Horne explains resignation

Horne said he vacated the role because he did not wish to be involved in a long-term development program at this stage of his career.

"My heart just wasn't in it and I came to the conclusion this weekend that I'd be better off walking away," said Horne, who sold the team, formerly known as Tasman Motorsports, to Gerald Forsythe in 1999.

The team has gone through a number of changes since last season.

Driver Tony Kanaan switched to a new team run by Morris Nunn, the chief engineer for the Chip Ganassi team that has won the last three CART driver titles.

Kanaan was replaced by Bryan Herta, who won an Indy Lights championship in 1993 for Horne with Tasman.

The Swift has struggled in preseason testing at Homestead with lap times more than two seconds off the pace.

"I realized then that this year would be a bit of an uphill struggle," Horne said.

"In 1997, we had a tough time being a developmental team with the Lola program and I didn't want to have to go through the same thing again."