Quotes of the week

KEVIN KALKHOVEN, Champ Car World Series co-owner, PKV Racing team co-owner
"I promise I will never go and speak to penguins for two months in winter ever again," explained adventurous series co-principal Kevin Kalkhoven, who spent much of the off-season in Antarctica. "I disappeared for a couple of months and it wasn't necessarily the smartest thing to do without letting everyone know what I was doing. It caused a whole bunch of speculation. This series is here for the long term. I'm not a believer in highly-subsidized racing as we've seen either in the past or in other series. This year we have new cars, we have new teams and we have a series that is not being subsidized. I can't wait to get on track." (Responding to criticism that the Champ Car World Series has lost momentum and management has lost interest)

SCOTT PRUETT, NASCAR driver, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
“Of all the people to take you out, your teammate," said Pruett. “I mean that was just no good, low, nasty, dirty driving. I can’t even put it into words," he continued. “It’s just so disappointing. We talked about it, talked about it, talked about it, talked about it in meetings. If he’s faster than me, we’ll work it out, he can go, you know. But not take each other out. That’s just bad driving." (Commenting after his teammate, Juan Montoya, made contact with him and spinning him out after a bold move with just eight laps to go in the Mexico City NASCAR Busch Series race)

JUAN MONTOYA, NASCAR driver, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
“I felt really bad because we both needed a really good finish," said Montoya. “I went into the braking. We were both braking about the same point, but he was slowing down the car a little more. He kind of stayed wide so I went for the inside and when I was there he just turned and I had nowhere to go. I feel really sorry about it. But we have this one out of the way now and the next one is we need to win on an oval. I want to win on an oval. That’s where we need to be good." (Commenting after winning his first NASCAR Busch Series race in Mexico City after spinning out his teammate, Scott Pruett, with just eight laps to go)

BRAD PARROTT, NASCAR crew chief, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
“We have the greatest driver in the world." (Commenting after his driver Juan Montoya won the Mexico City NASCAR Busch Series race. We wonder what he would say about Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Ayrton Senna.)

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NASCAR driver, Red Bull Toyota
"It's like taking 10 years of what I have grown up learning, throwing it away. … That's how different the cars are." I said 'OK, I can be a little off and be 35th.' No, you're a little off, and you're 50th," Allmendinger said regarding the first pre-season test. "They say, 'We don't expect you to be as quick as Brian (Vickers – his teammate),' although I know I do. … That's just my nature," he said. "I'm either going to make this work, or I'm going to die trying," he said, "because this is where I want to be, and I don't lay down." (Commenting on his switch from open wheel racing to NASCAR and his dismal showing so far in the NASCAR series)

BUDDY RICE, IRL driver, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing
"Pack racing looks really good on TV. It's real exciting for the fans. All that is really great and dandy, but it's no different than watching restrictor plate racing to some degree on the NASCAR side of things. What hasn't happened so far, and thankfully so but it's bound to happen, is super close tight pack racing with open wheel cars, the 'big one' is coming. And our problem is we're traveling at such higher speeds that when the problem comes, it's going to be huge." (Commenting on IRL's decision to bring back the steeper wing angle to provide more downforce for more pack racing)

MAX PAPIS, Grand-Am driver, Krohn Racing
“It was an awesome race. There was a great battle between me and the 99 car. It seemed like we were always hitting traffic at the wrong spots. I had about an eight second lead. The lead went down to two seconds, then back up to ten seconds. After I hit traffic again, it was down to two seconds and I saw Alex Gurney in my mirror. Unfortunately, we had traffic in Turn 9 and he was able to go by me there. As soon as he went by, I was pushing as hard as I could, hoping he was going to find the similar problems that I had before. And actually he did. He went into the last corner and had really heavy traffic. I was able to pull a move and go by him on the front stretch. I went into Turn five with two laps to go, which is a really bumpy place, and for a moment my foot slipped off the brake pedal. I went a little too deep into the braking zone, got into the marbles and got off course. My hat is of to Alex Gurney. He gave me a hard run. I gave everything I could. I don’t want to be here complaining that I didn’t try hard enough. I tried as hard as I could and I still believe second place is a great achievement." (Commenting after finishing second to Alex Gurney in a thrilling battle in the Mexico City Grand-Am race)

EMILY ARMISTEAD, Spokeswoman, 'Friends of the Earth' environmental group
"There is some irony in the fact that Honda are attempting to promote the environment and calling on others to address environmental issues when they are contributing to climate change by participating in what is probably the most polluting sport on the planet." (Leading environmental group Friends of the Earth has slammed Honda's attempt to champion environmental issues by launching the 'Earth Car'. Emily Armistead referred to the "irony" of a major car manufacturer urging ordinary people to contribute to solutions by giving up ironing or cutting "unnecessary flights")