Bobby Rahal (Truesports, cart, 1984-85)

“Adrian came from March Engineering, so you assumed he knew what he was doing. But he had never done ovals, so at first it was a big education for him. I think there are a lot of good engineers, but Adrian not only has the technical expertise but an intuition. You just can’t have your head buried in a computer; you have to see which way the wind’s blowing, and he was very good at understanding the big picture. When there’s five minutes left in qualifying you’ve got to make a decision, and Adrian was decisive.

“I have nothing but the highest regard for him. He’s one of those guys and there are very, very few of them with whom you could develop great communication. He almost knew what I was thinking or what I was going to say before I said it. We developed a really good rapport.

“In 1985 we had seven or eight pole positions, and it was just great. As a driver, you would come in, tell him what it was doing and work with him. He’d sit there, punch at the calculator a bit, have a think, and then put something on the car. It was the ultimate. If Adrian said it was good for three-tenths a lap, you’d try to get five-tenths. You just had that much faith in him. I think Adrian’s the best.”