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INDYCAR: Chevy Deal Imminent
SPEED.com can reveal that IndyCar is in the final stages of negotiations to bring Chevrolet back to the Indy 500 and IndyCar racing in 2012.
Robin Miller  |  Posted November 10, 2010  
The contents of the contract are still unknown, but with GM and the IZOD IndyCar Series currently negotiating on a 2012 engine program for Chevrolet, the formal announcement of a deal appears to be imminent. (LAT)
The two things Randy Bernard has heard from fans and competitors almost every day since he took the job as IndyCar’s CEO last winter was that the series needed new cars and different engines.

Well, it appears that beginning in 2012 Honda is going to have some fast company and a series that has used the same motor since 2006 will again be diversified.

SPEED can reveal that IndyCar is in the final stages of negotiations with General Motors about bringing Chevrolet back to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar racing in 2012.

The official announcement is this Friday in Indianapolis.

VIDEO: Watch the live Chevy press conference on SPEED, Friday at 10 a.m. ET

Bernard was unavailable for comment Wednesday but supposedly has been in serious talks with the Detroit automaker since last week.

A story broken on AutoExtremist.com last Sunday reported it was a done deal between the Bow Tie Brigade and IndyCar but, according to an insider in the automotive industry, a contract exists but had still not been signed as of today, Wednesday.

Escorted into open wheel by Roger Penske in 1986, Chevrolet powered six straight Indy 500 winners from 1988-93, including the fastest victor in IMS history with Arie Luyendyk in 1990, and was back in victory lane with Helio Castroneves with Chevy-badged Oldsmobile engines in 2002 when the Indy Racing League was gaining traction with Penske on board.

And now, following their departure from open-wheel racing at the end of the 2005 IndyCar season, Chevrolet is poised to come back to the scene of some of its greatest triumphs.

Bernard and Gil de Ferran, the 2003 Indy 500 winner and co-owner of a current IndyCar team, pitched GM officials last summer and came away enthused about the response.

“It was a great meeting,” said Bernard back in June. “They seemed to like our concepts of turbo V-6 and also being able to build your own bodywork.”

The pressing question will be whether GM builds its own engine or farms it out to Ilmor or Cosworth.
The last time Chip Ganassi used Chevy turbo engines, George H. Bush was our President, MC Hammer was the #1 music act and Eddie Cheever was his driver. Many expect TCGR to use Chevy engines in 2012, despite his denials. (LAT)

Ilmor Engineering, the engine-building company that entered Indy car racing with Chevrolet in ’86, currently works with Honda, the sole supplier for IndyCar since 2006, which has won every Indy 500 since 2004 with Ilmor as its partner.

Cosworth’s longtime association with Ford produced many Indy-car victories and powered all of Champ Car for several years before open-wheel unified in 2008. But Cosworth also helped General Motors try to catch the Toyota and Honda in 2003 by providing a mid-season replacement engine that won in its second start at Kentucky with Sam Hornish.

It was reported that Chip Ganassi would be Chevy’s factory team but the hottest car owner in North American motorsports denied having any such deal.

“I didn’t know about it until I read about it last Sunday,” said Ganassi, who captured the first of his three Indy 500s with Juan Montoya in 2000 – driving an Oldsmobile. “If it happens, it would be great for our series. The more the merrier.”

Not only is Chevy likely returning, there’s still a possibility that Fiat and Lotus could also power Indy cars in 2012, when the new chassis and engine rules debut.

More recent IndyCar news and features:

PRUETT: Chevy IndyCar True Or False

INDYCAR: KV Closing In On New Lotus Contract

PHOTOS: Vintage Lotus Indy And F1 Cars

INDYCAR: Chevy To Return In 2012?

MILLER: Loyalty And Trust


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