“If the Indy Racing League didn’t have the Indianapolis 500, do you think it would have lasted more than six months? No chance.”

I wanted to have a career that would last a hundred years if possible.

Nothing compares to the Indianapolis 500.

The most important thing at Daytona is, are you going to have friends willing to work with you during the race as far as drafting?

As far as I’m concerned, Parnelli Jones was the greatest driver of his era. He had aggressiveness and also a finesse that no one else possessed. And he won with everything he put his hands on, including off-road.

The banked oval tracks are obsolete tracks for Indy cars.

I don’t want to go out there and do something 3,000 other people can do.

I don’t remember as a kid wanting to do or be anything else but drive something, be a race driver.

I think it’s counterproductive in many ways to pretend to know things you don’t.

A commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

The day of parochialism in sports is over. The world is too small for what people like to call ‘the good old days.’

I love technology – yes, I have fallen in love with older cars, but I’m all for new technology.

My last race was at Le Mans in 2000, my first race was in 1959, so I dodged a lot of bullets along the way, I can tell you that.

But every race conducted on real streets has a character of its own – Barcelona, Monaco, and now Long Beach.

If somebody around you or your family does not understand it, then that’s their problem. But if you do have a passion, an honest passion, just do it.

Staging Formula One is incredibly expensive.

You dream what you’re supposed to do.