IRL field to grow?
"The only assurance I can give you is I think the biggest hurdle to participation is cost," Barnhart said. "Anything that we can do that can have this significant of a reduction in a team's cost to participate is certainly a move in the right direction and will help encourage participation.
"By reducing full-season costs by those amounts, both in '06 and again in '07, you should remove some of the hurdles or barriers to participation in the series."
"We haven't finalized exactly the costs associated with Indy-only programs yet," he added, "but I can assure you based on the direction and conversations that we've been having, there will also be a significant reduction in the cost of Indy-only programs, whether it's a full month of May program or one that takes place the second week of the month of May.
"But to help, again, accommodate teams, whether it's your full-time teams running additional cars or whether it's the one-offs at Indy like we've had in the past the cost to participate Indy-only programs will also be significantly reduced. " [Editor's Note: Unfortunately this is just a pipe dream. Why? Because crash damage in the 'pack racing' IRL will increase in 2006 as cars will be running even closer together with a spec engine and less HP. With subsidies from Honda, Chevy and Toyota now gone, many teams will find themselves in a bankrupt situation before long.]