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There is actually some merit to the idea. I am not at all for it. I think it sucks that IRL has been running a defacto standard engine (Honda) for a while. At least in the case of the IRL the rules don't technically require you to use that motor.
Anyway, the merit I see is a return to the days when we had more chassis makes who more or less had access to the same level of engine performance. Look at the number of teams who competed and won races with the Ford-Cosworth DFV. Teams like Tyrrell. Do you think they could have competed had they added engine development to their list?
An somewhat affordable (by F1 standards) engine which all teams could work with could be great for many of the smaller teams who are almost certainly down on power.
Now before any thinks I am for this... I said I wasn't and I mean it. In the 1970s it was good because one company was providing a customer engine to anyone who wanted it. I would like to see something like that again where the chassis and engine maker aren't quite as tied together. A single standard engine would really hurt the series. I can't imagine Ferrari ever using a non-Ferrari engine (that really is just wrong). As the same time why would someone like Ford or Honda or Renault even bother with a spec engine from another make. The name of the automaker on the side of the car has everything to do with the engine under the hood, not the chassis manufacture. So which ever company got the contract, the others would as likely as not pull out and take their money with them. Who would blame them?
The question is how could we make the current situation more like it was in the 70s. How can we make sure smaller teams aren't simply priced out. It would be sad to see a truly innovative chassis completely fail because Ferrari's customer engine is down 50hp on the factory motor. Wide ranging access to competitive motors and tires is IMHO very good for a racing program so long as things aren't "spec".
BTW, I would be extremely wary of ALMS type engine rules. The problem they have is balancing out all the different types of motors. Eventually they have to resort to equivalency formulas (how many liters of pushrod V8 = 1 liter of turbo DOHC = x liter of diesel = y liters of normally aspirated DOHC = z liters of Wankel). Those are always dangerous as it's almost impossible to truly come up with a fair formula that doesn't inherently favor one engine type in the end.
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