IndyCar shakedown begins today

Don't call it testing, Dan Wheldon said Sunday of IndyCar's new car which will debut today at Mid-Ohio.

"It's a shakedown," he said.

Only a few people have seen the car, which was built in Parma, Italy, with finishing touches applied in Indianapolis. Today's session will be closed to the public, although photographs likely will leak out because there will be people at the track when the car rolls out.

Wheldon, the Indianapolis 500 winner chosen to drive the car in the first six weeks of testing, said he has been sworn to secrecy about the program.

Erik Berkman, the president of Honda Performance Development, called IndyCar's controlled unveiling of information "a striptease."

Joked Berkman of the debut: "I just hope (our engine) runs."

The new engines are turbocharged. Honda's is a 2.2-liter V6, a deviation from the V8 currently used. The Chevrolet and Lotus engines aren't ready yet.

Tests later this month will be held at Texas Motor Speedway and Infineon Raceway. The first "open" test will be at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in late September.

Berkman said a series of seven tests organized by Honda and Chevrolet will start in October. The engine manufacturers will own the cars they do their initial tests with. IndyStar