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'Unscripted!'; Revving Up for the Daytona 500

Aired February 18, 2005 - 13:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, who needs no stinking script, right? Private accounts for Social Security one of the hot topics we're talking about with the Dolans today. Let's get right to them, Ken and Daria Dolan.
This is the secret to a happy marriage, folks. They're in the same room, but you'll notice they're on a split screen. This avoids getting split by having the split screen.

All right, folks. Good to see you.

KEN DOLAN, CO-HOST, "THE DOLANS UNSCRIPTED": Wait a minute, Miles. Wait a minute. Before you begin, Miles, may I just say something on a personal note?

O'BRIEN: Please do.

K. DOLAN: You look marvelous without a sport coat on.

O'BRIEN: Well, thank you. I happen to know you can't see CNN now. So how do you know?

DARIA DOLAN, CO-HOST, "THE DOLANS UNSCRIPTED": We're on to you.

O'BRIEN: One other question as long as we're talking about attire here, Is this a uniform, the Dolan uniform today?

K. DOLAN: Yes, the red memo.

D. DOLAN: Isn't that scary? You'd think we were married or something.

K. DOLAN: I wear a lot of Daria's clothes occasionally.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's get on with the blatant tease of your program, which is coming up tomorrow. Social insecurity, one of your hot-button issues. That is not a statement about your age, but social insecurity is definitely on the docket, if you will.

Go ahead and tell me what you've got.

K. DOLAN: We talk about that sort of a little bit almost every show, Miles, and we're trying is get an idea if in fact there is a crisis, and what, in fact, may be some of the solutions. The Bush -- and I'm apolitical, because I'm not a great fan of any politicians, but we haven't seen a plan. We're trying to wiggle our way through this. D. DOLAN: But this week we're going to weigh in with some of our viewers' e-mail, correct some of the misconceptions that viewers of CNN and our program have and talk a little bit about what was no matter than a lukewarm reception for the president's individual investment accounts on the part of Alan Greenspan, head of the Federal Reserve.

K. DOLAN: He said was not the answer to the long-term solution. He's not against it, but it's not the answer.

O'BRIEN: What he said really, he talked more about the cost of it than he did about the whole notion of a private account, which tells me that Alan Greenspan is tepid, at best, about this whole idea.

K. DOLAN: Yes, and he's a little bit concerned, too, Miles, about what the effect of borrowing 745 or a million, billion, or almost a trillion dollars to get this bill.

D. DOLAN: Trillion, they're talking $1 trillion to $2 trillion.

K. DOLAN: He's concerned what effect that might have on the markets.

O'BRIEN: I got to ask you both honestly, do you really understand him when he talks?

K. DOLAN: No, I don't understand a word.

D. DOLAN: I think what he said about Social Security was about the clearest the man has been. But you do get a headache after a few minutes.

O'BRIEN: You really have to spend time with it.

D. DOLAN: I think that's why Congress got the pay raises this past year.

K. DOLAN: Easy, Daria.

O'BRIEN: It's buried there in the Green-speak.

All right, let's talk about the virus -- I mean the IRS. You -- there's some additional money in the Bush budget to go after people who might, you know, thumb their nose a little bit.

K. DOLAN: I love when miles sticks to the scripts, don't you, I love this Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thumb their nose.

D. DOLAN: Yes, $500 million extra. But actually, the interview that we're going to do with the IRS commissioner tomorrow has three good-news scenarios.

K. DOLAN: Really? O'BRIEN: Yes, I'm holding on to my wallet, I just want you to know. When I hear good news and the IRS, I'm hanging on to the wallet. Go ahead.

K. DOLAN: That's right.

D. DOLAN: No, actually, I think they are all good news pieces. No, 1, we're going to instruct people who aren't aware of the benefits of e-filing and the ease of it, why they should do it. We're going to inform people who are afraid of the IRS in every way, shape, and form, that they won't hurt you and that they can direct deposit to your bank account any refund, which will nip six weeks' waste in the bud.

And let me put the third thing in that I think is good news -- and he's going to argue with me, I'm sure. The third piece is the $500 million allocated to the IRS in the president's budget will go for more enforcement to get all those tax dodgers, corporate or otherwise, who aren't paying their fair share. To me, that's good news.

O'BRIEN: Yes, but you know what happens. They go after these poor small-potatoes people and get the nickels and dimes and the fat cats get away with it. Come on. You know how that works.

K. DOLAN: I agree with miles.

D. DOLAN: Yes, but I think the spotlight is on them. I think there's too much news that we've all disseminated in this business regarding the people who should be paying who aren't paying.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's get on to a final thought here, Daytona, the NASCAR nation, so there you go, a shameless plug for, which time is that?

D. DOLAN: It's Michael Moore.

K. DOLAN: Here's what happened, Miles. Daria would not go to Daytona breach. She would not go to the breach.

O'BRIEN: Breach?

K. DOLAN: Daria would not go to Daytona Beach. So I was asked to go to Daytona Beach to clear up something which confused me, is I couldn't believe that one out of three adults follows NASCAR, 40 percent of the audience is women. It's a hundreds of million dollar business. And I'll be honest with you, Miles O'Brien, I didn't know why; I didn't get it.

O'BRIEN: And do you now? The big question is, you have strolled the pits, you got the VIP tour. Do you get it?

K. DOLAN: Is that Brad Pitt? No. That's me. Yes, Miles...

O'BRIEN: That's a good filter you have got on that camera. Key that photographer. K. DOLAN: Closer to Julia Roberts I think I look like. But Miles, the bottom line is, do I get it totally? No. Do I understand it more? I understand it very much more. And I want to share that with the audience tomorrow in a feature we did yesterday in Daytona Beach.

O'BRIEN: Well, there are two things you can't really get on television, the raw speed and just the raw noise of it. There's a rumble in your bones, it's like going to a shuttle launch in that respect.

K. DOLAN: Miles, I'll tell you the one thing that got me, we'll discuss it more yesterday, and I'm not kidding...

D. DOLAN: No. Tomorrow.

O'BRIEN: That would be tomorrow.

D. DOLAN: Yesterday's come and gone, dear.

O'BRIEN: And we don't care about yesterday.

K. DOLAN: Have we done the show yet? Have we done the show?

D. DOLAN: Miles, do you want to co-host?

(LAUGHTER)

K. DOLAN: Miles, here's the one thing that got me. And it will just take a second. When I'd watch it on TV, I would see cars coming around the oval. But they looked like they were going -- I knew they were racing. But when they take it from so far away, it doesn't look like they're going so fast.

O'BRIEN: Telephoto doesn't do it justice.

K. DOLAN: And I'll tell you, Miles. I stood in pit road. And I could not believe how fast 185 miles an hour is. You can barely get your head turned fast enough for the cars to go. It absolutely blew me away. It's unbelievably dangerous.

O'BRIEN: All right, all right, Dolans. That sounds like a fun show.

D. DOLAN: Thanks, we hope.

O'BRIEN: As a matter of fact, it's a show I'm going to TiVo. All right?

K. DOLAN: Thank you.

D. DOLAN:

O'BRIEN: I'm setting the TiVo right now. I've got it right here on the -- I can do it on the Web. All right. Don't miss those "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED" this weekend. And it really is unscripted, right? K. DOLAN: Yes.

D. DOLAN: It is, indeed.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: On split screen. Keep them together, split the screen. "THE DOLANS UNSCRIPTED" this weekend. The special guests on the program are -- the special guests are -- I need my script for that, IRS Commissioner Mark Everson. And they will be chasing those cheaters. They'll talk about that. among other things, that's 10:00 Eastern, "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED" on CNN -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Straight ahead, he was only one week old and weighed only a pound, 700 grams, actually, to be exact. Well, he made medical history. And up next, how a California doctor saved little Jared's heart and his life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Life after the Olympics. In today's edition of CNN's 25th anniversary series "Now & Then," we look at what gold medalist Dominique Dawes has accomplished since making history at the 1996 games.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Dominique Dawes tumbled into the spotlight during the 1996 Olympics as part of the magnificent seven gold medal-winning gymnastics team. "Awesome Dawesome" became the first African-American to win an individual gymnastics medal with the bronze in the floor exercise.

DOMINIQUE DAWES, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: It just meant a lot to do it for this country, my team and myself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After the games in Atlanta, Dawes turned heads on Broadway, dabbled in acting and modeling and cartwheeled her way through a Prince music video.

She hung up her leotard in 1998 and started class at the University of Maryland, but soon realized that gymnastics was not quite out of her system. Dawes participated in her third Olympic games in 2000 in what she calls a once in a lifetime experience. Dawes is now 28, is completely retired from gymnastics and splits her time between coaching and motivational speaking.

DAWES: It's really going out there and teaching young girls what being fit is all about.

She's also president of the Women's Sports Foundation and has recently launched a new project called Go Girl Go.

DAWES: I feel like I do have to inspire and empower others. And that's why I found these different platforms, these different venues that I feel like I've been able to touch lives. (END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It is D-Day for the makers of many commonly prescribed pain medications. An FDA assembled panel meeting in Washington will decide today if the benefits of certain meds outweigh the risks. We've just learned that they have determined the arthritis med Celebrex can remain on the market, despite research that turned up a possible link to heart trouble. Celebrex is made by Pfizer.

Another company with a sizable stake in these decisions is Merck. It voluntarily pulled the painkiller Vioxx from the shelves last year. And the panel has heard three days of mixed testimony from patients, doctors and drug makers. More announcements about more drugs expected at anytime. We're watching.

And we're listening to and ready to field your questions about the painkiller controversy and any other health issues. "HOUSE CALL WITH DR. SANJAY GUPTA" tomorrow morning at 8:30 Eastern. You ask, the doctor answers. Tune in to "HOUSE CALL" tomorrow morning.

O'BRIEN: An incredibly tiny baby with so many strikes against him. A last-ditch operation that only one doctor was willing to perform, and a mother asked to endure more anxiety in a week than most of us face in a lifetime.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA LOURDES, BABY JERRICK'S MOTHER: What if I just pray hard that my baby reaches two pounds?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Baby Jerrick was born weighing around just a pound. And he also had a life-threatening heart defect. Doctors told his mother, Maria, who is also a pediatrician, to abandon hope.

LOURDES: I told them, you know, like, so you're not giving me any options here. You know, what is it that you want -- what's going to be the plan for the baby? It was very difficult. I was blocking a lot, and I was just saying, you know, like, I was just surrendering, whatever comes.

GUPTA: But there was one option left. And his name? Dr. Mohan Reddy, a pediatric heart surgeon at Stanford and the only one willing to do the operation. In a last-ditch effort, Jerrick was airlifted up the California coast. He was just a week old.

Jerrick suffered from what the surgeons call transposition of the great arteries. Simply, the large blood vessel that is supposed to take oxygenated blood to the body was switched with the blood vessel that takes blood to the lungs. And the body was literally starving for air. Fixing it would be risky, but the alternative was almost certain death. DR. V. MOHAN REDDY, LUCILE PACKARD CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: Just to give you an idea, we just took a picture of the baby with a finger next to the chest, and the whole baby's chest is pretty much the size of my finger. And the incision is probably the tip of my finger. That's how big the chest, whole chest is.

GUPTA: And the heart?

REDDY: I would say probably the size of, you know, a moderate- sized grape, maybe even smaller.

GUPTA: Still, after six hours, Dr. Reddy and his team completed a medical first. They switched the arteries back on what they believed is the smallest baby ever to survive this procedure. And at the same time, pushed back even further the boundaries of life and death.

REDDY: When you do cardiac surgery in children, you're always living on the edge. And unless you take risks, you aren't going to advance the field in order to make progress.

GUPTA: In this case, progress is measured in a healthy baby and a happy mother.

REDDY: It's very joyous in the sense it's very satisfying that we can help this little, tiny baby.

LOURDES: I'm a mother. I think I was always looking for the good side of it.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Now, doctors tell Sanjay the prognosis for Jerrick is good. He's not out of the woods yet, of course, but there's a good chance he will live a full, normal life -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So what do you think, is the Daytona 500 going high class? Steve?

STEVE OVERMYER, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, as if high octane isn't enough, yes, they're definitely going high class. Daytona International Speedway is ready to rev things up for the weekend. The Daytona 500 -- the cars are running hot and the fans out here? Well, they're having a pretty good time, as well. We're going to show you exactly why coming up. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right, Nascar fans, and I know there's a lot of you out there. Your long, cold winter is over and the 2005 season kicks off, like they all do, with the Daytona 500, of course. It's this weekend, so stop shining your chrome for a minute as we talk Daytona with Nascar -- and Nascar, rather -- with Steve Overmyer from CNN Sports. Hi, Steve. OVERMYER: How you doing, Kyra? Well, today is obviously a very important day, at least for for the cup drivers, because right now they're running their final practice session. And actually, after this practice session, the teams will not be able to touch the cars again throughout the weekend. So very important for them to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) know what the proper setup is right about now.

As for the fans, a pretty good day, as well, because they can at least come to the infield and take advantage of the new major renovation that we've seen at the infield here at Daytona International Speedway. As a matter of fact, not only are they going to experience some of the racing, they'll actually get a new experience inside the infield as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OVERMYER (voice-over): The International Speedway's infield has always been fan friendly. The fans just got an upgrade. Welcome to Fan Zone, a $50 million addition to the speedway built especially for fans. It features a big screen TV, a bird's eye view of Pit Row and windows to every garage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this is incredible. I've been here the last ten years and it wasn't anything like this.

OVERMYER: At the heart of the infield addition is the Bistro, providing culinary treats that is may be new to some race fans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's got crabs and it's green and it tastes good.

OVERMYER (on camera): Is it a bernaise sauce with it, too?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'd have to talk to the chef behind there. I don't know what he put in. All I can tell you is it was excellent.

OVERMYER (voice-over): Even if your appetite won't be quenched by delicacies like "Days of Chocolate Thunder," you can always fall back on the classic stuffed swine intestine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OVERMYER: Yes, Kyra, the delicacies here at Daytona International Speedway. Now if you want to come out there on race day, you're going to be shelling out 85 bucks on top of the price of admission as well. These fans obviously taking this to the new extreme as well. Now part of this is going to be -- fans are going to be allowed on top of the garages. Cars are going by right now.

They were giving the business to one of the drivers yesterday, Kevin Harvick, who actually caused a wreck. They were apparently throwing some stuff down on the crews. So I think these pit crews are going to have to start worrying about whether or not they want some umbrellas to keep the beer from being poured on them in these new fans. PHILLIPS: It's unbelievable. It's like a basketball brawl. I know we have to do sort of time our talk because of the cars making it around the track, but Steve, do me a favor. Try and find my sweetheart Elliott Sadler for me, will you? Will you give him a big kiss for me?

OVERMYER: No, I will not. But I will say that you owe him a kiss.

PHILLIPS: Oh, really? Oh, we better keep that a secret. Don't tell my family.

OVERMYER: All right.

PHILLIPS: All right. Steve Overmyer. We'll be tracking Daytona all weekend, of course. Thanks -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Kyra, he may be breathing those fumes there in Pit Row, but he's not going to give him a kiss, OK? You know, we need to get him a headset down there, don't you think?

PHILLIPS: But it's for me. Yes, no kidding. Did you see him put the mike up closer to his mouth, but doesn't matter.

O'BRIEN: I'll fly down my aviation headset for him, just so I can...

PHILLIPS: There you go.

O'BRIEN: Why aren't you at the race? Why aren't you going to the race?

PHILLIPS: I know, I know. I got plans this weekend, what can I tell you?

O'BRIEN: All right. Gosh, I guess they'll try to do without you. Somehow.

All right, well, he's one of the men responsible for the spectacular growth of Nascar's popularity. Coming up at 3:00 Eastern, we'll talk with the king of the race track. Who else would it be? Richard Petty. Find out how he hopes to make an impact on this year's big race.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired February 18, 2005 - 13:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, who needs no stinking script, right? Private accounts for Social Security one of the hot topics we're talking about with the Dolans today. Let's get right to them, Ken and Daria Dolan.
This is the secret to a happy marriage, folks. They're in the same room, but you'll notice they're on a split screen. This avoids getting split by having the split screen.

All right, folks. Good to see you.

KEN DOLAN, CO-HOST, "THE DOLANS UNSCRIPTED": Wait a minute, Miles. Wait a minute. Before you begin, Miles, may I just say something on a personal note?

O'BRIEN: Please do.

K. DOLAN: You look marvelous without a sport coat on.

O'BRIEN: Well, thank you. I happen to know you can't see CNN now. So how do you know?

DARIA DOLAN, CO-HOST, "THE DOLANS UNSCRIPTED": We're on to you.

O'BRIEN: One other question as long as we're talking about attire here, Is this a uniform, the Dolan uniform today?

K. DOLAN: Yes, the red memo.

D. DOLAN: Isn't that scary? You'd think we were married or something.

K. DOLAN: I wear a lot of Daria's clothes occasionally.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's get on with the blatant tease of your program, which is coming up tomorrow. Social insecurity, one of your hot-button issues. That is not a statement about your age, but social insecurity is definitely on the docket, if you will.

Go ahead and tell me what you've got.

K. DOLAN: We talk about that sort of a little bit almost every show, Miles, and we're trying is get an idea if in fact there is a crisis, and what, in fact, may be some of the solutions. The Bush -- and I'm apolitical, because I'm not a great fan of any politicians, but we haven't seen a plan. We're trying to wiggle our way through this. D. DOLAN: But this week we're going to weigh in with some of our viewers' e-mail, correct some of the misconceptions that viewers of CNN and our program have and talk a little bit about what was no matter than a lukewarm reception for the president's individual investment accounts on the part of Alan Greenspan, head of the Federal Reserve.

K. DOLAN: He said was not the answer to the long-term solution. He's not against it, but it's not the answer.

O'BRIEN: What he said really, he talked more about the cost of it than he did about the whole notion of a private account, which tells me that Alan Greenspan is tepid, at best, about this whole idea.

K. DOLAN: Yes, and he's a little bit concerned, too, Miles, about what the effect of borrowing 745 or a million, billion, or almost a trillion dollars to get this bill.

D. DOLAN: Trillion, they're talking $1 trillion to $2 trillion.

K. DOLAN: He's concerned what effect that might have on the markets.

O'BRIEN: I got to ask you both honestly, do you really understand him when he talks?

K. DOLAN: No, I don't understand a word.

D. DOLAN: I think what he said about Social Security was about the clearest the man has been. But you do get a headache after a few minutes.

O'BRIEN: You really have to spend time with it.

D. DOLAN: I think that's why Congress got the pay raises this past year.

K. DOLAN: Easy, Daria.

O'BRIEN: It's buried there in the Green-speak.

All right, let's talk about the virus -- I mean the IRS. You -- there's some additional money in the Bush budget to go after people who might, you know, thumb their nose a little bit.

K. DOLAN: I love when miles sticks to the scripts, don't you, I love this Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thumb their nose.

D. DOLAN: Yes, $500 million extra. But actually, the interview that we're going to do with the IRS commissioner tomorrow has three good-news scenarios.

K. DOLAN: Really? O'BRIEN: Yes, I'm holding on to my wallet, I just want you to know. When I hear good news and the IRS, I'm hanging on to the wallet. Go ahead.

K. DOLAN: That's right.

D. DOLAN: No, actually, I think they are all good news pieces. No, 1, we're going to instruct people who aren't aware of the benefits of e-filing and the ease of it, why they should do it. We're going to inform people who are afraid of the IRS in every way, shape, and form, that they won't hurt you and that they can direct deposit to your bank account any refund, which will nip six weeks' waste in the bud.

And let me put the third thing in that I think is good news -- and he's going to argue with me, I'm sure. The third piece is the $500 million allocated to the IRS in the president's budget will go for more enforcement to get all those tax dodgers, corporate or otherwise, who aren't paying their fair share. To me, that's good news.

O'BRIEN: Yes, but you know what happens. They go after these poor small-potatoes people and get the nickels and dimes and the fat cats get away with it. Come on. You know how that works.

K. DOLAN: I agree with miles.

D. DOLAN: Yes, but I think the spotlight is on them. I think there's too much news that we've all disseminated in this business regarding the people who should be paying who aren't paying.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's get on to a final thought here, Daytona, the NASCAR nation, so there you go, a shameless plug for, which time is that?

D. DOLAN: It's Michael Moore.

K. DOLAN: Here's what happened, Miles. Daria would not go to Daytona breach. She would not go to the breach.

O'BRIEN: Breach?

K. DOLAN: Daria would not go to Daytona Beach. So I was asked to go to Daytona Beach to clear up something which confused me, is I couldn't believe that one out of three adults follows NASCAR, 40 percent of the audience is women. It's a hundreds of million dollar business. And I'll be honest with you, Miles O'Brien, I didn't know why; I didn't get it.

O'BRIEN: And do you now? The big question is, you have strolled the pits, you got the VIP tour. Do you get it?

K. DOLAN: Is that Brad Pitt? No. That's me. Yes, Miles...

O'BRIEN: That's a good filter you have got on that camera. Key that photographer. K. DOLAN: Closer to Julia Roberts I think I look like. But Miles, the bottom line is, do I get it totally? No. Do I understand it more? I understand it very much more. And I want to share that with the audience tomorrow in a feature we did yesterday in Daytona Beach.

O'BRIEN: Well, there are two things you can't really get on television, the raw speed and just the raw noise of it. There's a rumble in your bones, it's like going to a shuttle launch in that respect.

K. DOLAN: Miles, I'll tell you the one thing that got me, we'll discuss it more yesterday, and I'm not kidding...

D. DOLAN: No. Tomorrow.

O'BRIEN: That would be tomorrow.

D. DOLAN: Yesterday's come and gone, dear.

O'BRIEN: And we don't care about yesterday.

K. DOLAN: Have we done the show yet? Have we done the show?

D. DOLAN: Miles, do you want to co-host?

(LAUGHTER)

K. DOLAN: Miles, here's the one thing that got me. And it will just take a second. When I'd watch it on TV, I would see cars coming around the oval. But they looked like they were going -- I knew they were racing. But when they take it from so far away, it doesn't look like they're going so fast.

O'BRIEN: Telephoto doesn't do it justice.

K. DOLAN: And I'll tell you, Miles. I stood in pit road. And I could not believe how fast 185 miles an hour is. You can barely get your head turned fast enough for the cars to go. It absolutely blew me away. It's unbelievably dangerous.

O'BRIEN: All right, all right, Dolans. That sounds like a fun show.

D. DOLAN: Thanks, we hope.

O'BRIEN: As a matter of fact, it's a show I'm going to TiVo. All right?

K. DOLAN: Thank you.

D. DOLAN:

O'BRIEN: I'm setting the TiVo right now. I've got it right here on the -- I can do it on the Web. All right. Don't miss those "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED" this weekend. And it really is unscripted, right? K. DOLAN: Yes.

D. DOLAN: It is, indeed.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: On split screen. Keep them together, split the screen. "THE DOLANS UNSCRIPTED" this weekend. The special guests on the program are -- the special guests are -- I need my script for that, IRS Commissioner Mark Everson. And they will be chasing those cheaters. They'll talk about that. among other things, that's 10:00 Eastern, "DOLANS UNSCRIPTED" on CNN -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Straight ahead, he was only one week old and weighed only a pound, 700 grams, actually, to be exact. Well, he made medical history. And up next, how a California doctor saved little Jared's heart and his life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Life after the Olympics. In today's edition of CNN's 25th anniversary series "Now & Then," we look at what gold medalist Dominique Dawes has accomplished since making history at the 1996 games.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Dominique Dawes tumbled into the spotlight during the 1996 Olympics as part of the magnificent seven gold medal-winning gymnastics team. "Awesome Dawesome" became the first African-American to win an individual gymnastics medal with the bronze in the floor exercise.

DOMINIQUE DAWES, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: It just meant a lot to do it for this country, my team and myself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After the games in Atlanta, Dawes turned heads on Broadway, dabbled in acting and modeling and cartwheeled her way through a Prince music video.

She hung up her leotard in 1998 and started class at the University of Maryland, but soon realized that gymnastics was not quite out of her system. Dawes participated in her third Olympic games in 2000 in what she calls a once in a lifetime experience. Dawes is now 28, is completely retired from gymnastics and splits her time between coaching and motivational speaking.

DAWES: It's really going out there and teaching young girls what being fit is all about.

She's also president of the Women's Sports Foundation and has recently launched a new project called Go Girl Go.

DAWES: I feel like I do have to inspire and empower others. And that's why I found these different platforms, these different venues that I feel like I've been able to touch lives. (END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It is D-Day for the makers of many commonly prescribed pain medications. An FDA assembled panel meeting in Washington will decide today if the benefits of certain meds outweigh the risks. We've just learned that they have determined the arthritis med Celebrex can remain on the market, despite research that turned up a possible link to heart trouble. Celebrex is made by Pfizer.

Another company with a sizable stake in these decisions is Merck. It voluntarily pulled the painkiller Vioxx from the shelves last year. And the panel has heard three days of mixed testimony from patients, doctors and drug makers. More announcements about more drugs expected at anytime. We're watching.

And we're listening to and ready to field your questions about the painkiller controversy and any other health issues. "HOUSE CALL WITH DR. SANJAY GUPTA" tomorrow morning at 8:30 Eastern. You ask, the doctor answers. Tune in to "HOUSE CALL" tomorrow morning.

O'BRIEN: An incredibly tiny baby with so many strikes against him. A last-ditch operation that only one doctor was willing to perform, and a mother asked to endure more anxiety in a week than most of us face in a lifetime.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has their story.

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MARIA LOURDES, BABY JERRICK'S MOTHER: What if I just pray hard that my baby reaches two pounds?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Baby Jerrick was born weighing around just a pound. And he also had a life-threatening heart defect. Doctors told his mother, Maria, who is also a pediatrician, to abandon hope.

LOURDES: I told them, you know, like, so you're not giving me any options here. You know, what is it that you want -- what's going to be the plan for the baby? It was very difficult. I was blocking a lot, and I was just saying, you know, like, I was just surrendering, whatever comes.

GUPTA: But there was one option left. And his name? Dr. Mohan Reddy, a pediatric heart surgeon at Stanford and the only one willing to do the operation. In a last-ditch effort, Jerrick was airlifted up the California coast. He was just a week old.

Jerrick suffered from what the surgeons call transposition of the great arteries. Simply, the large blood vessel that is supposed to take oxygenated blood to the body was switched with the blood vessel that takes blood to the lungs. And the body was literally starving for air. Fixing it would be risky, but the alternative was almost certain death. DR. V. MOHAN REDDY, LUCILE PACKARD CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: Just to give you an idea, we just took a picture of the baby with a finger next to the chest, and the whole baby's chest is pretty much the size of my finger. And the incision is probably the tip of my finger. That's how big the chest, whole chest is.

GUPTA: And the heart?

REDDY: I would say probably the size of, you know, a moderate- sized grape, maybe even smaller.

GUPTA: Still, after six hours, Dr. Reddy and his team completed a medical first. They switched the arteries back on what they believed is the smallest baby ever to survive this procedure. And at the same time, pushed back even further the boundaries of life and death.

REDDY: When you do cardiac surgery in children, you're always living on the edge. And unless you take risks, you aren't going to advance the field in order to make progress.

GUPTA: In this case, progress is measured in a healthy baby and a happy mother.

REDDY: It's very joyous in the sense it's very satisfying that we can help this little, tiny baby.

LOURDES: I'm a mother. I think I was always looking for the good side of it.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Now, doctors tell Sanjay the prognosis for Jerrick is good. He's not out of the woods yet, of course, but there's a good chance he will live a full, normal life -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So what do you think, is the Daytona 500 going high class? Steve?

STEVE OVERMYER, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, as if high octane isn't enough, yes, they're definitely going high class. Daytona International Speedway is ready to rev things up for the weekend. The Daytona 500 -- the cars are running hot and the fans out here? Well, they're having a pretty good time, as well. We're going to show you exactly why coming up. Stick around.

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PHILLIPS: All right, Nascar fans, and I know there's a lot of you out there. Your long, cold winter is over and the 2005 season kicks off, like they all do, with the Daytona 500, of course. It's this weekend, so stop shining your chrome for a minute as we talk Daytona with Nascar -- and Nascar, rather -- with Steve Overmyer from CNN Sports. Hi, Steve. OVERMYER: How you doing, Kyra? Well, today is obviously a very important day, at least for for the cup drivers, because right now they're running their final practice session. And actually, after this practice session, the teams will not be able to touch the cars again throughout the weekend. So very important for them to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) know what the proper setup is right about now.

As for the fans, a pretty good day, as well, because they can at least come to the infield and take advantage of the new major renovation that we've seen at the infield here at Daytona International Speedway. As a matter of fact, not only are they going to experience some of the racing, they'll actually get a new experience inside the infield as well.

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OVERMYER (voice-over): The International Speedway's infield has always been fan friendly. The fans just got an upgrade. Welcome to Fan Zone, a $50 million addition to the speedway built especially for fans. It features a big screen TV, a bird's eye view of Pit Row and windows to every garage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this is incredible. I've been here the last ten years and it wasn't anything like this.

OVERMYER: At the heart of the infield addition is the Bistro, providing culinary treats that is may be new to some race fans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's got crabs and it's green and it tastes good.

OVERMYER (on camera): Is it a bernaise sauce with it, too?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'd have to talk to the chef behind there. I don't know what he put in. All I can tell you is it was excellent.

OVERMYER (voice-over): Even if your appetite won't be quenched by delicacies like "Days of Chocolate Thunder," you can always fall back on the classic stuffed swine intestine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OVERMYER: Yes, Kyra, the delicacies here at Daytona International Speedway. Now if you want to come out there on race day, you're going to be shelling out 85 bucks on top of the price of admission as well. These fans obviously taking this to the new extreme as well. Now part of this is going to be -- fans are going to be allowed on top of the garages. Cars are going by right now.

They were giving the business to one of the drivers yesterday, Kevin Harvick, who actually caused a wreck. They were apparently throwing some stuff down on the crews. So I think these pit crews are going to have to start worrying about whether or not they want some umbrellas to keep the beer from being poured on them in these new fans. PHILLIPS: It's unbelievable. It's like a basketball brawl. I know we have to do sort of time our talk because of the cars making it around the track, but Steve, do me a favor. Try and find my sweetheart Elliott Sadler for me, will you? Will you give him a big kiss for me?

OVERMYER: No, I will not. But I will say that you owe him a kiss.

PHILLIPS: Oh, really? Oh, we better keep that a secret. Don't tell my family.

OVERMYER: All right.

PHILLIPS: All right. Steve Overmyer. We'll be tracking Daytona all weekend, of course. Thanks -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Kyra, he may be breathing those fumes there in Pit Row, but he's not going to give him a kiss, OK? You know, we need to get him a headset down there, don't you think?

PHILLIPS: But it's for me. Yes, no kidding. Did you see him put the mike up closer to his mouth, but doesn't matter.

O'BRIEN: I'll fly down my aviation headset for him, just so I can...

PHILLIPS: There you go.

O'BRIEN: Why aren't you at the race? Why aren't you going to the race?

PHILLIPS: I know, I know. I got plans this weekend, what can I tell you?

O'BRIEN: All right. Gosh, I guess they'll try to do without you. Somehow.

All right, well, he's one of the men responsible for the spectacular growth of Nascar's popularity. Coming up at 3:00 Eastern, we'll talk with the king of the race track. Who else would it be? Richard Petty. Find out how he hopes to make an impact on this year's big race.

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