Paul Tracy & Jay Penske Teleconference
Q. Paul, how excited are you to get behind the wheel of a car finally.
PAUL TRACY: I'm really excited to get the opportunity to work with Jay and his crew; to come back to Long Beach, which is really the place where I started my IndyCar career. My first ever start was there with Dale Coyne, and then my first ever win with Roger and Marlboro was there.
It's been a fantastic venue for me. It's one of the crown jewels of the series and I've been lucky enough to win it, win the race four times.
So you know, from that standpoint, it's been extremely difficult having to kind of sit and watch the last couple of years, and I've been there the last couple of years making press announcements for other races that I've been doing but having to walk the paddock has been extremely frustrating.
So I'm excited for the opportunity to work this weekend with Jay. And like I said, we've got a whole fleet of new sponsors on board with Ralph's and Pepsi and Frito-Lay and Rock Star and the list goes on and on of people that have come on to support us. It's going to be an exciting weekend that's for sure.
Q. You talked about your history at Long Beach, obviously winning there four times and getting around the place as well as you do. How confident with the other teams having two races under their belts are you that you can get up to speed this weekend?
PAUL TRACY: Well, I don't think it's going to be any problem I think for us. We have got Jay's group of guys and he can touch more on it, but he's got a core group of guys that have been in the Penske organization a long time. They are guys that I have all worked with in the past and know we are not just hiring on a bunch of guys that nobody has worked with before. I've worked with all of the guys on the team at one stage of my career. I've known some of the guys on the team for 20 years.
So you know, the engineer on the team, Eric Zeto, has been my race engineer when I was with Forsythe, we won the Long Beach race a couple of times together. I think he understands exactly what I need and I understand exactly how he works.
So really it's just getting back on track and getting back in the groove of practice sessions and qualifying sessions.
Q. Your record at Long Beach, do you feel any realistic goals or expectations when you come in or do you look at trying to get a Topâ€'10 or Topâ€'5 your first time back?
PAUL TRACY: Honestly, I'm looking at, you know, just the best result that we can possibly get, and I think, you know, I always go into any race with the expectation of, I'm going to do everything I can possibly do to try to win. Is that realistic? Sometimes, no.
But I think in any sport, if you're going out there, noting a 110 percent and giving everything you have, it's time to get off the field or get out of the game. So.
From my standpoint, I'm going to go out there and from the time that the green flag drops till the checkered comes out, I'm going to give everything I have to try to get the best result. If that's a Top 3 or a Topâ€'5 or a Topâ€'10, we give 100% all the time and we'll focus on the next race as we go along.
Q. Jay, can you talk a little about how the offâ€'season was for you with having Tony Kanaan and having that partnership dissolve and then having your team kind of have to be reborn?
JAY PENSKE: Sure. I certainly think we have tried to rip the rearâ€'view mirror off and just trying to look forward. But I think it was a very difficult offâ€'season. We had a lot of â€'â€' I think we were very close in establishing a fullâ€'time ride with Tony and when fell apart instantly we were looking to put together for either a limited run or build something again for the entire season.
We were very close with Paul trying to get this whole thing wrapped up for a full season this year but unfortunately we got these five races which we are going to try to do our absolute best and try to add races as we go throughout the rest of the year.
Q. And just talk a little about having a team start late and having the driver the caliber of Paul available for you to build your team around.
JAY PENSKE: Sure. I think first of all, they have not only done the open tests, but they have had two races under their belt. I think that's one of the reasons we thought this was a great place to start with Paul. It's a place he's clearly had a ton of success in the past. He's one of the most tenacious guys and who can get the most out of every car he drives.
We have reasonable expectations here. This is a place we want to build from. We have four other races that we are confirmed for this year, three others on road courses, street courses. So I think this is the beginning of Dragon Racing and we have great expectations for the future.
Jay, if you could talk about what your Indy 500 plans are, because I know Paul already has a deal already committed for that race.
JAY PENSKE: Sure. Two things, I think we are still aggressively looking to put someone in the seat for the 500. We have got the cars available. We have got some sponsorship lined up I think at this point it's just trying to find the best person to take us 500 miles come May 29. We are in discussions but nothing has been finalized yet. We are hoping to do that probably right after Long Beach.