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I will defend the turbos to some degree. When the rules were mandated to use a 2.65 liter turbo engine it was the most effective method that CART had to control the horsepower of the engines. By controlling the available boost the rulesmakers could control the speed of the cars. However, over time the engine builders found ways to make huge power with minimal boost levels. In the long run the rules have allowed the manufacturers to work on evolutionary designs instead of completely new designs year after year. But now the turbo engine has reached the end of its effective competition cycle at the current displacement. To lower the current power CART must either change the entire engine forumla or drastically decrease the displacement of the enignes and continue to allow turbos. This would only be a stop gap measure as the power would soon be back to the astronomical levels CART currently has.
The problem stems from the fact that the cars make far too much power for the oval tracks. Road street courses compliment high horsepower cars. There is no point in the CART cars going 250 mph at Fontana, it just geometrically increases the chances of another driver being killed.
I know a lot of people complain that the NA engines are low tech, but they are far from it. Sure they do not have the ultra-exotic valvetrains of F1, but a methanol fuel injected race engine is not low tech. The only problem I have with the NA engines is the sound they make, I just don't associate that sound with the CART cars.
I agree that CART needs to make a change because of the current economic climate the series is in. I think CART would be better served to use the IRL formula without the 12,000 rpm rev limter. Allow the manufacturers to supply 15,000 rpm units with the current restrictions on valvetrain and metallurgy they currently use. This would certainly better fit into Ford, Toyota and Honda's marketting campaigns for their road cars than the turbo units do now and it would allow a common engine block and head for use in either series.
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