today they're closer, and more of them closer, which would be more difficult.

PENSKE: I think that you really got to look at the rules are driving that and the cost reduction. Old days, had you turbines, V8s, four or five different chassis manufacturers. What they've done now, the rules have said everyone has got to run the same gearbox, you got two chassis, you're limited to what you can do on your wings. We can't be innovative. What they've really done is taken it down to reduce the creativity, and what that does is drives the competition closer and closer. I think the tires are better today and the drivers - gives the drivers a much better feel. In the old days, we have issues of staggers, tires growing on us 2/10ths of an inch, you could go from a good-handling car. That doesn't happen today because of the quality.

So, you know, the speeds are there. I think it's a lot safer. So there's a number of things that have driven it. To me if you have to race one person to win the Indy 500, and it's your teammate, Gil de Ferran running against Helio, we he we had the best cars running against each other. I don't know who else was in the race. You have to think that way. My two guys had to race each other to win. I don't think the competition is greater today than it was in the past. If he's racing Bobby Unser, Al Unser, Gordon Johncock, or A.J. Foyt, on and on and on, there were some terrific drivers. Believe me, there were good teams then, there are great teams today. When you go up and down the pit lane and you see the quality of the cars and the preparation, just go into the garages, there's been a change here over time. Maybe somebody will say it's bad. But it's like everything else out there. I feel that, you know, this race will be a great race. There's a lot of stories in this race. You've got Danica (Patrick), who has done a terrific job. And we need those types of things which will help. It's a big change which gives someone an opportunity, in fact, to come here and compete at this level.

Question... Sam and Helio, earlier Roger touched on qualifying, that you don't have to worry about running into another car. You're getting 12 attempts in the same car. I heard they're not giving you more tires. Does that change your outlook on qualifying? If they're not giving you more sets of tires, what do you think of getting 12 shots in one car?

CASTRONEVES: Well, I think we pretty much the same as last year. You know, you just to have to a good logistic, you know, to make sure that everything goes through the two weeks. If you don't have more tires, we don't have more days either. So also one hour less than we used to have. So it's all about organize, you know, your strategy before you go ahead and start throwing tires. Obviously, the way it seems to be, as Roger says, tires seems to holding pretty good, which that's the basic thing. So you can run more laps on the same set and save a little bit more. So right now I don't think we have any issue.

HORNISH: You know, I couldn't see either one of us using any more than six sets because I doubt that we're going to be out there on the third and fourth days. But, you know, stranger things have happened, too. We're going to go out there and just do the best that we can. I think I'm planning on using one set. I'm planning on making sure we have the car where we need it tonight or at the end of the day where we're running. You know, you go out there and you do the best you can. It's really hard to tell where everybody's at right now as far as speed because you get people that are in the tow, people that aren't in the tow, so you just try to guess on how much people are picking up by that. I think if we can, you know, just play it smart and know where we're capable of being and when the right time is to go, you shouldn't have to be going through all the hassle of using those extra tires.

Question... Last year at the end of the season when you sat down and reviewed things, were there a lot of things that you thought you needed to change for this year to be successful?

PENSKE: Well, certainly from a driver perspective, you check the green boxes. No issue. From a car, I think we understood the car. I think we had great cars. I think the crews, most of the time - we probably - if we would say, could we have won more races? We made a mistake here. Sam made a mistake in Nazareth. We had a couple issues in the pits that were really self inflicted. Without those, you know, we'd have seen a much different finish as far as our team's concerned. I think the dominance of Andretti Green proved that they've got some great drivers and great teams, and they've got a lot of experience. Probably from a horsepower perspective, we might say that we'd like to have a little bit more. We're team players. I think Helio said it, you know, Toyota has been a partner of ours. We're not just jumping to the next green base we think might be better. We've got to drive that. There's been a lot of development with the engine. Where we understood to be. The answer is no.

But we didn't change any of our personnel. There's some people moving up in the organization, which is good. We're back here with the same face. We certainly were competitive in that race last year. Unfortunately, by not being able to execute properly in that pit stop with Sam, then Helio came in and missed his pit. Again, those are things that happen here. In these big events, you can say, Wow, if I hadn't have done that, it might have been a different story.

Question... Helio, a couple years ago you played kind of a waiting game, went out on a miserable windy day and won the pole. With the new rules where you can pull your car out if you get an early run, then find somebody has passed you by for the pole, is there a chance now you would take that run and then pull the car out and go for it again?

CASTRONEVES: For that weekend, I tell you, I don't think I would go out again (laughter). I gave it all. According to a lot of drivers, I don't think nobody would go either if they would have another opportunity. But for sure now that the rules are open for that, if we got in that situation tomorrow, yes, I'm up for it. Obviously, Tim Cindric and I are going to discuss, like we always discuss before, the best interest of the team. If you want to be in the top 11 only, our car is only for the top 11, that's what we're going to be, not worry about Sunday and the rest of the week, just worry about the race because that's the big deal. But right now we just still one more day. Let's take it step by step, baby steps, and hopefully tomorrow we can be in that situation again.

Question... Roger, the gap between Penske and the other Toyota-powered teams seems to have increased this year generally on the circuit. How much is your in-house engine build program the explanation for that?

PENSKE: Well, I can tell you this: We have no special parts. We have the same parts that everybody else has. The only advantage we would have maybe is that we have to - we can take a good block that we know had power and put other pieces in it. It's more the fine-tuning. I think that what we're seeing from our perspective is that we spent a lot of time on the car. There's the car, there's the driver, and there's the engine. There's some nuances that you might see. But we don't think that we've got 25 horsepower more than anybody else, because I know we don't.

Quite honestly, we've had engines rebuilt by Toyota that we've used and vice versa. They have a person, by the way, so there's nothing sinister or unique at our place. They have a Toyota person that works - an engineer that works in our shop every single day, so he knows exactly what's going on. We have a build list, we have a computer. Every part we use is put into that computer so they know at TRD. It's part of the capability that you have. Under the IRL rules, there has to be a manufacturer, has to be a secondary source. Today you have Ilmor doing engines for some Honda teams and you have Honda themselves at HPD doing engines. We're kind of like the Ilmor is to Honda.It's ironic, if you really want to mix it up, I've been a partner in Ilmor for, what, since it started, and I'm sitting here with an engine. I'm not involved at all in the Honda program. It's an interesting scenario. We want to win, too. We're running as hard as we can to try to beat them.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Appreciate you coming out.

Courtesy IMS PR