Honda to the IRL ?

[CrewChief]

Honda's Robert Clarke said he would take "a wait-and-see approach" to the Pook era. But Clarke said he has been more impressed with IRL's leaders, whom he met with again Wednesday.

"They've got a business plan that CART has never had," he said.

from the indystar.com site

Anybody here think that maybe Honda will be coming to the IRL ?

[JoeBob]

Here's a link to the full story on Honda's Press Conference: http://www.seventhgear.com/topstorie...hp?news_id=526

Clarke addressed Honda's abrupt announcement of its departure from the CART FedEx series, made last September. "Our involvement in North American motorsports is still not clear. Since September, we have found a variety of options to keep HPD occupied and Honda involved in racing of one type or another. I was out at Fontana yesterday," he admitted, "looking around. It was a fact-gathering mission to discuss our various options in the coming years.

"We were painfully blunt with our announcement last year and, while Honda is pleased with CART's organizational changes and will give every benefit of doubt, we must remind everyone that trust is something easily lost and hard to regain," Clarke said. "We will look, listen and watch what happens in the FedEx series."

Combine that with Lee White's statement a while back about having to prepare for "Honda coming back" and it seems pretty clear that if Pook gets things straightened out, they'll be back in CART in 2004 after taking 2003 off.

[Mackie]

They could still announce for the IRL up to April and run in 2003, as well as CART, yes it is late but anyone thinking that neither Ford or Honda doesn't have at least designs or actual engines of this type in their R&D effort is fooling themselves. There is too much of a possibility of NASCAR going in this direction too, they have to be ready!

[mnkywrch]

I'd see Honda in both series, myself, especially if the CART motor isn't fundamentally different than the IRL motor.

[Racemind]

It's impossible. The CARTisans have told us time and time again that Honda will never build such a low-tech engine.

[mnkywrch]

Originally posted by Racemind:
<STRONG>It's impossible. The CARTisans have told us time and time again that Honda will never build such a low-tech engine.

</STRONG>

I'm sure 1,000 revs will make all the difference in the world for some of them.