Manufacturers

[gaines]

As CART moves forward for the future what engine manufacturers would you like to see get involved with the series?
Do you think Daimler-Chrysler will be an engine manufacturer in CART? Since the Barber Dodge series is aligned with CART I think it would be great to see them move up into the top series with one of their engines. They’ve always done a great job in the past in any series they participate in and Dodge has some great relationships with potential sponsors that might want to join them in a global racing series.
Then there’s the F1 factor. If CART and F1 start working together for the future is there a chance that we’ll see manufacturers build rides for their young guys on the way up. For example Christiano’s deal with Toyota thus far. Could F1 teams start building their own champ cars simply to better prep their young talent? This would also be beneficially in building driver/manufacturer image. By the time a young driver makes it through CART to F1 his/her name will already be sinonimous with the manufacturer. If something like this were to happen it could potentially give us many new manufacturers with years of open wheel experience and a much broader global image. Ford and Dodge will keep the American faithful interested while the F1 faithful might just get more interested in the CART brand if Ferrari/BMW carried their feud over to champ cars.
What do you think?