“We went around and visited 90 percent of the teams and we have an order of teams we’d like to target,” said Kent, a 30-year-man at GM who got hooked on racing when he attended the 1972 Indianapolis 500.

“If we could, I’d like to have everyone signed up by Sept. 1 because when we get that first car and start testing, I want all our teams participating together. It’s in everyone’s bests interests to get things buttoned up.”

Berkman responds: “We’ve got a couple offers out there and we’re waiting on a reply. Then we’ll move on but I don’t think we’ll have all 10 by Sept. 1. I want to get to 7 and then slow down. I’m not sure the last deals will be done until closer to the start of the season.”

The one thing both agreed on was that even at the reduced price, their companies would not make money on Indy car engines and, in this economy, a bidding war isn’t likely.

“Every driver and owner wants to talk to us but we’ve got nothing, no freebies,” continued Berkman, a 29-year man with Honda who graduated from Purdue with a mechanical engineering degree. “We say: ‘here’s the lease agreement, the number of engines and miles.’ We’ve got drivers saying they want to be with Honda and we tell them it’s not like the old days when we made you guys rich.

“I’ve talked to GM’s Jim Campbell and we don’t want to get into a financial arms race. I don’t think Chevrolet can afford a spending war any more than we can. We’re not going to pay a team to win or pay first thru sixth. They should all be motivated to win.”

Kent concurs. “I remember those old days when we were giving away engines and millions of dollars and that couldn’t be sustained so we’re in agreement with Erik about not throwing money at people.”

There seems to be a perception that Honda and GM would willingly supply half the field if Judd doesn’t have enough customers.

“Ideally we’d like to see an even distribution between the three of us but 10 cars would be good for us,” said Kent. “We’re subsidizing every engine and we want to do our fair share but adding cars (past 10) just adds to the negative cash flow.”

Berkman was even more direct: “I’m not planning on supplying more than 10 engines. We’re not making any money and each additional engine would cost us something and I don’t want half the field.”

But the Honda boss also claims he doesn’t want a stacked deck.

“I don’t believe it’s in the best interest of Honda or the INDYCAR series to cherry pick all the best teams,” he said.

Which is exactly what INDYCAR would like to see and it’s looking like that might happen, although it’s still unclear how to make sure Judd winds up with at least one big gun.

“Our best interests are to make sure all the top teams are not in one camp and I don’t think that’s going to happen,” said Phillips. “But we still have to leave it to the teams and manufacturers to sort it out.”