MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- The Indy Racing League has headed west for its annual "Test in the West" at the California Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway.

The annual event is similar to baseball's spring training as the participants in both the IndyCar and Infiniti Pro Series divisions have a chance to practice for the upcoming season under IRL supervision.

"We've had a few opportunities to test the new Andretti Green cars, and visiting both California Speedway and Phoenix again will give us another chance to understand how the Dallara performs on two very different types of race tracks," said Michael Andretti, who prepares for his team's first season in the IRL, although he will retire as a race driver after this year's Indianapolis 500.

Andretti/Green Racing features former CART drivers Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan as well as British newcomer Daniel Wheldon.

"We are going out west with the goal of gaining greater insight into our strengths as well as assessing what areas we still would like to work on before the season opener at Homestead in March," Andretti said. "We are very excited about the new challenges that the IndyCar Series offers us, and we have been working non-stop to get ready to start the season. It should be an excellent experience and a good way to take a look at some of the competition we'll face in 2003."

Kenny Brack returns to the IRL after three seasons in CART. He will compete for Team Rahal in a Dallara/Honda this season.

"It feels good to be back with Team Rahal and many of our crew that was so strong for me in 2001," said Brack, referring to the season when Brack won four races and six poles in CART. "It was a reunion with many of our same team, and that has been very good in getting things up to speed. The Honda people have been great in our first couple of tests, as I am new to their systems and engine. But I'm excited how things have gone so far."

Brack won the 1998 IRL title and the 1999 Indianapolis 500 when he drove for team owner A.J. Foyt.

"It feels good to be back in the IRL," Brack said. "The IRL is a very competitive series, and the 2003 season should be tough. Coming to Fontana will be a good test for us to see where we mix in with the other IRL teams. If the conditions are good, we'll have a good idea how we are doing so far this year. It's still early, but the 'Test in the West' gives everyone a chance to match up where they are competitively."

Eddie Cheever will scale back his time behind the wheel of his Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara/Infiniti, focusing on this year's Indianapolis 500. Buddy Rice will be the team's lead driver for the full IndyCar season.

"It's been a long time since I have driven," Cheever admitted. "Since the Texas race in September, I have worked non-stop setting up two new companies and taking care of business. I am looking forward to getting out of the office and into the race car.

Cheever has set a variety of goals this week, including getting up to speed with new team manager Max Jones and a new technical alliance with John Menard.

"All these new pieces need to be massaged into place to build the team into the force in needs to be to win races this season, Cheever said. "As a driver, this will be the first test in preparation for my only IndyCar Series race this year, the Indianapolis 500."

Scott Dixon is another former CART driver who will compete in the IRL fulltime this season. He is part of Target/Chip Ganassi Racing's two-car effort that also features Tomas Scheckter.

"I think that this test is important because it will help Tomas, myself and Team Target see how they are doing in comparison to other teams," Dixon said. "It will give us a good baseline to see if we are competitive yet."

Even though it's just a test, that doesn't slow down Scheckter's desire to be the fastest.

"As always, I want to be near the top of the speed charts," Scheckter said. "It's important that we are competitive, and I think that we will be. It will be the first true test to see how we stack up."

After two days of activity at the 2-mile oval east of Los Angeles, the IRL will travel to Phoenix on Wednesday for two more days of testing at the 1.0-mile Phoenix International Raceway.

The season-opener for the IRL IndyCar Series is March 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.