INDYCAR: Chevy, Honda prepared to support expanded Indy 500 entry list

IndyCar engine suppliers Chevy and Honda are prepared to support an expanded field for the Indy 500. The 100th running of the fabled race could draw more entries than the 34-35 that have appeared in recent years, and both brands say they are ready to provide additional leases for the month of May.

"We're definitely in a position to support our fair share of the field, so that's not really a concern," GM Racing director Mark Kent told RACER. "Like you, we would like to see well over 33 cars as well with this being the 100th running of the Indy 500. It is very important to both IndyCar and it is also important to Chevrolet. We are in a position to support as many as it takes to make sure we have a full field, and hopefully much more than that."

Honda Performance Development vice president Steve Eriksen has a more exact range of leases HPD is willing to support.

"Our party line right now is that we are planning and committed to 17," he said. "If an 18th strong candidate comes along, we would certainly have to talk about it to see if there was a way we could make that work. When we did 18 once before, it was really challenging."

Chevy and Honda have two constraints to consider while finalizing their Indy 500 lease programs. Both manufacturers built a set number of engines that are used throughout the season-long championship, and for Indy, the overall size of that engine pool determines how many leases are available. As Kent explains, the importance of the 100th race has influenced the approach to taking care of Indy-only entries.

"At this point, we believe our pool size is sufficient to support the number of entries we would hope to have at Indy," he said. "But definitely if the need requires additional engines we will be in a position to increase the pool size. Because the last thing we want to do is have to turn someone away because they can't get an engine, either from us or from our competition."

According to Eriksen, engine pool size isn't the liming factor HPD is facing for Indy.

"We always have spares in a pool of spares; the hardest part is the support personnel," he said. "Because we go through the full season with support personnel assigned to those cars, and then all these Indy-only entries pop up. And you have to staff those just for the month of May, then they need to go back to their other jobs and do something else for the rest of the year. If we're handling 12 cars the whole year, going up to 17 or 18 for Indy means we need to staff those cars from somewhere else.

"We've historically pulled people in from our sportscar support teams and everywhere we can find, but it's the head count that caps how many engines we can support. Identifying all the support personnel we need is probably as hard if not harder than the engine side of it."

With Chevy and Honda preparing to stretch resources to split 33-plus cars for the 500, Eriksen would love to have more IndyCar engine manufacturers to help spread the load.

"It puts a lot of stress on ourselves, and [Chevy]," he said. "It underscores the reason why we would really like to attract another manufacturer or two because the portion of the field that you're having to work and take on for Indy would be a lot more manageable."

Final entries for the Indy 500 are due on April 11.