THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. We'd like to thank all of you for taking time to join us this afternoon, particularly those of you who, like me, have a vested interest in the outcome of a certain college football game that's being played even as we speak. We're going to dispense with any lengthy preliminaries except to say that I can speak for myself and Dan Layton and Robert (Clarke), and for Kurt (Antonius) to a lesser degree, when I say that there's one question we've heard more than any other over past few months, phrased in different ways, but essentially it all boils down to this, "What's Honda gonna do?" The truth is that until yesterday morning, none of us knew the answer to that question. But thankfully now, we do, and to share the answer with you, it's my pleasure to introduce the president of Honda Performance Development, Mr. Robert Clarke. ROBERT CLARKE: Good afternoon. Thank you. As I think all of you know, Honda has a long, rich, very successful history in motorsports, particularly in open‑wheel racing. Racing is engrained in our culture, and it's the foundation of our associate and technology development. Also, I think you know that Honda does a significant business in the , offering a diverse variety of products in automobiles, motorcycles, power equipment, many of which are produced in domestic factories here in the Because of its need, our need and our desire to race and because we're here in the American market, we want to race in the premiere series, particularly in open‑wheel racing in this country; it's more like a need, it's the foundation of what we do and how we live. Honda originally elected to compete in the IRL because we recognize the series as the pinnacle of open‑wheel racing in this country. We also recognize the Indianapolis 500 for its tradition and its place in American motorsports. It is based on this thinking that Honda just yesterday, as T.E. (McHale) explained, decided to extend our commitment to the IRL beyond 2006. We are committed to supply teams and drivers of the IRL with the Honda Indy V‑8 racing engine through 2009. We are also committed to working with the league as a partner to build value into the series, which in turn will attract, we believe, more competitors and sponsors. Honda views its commitment as significant, and we believe that it will form a foundation upon which the IRL community can build on. Thank you very much.
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