Former Indy winning engineer joins D&R.

Veteran IRL IndyCar Series mechanic and engineer Owen Snyder III has joined Dreyer & Reinbold Racing as the chief engineer for Robbie Buhl's entry.

Snyder worked on the Indianapolis 500-winning cars of Eddie Cheever Jr. in 1998 and Al Unser Jr. in 1992, serving as engineer for Cheever and chief mechanic for Unser. Snyder's mechanical roots were planted in sprint-car racing before moving to Indy-style cars in 1980. He has worked on cars driven by Indy legends Johnny Rutherford, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti and Gordon Johncock.

"The proudest thing is that I've been able to make a living in racing," Snyder said. "It's all I've done all my life, and I know not everyone gets to making a living at what they like to do. Overall, I've had pretty good success, but I've still got a long way to go. There's always more races to win."

Snyder will serve as engineer for the No. 24 Purex/Aventis/Dreyer & Reinbold Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone driven by team co-owner Buhl. The team also fields a car driven by Sarah Fisher.

"Dreyer & Reinbold is definitely a growing team," Snyder said. "They have a nice long-term plan, growing bigger and better, and I hope to help them get back in the winner's circle and grow with them. A two-car team is definitely the way to go to compete with the top teams and to have a better setup on race day. You're not going to do with one driver. If we can get our two working together to go faster and better, we'll have achieved something.

"It's kind of the mentality of American racers, to take what you have and make the best of it. Right now, there's a lot to be gained because Robbie isn't happy with car's handling. Until we've got both of our cars at least competing as the fastest Chevy's, we've got some work to do."

Said team co-owner Dennis Reinbold: "We always look to get better and improve as a team, and we believe Owen's abilities are a great match for Dreyer & Reinbold. We're working hard to get ready for Indy, and so we're excited to get testing to get him acclimated to our way of doing things and to benefit from his experience."