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©1998 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc. By Dan Proudfoot The IRL is reducing its cars' engine size starting in 2000, to 3.5 litres displacement from 4.0 litres. It also is changing the way they sound, reacting to criticism the cars of the IRL-era Indianapolis 500 sound all too much like leaf blowers. But it won't change the way the cars are financed, reasoning that the IRL is built on the principle that anyone can buy the basic engine parts and hot-rod their way into the Indianapolis 500. And that's why Al Jr. cannot go home just yet. Cousins Johnny and Robby are destined to maintain the Unser family legacy at the Brickyard while Al and his CART buddies meet in St. Louis with their factory-sealed, leased engines. "We're against the idea of teams leasing engines and not being allowed to take them apart," said Leo Mehl, IRL executive director. "We don't call that a level playing field. "There are 900 short tracks in the United States. There are lots of Tony Stewarts, Jeff Gordons out there. They just need the opportunity -- and any one of them can come to Indianapolis and be competitive by buying one of our engines." The IRL's new engine formula will be in effect for five years starting in 2000. CART is expected to change from its current 2.65-litre, turbocharged format beginning in 2000 as well, but was believed to be holding back until the IRL announced its package. If CART were to drop turbocharging and move to 3.5 litres, as has been speculated, it would be seen as a conciliatory step easing toward a return to participating in the 500. But the CART engine manufacturers are adamant they won't sell their V-8s, as the IRL requires. "We would love to get back to the 500," Ford's Scott Denby said yesterday. "But there are some issues and the big one is that we want to protect the technology in our engines and we can only do that through leasing. "It's a two-pronged thing in that we're also in Formula One as is Mercedes-Benz, and Honda's coming in and it's reported Toyota is, too. Although there's not a lot in common between our F-1 and CART engines, there is some." Dan Layton of Honda said, "We don't want to sell our technology. Beyond that, looking at the IRL engine rules, they're so restrictive it's not too interesting to Honda." Unser Jr. said in August that nothing compensates for not racing in the 500. Source: Canada Online, used by permission | ||
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