Paul Diatlovich jokes that he "hocked the house" to start his own team in the new Indy Racing League. He probably would have hocked it much sooner to get into the established CART series, but "I don't have a big enough house."
Actually, it would have taken an estate in Beverly Hills.Diatlovich and co-owner Chuck Buckman of the PDM Racing team estimate the cost of putting a car on the track in CART runs upwards of $7 million; their budget for the IRL season that starts Sunday with the True Value 200 at the New Hampshire International Speedway is expected to be under $2 million.
PDM is a good example of a racing team given a chance to run Indy cars on top oval tracks around the country despite the dramatic rise in costs to enter the CART circuit.
"There's no way we could run a CART team because of the cost," Buckman said. With the IRL, they hope to attract enough smaller companies willing to spend $500,000 on a sponsorship.
"Some CART teams won't put your decal on a car for one million dollars. A big decal costs three-to-five million dollars.
"I always wanted to own my own team. Paul, myself, most of these guys would be working for the Rahals and Penskes."
Diatlovich, who has been a chief mechanic with several top CART teams, feels the same way.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime dream," Diatlovich said. "The IRL has not only given a lot of opportunity to people on the race track, but off the race track as well.
"A lot of the smaller teams have gone away in CART. The opportunities are not there anymore."
The same holds true for drivers.
The IRL has given a chance to 23 rookies drivers who passed the driving test in the first two seasons, and most have gotten into at least one race. None of them had the money-backing or reputation that could have gotten them a ride in the established CART series.
Tyce Carlson, 25, a rookie driving behind John Paul in the tandem for PDM, says he is "living a dream."
If it weren't for the IRL, "I'd be in Springfield, Ill., racing silvercrown cars for USAC and finishing up a super truck," he said.
Carlson got his chance at the Indy 500 when Scott Brayton was killed in practice and PDM driver Danny Ongais replaced him. That left PDM without a second driver.
The PDM owners knew Carlson, and "basically, I was walking by and they asked me if I had anything going on," he said.