On the heels of Toyota's confirmation it was also pulling the plug on the FedEx Championship following 2002, CART has not only lost two of its three engine manufacturers but two of its most powerful partners -- on and off the track.

With Ford confiding to its CART teams it would also be down the road after 2002, the most challenging series in American motorsports is virtually powerless after next year because it has not one engine manufacturer's commitment for 2003.

For anyone keeping score, CART has now lost:

The two companies that annually spend millions of dollars in advertising, marketing and promoting champ cars.

Its identity, dropping turbocharged engines for normally-aspirated motors starting in 2003.

Its way.

How did a series with such great competition, technology and depth manage to wind up in this sorry state?

Lack of direction, pathetic communication, greed and arrogance immediately come to mind.

First off, this motor meltdown started at least two years ago when Mercedes bailed out. Ford, Honda and Toyota picked up the Mercedes castoffs, but all three were already questioning CART's management about the engine rules for 2003 and beyond.

Between then CEO Andrew Craig and recently deposed technical chief, Kirk Russell, nothing happened. Last year, Craig was dumped and Bobby Rahal assumed command yet still nothing on the engine front. Joe Heitzler replaced Rahal and was still trying to learn all the names of CART's drivers when the deadline for new rules expired last March.

Naturally, there was much posturing by Honda and Toyota, with Ford not so vocal. Honda wanted to stick with turbocharged power, citing the fact it set CART away from Formula One, the Indy Racing League and NASCAR.

Toyota pushed for normally aspirated because it wanted to compete at the Indianapolis 500, where the IRL's formula is 3.5-liter normally-aspirated.

Ford seemed to waffle from one view to the other before stating it would prefer staying turbocharged through 2003.

There were arguments, recommendations and the usual posturing at franchise meetings among owners but still nothing resembling a plan.

So Toyota made a move and said it was building an IRL engine in 2003, leaving CART hanging with a statement it wouldn't make any decision on continuing in CART past 2002.

That still didn't get everyone's attention, so last month Toyota announced it would no longer build turbocharged engines following 2002 and any involvement in CART was predicated on making "business sense."

Last week in Houston, owners were supposedly presented four proposals. Stay turbocharged with Honda and maybe Ford through 2003, go to a new turbo formula, let Cosworth build a spec engine (turbocharged) for $2 million per car for everyone in 2003 or go to a normally-aspirated formula similar, or identical, to the IRL.

Obviously, it took Toyota's declaration to finally get the owner's attention. With Ford's defection staring them in the face and the fact Honda had no interest, let alone the work force and budget, to take over the entire CART paddock and compete against themselves in 2003, the owners must have felt backed into a corner.

Thus, opting for normally aspirated rules gave them at least three potential engines for 2003 -- Nissan and Chevrolet of the IRL, plus Toyota.

But, in typical CART fashion, this decision wasn't well thought out and it's made this series the laughing stock of the motorsports world.

Losing Honda and Ford and Toyota straddling the fence so you hurriedly throw together a news conference to announce new engine rules without a single commitment from any manufacturer?

"We look like bleeding idiots," said one owner.

General Motors' Joe Negri said CART shouldn't jump to conclusions about his company's new Chevy IRL engine becoming part of the CART series in 2003.

"First off, we didn't even know what the CART specs will be and not one person from CART has called me," said Negri, whose Oldsmobile engine has won all but two IRL races since 1997.

"But I can promise you that unless CART's engine is exactly like the IRL's, rev limiter and all, we have no interest in developing a totally different engine to run CART. Chevrolet is interested in Indy and the IRL. There is no interest at this point in time in CART."

Of course, between that trio of IRL manufacturers, any CART teams running at Indianapolis must have the opportunity to at least purchase or lease engines and Toyota will likely take care of its current CART favorites of Chip Ganassi, Carl Haas, Derrick Walker and Pat Patrick. Roger Penske will also be switching to Toyota in 2003 and Rahal has been politicking for Toyota power, along with just about everyone else in the IRL.

Toyota subsidizes Ganassi, Walker, Patrick and Haas with money and engines so, naturally, they were gung ho to do whatever the Japanese automotive giant suggested. Forget what was best for CART, this platform was best for their personal teams.

And that's not to say that going normally aspirated may not turn out to be the best thing for open wheel racing. But, even if CART teams are able to buy a Nissan, Chevy or Toyota to keep the champ car series moving, it doesn't begin to fill the void left by Honda's departure.

Competing since 1994, Honda has not only won the past five CART championships, it's thrown millions and millions of dollars towards promoting and marketing CART races and drivers.

"Between 15 and 20 million dollars a year," replied Honda Performance Development president Tom Elliott when asked about Honda's off-track commitment. "I like to think we contributed quite a bit to this series.

"But you can only get slapped in the face so many times."

Defending CART champ and current point leader Gil de Ferran summed up the general malaise in the CART paddock.

"This is a very sad day," said de Ferran. "Honda is the greatest racing company there is and, to lose such tradition, is well, just sad. You don't replace a company of that stature."