IRL, CART May Find Peace in Our Time

Tony George doesn’t want to talk about it, and Andrew Craig says he’s not making any public statements about it, so perhaps there really is something to the talk about George’s Indy Racing League and Craig’s Championship Auto Racing Teams getting together on an engine rule that would bring them together for the Indianapolis 500.

CART manufacturers representing Ford Cosworth, Honda and Ilmor Mercedes-Benz, have agreed in principle on building normally aspirated racing engines that could be used in both CART and IRL races, thus making it possible for both groups to run in the Indy 500.

Nothing concrete can be decided, however, until the IRL discloses its engine rule for 2000 and beyond. The announcement will be made before the IRL awards banquet Nov. 21.

Current CART rules call for turbocharged engines that produce about 100 more horsepower than the IRL power plants, which are derivatives of high-performance passenger car engines. “It would be counterproductive to discuss it openly,” said Craig, president and chief executive officer of CART. “The process, if there is one, needs to be done behind closed doors. One thing I can say is that we will do nothing without full discussion with our engine manufacturers.”

The Indianapolis Star reported Sunday that the manufacturers had put a proposal on the table for IRL to study.

“That statement is incorrect,” Craig said. “As far as the current state of negotiations, that story was overstated.”

George, through spokesman Fred Nation, said he had been out of town for a week and did not want to talk about it.

“From what we understand, the CART rules makers are waiting until we announce our rules before making any commitments,” said Nation, IRL vice president.

Honda spokesman Dan Layton said, “The [CART] engine builders have agreed in principle, but I don’t want to get too optimistic. It’s a great idea, but I’m not sure if it will be accepted.”

Toyota, the fourth CART engine manufacturer, has not been involved in any agreement, according to motorsports manager Les Unger.

“There has been talk about getting back together ever since the split three years ago, but as far as we know, no one has set any concrete proposals,” he said.

One discussed theory is to use a mutual three-liter non-turbocharged engine, less powerful than IRL’s current four-liter engine.

“Both [organizations] are facing problems of excessive speeds,” said Ian Bisco, Cosworth vice president. “The problem is to reduce horsepower, but if CART knocks 100 horsepower off, it would work for ovals, but would make it difficult on road courses.”

The rumored plans call for the IRL to continue its all-oval series and CART to continue its international series that includes ovals, road courses and street circuits. The Indianapolis 500 would become something like motor racing’s Super Bowl, bringing together cars from the two series.

Major sticking points, no matter what engine specs are used, are the cost and method of using the engines.

In CART, all four manufacturers lease seven or eight new engines to teams at a cost of about $120,000 each, plus two or three used engines at $80,000 each. Teams are not permitted to work on the engines, which must be returned to the factory for repairs.

After each has been used for 500 miles, it must be returned and rebuilt at the cost of another $34,000.

At the end of the season, all engines must be returned to the manufacturers.

In the IRL, on the other hand, teams buy the engines from Oldsmobile or Nissan and do the maintenance and repair work themselves, or farm the work out to engine builders, such as Jack Roush and Lee Brayton.

“There is an enormous difference in expenses,” said Mai Lindstrom, IRL director of public relations. “If our teams had to meet CART leasing prices, it might put a lot of them out of business.”

Even if a compromise is reached, the earliest that CART drivers could compete at Indianapolis would be 2000.