Team Chevy Drivers Helio Castroneves and Bryan Clauson
2015 Indianapolis 500 Press Conference Transcript
May 3, 2015

MODERATOR: Welcome to the Economaki Press Conference Room. Helio Castroneves joins us. He’ll be making his 300th start in the series at the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis, an event which he has not won, it’s only the second one. His teammate, Simon Pagenaud, the first. And at the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500 obviously he’s won on three occasions. It’s always good to see you. Helio, talk about the excitement coming in the month of May.

HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yeah, no, it’s always awesome to be here. I apologize for my voice. I’m a little — a lot under the weather. But it’s better now, actually at the end of the month. But we feel great. It’s always great to come over here. The fans are incredible, just to see everyone already exciting. It’s just — and it’s great opportunity right now to run, to have an extra day do run with the new aero kit.
Besides that, what a special moment for me to wake up every day and to do 300 times something that I love. And for me, it’s fantastic. It’s a blessing. I can’t think it’s very difficult for a person to do what you want when you dream, and I’m one of those persons that is very fortunate to be able to keep doing with the same enthusiasm that I had in the past when it was the first time. So the 300th, it’s probably, feels like just my first time. And I’m very excited about that. And hopefully the result will be a celebration so that we can make part of history as well.

MODERATOR: What happens in about a week from now, by the way?

CASTRONEVES: Say that again?

MODERATOR: A week from now.

CASTRONEVES: That will be my 40th birthday, which is great. It’s just like wine, you know, getting better with age. (Laughter)
I’m excited. We’re not going to be on the track, we’re going to be off the track. But hopefully I’ll get my present on Saturday, on the 9th.

MODERATOR: We’ll open it up to questions for Helio.

Q: Congratulations for the 300 starts here. Two-part question. Number one, 300 race starts in IndyCar. What was the most interesting technology part on cars you’ve ever driven?
And second question, how is your behavior now with the aero kits? Is it different from last year?

CASTRONEVES: Yeah, going from — when we used to run with the 900-horsepower engine, those are very interesting. Those are a beast, let’s put it this way. I remember my first time at Sebring, wheel spinning in third gear, which was amazing to feel that feeling. When you change that, now the evolution of the braking point, we’re talking about the margin of braking reduced by half. Now the time is so fast, it’s just unimaginable if we didn’t have the paddle shift, I don’t think you would have enough time to downshift with the leverage that we used to have in the past. In one way we got a lot of power in the past but now the quickness, the reaction, it’s becoming so fast that that’s what — for me adapting for those was a big deal. And along the years that I had, I ended up changing from right foot — braking with the right foot to braking with the left foot and still getting better.
Now, second part question about the aero kit. It didn’t seem to be different from when we tested here September or October last year. I do believe we still obviously was the first time was a lot of details to be done. It’s just the beginning. I’m very happy the series is giving everybody a chance — one extra day for us to understand, and obviously during the month of May you’re going to see the speeds increasing tremendous. But at this point we seem to be starting faster than we normally start at the beginning of the month. Right now we’re not looking for times, we’re looking for the data that we want to make sure that we don’t — nothing goes under the radar for us.

MODERATOR: Other questions for Helio?
Helio, one of the things I mentioned during the media tour here in terms of Indianapolis 500 starts now with Roger Penske, you, and Rick Mears are right there. What’s that like?

CASTRONEVES: Like first time every time I come over here or every time we start a season, I always have Rick as my consultant, let’s put this way. I keep asking him a lot of questions. I can’t believe he didn’t say, “Roger, I’m leaving. This guy is asking too many questions.” But it’s great to have him spotting for me. Every time I always learn something forever. Whatever he says, it becomes words of wisdom and that, for me, it’s just a very fortunate situation because not many teams able to have someone like Rick Mears right beside you. And I’m very happy to have him around.

Q: Helio, we talked to some of the team managers earlier in the garages. They’re anticipating speeds up into the mid-230s. Do you think that’s realistic this month with these cars?

CASTRONEVES: Yes, I think that’s realistic. As I said, obviously in the beginning we’re still going to be looking for details. I feel it’s going to be even faster than 230. And, again, last year we were able to get 231, I believe, in some of the laps on average, and I feel that we might be able to go two, three mile an hour faster than that. I hope.

Q: We keep thinking you have a shot at No. 4. Have you stopped kind of worrying about whether you get a fourth win in the 500 or is it just a matter of just trying to win this one?

CASTRONEVES: Well, it’s a matter of putting everything together. Every time you come over here, it’s not about thinking the number of how many you won. It’s the matter of executing. Last year was super close — too close, and obviously we did everything during the month of May to put ourselves in that position. But I don’t think that, oh, that’s it, I’ve got to win four. You know, I’ve got to win, and no matter if it’s the Indy Grand Prix or the Indianapolis 500 or the championship. I want to go out there and give my best. Obviously it’s the Indianapolis 500, and if you give yourself a small moment to think about a fourth, what a great, incredible moment would it be being part of history. I do believe, and the fans are witness of that, so many people come to me and say, “Man, I want to see you win four, you know.” And that’s the beauty of it, when you have these type of people that are young, now it’s even teenager or older, “I saw your first win and I want to see you win four.” So those things motivate me to go out there and give extra. This place is automatic, it brings the best out of me. So I’m super excited to have this aero kit because it’s kind of reset everyone, and hopefully with that, and the extra motivation, we’re going to make it happen.

Q: Are you OK if you ever don’t win a fourth?

CASTRONEVES: If I don’t win a fourth? Well, then we come back next year. We never think it’s not going to happen. I always dream big, and I do believe big dreams come true.

Q: There are a lot of drivers in the paddock that marvel at the fact that you probably race just as hard at your age today as you did when you were young. And to combine that aggressiveness with your experience level just, I mean, does it even surprise you to some degree that at this age you’re still that feisty kid that showed up here in 2001?

CASTRONEVES: No, I believe the way it keeps me young. Like I said, it’s the new generation, you know. When you’re going out there, I’m a competitive guy. And when I go out there I want to beat everybody else. And when those young guys show me different routes, hey, it’s up to you to keep your mind open. And I do believe this is one of the strengths that I have. I’m not — sometimes I am stubborn but I try to obviously make myself improve to analyze and to make sure, OK, that route is better, I’ve got to do it. One example, like I said, it’s moving my driving style from braking with the right foot to the left foot. Those things take time and, soon enough, it paid off in the end.
So today those are what keeps me going. It’s not about age for me. Age is just a number. If you’re thinking about the past, drivers and special legends, they used to race until what, 54? Mario, what was his last race?

Q: 54.

CASTRONEVES: Thank you. I still have 14 more years. That’s my point, as long as you’re competitive, as long as you’re giving your heart effort, the results shouldn’t change.

MODERATOR: Questions for Helio?
Thank you for coming in.

CASTRONEVES: Thank you. Don’t get close to me. (Laughter)

MODERATOR: Bryan Clauson has joined us. Bryan successfully passed his refresher test. He’s got a busy month of May — IndyCar sprints, midgets — like he always does. Good start to the year in the short-track operation. Talk about being back, Bryan.

BRYAN CLAUSON: It’s good to be back, it’s been a long three years since we’ve been here. It’s exciting but to come back with KVSH and Jonathan Byrd, obviously Jonathan Byrd is making their return to the Speedway. It’s a special time for everybody involved, and we’re excited, and it was good to get out there today and get back on track.

MODERATOR: From the announcement we made here a year ago, it seems like a long time ago. Were there any moments in there where you were concerned it wasn’t going to happen or has it been pretty upbeat the whole time?

CLAUSON: It’s been pretty firm the whole time. They were pretty serious about this program and obviously they wanted to plan it out, you know, by announcing it a year in advance. It’s been a lot of fun to kind of go through the process with not only them, but the team as well, and build a program basically from the ground up that hopefully will be around for a little while.

MODERATOR: Questions?

Q: One question to Bryan. Bryan, you mentioned three years ago you were the last time here I think was official racing. Now with the aero kits, is there any big difference, driving behavior with the car?

CLAUSON: I think it’s kind of hard to compare. I think to some degree I guess it’s probably a good year to come in again because everybody is starting not necessarily from scratch, but not everybody knows what they have when they rolled in here this morning. So we’re all kind of starting from the same level to some degree and, you know, it’s been too long for me to sit here and say that I could tell you the difference between it. It seems like the aero kits are definitely more efficient from what we’ve seen and definitely add some intrigue.

Q: Bryan, what’s the reaction been like at the grassroots level to you being an Indy 500 driver this year because really there hasn’t been one since you tried it in 2011. And also, Ed Carpenter is probably the last guy in the field that’s had USAC experience.

CLAUSON: It’s been exciting. If I had a dollar for every time somebody told me how excited they were or that they were coming or watching for the first time in a long time, we could probably fund a couple more USAC drivers to come along. It’s been really cool to kind of see that support and obviously, you know, we saw something similar. In 2012, and I think as far as short track guys, I’m first in a long time probably to be racing during the month of May in different things, to be out there in that world while over here.

MODERATOR: Questions for Bryan?

Q: Bryan, the Byrd family has a very rich history at this track and this series. Obviously they’re excited to be back. But how aware of that history are you, and talk a little bit about how excited you are to be associated with them.

CLAUSON: I got educated really quick on that history over the last year. But it’s special, obviously. Coming up on a lot of landmarks for them as far as the time they’ve been away and years since they first ran. It’s pretty cool to walk through the garage and not only get, “Hey, excited you’re back, but excited the Byrds are back as well.” Had a lot of that. They’ve had a rich history in bringing not just short — not just having an IndyCar program but taking short-track guys to Indy. It’s exciting. They’ve been heavily involved in some of my short-track stuff over the last year and a half trying to build the brand together. And I think it’s exciting any time you kind of cross over and keep the similarity and the brands together, it makes it a little bit cooler for everybody.

Q: Bryan, you’re driving a World of Outlaws car in Missouri. Talk about the transition mentally and what you have to do when you get to the track today.

CLAUSON: I think you kind of hit reset. I’ve spent a lot of time in my career running every night of the week basically in anything from USAC, we’d run a quarter mile on Friday, a dirt mile on Saturday, and head to Anderson Sunday in a pavement car. So you kind of learn to adapt. You just kind of got to come in, hit the reset button, and try to think back to the things I did right in 2012. There were some things I did wrong. So you try and make note of those and try to remember not to do that again and you kind of almost start from scratch. That’s what we did this morning and will keep building up to it this afternoon and hopefully log some miles.

Q: If you could also talk about your planning on Race Day, what you’re going to do and what that means to you.

CLAUSON: Yeah, it’s exciting. It was pretty funny. It was my girlfriend’s idea, and it took her a little while for me to be talked into it. But a lot of our fans at the short-track level do the double as far as come here on Sunday morning and watch the race and go to Kokomo Sunday night, which is kind of our, here in Indiana, crown jewel dirt track. And being track champion last year and spending a lot of my time growing up at Kokomo, it seemed just kind of seemed right to put something together that allowed us to, you know, cross over a little bit more and get some of those fans that were going kind of on the fence to come here and see this amazing event, and then maybe try and bring some of the IndyCar fans over to Kokomo on Sunday night and show them what we do week in and week out.

Q: And Bryan, you were Josef’s teammate. What were your thoughts when you saw him win last week at Barber?

CLAUSON: It was really cool for me. Obviously that whole group, there’s been some changes over there with the merger and everything. That whole group kind of took a chance on me in 2012 and put a solid program behind me. So I was happy for all those guys over there, and obviously Sarah kind of has a similar background. It was really happy to see that. It was a great race on top of all that. It was fun to watch and a great, I think, launching pad for IndyCar into a great month of May.

MODERATOR: Other questions?

MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming in.