June 15, 2001

Detroit Grand Prix - Notes And Quotes - Friday Practice & Qualifying

Johnny was third quickest in today’s practice with a time of 1:35:822. Mid way through the session he was caught up in a pit exit incident, but was able to continue. Johnny’s comments on the incident were “ Paul and I had just started to get acclimated and picked up the pace. I had actually decided to try and run him down coming around the start/finish line. Paul and I were passing a couple cars and the next thing I knew Jim Matthews pulls out of the pits and forgets to turn right. He just drove straight into Paul in the right rear. This seemed to push Paul into the Camero he was passing. That blow launched Paul’s car into the air a good five feet; it pirouetted when it came down and hit the wall. I saw this happening and got on the brakes and tried to check up, but then I got hit by Justin Bell who spun me around. I ended up facing ‘pit out’; I would have had to do a three-point turn to get racing in the right direction and I didn’t know if my car would run or steer, so I just ducked into the pits to get out of the way of oncoming traffic. We had some bodywork damage and flat-spotted a few tires, but we were able to finish the session.”

Paul’s Rocketsports team jumped into action and fixed his car for qualifying. Their efforts were rewarded when Paul took his Johnson Controls/Homelink Jaguar to the pole position during the late afternoon qualifying session. In the fast five press conference, Paul graciously thanked his crew saying their hard work in hot temperatures was the only reason they were on the pole. Johnny struggled when the sway bar came loose early in the session. Needless to say, he had a very poor handling car but still managed to pull out a 9th place qualifying effort with a 1:34.735. It appears that a bolt may have been broken in the earlier mishap causing the situation.

Johnny is confident he will have a good car tomorrow for the Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit and is ready to put on a good show for the local fans and large TV audience. The race takes place on Belle Isle Michigan at 4PM ET. The race is televised on CBS Sports on a one day tape delay basis on Sunday at 5PM.

Working around the crew all day was a professional film crew shooting a CBS commercial for AutomationDirect. The commercial will be edited and is planned to be aired during the CBS Cleveland and Sears Point telecasts. We would like to seriously thank crew chief Bobby and ALL the guys for their professionalism and patience during the filming process.