Seen at Indy – Lazier and Barron
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| Jaques Lazier |
| Chris Jones/IRL |
JAQUES LAZIER: "If it pays off, great, if it doesn't, that's the way it works, but we've been working pretty hard on it this past week and a couple of months before that, working sponsorship. It's tough right now, and we've definitely got a lot more interest. When the unification occurred, there was a lot more interest from corporate America, but it's still awfully tough right now. Everybody's wallets are pretty thin, and it's tough to allocate funds right now. But there's a few opportunities that still exist out here. Obviously, weather is playing a big part out here. There's some teams out here that are struggling that may be saying on Saturday, 'Hey, we need to get our car in the field,' and may be looking for someone with a little more experience. If that's the case, there's not a whole bunch of people here that don't have a ride who have much more experience than me. You've got to stay optimistic and keep beating the path, and hopefully after two pairs of shoes, it will work out.
It's always great to be here during the Month of May, no matter how you look at it. It's always fun to talk to old friends and to joke around about whether we're going to be able to make it out today, and if you do, do you really want to make it out anyway. The track is going to be cold, and if you can go out a lot of people are going to go out at the same time, so it's going to be chaotic out there. I don't think you can learn that much, but at the same time you have to look at the big picture, and the big picture is that the 25th might be the identical conditions as you run today. Even if you only go out there for 20 laps or something and just kind of get an idea of the kind of car you have and the setup you have, the engineers today are so darn good that they can come back over here and look at what they did and say, 'You know, next time the conditions are like this, I would do this to the car to make it a little bit better and more comfortable for the driver.' So, yeah, there's benefit to going out in these kinds of conditions, but you can go from hero to zero and it not be anybody's fault. You're just fighting a very cold track."
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| Alex Barron |
| Bret Kelley/IRL |
Alex Barron, who was a finalist to drive the No. 98 car, is still searching for opportunities with other teams. Barron has made five Indianapolis 500 starts, recording a best finish of fourth in 2002.
ALEX BARRON: "I'm still just talking to everybody. With the rain coming in, I'm sure that there will be a lot of guys trying to get the thing in the show quick. You never know. Every year, something happens. It's unpredictable. I just need to make sure I'm around, and hopefully I'll get a chance. I think later on in the week (the poor weather) might help my chances. It's hard to say how many cars are going to try to qualify, but at the same time, everyone wants to get in as early as possible because of the conditions, and sometimes teams and drivers try harder than they should at a particular moment, and being here racing the race quite a few times has a bit of pull. I just have to wait and see. I made the commitment to do everything I can to get in, and I'll be here 'till' at least Sunday and hopefully I'm racing."