Chassis rules won't change in 2007

The current Panoz and Dallara designs were originally intended for a three-year programme. However, this was extended last season to cover 2006, and Barnhart reckons this will go on for another year.

Panoz will be the sole chassis supplier in Champ Car from 2007, and the move would increase the likelihood of them staying in the sport.

"We have absolutely no rush to see [Panoz] through to the door," Barnhart said. "We have agreements in place with Panoz and Dallara for 2006.

"They are both important and great chassis suppliers to our series. We very much need them and want them to remain competitive and in the series. They both have won poles, they've both won races. Clearly we have more participants that are using the Dallara chassis at this time.

"We haven't announced what we're going to do with our chassis officially. I would anticipate probably a continuation of these same chassis moving forward in 2007. If that's the case, there would be no reason to change. We need manufacturers. We need suppliers.

"We want to make sure we keep equipment capable of being put on the racetrack to run. We don't want to prohibit people from participation. We want to encourage their participation. When we've got two cars as equal as we have in performance as we have right now, we want to keep them on the racetrack.

"We want both manufacturers to continue in the long-term."