Alex pulled into the run-off lane by the Festival Curves to spin some donuts, but stalled it and needed a push!

Come on baby, light my tyre!

"Obviously, it was a fantastic day for me," said Alex. "The championship has started very well and I'm certainly very happy that I've been able to take advantage of other people's misadventures."

"There is still plenty of time for me to go home with a grumpy face. Things can't always go this well all the time. We were obviously concerned [about pit strategy] before the race."

"I told the team, 'We have to play the odds,' and the odds are usually to follow the leader, but I think we were surprised a little bit when Bryan [Herta] came into the pits."

"At that point, I decided that wasn't the way to go and I'm pleased that our way turned out to be the right way. It was surprising to me to see Bryan, who had the best car and was leading, take the chance. Normally, that's a chance you take when you're running 14th."

"I'm absolutely not the best driver in the world. But I have to believe deep inside that I'm not worse than anybody, either. Otherwise, I'd better pick another job."

"But I still have much more to learn. Conditions were tough, there wasn't a lot of chance and opportunity to take a rest."

Second place driver Scott Pruett: "Actually, everything went pretty good. We had our own strategy, like Bryan said. When the first yellow came out we immediately went into a two-stop strategy which paid off good for us. I can't say enough for the Visteon guys."

"We've had a struggle all season. Between running out of gas, catching on fire, you name it - it's happened to us this year. It's nice to get things turned around here in Portland. Ford and especially Firestone have given us a great product, and we ran hard all day long."

Pruett's steering wheel showing buttons for talking on the radio (blue), maintaining the pit speed (red), push-to-pass (white), adjust the fuel mixture (right toggle) and turbo boost (left toggle).

What is 32.65?

Richie Hearn: "Any time you can get a top 10 after starting 23rd, it's a good day. I don't know exactly what had happened [at the start], but the whole group though the accident was going to the inside, when it actually went outside. It was like the seas parting open."

Al and Shelley Unser. Al achieved his best finish of the year in sixth and led eight laps of the race, allowing him to pass Mario Andretti for the record of the most laps led in Champ Car history.

"Our car is an infant - but it grew up a couple of years today."

Alex receives the race trophy.

Pruett goes wild with the champagne - actually a bottle of Domaine Chandon methode champenoise sparkling wine covered by a big FedEx label.

Made largely from the 1992 vintage, this cuvée is characterized by an early harvest that produced fruit with good flavors and structure. Apple, pear and citrus predominate. Two years of aging bring out a subtle yeasty character and fruity, floral aromas of apple, pear and rose.

Another happy day for the team behind them, Doug starts to pack up the radio equipment.

Bobby placed sixth: "That was really wild in the first turn at the start. I'm sure you'll see my in-car camera shots in a lot of news highlights. I just saw Moore flying by in front of me. I never saw Bryan all day. He must have had a fast car."

Pete posing with Christian's ill-fated tires that never got him past the first turn.

Paul Tracy and Barry Green admire a bin full of broken bodywork. Says Paul: "I didn't really see what happened. There was a big accident in front of me and cars were in the air all around, there was nowhere for me to go. You can't get too aggressive at the start here, there's only so much room. It was a frustrating weekend. We had a good car and didn't get a chance to show it."