INDIANAPOLIS 500 Unlike before, Rahal team clicks with Honda engine

He failed to win the pole 10 years ago but Buddy Rice didn't this time.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Ten years ago, Bobby Rahal and his team could not qualify as a driver for the Indianapolis 500 using a Honda engine. On Sunday, one of his team's cars won the pole with one.
"The irony is not lost on me," the winner of the 1986 race said on Sunday after driver Buddy Rice won the pole as part of the Rahal Letterman team.
In 1994, Rahal's team was coming off a year in which it had not qualified for the Indy 500 in the first year with the Honda engine. Hopes were high that Rahal's team would have an advantage with the Honda engine in 1994 because the company had built dominate Formula One engines.
But the engine did not have enough power. After the first day of qualifying, Rahal and teammate Mike Groff were in jeopardy of not making the field.
"We cannot miss the Indy 500 two years in a row," Rahal said then.
Leased cars
He then leased 2-year-old cars with Ilmor engines from fellow team owner Roger Penske for the second weekend of qualifying.
"We probably didn't appreciate their situation and they didn't appreciate ours," said Robert Clark, who still heads Honda Performance Development as he did in its first year in Indy Car racing in 1994. "Unfortunately, there were some not-very-kind words that were shared at the time.
"But they definitely are a very capable team. And even though our relationship might have started off a little tender, now I think we're working very well together."
After the problems in 1994, a Honda engine nearly won the race in 1995. But Scott Goodyear was penalized after he passed the pace car on a restart.
Honda had a streak
Honda then won six straight CART titles from 1996 to 2001 until switching to the Indy Racing League last year to take on fellow Japan-based competitor Toyota.
Ilmor designed Honda's engine and two companies share the development. Rahal's team, based in suburban Columbus, now has a bit of both engines it used in 1994.
Honda has powered all four IRL pole winners this year and the top seven qualifiers for the May 30 Indy 500.
"Ten years ago, we didn't qualify, and now we've got the two front rows-plus," Clark said. "I guess it's the difference of a decade, but it's interesting."
After the breakup with Rahal near the end of the 1994 season, Clark was asked if there was reluctance to hook up with Rahal again.
"I'd by lying if I said there wasn't," he said. "That wasn't good experience."