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[Music]
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thank you
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[Music]
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racing at Lamaze is an experience That's
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Unique unto itself there's a certain
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Ambiance in the air around Le Mans not
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only do we have the best cars in the
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world we've got the best drivers in the
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world the best teams in the world
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there's just a certain something in the
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air and that something is unlike
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anything that I've ever felt in any
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other race any other time in my career
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[Music]
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foreign
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[Music]
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thank you
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even though I can hear it all going on
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out there there's a certain loneliness
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that's almost overwhelming blots out in
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my mind the fact that I'm here with Doc
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who's an excellent co-driver
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even blots out in my mind the fact that
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we're here with two cars running on comp
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ta street tires when all the other teams
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are on racing tires
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thank you
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when I walked out of the pit enclosure
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and looked across the way and saw three
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tiers of people in the main grandstand
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on the pit straight that was more than I
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could comprehend it was it was
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Indianapolis and every other major race
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and sporting event that you've ever seen
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in America put together
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it's impossible to describe and I was
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just in awe of this entire experience
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but now I don't know if I can handle it
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I don't know if I can handle the
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experience itself the race didn't bother
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me I didn't know if I could could
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emotionally handle the experience and
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I've never had that experience in racing
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before it's usually sort of a high on
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adrenaline flow come on let's go and
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it's a nervous feeling but it's a good
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powerful nervous feeling
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we'll spend the first hour sorting our
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car
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well all these other crazy men go out
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and try to win a Sprint race which is
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generally what happens at Le Mans
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particularly toward the back of the grid
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uh either they've never been here before
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or they have been here before and never
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finished so they know the reality is is
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that they want to make a really good
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showing until they fall out at Lamar it
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was not and I don't believe that it ever
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will be a sort of an adrenaline flow
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let's get racing feeling it's almost
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sick to your stomach because you're
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participating in something that you can
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hardly believe is even happening
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goodrich's commitment to this program is
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evidenced by the fact that both cars
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were shipped to the vysoc test facility
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at Porsche for race preparation Lamaze a
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race that's probably 90 percent
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preparation and 10 racing
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[Music]
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the test session at viseac is important
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not only for the preparation of the cars
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but I think it put one driver in both
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cars with one crew so that we could sort
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the cars out before we left for the race
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any additional feedback that we got from
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the other drivers would easily then be
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sorted out at the racetrack so it isn't
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always exactly the same RPM but I would
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say that it doesn't get any boost to
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really talk about until it hits six this
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particular circuit is what you would
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call almost a go-kart circuit it's a
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very narrow twisty little circuit it'll
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bring out all the bad points of the car
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immediately whereas on a longer track at
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Le Mans we might not notice until
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halfway through the race
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if I could do this before every single
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race it would be worth it
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[Music]
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is
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[Music]
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foreign
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[Music]
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imagine yourself going down the freeway
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at 220 miles an hour in a traffic jam
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that's what the straight at Le Mans
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resembles it's easy to terrify me on the
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highways just as easy as it is anybody
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else out there but in a racing situation
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you move into a Consciousness that
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blocks that out completely and you
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become capable of operating at these
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very very high speeds and making
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decisions and thoughts that almost come
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through in very slow motion
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thank you
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the idea of somebody else making a
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mistake at 200 miles an hour is not
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particularly pleasing to me it is a
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challenge that I'll accept simply
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because it's part of the race and at Le
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Mans those sorts of speeds are the race
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I'm not sure that it's absolutely
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necessary either except that it does
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make us unusual people that we're
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willing to do it and maybe that's the
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excitement of Le Mans
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[Music]
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just come off the most on corner and
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been passed by a Camaro with a wing on
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it check out who that is
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that is number 80. the billfish is 81.
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[Music]
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foreign
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[Music]
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state of change we qualify at night
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during the last session and then the
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race begins during the day this makes it
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absolutely mandatory that during pit
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stops all drivers pass on as much
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information as possible be careful on
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the main straightaway because
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here out there than it was last night so
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just break it up slowly
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it's important the race everything looks
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almost too good to be true
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both cars are still in we're second in
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class I believe about a lap ahead of the
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other car but this is Lamar and you just
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never know
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[Music]
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beautiful perfect
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really easy pace
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[Music]
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should go all night like that
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I remember leaving the pits going up
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under the bridge the Dunlop Bridge down
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the hill and making a left and my God
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the whole skylit up there was a terrific
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Ferris wheel out there and Affair and
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things happening and people running
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around and and it gave the impression
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almost as coming out of a a dark tunnel
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into Disneyland
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and the flashing lights and then
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immediately a right turn
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and it all vanishes
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it was a cross between 2001 Space
00:09:14
Odyssey and Walt Disney all in a capsule
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of about a second and a half
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then you do a lap after lap after lap
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and if I live to be a thousand I'll
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never forget that one
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[Music]
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thank you
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you flash in and out of the reality of
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the happening when you make a pit stop
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and change drivers and get out of the
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car and look across and there's a
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terrific sea of people and then you come
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back in at midnight you look across and
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there's nobody there they've all gone
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out in the forest to do whatever French
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people do in the forest in the middle of
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the night
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and then you say my gosh they've gotten
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bored and gone home so you go to sleep
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and you get up and you come back out at
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five o'clock in the morning the sun's
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coming up and they're all back and what
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have they been doing probably having a
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lot more fun than I have
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but I think that those are the only
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times that you sort of flash back into
00:10:30
the real sort of emotional experience of
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the race
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[Music]
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and I'm in the Indianapolis Corner 86
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cars sitting off the side of the road
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here and it looks terminal
00:11:04
we know
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late in the race we came in for an
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unexpected stop I knew at that point
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that we had a vowed a 10 lap lead over
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the second place car which was the Chevy
00:11:22
Camaro Gene Felton
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and I know Gene's quite a good driver
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and the car was well prepared and seemed
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to run like a train the whole time and
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they were a real threat to us I kept
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thinking well it's a car that
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historically hasn't done well here So
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eventually I'll see him come down the
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pit Lane instead of buying the track and
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he'll stop and they'll make some major
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repairs and it just didn't happen
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this has got to be the most frustrating
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part of the Lamar race here I sit in the
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damn pit Lane genes out there clicking
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off the laps we've run good all day we
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got a terrific position in the class but
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now the car is tired I'm tired crew's
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tired they're working their hearts out
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trying to get me back out there all I
00:12:01
can hope is that they get it repaired in
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time I get back out and retain the lead
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[Music]
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there's no question about a pace that
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you fall into late in the race it's
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totally different from anything that you
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might experience in the front of the
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race
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I can remember thinking to myself how
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many times do all those little teeth on
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all those little gears in the
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transmission have to get stopped when
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you engage a synchromesh and coming down
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that into Mall San and thinking okay
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I've got two downshifts here shall I
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make them both or shall I skip a gear
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and save that Synchro mesh I mean you
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start thinking as if you were part of
00:12:41
the machine rather than than operating
00:12:43
the machine you start imagining that
00:12:45
your hand is an extension of the
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transmission and every time you move the
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stick you have a terrific amount of
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Sympathy for the machine itself I think
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I must have counted every single shift
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that I did for the last two or three
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hours of the race
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if you had frustration to frustration
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here we are with a five lap lead we've
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now lost fifth gear Gene's going to be
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going back out he's running like a
00:13:06
freight train down the street we will
00:13:08
now give up all of our straightaway
00:13:10
speed because of our loss of fifth gear
00:13:12
best we can do is keep a steady Pace
00:13:14
going hope the gene makes a few mistakes
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and I know this one's going to go right
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down to the wire
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[Music]
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[Music]
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foreign
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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there's no lonelier place than the
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driver's seat during the race
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particularly the last hours
00:14:30
increasing loneliness is the fact that
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at the end of the say the 22nd hour the
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batteries in your radio are pretty much
00:14:36
shot and the only touch that you have
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with anybody that can feed you any
00:14:39
information is maybe for 100 yards down
00:14:42
the pit straight
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[Music]
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stand for
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well here we are winding down the last
00:14:57
few laps and I never ever in my wildest
00:15:00
dreams would have thought that we would
00:15:01
have been able to finish let alone win
00:15:03
this race on only five tires
00:15:07
[Music]
00:15:15
the enthusiasm runs in waves it's very
00:15:18
very high in the beginning it wanes
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about
00:15:21
darkness which is oh gosh I don't know
00:15:24
10 30 11 o'clock here in France
00:15:27
and then pretty soon gee the race is
00:15:29
still going on they start to March back
00:15:30
in they fill the trees and the stands
00:15:32
and and they start getting closer and
00:15:34
closer and closer to the safety wall on
00:15:36
the fit straight and the second they see
00:15:38
the leading cars across the Finish Line
00:15:40
beginning the last lap they go over the
00:15:42
wall and there would be no possibility
00:15:44
of finishing that last lap prior to four
00:15:47
o'clock because the track is absolutely
00:15:49
jammed with people it must be very much
00:15:51
like the running of the bulls in
00:15:53
pomplono Spain they kind of hope that
00:15:54
the cars will come around but the
00:15:56
officials have been smart enough to stop
00:15:57
the lap just prior to its finish and put
00:15:59
everybody in the impound area so they
00:16:02
aren't really in any danger but I think
00:16:03
they'd like to do
00:16:04
[Music]
00:16:06
foreign
00:16:12
I thank you at that point joined the
00:16:16
crowds and uh if they want a little
00:16:18
piece of you I suppose you're willing to
00:16:20
fight it out with them because I don't
00:16:22
think that by my nature I'm a whole lot
00:16:24
different than the people that came here
00:16:26
to watch the race otherwise if I didn't
00:16:28
enjoy getting beat up just a little bit
00:16:30
I probably wouldn't have been here in
00:16:31
the first place
00:16:31
[Music]
00:16:38
[Applause]
00:16:43
[Music]
00:17:02
[Applause]
00:17:03
[Music]
00:17:25
foreign
00:17:35
[Music]
00:17:55
foreign
