Immke makes U-turn over quit decision.

When Jim Immke sold his partnership in the Hubbard-Immke IRL team it looked as though the likeable car dealer would disappear from the IRL paddock. However Immke has now announced that he is able to return to the series , this time with his own team.

Hubbard-Immke Racing ran Tyce Carlson in the IRL this year and were looking good for a creditable Indy 500 performance until a nasty crash in practice ruled their lead driver out of the event. Japanese Indy stalwart, Hideshi Matsuda was brought in to replace Carlson but also crashed and the team did not make the race. Things went from bad to worse when co-owner Immke said that he was leaving the team due to business commitments.

The team re-grouped and returned to the IRL fray as Hubbard Racing this weekend at Texas where Carlson will start 16th. Immke wished the team nothing but success when he left and the parting was in no way acrimonious. Now, with the latest announcement from Immke the ex-partners will become on-track rivals.

"I could not believe the amount of phone-calls from other owners, drivers and people involved with the series asking me what they could do to get me to stay. It has been really inspirational," Immke said.

When he makes his return to the championship it will be with the re-built Immke Racing Team that started in the IRL in 1997. Immke has already purchased the G Force-Aurora that Jimmy Vasser drove to seventh place at Indy this year and is currently interviewing possible candidates to take over driving duties. Possibilities include veteran Raul Boesel and John Paul Jr.

Immke Racing is not competing at Texas this weekend but Jim said, "My heart will be riding with Tyce Carlson. We were together a long tome and many of the guys on his team were with us from the beginning." Immke will release details of his team's activities for the rest of the 2000 season next week.