GLADEVILLE, Tenn. -- A new Chevrolet engine is on the way
for Indy Racing League drivers struggling to compete with their
Toyota and Honda rivals.
IRL officials announced Saturday before the Firestone Indy 200
that the Gen IV Chevy Indy V-8 will be driven first by Sam Hornish
Jr. at Michigan on July 27. The next Chevy driver in the points race
will join Hornish testing the engine Aug. 10 at St. Louis before
all teams get the new engine for Kentucky Speedway on Aug. 17.
Brian Barnhart, IRL's senior vice president of racing
operations, called it a major change.
"We are facing unprecedented circumstances as well. Toyota and
Honda have joined the series and raised the bar of competition, and
it was clear all year long that GM has faced a points deficiency,''
Barnhart said.
NASCAR has been criticized for tinkering too much with
specifications during the season to help struggling teams. Barnhart
said the IRL will not hesitate to act again if necessary.
"Not if the situation's the same and we have someone else
halfway through the season and haven't led a lap. I'll do what I
can to help them as well,'' Barnhart said.
Vitor Meira was the top driver using a Chevy engine in the
lineup at Nashville Superspeedway, and he was 15th. Hornish, the
defending two-time IRL champion, started 20th as Chevy-powered cars
filled six of the bottom seven slots in the grid.
Hornish and the Pennzoil Panther Racing team tested the new
engine at Chicago, Kansas and at Michigan, running approximately
1,000 miles. Barnhart said they ran competitive speeds in testing
at Kansas the day after Bryan Herta won July 6 with a Honda-powered
engine.
Drivers using Chevy engines had been hoping for changes. Hornish
won five races last season, but he ranks just eighth with just two
top five finishes. Hornish had complained before the season about
the lack of horsepower, and he said he thinks the new engine will
fix the problems.
"Change is not very quick when it comes to anything as far as
engine stuff because you have to test it to prove the reliability.
The last thing you want to do is put something out there that's a
little faster but not very reliable,'' he said.
The phase-in plan is designed to help GM and Chevy improve
reliability of the engine before going into mass production. That
means teams like Red Bull Cheever Racing, whose driver Buddy Rice
is 12th in the points, will have to wait until Kentucky.
"It's like the old story in the Bible about King Solomon,''
team owner Eddie Cheever said of the delay. "It's better to have
the whole baby instead of half the baby. At least we're at a
starting point.''
Roger Penske, whose drivers Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran
use Toyota engines, said it was easy to see that Chevrolet had not
been competitive. But he said it is very tough to introduce an
engine mid-season.
"It'll be very interesting to see. Obviously, Hornish has been
handicapped this year with the engine that he's had. We've been
that way too before,'' Penske said.
Fast company
It can't be easy being teammates with Scott Dixon.
The Team Target driver is the IRL's only multiple winner this
season with three victories in eight races, and he has won three
consecutive poles after landing the top spot for the Firestone Indy
200.
Dixon also trails Tony Kanaan by 31 points in the IRL points
race. But ask him about trying to stay consistent for that
season-long race, and he starts talking about his teammate, Tomas
Scheckter.
"We've had a great run I think so far. Tomas is probably due
for one. He's been very fast,'' Dixon said.
Scheckter, tied for ninth in the points race, has finished in
the top five once and in the top 10 four times. But ask him about
whether or not he's due for a victory, he admits it only almost
grudgingly and starts talking about -- Dixon.
"We've led a lot of laps, me and him, and have been so
competitive. We've been such a great team this year, and
unfortunately, I haven't got a win. He's done an unbelievable job.
He's got three wins, and hopefully I can follow up with some as
well,'' Scheckter said.
Sweet Home ... Sweden?
Kenny Brack, the 1999 Indianapolis 500 champ,
has an unusual pre-race routine. He took to the stage hours before
the race with his band, Pioneer presents Kenny Brack and the
Subwoofers in a performance of rock covers that featured guitarist
Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The Swede has played guitar for 20 years, and his band rehearsed
at a Nashville studio on Thursday night because the Nashville show
was recorded for a CD to be released in August to benefit CARA
Charities.
Brack, who is fifth in the points race and started ninth at
Nashville, said the music helps him relax.
"I have a few very skilled musicians in the band that just
carries on. It doesn't depend on me in any way. They're taking care
of everything, and we just have fun. It's no extra load or anything
like that. I can focus on the racing just as much as I could
without doing the music, so it's good fun,'' he said.
Miscellaneous
Wynonna Judd performed a pre-race concert. ...
Two of the NFL's Tennessee Titans were in the pit of Target Chip
Ganassi Racing as a guest of Tomas Scheckter, and it was the first
such experience for tight end Shad Meier and linebacker Peter
Sirmon.