JUNE 15, 2002

Infiniti pulls out of Indy Racing League

The recent weeks have seen good news for the Indy Racing League but the news that Infiniti is pulling out at the end of the year is a setback for Ton George's series.

THE recent weeks have seen good news for the Indy Racing League but the news that Infiniti is pulling out at the end of the year is a setback for Ton George's series. Infiniti, it seems, has been scared away from IRL by the arrival of the big-spending Toyota and Nissan. Chevrolet will also be in action but it remains to be seen whether or not the General Motors subsidiary will be willing to spend the same kind of money as the two Japanese rivals.

Infiniti has taken on a much more sedate role as the supplier of engines to the new Infiniti Pro Series, a feeder series for the IRL, which kicks off in July at the Kansas Speedway.

Infiniti has been in IRL since 1997 but has only recently become truly competitive although they remain unreliable. In that time the engines have won just three events: the first in 2000 with Robbie Buhl and the other two with Eddie Cheever (at Pikes Peak in 2000 and at Kansas in 2001).

This year the engines have been close to victory on several occasions but have been pipped at the post at all the races so far.

It remains to be seen who will be preparing the engines but rumors have suggested that the work will probably be done by the French company Mecachrome, although this is yet to be confirmed.