[1] "You've got five engines in a season so each one of those five can have a different piston stack, for example. So you're going to concentrate on refining the details of the pistons to get a better combustion process and be more efficient. I think the fuel efficiency of this latest engine is a step up from what we had before and certainly a step up on power as well. We've laid out the plan for the year and each one of those five engines will be a step up based on what we can do within IndyCar's homologation specifications." ...

[2] "The other thing is that GM and Ilmor elected to change all their engines at Long Beach and take a penalty. We have not done that. We followed IndyCar's direction which says you run the first engine up to its mileage limit and then you change to the next engine. That's the way the process is supposed to work.

"Having done that, the first time you have the opportunity to put improved hardware into the engine is after the first change when you've used up your engine life. So we did that and the new stuff was put into the cars prior to Carburetion Day and I think you can see the results.

"Ilmor chose to put their engines in early. Therefore, they had the chance to step-up in performance at that opportunity. But there's no free lunch. If you put an engine in early then you've got penalties on the back end." ...

[3] Direct injection with ethanol...

"In some ways it's been good for our younger guys. You hate to say it, but it's good for them to experience a loss because they know what that feels like. When you've been winning so long you forget what losing's like.

"I think you have to acknowledge that Ilmor has done an extremely good job with the Chevy program," Rahal said. "There's a tremendous amount of Indy car experience at Ilmor and I think frankly that was their advantage in the short term. Most if not all the people at Ilmor have years of experience with different Indy car engines, particularly turbocharged engines.