28/06/2008 10:40. Six months is millennia in motorsports, so the car the Indy Racing League has been using since 2003 might as well be a chariot.

"It has some long white whiskers," league technical adviser Les Mactaggart said.

But the old Dallara warhorse must hold on for at least two more years until the IRL and designers hash out the aesthetics and mechanics of a new-age car executives hope to debut in 2011.

Meanwhile, president Brian Barnhart hosted a summit this week with as many as nine automakers and several engine builders to begin what he hopes is the process of making the IRL less of a spec series. The IRL now has one engine and chassis supplier. Honda has been the lone engine provider since Chevrolet and Toyota withdrew during the past three years.

"It was a great opportunity for us to... // Tampabay.com