Overheard in Indy

Rumor has it that Honda would love a second engine manufacturer to enter the IRL. Honda wants a chance to push their engineering staff, so the reasoning goes, and values that experience over the marketing value of Indy. The word is that there is an ongoing effort to make this happen.

Word here is that the Champ Car chassis is even worse than the Paul Tracy accident would lead us to believe. (Tracy broke his back with a very minor impact.) And, the word here is that they are unable to compete on ovals, even with a "kit" to convert them from road racing setups. Of course this is coming from the IRL camp to help justify their desire to not merge with Champ Car. Tim Wohlford reporting from Indy