MARCH 12, 2006

Honda says no to NASCAR

Honda has no plans to move into NASCAR stock car racing, according to Robert Clarke, the president of the Honda Performance Development, the US company which runs all the company's racing activities in the United States. Rival Toyota recently abandoned open-wheeler racing to move into the stock car series but Honda has no plans to follow.

Clarke says that while he will not say it will never happen, there are no plans at the moment and Honda is in tending to continue its relationship with the Indy Racing League and the Indianapolis 500.

"We believe strongly in open-wheel racing as a form of racing that Honda has historically competed in, and particularly in Formula 1 and CART and now the IRL. We very much enjoy that style of racing at the premiere level, and we are showing our commitment to the sport and to the IRL in particular, by making our commitment through 2009. Honda's racing historically has been focused on technology. Having not been directly involved with NASCAR, I think it's probably unfair for us to say that their technology is dumbed-down or at a lower level, but it's clearly a different kind of technology."