HONDA KEEPS THE IRL RUNNING.

Byline: TIM HADDOCK Motor Sports

When the Indy Racing League first approached Honda Performance Development to provide every team in the series with engines, the response was far from optimistic.

``When the IRL asked us if we were able to move up our timetable, our first reaction was no way,'' said Robert Clarke, president of Honda Performance Development, which is based in Santa Clarita. ``In the end, we came back and said yeah, we can. It's possible.''

Not that they had much of a choice. When Toyota decided to leave the IRL a year earlier than expected, Honda became the sole engine supplier to a series with 11 teams and at least 20 drivers who race on a regular basis. For the Indianapolis 500 in May, Honda will have to provide engines for at least 33 drivers. Before this year, Honda had never provided engines and support for more than 10 drivers.

As the IRL prepares to open its season Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, some teams have said the transition has been difficult. Some drivers said they like the fact that every team has the same equipment.

The series will become more of a drivers' league, says Valencia's Bryan Herta, a driver for Andretti Green Racing. Marlboro Team Penske driver Sam Hornish Jr. said he is excited that his team has Honda power after spending the last two years with an inferior Toyota plant that was down on horsepower and fuel mileage as compared with the Hondas.

``Things have changed a lot,'' said Herta, a Hart High of Newhall graduate and winner of two IRL races in his career. ``Obviously, before there were constant developments in engines and updates in equipment. It was almost a couple times a weekend with the updates. The focus has become reliability and parity.''

Clarke will be the first to say providing every team with a reliable and comparable engine is the goal of Honda since becoming the only engine provider in the series.

``Before we made that announcement, we put a lot of thought and study into our ability to support the entire field,'' Clarke said. ``We made the announcement with a calculated decision that, yes, we could, and so we've been following that plan. And I'm happy to say that we've been able to support the first two tests, the one January in Phoenix and the one at Homestead. Both have been in our mind, and I think the teams and the IRL would agree, that they have been an outstanding success.

``We've had no significant engine problems that caused teams not to be able to run. We've ended up with a few minor problems as we fine tune, particularly our electronics. But all in all, the engines are working very well. We're now at what we're calling or referring to as a 900-mile specification, and working our way toward a 1,200-mile spec which will be the final spec of the season.''

That 1,200-mile spec engine won't be available to IRL teams until the beginning of May for the Indianapolis 500. Then teams will be able, in theory, to use the same engine for two races, perhaps three.

It will be an interesting test of engine reliability. Clarke even said he is curious to see if the Indy 500 winner can also win the following race at Watkins Glen with the same engine.

But he is also dreading the part of the schedule between the races in Motegi, Japan, and Watkins Glen. Teams have to get their cars across the Pacific Ocean for the April 22 race in Japan, then get them to Indianapolis about a week later for the start of practice and qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.

The Indy 500 is a labor intensive endeavor that lasts a month and has historically been a time when drivers take out-of-character chances, which sometimes result in disaster. The race has the biggest field in the series; 33 cars start and sometimes 50 drivers try to qualify. In recent years, though, that number of qualifiers has dropped significantly.

Then comes Watkins Glen, where teams will be expected to use the same engines that they had in the Indy 500. Going from a speedway race to a road-course event requires teams to make significant changes to their equipment. Only this time around, those changes may be more difficult to make.

``It takes everything that we have to get through that time period,'' Clarke said. ``Any hiccup can be a major problem.''

Given Honda's performance record over the last two years, hiccups should not be a concern.

``We're ready to go racing,'' Clarke said. ``The final spec of the season will be introduced at the beginning of the month of May at Indy, and then we expect to uphold that engine specification through the rest of the year.''

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BY TIM HADDOCK