Infiniti to drop IRL engine program

June 14, 2002

INDIANAPOLIS -- Nissan North America, one of the original suppliers for the Indy Racing League, will no longer provide Infiniti engines to the IRL after this season.

The company said Friday its only racing program in 2003 will be with the Infiniti Pro Series, an IRL support series that begins competition this summer.

"The decision has to do with Infiniti's future business goals," said John Schilling, an Infiniti spokesman. "We've just announced a new Nissan 180 plan, a global plan, and participating in the IRL is not consistent with our goals."

The new plan targets a boost in production from 2.6 million vehicles to 3.6 million and elimination of a $3 billion debt by 2005. The company also plans to introduce 28 new models in the next few years.

Schilling said the Infiniti Pro Series fits in better with the company's plans because Nissan will provide stock Q45 engines to TWR, Tom Walkinshaw Racing, which now builds engines for Cheever Indy Racing. TWR will make racing modifications to the Q45 and sell the engines to the race teams in the support series.

Making and supplying engines to the IRL would cost a lot more, Schilling said.

Chevrolet is the only other company currently producing engines for the IRL, but the 7-year-old series scored a major coup when both Honda and Toyota announced they would leave the rival Championship Auto Racing Teams and join IRL next season.

"We appreciate the many significant contributions that Infiniti has made to the Indy Racing League and appreciate its continued support of the exciting, new Infiniti Pro Series, which will be an outstanding showcase for its products and some of the top young talent in racing," IRL president Tony George said.

"With Chevrolet, Honda and Toyota supplying engines to the IRL and Infiniti providing strong support to the Infiniti Pro Series, the league is set for continued growth in 2003."

Both Toyota and Honda made their decision last October, when CART announced it would switch from the 2.65-liter turbocharged engines to normally aspirated motors similar to the ones used in IRL.

On Thursday, however, CART said it would keep its turbos, with a single manufacturer supplying power plants to the entire series next season. Ford's Cosworth Racing unit is expected to get the contract.

Schilling said the decision by Infiniti -- which has won only two of 62 races since the IRL's debut in 1996 -- had nothing to do with the competition from Toyota and Honda.

"The decision to do this was made long before these guys decided to get in," he said.

Infiniti's only IRL victories were by Cheever at Pikes Peak in 2000 and at Kansas Speedway last year.

Cheever, who owns the cars he and rookie Tomas Scheckter drive, said his three-year association with Infiniti has made his team one of the front-runners in the IRL.

"I am only sorry that we came just shy of delivering an Indy 500 win to Infiniti, which would have made them the first Japanese automotive manufacturer to win the race," Cheever said. "But it's not over yet. We have the best engine out there on the track right now, and we have until September to kick everybody's butt."

Scheckter led 85 laps at Indianapolis last month before a crash dropped him to 26th. Cheever finished fifth and Max Papis, who also drove at Indy for Cheever, finished 23rd.