Beck Motorsports signs Nakano for Motegi IRL race.

Long-time IRL supporters Beck Motorsports have secured a deal to run Honda engines and Japanese driver Shinji Nakano in the upcoming Indy Japan 300 at Twin-Ring Motegi.

The Greg Beck owned team will field a single Dallara-Honda for the former Formula One and Champ Car driver when the IRL IndyCar Series makes its first ever trip to the 1.5-mile Honda-owned facility in Japan. Although Honda and Motegi are providing much of the funding for the effort, Beck has been working hard in the off-season to run almost a full IRL schedule in 2003 and is hoping that this relationship will continue at least as far as the Indy 500.

Formed in 1991 by second-generation racer Beck, the team has fielded Indianapolis 500 efforts for drivers including Buddy Lazier, Stephane Gregoire and Hideshi Matsuda. With the formation of the IRL in 1996, the team appeared at the series' inaugural event, the Indy 200 at Walt Disney World, with Robbie Buhl as the driver.

More recently, Beck fielded Billy Boat in 2001, finishing fourth in the championship with four top five finishes and eight top-10 results in the 13-race season, including a second-place finish at Nashville. In 2002 Boat chose to co-own his team with record producer Mike Curb leaving Beck on the sidelines for much of the year.

Beck teamed up with Ray Parsons and driver Robby McGehee for several mid-season rounds before Parsons ill health forced him to shut the team although Beck's pit crew did guide rookie Tomas Scheckter to a maiden IRL Series victory for Red Bull Cheever Racing at Michigan.

"We are really looking forward to working with Shinji and Honda," said Beck. "We're building a strong relationship and we should have a successful run in Japan."

Formula One veteran Nakano most recently completed a three-year CART program with Walker Racing and Fernandez Racing, all with Honda power. Highlights last season included a pair of top-five results at Toronto and Chicago, while his best finish at Twin Ring Motegi came in an eighth-place run in 2000.

The Beck/Nakano announcement means Honda will field six entries at the upcoming Motegi event, all using Dallara chassis. In addition to Nakano, the Honda-powered effort will include 2000 Motegi winner Michael Andretti, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan of Andretti Green Racing; Kenny Brack with Team Rahal; and rookie Roger Yasukawa with Super Aguri Fernandez Racing.

The Grey Ray co-owned Access Motorsports, which had planned to make its IRL Series debut with a G Force-Honda combination next weekend at Phoenix, now looks like appearing at Indianapolis in May at the earliest.