By 2002, the IRL had a great formula that allowed smaller teams such as Kelly, Blair, Foyt, Nunn, Cheever, Dreyer/Reinbold, Treadway etc. to compete on even terms with Penske. GM and Infiniti were the engine manufacturers and teams "bought" the motors from private builders. There was a great mixture of American circle trackers and road racers and it was pretty much an all oval series. Several of the tracks were drawing full houses and the racing was the greatest ever seen on this planet. Enter Honda and Toyota and the $1.7 million leases to the smaller teams while the Rich, Penske-Ganassi-Andretti, got freebies. Enter an ever increasing amount of road courses. Exit American circle trackers to NECKCAR. Welcome, unknown foreign road racers, three teams winning 99% of the races and the disappearance of the photo finishes that happened so regularly pre-2003. Yep, Tony sold out his soul and his principles for Honda and Toyota money (which never did a thing to promote the IRL) and now we have a dead series on VERSUS!!! Oh well.