No room for Renna at Kelley?

Despite an impressive half-season with Kelley Racing in 2002, Tony Renna may have to look elsewhere for a full-time IRL ride in 2003 as Tom Kelley's team looks set to focus on a two-car line up with Scott Sharp and Al Unser Jr.

Kelley Racing teammates Scott Sharp and Al Unser Jr. are set to compete in the 2003 Indy Racing League season under the Kelley Racing banner with continued support from primary sponsors Delphi and Corteco. After running a three-car operation for the latter half of the 2002 season, it seems as though the increased budgets and the arrival of a new engine supplier in Toyota will restrict the team to a two-car squad next year with Tony Renna making way.

Dallara and Firestone along with Futaba and Bryant will continue to be key
contributors to the success of Sharp and Unser.

With the driver tandem and strong sponsor support set for Kelley, the team is focusing its attention on a switch to Toyota engines and to working with the new Dallara chassis.

"We are excited to have Toyota on board at Kelley Racing," Sharp said. "However, the new engine package, coupled with the chassis changes, make testing more critical than ever before. It seems like the first race scheduled for March 2 gives us plenty of time, but there is much work to be done in order to be fully prepared to launch a championship campaign. Every minute is critical."

Said Unser: "I think we have a great opportunity with our Dallara/Toyota package for the 2003 season. Testing will be the key to getting the season off to a successful start at Homestead in March. With the new teams expected to enter the IRL, the bar measuring total team performance continues to be raised. It makes us all better and makes the wins more satisfying for everyone involved."

Kelley Racing is tentatively scheduled to begin testing the new Dallara chassis with the Toyota engine in January at Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of the season-opening race March 2.

Renna remains with the team after originally being hired as Jason Priestley's driving coach in the supporting Infiniti Pro Series. However he took the wheel of Al Unser Jr's #7 Corteco Dallara-Chevrolet when Unser Jr took time off to address personal issues at Michigan and Nashville and remained on the IRL grid for the final four races in the #78 Kruse sponsored Dallara after Unser returned.

In six starts, Renna scored four top ten finishes with a best effort of fourth at the two-mile Michigan International Speedway in just his second career start.