Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Two announcements bump CART to rear

Friday, May 24, 2002 | 9:02 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

The Indy Racing League on Thursday delivered a 1-2 punch that is sure to have rival Championship Auto Racing Teams reeling in their bout for American open-wheel dominance.

In back-to-back announcements at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IRL founder and president Tony George revealed that Honda would begin supplying engines to the IRL in 2003 and that the series had signed a three-year deal to race at Japan's Twin Ring Motegi. CART had raced at Motegi for the past five years and last month's race was the last under the contract.

Honda, which had announced last year that it was leaving American open-wheel racing at the end of this season, has contracted with Ilmor Engineering Inc., to design, develop and produce a new Honda Indy V-8 engine. Honda will become the IRL's fourth engine manufacturer, joining Toyota, Infiniti and Chevrolet.

The Honda announcement immediately sparked speculation that CART's Team Green, which fields Honda-powered carsfor drivers Michael Andretti, Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti, would jump to the IRL next season.

Kim Green, who manages Andretti's team and is the brother of team owner Barry Green, didn't exactly give CART a ringing endorsement when asked if Team Green would remain in CART.

"We are certainly in the middle of working on next year's program," Green said. "All I can say is we will be involved in motor sports."

If Team Green were to take its three cars to the IRL next year, it could serve as the death knell for CART, which has had only 20-car fields for its first three races this season.

George, who formed the IRL in 1996, was asked Thursday if he had driven the final nail in CART's coffin with the Honda announcement.

"I bring my hammer to work every day," he told the Associated Press before quickly adding, "I mean, we're trying to build our series every day."

A date has not been set for the IRL race in Japan, which would be the first IRL event held outside of the United States.

"Now that the Indy Racing League has a stable schedule in the United States, we are pleased to take racing based on the heritage of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race to Japan," George said. "It is especially fitting that our first international venue will be at Twin Ring Motegi, one of the finest ovals in the world."

Castroneves and his crew defeated Target Chip Ganassi Racing and driver Jeff Ward in the final. Marlboro Team Penske changed four tires and completed a simulated fueling of Castroneves' car in 8.555 seconds. Target Chip Ganassi Racing finished similar service for Ward in 10.3433 seconds.

"It's a team sport and I tell you, it's fantastic to have this special win," Castroneves said. "The Indy 500 is the best race in the world and for these guys here, winning Indy is good, too. But for these guys to win this, it's tops. They're the ones doing everything; I'm just pushing the brakes and leaving the pits."

The Penske team earned $42,500 for the victory, with $5,000 of that sum donated to charity.

Busch was fined for "actions detrimental to stock car racing" according to NASCAR.

"(The fine) was a bit harsh for what happened in a non-points event," Busch told NASCAR.com. "It was for the remarks after Saturday's event."

Childress was so irate about the incident -- and Busch's comments -- that he threatened to beat up Busch if he wrecks another one of his cars.

"And I can do it, I'm that mad," Childress told the Associated Press. "For (Busch) to go out publicly in two separate interviews and run his mouth ... he's not messing with just anybody. I've got enough on my mind besides some punk out there running his mouth."

"It's about as hard as I've ever hit and that includes that head-on deal at Pocono a couple of years back," Wallace said of Saturday's crash.

"What made it worse was the fact that I saw the whole thing unfold right in front of me and couldn't do anything about it. I saw the wall and knew it was going to be a hard hit -- and it definitely was that."

Flynn will become crew chief of Prudhomme's Blue Skoal Racing crew for driver Tommy Johnson Jr., effective immediately. Ed McCulloch, who had been handling the tuning chores for both Ron Capps' Green Skoal Racing Camaro and Tommy Johnson Jr.'s Blue car, will work strictly with Capps.

"Our goal in five years is to be the premier motor sports series in the world. Yes, that means compared to NASCAR and, yes, that means compared to Formula One."