Incident-packed test day at Daytona

The incidents, none of which resulted in injury, came as drivers increased speed with greater confidence around a 10-turn, 2.73-mile version of the Daytona road course.

The layout was so troublesome that it was changed later in the day to the full version of the course usually used for motorcycle races.

The previous version of the course cut off a short left-handed carousel. With it, the circuit grew by two turns and about 0.22 miles, and made the IRL drivers much happier.

"As race car drivers, we're never happy; we're always going to complain about something," said Tony Kanaan, who lobbied for the change. "I think what we're seeking is a better race track to find more things out."

The off-road shenanigans were so bad early in the session that the joke in the Target Chip Ganassi Racing pit was that a crew member had been sent to a nearby Home Depot to purchase a lawnmower blade.

It wasn't entirely clear if the blade was intended for the Ganassi No. 9 Honda/Dallara driven by Dan Wheldon or the rival Marlboro Team Penske No. 6 Honda/Dallara driven by Sam Hornish Jr., but both drivers found the grass more than once.

While Wheldon and Hornish were having their problems, so were the other two drivers participating in the test, Kanaan and Vitor Meira.

The No. 4 Panther Racing Honda/Dallara driven by Meira was involved in the most serious incident of the day, a spin into the wall as the course exits a backstretch chicane onto the Turn 3 of the oval portion of the track.

Hornish's car also sustained damage when he spun and struck a tyre barrier in the same chicane.

"We made some changes right before it happened, but I'm not sure if that had a role in it or not," Hornish said. "It was pretty decent up until that point, and it sort of stepped out on me. It's unfortunate, but I'll take the blame for it."

The difficulties led to a change later on the day that put the cars on the entire route of the motorcycle version of the road course for the final 20 minutes of the practice session.

"You add a couple of extra corners and it becomes more physical and difficult for us," Kanaan said. "It's more challenging to set up the car. When we looked at it, we can add two or three more turns to the track.

"Why are we not going to do that? We can figure out if it's going to work. It's going to be more competitive and there's going to be better places to pass."

IRL officials are interested in holding a full-field, pre-season test at Daytona early next year, with the ultimate goal of racing on the Daytona International Speedway road course in 2008.

The two-day test marked the first time Indy cars had been on the historic NASCAR track since 1959, its first year of operation. Then, two IndyCar drivers were killed in separate incidents, and the track was deemed unsafe for open-wheel cars.

Now, with optimism high about the possibility of an IRL road-course race at Daytona during Speed Weeks in 2008 - perhaps even under the lights, as drivers suggested Wednesday - the sky seems to be the limit.

"I'm not going to get my hopes up yet, but I definitely want us to come here," said Wheldon, who won the Rolex 24 last year with Scott Dixon and Casey Mears. "I can only hope."

The test had another underlying objective. Hornish and Kanaan were testing Honda's new 3.5-liter engine, which will be used next season.

The increase in displacement from 3.0 liters to 3.5 is being made to accommodate the IRL's switch to 100 percent fuel-grade ethanol for the 2007 season.

"It feels like it has more power now, but you would say it should since it has more displacement," Hornish said. "Everything has felt really good so far.

"I've had fun driving for the little bit that I can. It definitely has more power off the corners. The driver is having to do the traction control with his foot.

"I think it's going to make things a lot more exciting with having that little more torque in the lower end and that opportunity for the wheels to spin, so you're really going to have to monitor that with your foot. You just can't drop the throttle."

Three IRL teams will participate in a Firestone tyre test on Monday and Tuesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.