HONDA TEAMS LEADING THE PACK GROUP AIMS TO WIN 14TH STRAIGHT TODAY AT FONTANA TRACK.

Byline: Tim Haddock Staff Writer

FONTANA - The way the Honda teams have been running this year, it's a wonder how they lost the first race of the Indy Racing League season.

That's been the only defeat for Honda in the 2004 campaign. Since the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in February, Honda has rattled off 13 straight victories, including the prestigious Indianapolis 500 and the territorial race in Twin Ring Motegi, Japan.

Honda, with its Honda Performance Development based in Santa Clarita, will try to make it 14 wins in a row in today's Toyota Indy 400 at California Speedway.

But the rise to the top of the IRL hasn't been an easy one for Honda. When it joined the IRL in 2003, it posted just two wins - the fewest of the three engine manufacturers that compete in the IRL.

After the first race of the 2004 season, it looked like Toyota was going to continue the streak it enjoyed a year earlier. Sam Hornish Jr. won the race in Miami in his Toyota-powered entry for Marlboro Team Penske.

But Honda came into the next race of the year, at Phoenix International Raceway, as the defending champs. Tony Kanaan won his only race of the 2003 season at the Arizona one-mile oval and successfully defended his victory. Honda hasn't looked back after that.

``Every time they saw the competition make a gain, Honda would make a gain,'' said Michael Andretti, co-owner of the Honda-powered Andretti Green Racing team. ``Right now, we're with the best guys out there. They approach it to win - not only to win, but dominate.''

The wins have been pretty evenly distributed among the Honda drivers. Andretti Green Racing teammates Kanaan, Dan Wheldon and Dario Franchitti have won a combined eight races. Kanaan, the IRL points leader, has a series-high three wins. Wheldon has also won three, including the race in Motegi, Japan. Franchitti has two.

``It was just a matter of time for the success of Honda,'' said Kanaan, who can wrap up the IRL championship with a fourth-place finish or better in the California Speedway race. ``It just goes down to a very, very good group of people working really hard to get one goal, which is to win. That's what they did.''

Rahal-Letterman Racing driver Buddy Rice has won three races, including the Indianapolis 500. Adrian Fernandez, who drives for his own Fernandez Racing, is the most recent IRL winner, taking the Chicagoland Speedway event three weeks ago. He has won a pair of races, too.

``The good news is Toyota is still working hard; they're still trying to fight,'' said Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves, the only Toyota driver in the top five in IRL points. ``Yeah, it's frustrating for everyone. Unfortunately, Honda has been very strong this year. They've been much better than us. Right now, they're ready to clinch the championship, obviously, but we're trying to just not give up.''

There were a lot of questions surrounding not only how well the Honda engines would perform, but also how all three would make it through the season. The IRL was making a midseason engine change for the Indianapolis 500, switching from 3.5 liters to 3.0 liters. The change was a concern for every driver and team on the series.

``It's amazing: Our 3.5-liter engine was so good at the start of the year. And we knew they put a lot of effort into it because they wanted to win Motegi in Japan,'' said Andretti Green Racing driver Bryan Herta, a Valencia resident and Hart High of Newhall graduate. ``That was really important to Honda, and we knew they put a lot of emphasis on that race.

``I think we were kind of wondering and worrying, maybe the 3.0-liter program was going to suffer as a result. Maybe we had an advantage because the other guys were already spending all their time on the 3.0-liter engine.''

The race in Motegi, Japan, was the last for the 3.5-liter engines. Every team was going to have a smaller, 3.0-liter engine for the Indy 500, and no one really knew how it was going to perform.

``Then, when we got to Indy, it became obvious whatever Honda was doing with the 3.5-liter engine was working in the new engine, too,'' Herta said. ``As a team, we don't really know where we're going to stand. Until you get on the track and race, you really don't know.''

Kanaan said he knew early on that Honda was going to have a more competitive package for the 2004 season. But Honda exceeded his expectations.

``Yeah, I would say it started pretty early, which is good, I think,'' Kanaan said. ``I went to Phoenix before we went to Motegi. I had the opportunity to try the latest 3.5 and the last 3.5-liter engine they made. And I felt it was great. I knew we had a very good possibility to win Motegi.

``So I would say from before Motegi, and then with the first phase of the 3.5, the last 3.5-liter engine, and then from Indy on, I knew it. I didn't expect us to dominate all the races, but I knew we had more than a lot of people. So I was pretty confident.''

Honda definitely has the edge in the IRL right now. But Herta said the other engine manufacturers can make up ground quickly and he doesn't want to see Honda relax.

``I don't think we ever assume that it's going to continue,'' Herta said. ``At any time Toyota or Chevy can find something in their engine that makes it a little better and suddenly we're playing catch-up again.

``Definitely last year, we spent the whole year playing catch-up. And it wasn't until really the very end of the season that I think we got on equal terms with Toyota and Chevy. This year, the expectations are greater. Probably as a manufacturer, Honda is having a better year than they would have ever dreamt.''

Tim Haddock, [phone]

timothy.haddock(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

British driver Dan Wheldon in his No. 26 Klein Tools car, left, runs in close order with Brazilian Tony Kanaan in his No. 11 Team 7-Eleven car in the afternoon practice session for the IRL Toyota Indy 400 at California Speedway in Fontana on Friday.

Reed Saxon/Associated Press