“Mario was the fastest guy on Firestone (tires), ... The Firestone/Goodyear (tire) war was really heated then. I never had anything I could call a comfortable lead. My car, as it got low on fuel, became more and more difficult to hook up. I had to finesse it (into corners) and go like hell (on the straights).”
“There was a lot more freedom from a design standpoint, which you can't do anymore in this country, ... Today's drivers are just as brave, just as much gladiators, as we were then.”
“I'm very happy to put the GAINSCO Pontiac Riley on the pole once again, ... We knew coming into qualifying, because of all the practice black flags, that I would need to go quick early on. It's great to be starting up front, and the whole team has really been working hard to get us here.”
“Obviously it's great to be on pole again, ... The way things go wrong in these sessions - they're so short - that you have to be absolutely flat out from the first lap. That's basically what our plan was and it seemed to work out. I didn't qualify at the last race at Watkins Glen - my teammate Bob Stallings did - but that's two poles in two qualifying sessions for me, and that 's something we're pretty happy about.”
