BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:
(ARE YOU MORE COMFORTABLE NOW WITH WHERE YOU'RE AT AS A RACE TEAM, AS
COMPARED TO LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME?) "Yeah, because we've been luckier this
year so far than we were last year - knock on wood. Last year we ran pretty
good at Vegas and finished really bad. This year we ran really bad and
finished better, which was more luck than anything. Rockingham was positive,
like it was last year. Daytona was basically like it was last year - ran OK
and just got caught up in a wreck.
"But really, we feel pretty good about things. We're definitely going in
the right direction, especially coming off of last fall compared to the
championship year. In 2000 we were going along and everything was great, but
we probably didn't see as much going on around us. Then we started last year
off and thought we were going to be just fine, but once we got a few weeks
in we realized that things weren't going to be quite like they had been."
(HOW DISAPPOINTING WAS LAST FALL'S DNF AT ATLANTA?) "It wouldn't have been
so bad, but after getting in 'the wreck' at Daytona and then at Las Vegas we
had a problem that recurred here - it was real bad. It was really
disappointing because of all that. If we had all that happen and then had
something happen here, we wouldn't have been quite as frustrated. But, we
had three out of the first four races that turned out to be bad finishes.
This race was miserable, but it had as much to do with two other races
before it."
(ARE YOU MORE COMFORTABLE IN THE CAR THIS YEAR?) "No, not yet. Not at some
places. Rockingham was good, but Vegas wasn't."
(DID YOU TEST HERE?) "No. I know we've got a lot of tests coming up, but
I'm almost to the point that I don't want to test anymore. It always seems
to be different when you go back. I think I do better off when I don't
practice."
(DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS WITH THE ONE-ENGINE RULE?) "Yep. I think they'll
change it and go back to the way it used to be.
"They're trying to be like the Busch Series, but we run 500 miles; they run
300 miles. We run 500 miles at Darlington; they run 200 miles at Darlington.
We run 500 laps at Bristol; they run 250 laps at Bristol. This ain't the
Busch Series. They're trying to make the same thing happen and it isn't the
same thing."
(DO YOU THINK IT WILL TAKE A LARGE NUMBER OF ENGINE FAILURES TO FORCE THE
CHANGE?) "No, I think it will be who blows them up, not how many. Let's say
that if [Jeff] Gordon blows up or Ricky Rudd or Dale Jarrett - if some of
those guys blow up a couple times in a row, that's going to be it.
"It's not a bad idea, but it's not a good idea either when you think about
the fact of saving money. We'd run our qualifying motor, and then we'd put
our race motor in Saturday morning. But, if you felt like you needed to
change it, you changed it. Now, to change it you've got to go through an act
of Congress to change it. It's like, 'Well, are you telling us that you just
don't like it or is it blown up and can you prove it's blown up?'
"Now, you've got to take the motor apart, but they close the garage area at
3 o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, so now what are you going to do?
Are you going to come in Sunday morning at 6 a.m.? I don't know. It's a
hairy thing."
(THE ECONOMY HAS LED TO SPONSORSHIP PROBLEMS FOR SOME TEAMS IN OUR
SPORT...ARE THERE THINGS THAT CAN BE DONE WITHIN THE SPORT TO HELP THE
SITUATION BY TRYING TO CONTROL COSTS?) "There might be, but it's kind of a
double-edged sword because you may do one thing and then it will cost more
somewhere else. I don't know. I'm not a car owner and I quit being a car
owner because I never did very good at that.
"I learned a lesson about nine years ago that if they pay $3 million to win,
you're going to spend $3 million to go. If they pay $1 million to win,
you're going to spend $1 million and they pay $100,000 to win, you're going
to spend $100,000. That is just the nature of racing."
JIMMY MAKAR, CREW CHIEF,
NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:
(WHAT DOES ATLANTA MEAN TO YOU?) "I look forward to it. It's a place we've
had incredible success at and been real fortunate. It's been good to us.
When you have a track like that where you seem to be able to run well every
time you come back, you get really excited about it. Your confidence level
goes up a notch when you come back to a place like this. Even when you're
having problems and things don't to the way you want them to, you've still
got that confidence that you can pull yourself out of the problem and still
have success. It's kind of unique and kind of neat to have that.
"I, personally, enjoy the fact that this is a track that we can sort of set
a standard or have success that can be talked about over the years. It's
kind of a neat thing when you can dominate or at least be very competitive
at a racetrack and do that year in and year out. It's something that you
really want to work hard at continuing that success rate - that roll that
we've got going right now --- as long as we can."
(DID LAST FALL'S WIN HERE MAKE YOU SHAKE YOUR HEAD A LITTLE BIT?) "We were
never better than a second or third place car here all day last fall and we
knew that. But it's one of those deals where if you stay in this business
long enough, you will win races that way and you'll lose races that way.
That was one of those deals where we were just real fortunate and were in
the right place at the right time to capitalize on Jerry's [Jerry Nadeau's]
misfortune.
"We just felt real lucky on that one. We had really given up on that one -
I didn't think they were going to have problems. When it happened it was a
little bit unbelievable. It was fun.
"If the shoe is on the other foot, it's the most miserable day of your
life. But, in that case, we were real lucky and real fortunate."
(DO YOU FEEL BETTER ABOUT WHERE YOUR TEAM IS AT RIGHT NOW AS COMPARED TO
LAST YEAR?) "Yeah, I do. I feel more comfortable about our motor program
right now. I don't think we've got any foreseeable problems that we're
trying to work through and scramble on, so I feel good about our motor
program - where it's at right now. There is a lot of pressure off, not
having to worry about that.
"I'm still a little frustrated about where we are with the tire. I'm trying
to figure out how to make the car work good on this tire for ourselves.
We're not as far forward down the road as I want to be in getting that
figured out and getting Bobby comfortable on the tire. But, other than that,
I feel like the team is in good shape. Personnel is good, the attitude is
good and the amount of enthusiasm on the team is very good. We haven't dug
ourselves a hole, so that's a good thing. I just see a lot of positive
things on the real close horizon.
(IT'S PROBABLY CRAZY TO TALK ABOUT POINTS AFTER THREE RACES, BUT DO YOU
FEEL OK WITH WHERE YOU'RE AT IN RELATION TO EVERYBODY?) "It is...it is
crazy. But, like I said earlier, what you worry about is having a bunch of
DNFs early in the year and digging yourself a hole that you can't come out
of. Right now, just finishing races, being competitive and being towards the
front of the field is what you need to do right now. That is something we
didn't do last year. We had mechanical problems that dug us a real bad hole,
but this year we're in good shape, as far as that's concerned.
"The face of the points is going to change a lot over the course of the
next couple months. The car that I think you're going to probably see there
continuously, though - and he's got a heck of a jump - is the '40' car
[Sterling Marlin]. He was good all year last year, but he really got strong
the latter half of last year and it looks like they came out of the box in
the same shape. I think that's the guy we're going to be chasing most of the
year, if they don't shoot themselves in the foot or get into some mechanical
problems."
