IRL to introduce new car in 2009?

No. 77 Chastain Motorsports Team owner Thomas Chastain had not raced since 1998, but the retired 64-year-old electrician who started with a race shop in a Noblesville barn was determined to take his best shot this May against the "big boys." Most of his team's $600,000 budget came out of his pocket, from his Miller-Eads electrical company.

As Sunday afternoon's showers pelted the hospitality motor coaches, the Chastain area was quiet, as if the tight-knit group of family and friends was in mourning. Moreno was at Methodist Hospital after complaining of upper back pain.

"That's racing," his wife Carol said.

Next year, he said, will be his last shot.

"I can't justify the amount of money spent, but you only go around once," Chastain said. "I've got one more bullet to put in my gun because after that, the cost of racing will be completely out of my reach." In part from Indy Star

This either means he has been told that the IRL will introduce new cars in 2009, or they are listening to the rumors in the IRL paddock that Champ Car will fold by then and the strong teams that remain will move over to the IRL and push teams like Chastain, who are field fillers for this one race a year, out of the sport because he would no longer be guaranteed a spot in the field like he is right now.