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Wednesday, February 26 What to watch for at Homestead By Marlo Klain ESPN
The first thing to watch for is how strong Sam Hornish Jr. comes out of box. He was obviously very disappointed with how they were running at the Test in the West in their Chevy at this point. There was even some talk that they would possibly switch engines, however they are denying that. But he's the one to look for to see how strong the Chevy engine is. He got off to a roaring start last year. I think that's the person to watch for to see how strong they come out of the box.
It's going to be huge. I think the fight is going to continue from CART to the IRL of Honda vs. Toyota. They definitely appeared to be the strong engine manufacturers at Test in the West and at Homestead. I think that they are going to push each other and it's going to push the new teams. My personal opinion is that this is going to be the most exciting IRL season ever. With the new infiltration of blood into the series, the big names ... And I think the main reason for that is Toyota and Honda."
So many people -- me included -- made a big deal about Penske coming in vs. Panther last year. And that was the storyline last year -- those two teams going at each other every single week. I think there are so many teams coming full-time into the series that there isn't so much CART vs. the IRL. Last year, it was really Penske and that was it. So if you beat the Penskes each week, that was a victory for the IRL. This year, Mo Nunn's whole operation is down there. Andretti Green's whole operation is there. Ganassi's whole operation is there. Now when you look at the grid, all those guys are at the top of the grid because they are the best-funded teams. They've got the Hondas and the Toyotas. It's no surprise that they're at the top of the grid. When you look at this year's entry list for Homestead compared to last year's entry list for Homestead, there's a huge difference. You look at it and it is all those CART guys now.
Absolutely. He moved his whole operation over. He's got a strong engineering staff. He's got the powerplant behind him. I think that they'll be fine. Felipe Giaffone won a race last year. I think once he started to find his groove and actually prove to himself that he could find Victory Lane after he got close and close and close but never got there -- that was the biggest difference for Giaffone was just getting over that hump, and now he has.
The person to look for is Helio Castroneves just because they've stepped up their 1½-mile program from last year. They felt that was the weak link for them last year. That being said, Michael Andretti's going to be there. This is a guy who ran fast in the open test and has won there in the past. He's had a lot of success at Homestead. I think that he'll be fast out of the gate and I don't think it will be a surprise if he ended up in Victory Lane. Marlo Klain covers open wheel racing for ESPN.  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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With the IRL IndyCar opener this weekend at Homestead, ESPN's Marlo Klain tackles some of the stories that could develop during the course of the weekend and the 2003 season.
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