Tropicana 400 - Christian Fittipaldi Notes

Christian Fittipaldi Notes, Quotes: Chicago 400
New track for NASCAR, newer track for Fittipaldi

This weekend Christian Fittipaldi returns to the seat of the #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge when the team heads to the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway. The speedway is located in the city of Joliet, Ill., just outside Chicago.

Chicagoland is hosting just its third NASCAR Winston Cup event, and Fittipaldi is preparing to make his first start there, and his fifth in NASCAR Winston Cup racing. In the two previous Winston Cup races Kevin Harvick has been the only winner at Chicagoland.

In the summer of 2002 Fittipaldi signed to drive for the legendary Petty Enterprises. An open-wheel star, Fittipaldi, 33, is a two-time CART winner (California Speedway and Road America) and Formula One World Championship driver. Fittipaldi is the first-ever Brazilian native to run full time in NASCAR’s top series and is the only full-time NASCAR driver to have raced full-time in Formula One and CART.

The thoughts of Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge driver Christian Fittipaldi heading into Chicagoland:

“It’s tough to say what the track at Chicago will be like simply because I haven’t been there before. It doesn’t mean that I will not know what to expect. I raced at Texas earlier this year, and I have a lot of laps – a lot of laps testing at Kentucky. If there is one advantage about having so called ‘cookie-cutter’ tracks it’s that racing one of them will help you get ready for four or five different others.

“You hear so many people talk about ‘cookie-cutter’ tracks, but to be honest I never heard of it before coming to NASCAR. Racing in the open wheel series, and on road courses or street courses, this is a new term for me to get used to. All tracks are different and, for me, everything is different right now- nothing looks the same. I am still trying to learn the best line or the best way to drive the car on these tracks. It’s not a big deal that it might look like a Texas, Charlotte or Atlanta because I am still learning on all these tracks.

“This isn’t the first time in my career where I have gone into a different series and have had the challenge of facing new tracks on a weekly basis, but it’s different because I am doing it in a new car and on ovals. Formula One and Champ cars are both open-wheel cars where you are racing mostly on road courses or street courses. NASCAR is a series with full-bodied stock cars and you are on ovals on a weekly basis. It’s tough to compare the challenges because they are completely different.

“I am not going to say that going to Chicagoland is harder than going into a place like Long Beach or any other road course, but I am not going to say that the other is harder either. It’s a different type of racing with different principles of racing. Whether qualifying or racing, it is different in NASCAR. I am learning to get used to how NASCAR works and that’s just a different challenge, but one that I want to do.

“I almost have to forget everything that I learned in open wheel and start new. I just can’t go back and remember driving styles that worked in the past and think that will work now. I have to learn the car and then use my abilities to make the car better. Any advantage I will have at Chicago or any other track will depend on how fast I can adapt to the car and track. The faster I can adapt, the better I will be.

“Chicago is a good place for the sponsors to come. As a driver it doesn’t matter. We are just at the track all weekend and we don’t get too much of an opportunity to go anywhere else. We are there to prepare for the race and when we drop the visor, it’s just another city. The sponsors on the other hand, we need to go to places like Chicago for them. A company like General Mills, that is based in Minneapolis (Minn.) needs to market in the biggest cities that we can go to. NASCAR doesn’t go into Minnesota, so tracks like Chicago and Indianapolis, two of the closer tracks, are really important. It’s important that we do well in front of them.

“It really helps NASCAR in general to go to the bigger cities. I think everyone is here to watch the sport grow and going to the bigger markets helps. Look at how many fans will be at Chicago. The place will be sold out and packed with even more fans trying to get in. That’s good for the sponsors and for NASCAR. For me, I just want to do the best I can anywhere we go with this Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge, and Chicago is the next challenge.”

©Copyright 2003 Race 2 Win