HONDA The Power of Dreams

Koichi Amemiya and Tom Elliot, president and executive vice president of American Honda (AH), had envisioned a plan. AH had already implemented various measures to expand its car sales in the U.S., the world's largest market. However, it was not yet involved in any local motor sports events. In Japan Honda was known for its years of involvement in racing, but in America, with its popular Accord and Civic models, Honda was simply thought of as one of many manufacturers of passenger cars. But Amemiya wanted to change that image by demonstrating Honda's strengths in motor sports and the spirit of competition it brought to every race. And at this point Amemiya's desire and Asaka's inspiration found their convergence.

In 1989 Amemiya and Asaka were both watching the Indy 500 race from the stands. Excited, the two found a congenial spirit in each other, each vowing that he would do whatever it took to compete in the race.

The research center in Wako (HGW) soon began a research project devoted to the design and development of a prototype Indy engine. Unfortunately, Honda had been going through difficulties with the F-1 series in which the company was then competing. As a result, the testing of Indy car engines was halted and the Indy project staff members were reassigned to F-1 in order to assist the team.

Asaka was undaunted, however, and saw this turn of events more as an opportunity than a setback. Although engine development had been stopped, there was nothing that kept them from doing the planning. So, Asaka drafted several plans based on Honda's Indy strategy, proceeding with preparations so that development could resume as soon as a go-ahead was given.

Asaka reorganized the development team for the Indy Car racing engine when, in September of 1992, the company announced its temporary withdrawal from F-1. The following January, Amemiya used the occasion of the Detroit Auto Show to announce Honda's plan to enter the PPG Indy Car World Series. Standing there next to Amemiya, Asaka said to himself, "This is the race we do for the American people. As such, I want all employees at American Honda to understand their company's challenging spirit and apply all they will learn from Honda's involvement in the race. This is the principal objective of our entry in the Indy Car series, just as our objective of F-1 competition was the furtherance of engineering skill and knowledge at the research center."

Because of Indy's focus on customer satisfaction, the news of Honda's entry sent shock waves through the CART^* industry. No doubt they feared that Honda might shake up the CART community with another string of victories, as it had in F-1. Therefore, immediately following the announcement of Honda's entry into Indy competition for the 1993 season, the industry unveiled a series of rules that were decidedly to Honda's disadvantage. In the technical area, the variable-speed mechanism, air valve and other technologies that Honda had used in F-1 were prohibited, down to the most minute detail. In addition, a new rule was established requiring a new engine manufacturer to supply three or more machines to two teams for the first year and six or more machines to three teams during the second year.

The rule was a great blow to Honda, which had planned to start with one team and one driver: Rahal Hogan Racing and its star competitor, Bobby Rahal.

Since the organizers would not bend the rules, Honda once thought of giving up Indy altogether. However, Honda signed Comtech Racing Team as its second unit, in the process securing three drivers. Honda finally saw the light of day when race organizers allowed the teams to compete in four or five races using Honda engines.

"Honda's F-1 achievement was not received well by the Indy community," says Asaka. "That's why it took us longer than expected to get onto the circuit. Technical difficulties can be solved at the research center, but political problems must be resolved through face-to-face negotiations with Indy officials."

Note:
CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) is the organizing body for what was then known as the Indy Car Racing.

In March of 1994, after overcoming these hurdles and drawing the media's attention each step of the way, Honda made its debut. But to the disappointment of the audience, Honda ended its inaugural season with humiliating results. Its engines finished thirteen out of sixteen races yet produced merely one podium win. Particularly, the race that made clear to Honda the high standard of Indy Car racing was the Indy 500, the same race that had seven years earlier inspired Asaka to decide it was the race for Honda. The 500 is, of course, the original and longest-running race in the Indy Car series.

Rahal Hogan Racing, which had in its qualifying round lost out of the Indy 500, decided to use a chassis and Ilmore engine supplied by another team.

Following that, Asaka received a fax from Rahal Hogan immediately before the 11th running of the Mid-Ohio race, saying they would terminate their contract with Honda as of the end of the season. Asaka could not conceal his shock at such sudden, unexpected notice from Bobby Rahal, who since 1989 had been supplying information to Honda and actively cooperating with testing, even prior to Honda's announcement that it would compete in Indy.

Honda was brought back to attention by this embarrassing experience, a fact that ultimately led to the new HRH engine. The HRX engine used during the 1994 season had employed a cast-iron block to ensure sufficient durability for the 500-mile run. However, the development team, which was working hard to improve the HRX engine, decided to tackle a seemingly impossible task. They would continue working on the HRX for the upcoming races while developing a new engine. The HRH unit adopted an aluminum block for reduced overall weight. In collaboration with Comtech Racing Team, a series of tests was conducted.

In 1995, Honda's second year in the Indy Car series, it decided it would supply to Tasman Motorsports. Tasman was a team on the rise, having already won two consecutive championship titles in the Indy Lights category. With rookie driver Andre Ribeiro as its prime weapon, the team was filled with the fighting spirit. Honda, Tasman and Ribeiro were united under the same goal: to take on the older, more seasoned teams.

Honda decided on the Indy 500 for the debut of its HRH engine, which had been under development since the fall of 1994. Honda wanted desperately to win that race, hoping to realize its dream of victory and restore its team members to the level of morale they deserved. And of course it was a golden opportunity to test the new engine.

The decision came not without considerable risk. However, the team members were very confident in their ability to achieve the seemingly impossible feat of completing the Indy 500 with a new engine. The HRH engine had been repeatedly tested at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to ensure that it would have a sufficient blend of power, speed and durability.

May 13, 1995, was the day of the official qualifying rounds for the Indy 500. And at the end of the day at the speedway: a Tasman Motorsports machine equipped with an HRH engine driven by Scott Goodyear, lined up in the front row (at the third grid) facing the starting line. In the qualifying rounds, the results of four laps are combined and tabulated to determine the starting grid for the final race. Since the machines are driven under acceleration to full speed, engine power counts most during these short races. But at last the exhaustive effort that had begun in the fall of 1994 was about to be rewarded. Taking photogra-phs alongside their car in the front row, the staff experienced the welling of tears that accompanies one's best wishes for a true friend.

Then, in the 1995 Indy 500 race May 28, Scott Goodyear pulled off an impressive performance, leading all the way up to the last few laps. However, he inadvertently passed the pace car just before the goal and received a penalty. As a result, he finished in 14th place. Describing what he saw that day, Asaka said, We won the battle, but lost the race.

Efforts to improve the HRH engine continued after the race. Then, in the 15th event of the 1995 season, on the circuit at New Hampshire, Andre Ribeiro drove his Honda-powered car to victory - a long-awaited first win for Honda. Contributing to the victory was the advice given to Ribeiro by the team's chief engineer, Kazutoshi Nishizawa, who said, "You can save time by downshifting just before the turn, where the r.p.m. drops, to take full advantage of the Honda engine's high revs and output."

Victory had finally arrived, in the 31st race since Honda's debut in March, 1994.

Honda's victorious season was a top news story the day following the final race, with the national newspaper USA Today proclaiming the achievement in a large headline on its second page. Sales were then boosted through the use of a well-timed promotional campaign in which the winning machine was displayed at dealerships.

The number of dealers and employees who have come to the circuit to cheer their teams has risen steadily year after year, offering proof that many who work for Honda in the U.S. have come to know and appreciate the extent of the company's competitive spirit.

Vasser, who won the PPG Cup Championship in 1996, said "Honda puts forth its best effort, down to the minor details, in order to achieve success. They never compromise on anything when it comes to winning."

The views of project team members, on the other hand, are somewhat different. "Although it's a competition, we learned that we must not neglect the element of customer satisfaction in racing," said one engineer.

Honda's competitive spirit, born and nurtured in Japan, has indeed crossed the ocean intact. In the U.S. it has prospered, taking root within the popular racing culture.

In 1998, Honda repeated its "triple crown" earning the Manufacturers Championship by winning thirteen of nineteen races, while driver Alex Zanardi won his second PPG Cup trophy as the top driver (for the second straight year) and Tony Kanaan won the Rookie of the year award.

Says Asaka of the company's involvement in U.S. CART series, "I want HPD to become the champion of Honda's competitive spirit. I want it to be an organization that reminds people of the vision of our Old Man, Soichiro Honda."