It is somewhat strange that the news out of Indianapolis on Thursday hinted at the possibility of some sort of solution to the CART-IRL Indy-car mess, because, only 24 hours earlier, Gary Morton had more-or-less predicted that it was going to happen.

Morton, of Stouffville, Ont., is a master racing-engine builder and a driver of some note. Most times he is chasing his dreams along the International Supermodified Association championship trail, but TSN viewers will recognize the name because of his frequent appearances in Can-Am midget races that are shown on the national network.

"They'll likely find a way of getting back together for Indianapolis," Morton said in a coversation on Wednesday. "In fact, they're halfway there. CART is not running the U.S. 500 on the same day as Indy, as they did last year. They're running a 200-mile [actually 300 mile] race at the new Gateway oval in St. Louis the day before the [Indianapolis] 500, but they're not going head-to-head with the big race. That's encouraging."

A truce could get Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony Geroge out of a huge bind. Indeed, an announcement expected next Friday on supply rules for IRL chassis and engines and possible changes to the 25-8 field rule for the 500 (25 of the 33 starting spots are guaranteed for IRL regulars) may open the door to participation by some CART teams and drivers in 1998.

When George, who'd tried for years to take over CART, announced the formation of the IRL in 1994, he aimed to do three things: slow down the cars, reduce the cost of Indy-car racing, and open the way for more American grass-roots racers (read USAC midget and sprint-car drivers) to make it to the big time.

He's failing on all three fronts.

Sure, the stock-block engines he mandated for the IRL are not, on paper, as powerful as the turbocharged racing creations used in the CART series. But racers are racers, and mechanics and engineers will always find a way to go faster. Arie Luyendyk went over 220 miles an hour in practice this week for today's run for the pole. That's only about 15 mph "slower" than the pole speed recorded by a turbo-powered car last year — not even a blink, at those speeds.

Second, Felix Sabates, the Winston Cup stock-car owner who's running Robby Gordon this year and who agreed to provide Gordon with an Indy-car ride in the 500, let the cat out of the bag in an interview with National Speed Sport News two weeks ago about what it's really costing him for this one race. When everything is totalled — car, engines, etc. — it comes to $2-million. So much for affordable racing. (Although it's done cheerfully, many of the IRL owners admit that they are up to their necks in debt and that's something that doesn't auger well for the league's future.)

Finally, and most important, Tony Stewart and Davey Hamilton are the only two "grass-roots" oval racers running regularly in the IRL. Sure, they'll probably paper the 500 field this year with some of the better-known oval guys — Steve Kinser and Joe Gosek, for example — driving IRL "house" cars, but instead of the rest of the field being made up of "A"-class foreign drivers, a la CART, the IRL is attracting a group of decidedly "B"-grade foreigners, and the word is already out among casual Indy-car fans that something is not kosher there.

So Tony George needs established CART Indy-car stars such as Al Unser Jr. and Michael Andretti. Badly. But the only way he's going to get them is to make it possible for owners such as Roger Penske and Carl Haas (and his partner, Paul Newman) to continue doing what they're doing in CART and race at Indianapolis too.

So next Friday's announcement could possibly be something along these lines:

• Manufacturers such as Penske and Swift (whose drivers are Unser and Andretti, respectively) will be allowed to develop and build cars and engines for the IRL but will have to make them available to a minimum of, say, three other teams.
• There will still be guaranteed positions for IRL regulars, but there will likely only be spots for drivers in the top 10 in the points standing when the Indy rolls around.

There's only about 10 serious teams in CART anyway, so putting 23 starting spots up for grabs should be enough to get the Rahals, Patricks, Bettenhausens, Ganassis, Greens and Forsythes (plus Penske and Haas) to enter this one IRL race.

Tony George acknowledged as much this week, when asked about the rules statement expected next Friday. "I think in the future we will have Indy-only teams," he said, "and many of those teams may be what are considered CART teams today."

So George needs the CART teams and expects them to bite. And the CART teams need Indianapolis because even though they've hung tough, you can bet that sponsors like Marlboro, Budweiser, Texaco-Havoline, Miller, Kool and Target retail stores would give their eye teeth to once again have the teams they bankroll be part of what is billed as the Greatest Spectacle In Racing.

This way, it looks like it could happen.