Q: Any update on the Foyt driver situation?
Terry
MP: At the time of this writing on Friday, December 29, no. We know Sting Ray Robb has signed a contract to drive for the team in 2024 and that Benjamin Pedersen signed a three-year contract that started with the 2023 season.
Q: First off, thank you for answering my question from a couple weeks ago about the sizes of the U.S. audiences for F1, IndyCar, and NASCAR. I had no idea that many people watched NASCAR.
Has anyone at IndyCar, or other racing series, done any fan survey type research on what contributes to viewership growth/retention, particularly by age demographic?
I feel like the plethora of emails about aging chassis and engine design hurting IndyCar are missing the point. F1’s viewership is growing quickly in the U.S. and has had the same engine formula for nine years. The upcoming 2026 engines are just changes to the electric motor.
In my opinion, the racing is fine and IndyCar needs to work on making the actual broadcasts better. Not having commercial breaks during green flags, having onboard cameras that point the right direction, and having a points system that a new fan could understand in less than 30 seconds seem like pretty clear things to work on. Having a “Drive To Survive”-type show would help a lot with driver recognition as well
Will, Indy
MP: I’m sure most racing series do all manner of fan surveys. The point about engine age has some merit, but if you wind the clock back to the start of the “Drive To Survive” phenomenon, it wasn’t nine years old. DTS debuted in 2019 and took off in 2020. New cars debuted in 2022. So to a DTS F1 fan, the thing they discovered and love is still very new to them. The same would be true for newish IndyCar fans, who only know the DW12 with its 2012 engine formula and its UAK18 bodywork and aeroscreen as something that’s fresh for them.
And if there were huge waves of new IndyCar fans in the way we have a giant wave of DTS fans, the DW12 and the rest would be a total non-issue. The reality is most of IndyCar’s fans have been fans for a long, long time, and the car/formula is just plain old for those who’ve expressed that sentiment.
And for the umpteenth time, nobody is saying the IndyCar racing isn’t awesome.
Calls for fewer/no commercials have been made thousands of times since F1 returned to ESPN and ESPN ran it without commercials, and at least as many calls for IndyCar to do its version of DTS have been made since the first episode of DTS became available on Netflix.
Q: I am a very long-time fan of F1 and IndyCar. I appreciate very much the long-term support and commitment to IndyCar from Chevrolet and Honda.
Nothing happens in a vacuum, and for sure these two manufacturers have consistently made IndyCar management aware of their needs. Honda’s recent announcement regarding the lack of ROI in IndyCar can have been no shock to the Penske Entertainment Group.
For me (and maybe HRC US) the turning point toward major fear for the future came when IndyCar’s management took public victory laps when a 2-4% increase in viewership for 2023 was announced. Jeepers, that’s their bar for success?
On top of Honda’s direct message regarding the lack of ROI in IndyCar, it has added that its reason for spending some of its racing budget from 2026 on F1 is because having three F1 races in the USA gives it a good ROI for that money. Oh, my!
Penske/IndyCar appear to put all of its major success goals on running a highly competitive series with fun track action plus 33 entries for the Indy 500, and ignores the fact that the OEMs must have major growth in viewership to satisfy their spending. R.P. is no business lightweight, so this can only be deliberate policy, IMHO.
Ergo, is R.P. really wanting a single-spec engine from 2026 onwards, as HRC US suggests, produced by Penske’s own Ilmor? Did HRC US mention this possibility because Penske has already suggested that he has this option if Honda leaves in 2026? So HRC US is letting this alternative be known to see how it all plays out in public — i.e. will fans rise up and revolt?
Frankly, I would rather keep Honda and Chevrolet happy by reducing the series car count to 20 — 10 each for the two manufacturers, which would reduce their respective annual budget considerably. The racing would still be great as the downsized seven cars are never really competitive entries. But that would make reaching 33 cars in the Indy 500 quite difficult, if not impossible.
What is very clear is that Penske/IndyCar have thus far failed to give a long-term vision for the series. They also have no viable digital media vision, or a vision which sets a much higher bar for increase of viewership.
Regarding Chevrolet remaining remarkably quiet, they are balancing many racing series already and may, or may not, have a big commitment to being an OEM in F1 within a few years. Until this latter issue is resolved, they are hardly likely to make major public statements re IndyCar.
Ian, Charlotte, NC
MP: I can confirm IndyCar did not learn about Honda’s various concerns for the first time in my article with Honda.
Q: With all the recent interest in an American F1 team and possible American drivers, why not introduce a scholarship system for promising Americans from the current U.S.-based ladder system (i.e., Road to Indy) to go to Europe to race? Couldn’t some of the American companies currently sponsoring F1 teams (e.g., Oracle, Microsoft, Monster Energy) offer rides in European series like F3 and F2? You win the Indy Pro 2000 championship, and you get a scholarship to race in F3. Or, win Indy NXT and race in F2.
The scholarship should be for at least two seasons to allow the racers to learn, acclimate and then compete and win. Finding the next Josef Newgarden or Kyle Kirkwood and getting them into a FIA Super License-earning series early should prove a far easier way than through IndyCar. Further, the amount of publicity and goodwill generated for the sponsors for finding the next great American F1 racer would be tremendous.
Scott, Miami
MP: If a company had an interest in raising funds to send American drivers to F1’s ladder, there’s nothing stopping them from making it happen. Exactly why such a plan would try and take those who are on IndyCar’s ladder escapes me, though. The reason a Jak Crawford is racing on the European ladder is because he’s an American who wants to race in F1, so that’s where he needs to be training. If you’re serious about racing in F1, you’re racing F3s at Silverstone or F2s at Spa, not lapping in Indy Pro 2000s or Indy NXTs at Mid-Ohio.
Q: I recall when the IndyCar Series had two special awards at season’s end: the Mario Andretti Road Course Award for the driver who scored the most points on road and street circuits, and the A.J. Foyt Award for those who did the best on ovals during a season. What happened to those two awards, which added some special recognition at season’s end to add to the big championship prize?
If IndyCar likes those “club track” events, and I have no problem with it, why not have those be points races and schedule some after Labor Day? The fact that IndyCar ends its season while all others still run late into the year doesn’t help the brand. Out of sight, out of mind, don’t you think?
Dennis Jones, Garnett, KS
MP: It’s a great question, and I think those awards went away when Randy Bernard went away, which is a shame. I reached out to Randy, who provided more details:
I wanted to showcase and identify us as the fastest, most versatile racing series in the world, separating us from F1 and NASCAR. I figured if I took two of the greatest drivers and named them after them, any driver would be honored to win it. I remember going down to the basement of the museum and looking for trophies for inspiration for the year-end IndyCar Series champion, and those two. There were so many trophies that just nobody’s ever seen. It was fun to be able to pick three of them.
Also, with just four oval circuits left on the calendar, I’m not sure there would be much fanfare over the oval side, at least. Maybe if it was spread across ovals, streets, and roads?