Jimmy Vasser Quotations

The PKV Racing team played a little funny game waiting. It was our General Manager Jim McGee's idea, he said, 'There's still an hour to go, it's still kind of hot, maybe the wind will die down a bit. We need everything we can get for qualifying.' So we waited it out a bit and I think it paid off. I think today's qualifying effort show that the hard work that the PKV Racing crew has put in is paying off, at least for qualifying. Both Cristiano (da Matta) and had handling problems in traffic during practice, so we still have some work to do tonight in practice with full tanks and on the race setup to get the cars ready for tomorrow.

She's definitely not afraid to push the car to the limit. We all watched her race last year in Atlantics and we knew that she was a good driver, but until you work with someone you don't truly know how determined they are. After these last two days, one thing I know for sure now is that she has a tremendous amount of determination. Katherine has the talent to compete at this level.

I can honestly say that I have not seen a driver so determined to succeed in quite some time.

I think it shows in PKV, with myself and my teammate Cristiano da Matta on the second row, it shows a lot of hard work has paid off, at least for qualifying. I do know also we need to do a lot of work for our race setups tonight. We weren't all that happy in today's afternoon session. But, you know, all credit to the guys in the shop, they did a great job.

Outside of the car, she's English and very proper, ... But inside the car, she's forceful. She doesn't sit and wait. She goes after it.

Surfers Paradise has a great atmosphere and the circuit is very challenging. It's incredible that we have gone 14 years without a two-time winner, but I guess that is testimony to how tough the place really is.

We played a little funny game waiting because we figured, it was Jim McGee's idea, Jim McGee, our general manager said, 'There's still an hour to go, it's still kind of hot, maybe the wind will die down a bit. We need everything we can get for qualifying.' So we waited it out a bit.

We'll sit down as a team in mid January and look at all the data from the tests and make a decision from there. Katherine, along with the other drivers we've been looking at, will certainly be in the mix when we get to that point.

The Rolex 24 At Daytona is a great race with a lot of history and to compete in it with GAINSCO/Blackhawk Racing is a great opportunity for me. I am proud to be a part of the All-American lineup with talented young drivers like Alex and Rocky. I grew up in admiration of the success of both of their fathers. It will be exciting to race with them, and Bob as well, who proved in his rookie year last season that he's got what it takes.

It's just as tough or tougher to win a race here as it has ever been. It's a serious fight because there are a lot of good drivers in the field who have already had successes not only here but in other top series.

Not a bad first day of practice for the PKV Racing team--Cristiano is fifth and I am sixth,

It was great. I think we already in practice showed that we were probably going to be up there. No surprises. The car was very good even with the wind. We knew that no other team was going to beat us, with or without wind strategy, ... We went out there with the big wind. It was very good.

The Gulfstream/PKV Racing team's race was about like we qualified. I qualified behind my teammate and finished behind my teammate, but the crew did a great job in the pits, which helped us pick up some positions,

The car felt really good on new tires, ... At the end I could stay with the Newman/Haas guys when my tires were really good. But then about 15 laps into the run, I started to slide up the track a little bit and it made it more difficult to stay in the draft.

The Champ Car Hurricane 400 will benefit a very worthy cause, so I am proud and pleased to be a part of it,