MONTERREY, Mexico -- Just a few months ago, it looked like CART might not be able to keep any of its three engine manufacturers in the FedEx Championship past this season.

Now, it appears Toyota, Ford-Cosworth and Honda could all still be in play by 2003.

	Bobby Rahal had previously thought Cosworth engines were leaving CART.

On Sunday, ESPN.com learned that Cosworth will build a normally-aspirated, 3.5-liter motor to CART specs for next year -- with or without immediate financial support from Ford.

"We're not sure at the moment about Ford's position on this but we will design and build the engine with our own money if necessary," said Ian Bisco, vice president of North American Operations for Cosworth, whose company was purchased by Ford three years ago.

"Ideally, it would be great if Ford wants to support this because we are part of Ford's mothership. But they have given us permission to look for outside assistance.

"The bottom line is that we've assembled a group of valuable people and we want to keep them together. Whether or not Ford is part of this group remains to be seen.

"But racing in America is a big part of Cosworth and we want to continue our program in CART so we will get something together for next year."

This is good news for CART because it's now gone from no engine manufacturers to at least two. Toyota has unofficially agreed to supply CART with engines for 2003, but had no intention of supplying all 20 cars currently on the grid.

"I think it's great because I've had a long relationship with Ford-Cosworth and, until now, we had no commitment at all and, frankly, we thought they were leaving," said Bobby Rahal, whose two-car effort of Jimmy Vasser and Michel Jourdain Jr. is powered by Ford-Cosworth.

"I've got great respect for Cosworth's intelligence and what they are able to do without the budget of Toyota and Honda."

Bruce Wood, Cosworth's program director for CART, understands Toyota has a head start and the clock is ticking.

"Yes, we will be pushing it," said Wood, who will be instrumental in the design and is currently working on it. "I believe it took 11 months (from drawing room to dyno to the race track) for the XF engine and I think we're looking at about nine months for this project because there's not as much leeway with this engine as our turbocharged engines.

"But we need to be on the track by December at the very latest."

There had been speculation that CART might underwrite another engine supplier and, obviously, this could fit Cosworth's plan.

"If we get help from CART, then that's good for us but we are looking for funding and sponsorship," said Bisco, whose company currently takes care of Team Rahal, Player's/Forsythe, Sigma Racing and Herdez Racing.

Added Wood: "We'll make the prototypes with our own money and we can carry on for a while. But we can't just stop right now and wait for something to happen. We want our name on a cam cover."

Dan Davis, director of racing technology for Ford, has repeatedly stated he has no interest in the spec engines with rev limiters currently used by the IRL (and CART's new specs in 2003).

But with Cosworth now back in CART's picture, is it possible Ford would want to do something for the Cosworth CART teams at the Indianapolis 500 in 2003?

"I have no idea but our focus is CART," said Bisco. "Indy and the IRL are secondary."

Honda's Presence
The third part of this engine equation is Honda, which announced last fall it would be out of CART racing following 2002 -- disgusted with CART's lack of direction and the choice to do away with high-performance turbocharged engines.

But, with new CEO Chris Pook giving CART some instant leadership and common-sense decisions, Honda may be having second thoughts about leaving the series it's won the past six years.

Pook has spent many hours talking with Honda Performance Development president Tom Elliott and Robert Clarke, general manger of HPD. Clarke was at the IRL's spring training last month in Fontana, Calif., checking out the normally-aspirated engines.

Elliott said there was no way Honda could have its own engine before 2004 if, indeed, it opted to stay in CART. And he also admitted that badging an engine had been discussed but was a longshot.

"We're looking at alternatives, yes, but nothing has changed," said Elliott, who supplies Team Green, Mo Nunn Racing and Fernandez Racing this season. "We've told our teams to look for a new engine supplier for next year because we won't be here.

"If we decided to do anything, we'd have to decide very soon. But don't hold your breath."

However, if longtime engine builder, John Judd, who has a history with Honda and spent time with Elliott last month at CART's spring training, could be used to badge the Honda in 2003, Elliott could keep his staff at HPD in tact and develop a new engine for 2004.

Believe me," said one Toyota insider. "As long as we're in open-wheel racing, Honda will be too. They're already trying to sign up a couple of our teams and that doesn't sound like a group that's going away does it?"