With Judd’s engine having made some inroads on the advantage held by Chevy and Honda, he sees a chance to make a lot more progress provided the right partner and funding can be found.

“One of our biggest problems was the lateness of the project; the development time we had was approximately half that of [Chevy], but our contention is that we have a very sound base engine and if we’d been able to stick with the development plans we have established, the platform is capable of being developed to something much better than it is now.

Judd's involvement as an Indy car engine builder dates back to the 1980s, with Bobby Rahal, shown here at Indy in 1988, as one the most notable users of EDL's products. (Photo: IMS Photo)

“We never had the chance to run high-pressure injection, for example. Mostly for commercial reasons and budget reasons. The engine is designed for direct injection, but we’ve never run it, so that’s just one area we would be able to implement with the support of a new manufacturer. We did what we could afford to do with the payments we were receiving, but it didn’t really allow for quite a few things that would have helped.”

Looking at the expenses involved in starting up an IndyCar engine program from scratch, Judd pointed out a few benefits of joining forces with a firm like EDL that has an existing product in inventory.

“It’s much better to start with an existing base engine," he noted. "It would take anybody at least a year from a cold start to where we are now. The investment to get to where we are now would also be at no cost, which takes a lot off the investment. I think what we have to offer is sound. There’s nothing fundamental preventing the performance from being improved a lot.

"I can’t say exactly how it would compare to a Chevy or Honda because I haven’t seen inside their engines, but I’m confident there’s no reason we couldn’t be as good.”

For now, Judd has a comprehensive list of improvements to make to its IndyCar engine that will have to wait until a new manufacturer is identified.

“Right now, it’s not top of our list because we’re taking care of our sports car programs and cleaning up after the IndyCar season, but we’d want to do a significant development program before we went testing.

"We’re obviously hoping we can keep going because we enjoy the series very much and feel there’s value we can offer a manufacturer.”

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, and covers the IndyCar Series. Before joining SPEED, Pruett worked in open-wheel racing for 20 years as a mechanic and engineer. He also contributes to RACER, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett.