What Happens to the Old Chassis?

[FormerFF]

As of Sunday afternoon, the old chassis are obsolete. What happens to them? I'd assume there are some collectors who would want some of the more valuable ones, say Indy 500 winners, but what about the run of the mill never-really-won-anything cars? I also assume that Honda wants all their engines back, so if someone wanted to run the car they'd have to come up with a powerplant. I'm not real familiar with historic racing, but I don't recall seeing a historic Indycar class anywhere.

[call_me_andrew]

They can always get painted up as show cars or dumped into the Gulf of Mexico to create an artificial reef.

[anthonyvop]

It is up to Honda.

If they are willing to provide engines(De-tuned at a reduce cost) then they can be run in some historic series and events. If not then some become show cars and the rest gather dust.

[anthonyvop]

I'm sure SCCA will find a place for anyone who wants to run one. There were actually two of the old (CART) Indy Lights cars, still in the original livery, running SCCA regionals on the east coast a year or two ago. Those tubs should be mighty cheap if any one wants one. Just find a motor, any motor, and plug it in.

Nope. While you could possibly adapt the Dallara Chassis to accept another motor it would probably cost more than what a used tub will be going for starting next week.

[chuck34]

Wasn't there a guy on here a while back that had an old ChampCar he put a motorcycle engine into? Maybe he could start a business doing that to IndyCar chassis, and start a league or something.

[jwhite9185]

Yeah i remember that - Wasn't it an ex Patrick Racing Swift?

[bennybigb]

It sure was!

He posted links of testing/practice videos on the Champ Car forum. It turned out to be a real nice car!

[nigelred5]

What happened to all the Toyotas, Chevys and Chevworths that were run in these chassis' before 05?

[codalunga]

Once the lease era hit, many companies haven't allowed any of their engines in private hands, although there are exceptions. Cosworth is the most generous, having selected generations of lease era engines that they sell and provide some support. For Toyota and Honda you will likely only see in team owner collections. For example, Toyota agreed to provide support to Dan Gurney to keep the Toyota powered AAR Eagles running. I suspect Ganassi and Penske have some intact cars in their collections too. Chuck Haines, who has wheeled and dealed in old racecars for years, ended up with an Indy Alfa and a new, in-crate Indy Ilmor. But that is rare. Usually a manufacturer collects all their engines and store or scrap them when their time is done. Before the universal engine mounting spec late in the CART era, The non-Cosworth powered cars had no realistic alternative, as each of the versions for the different powerplants had unique mounting and extensive list of different parts.

[nigelred5]

Hopefully, nothing will come of them.