Kalkhoven and Forsythe to buy another engine company?

UPDATE #2 This rumor is downgraded to 'false' today. AutoRacing1.com has verified that the source of this rumor, J. Wilke, a staunch IRL supporter, was wrong, which was to be expected.

02/22/06 Getting some reports that John Menard is denying such a deal, so take this rumor with a grain of salt right now.

02/21/06 Sometimes being too successful too fast can be a bad thing. Rumor has it that Kevin Kalkhoven and Jerry Forsythe are in talks with John Menard about buying Menard Engine Group (MEG) as Kalkhoven needs a US based rebuilder to help with the large volume of Atlantics engines that must be rebuilt and serviced. Between doing the entire Champ Car grid, the entire 40-car Atlantics grid, plus their commercial business in Torrance, Cosworth might be running at full-tilt says the rumor mill, and just as Honda engaged Ilmor to help with its IRL engine program, might Cosworth absorb John Menard's engine business to help with their workload?

We hear MEG has recently laid off 4-5 employees including Sonny Meyer because they have little work. Sonny was laid off because his son Butch took the IPS engine deal to Speedway Engines. We are told the only thing MEG has going right now is the NASCAR truck engine for one of the female drivers and they are doing Charley Menard's late-model engines, so they may have the excess capacity Kalkhoven and Forsythe might be looking for. Stay tuned as we try to run this rumor to ground.