IndyCar 2025: A turning point in the race to what's next

01/06/2025 01:19 PM

I've been fan of IndyCar racing since I was nine years old. Viewing the 1964 Indy 500 live on a closed circuit black and white TV broadcast in a theater with hundreds of die-hard racing fans delivered an irresistible emotional gravity that hooked me then and has held me ever since. During the 22,136 days since then, I've watched this sport repeatedly soar to triumphant highs and then suffer through some excruciatingly self-inflicted destructive lows.

Racing became my lifelong passion, my way of life and my profession. I began working full-time in racing media during the first week of January in 1975. Since then, I've been fortunate to know most of the people who have managed — or sometimes mismanaged — the sport of IndyCar racing. And if there's one key lesson that I've learned it's this: keeping IndyCar racing stable, healthy, growing and thriving is anything but easy.

This was particularly evident during the past 30 years of the sport, that have been predominantly turbulent and persistently disorienting and disheartening to many lifelong Indy 500 and IndyCar racing fans like me, who grew up when the Indy 500 and IndyCar racing was unquestionably America’s premier form of motorsport. The hard truth is that division, identity confusion, negative off-track storylines, and progressive diminishment of the technical diversity in the cars and engines have muted the allure of a sport that once set the pace for audience scale and commercial energy. Many of us older IndyCar fans eventually found other things to care about while some of us focused instead on conveying displeasure with the sport's direction.

Another hard reality is that there simply weren't enough new fans being exposed to IndyCar racing, and subsequently engaging in it to create fresh, positive cultural energy emanating from the sport. This has unfortunately continued to be the case during the first five years of this decade, despite Roger Penske's welcome acquisition of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the NTT IndyCar Series in 2019, that was unfortunately timed on the eve of the global COVID 19 pandemic. Since then, IndyCar's progress has been steady but slow, which is not the Penske way. So, the complaining about IndyCar's leadership team in RACER.com's comment sections, in RACER's social media channels and in the RACER Mailbag has become a digital bloodsport that metaphorically eclipses the whine of a twin-turbo 2.2-liter V6 at 12,000 rpm.

But I believe that is about to change because 2025 feels to me like a true turning point year for the NTT IndyCar Series. The new FOX all-network broadcast deal isn't just a TV contract; it's a huge and potentially game-changing opportunity to reconnect IndyCar racing with mainstream America. It is also an encouraging external validation of the true potential of the Indy 500 and NTT IndyCar Series to create emotional meaning that can attract audiences.

Equally significant are Penske Entertainment's recent acquisition of the Long Beach Grand Prix Association and the announcement of the upcoming Arlington Grand Prix in 2026. These moves aren't just about preserving or adding races to the NTT IndyCar Series schedule — they're about ensuring stability and signaling a commitment to building the series through modern lifestyle-oriented event weekends that can accelerate growth and build cultural relevance that will attract younger fans to the series. These events also serve as fan data capture opportunities outside of Indiana and Detroit that will directly connect Penske Entertainment to new fans, as well as provide insight into what they like and don't like about the IndyCar fan experience, that will shape the future of the NTT IndyCar Series.

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the series’ second-most popular event, will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year. I've been fortunate to have attended every Long Beach GP race weekend since the inaugural SCCA Formula 5000 event in 1975. I was there when the CART PPG IndyCar Series replaced Formula 1 as the headline show in 1984, and it soon became a defining element in the sport's uniquely diverse schedule, first for CART, then ChampCar and now IndyCar. This also ensured IndyCar's continual presence in the USA’s second largest Designated Market Area (DMA). The Arlington Grand Prix represents transformational growth potential in the fourth-largest U.S. DMA, through an exciting partnership between Penske Entertainment and Jerry Jones’ Dallas Cowboys organization. These moves show that IndyCar isn't just reacting to challenges — it’s actively building the foundation for a brighter future.

Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles and IndyCar President Jay Frye deserve credit for the good things that are now happening for IndyCar. Steering a ship this big, with so many vocal stakeholders and so much history, takes a steady hand and a thick skin. Despite some missteps — such as the delayed, but ultimately successful introduction of the hybrid package in mid-2024, and the slow reveal of a clear vision for the series’ next engine and chassis formula in 2027 — their leadership has kept the series moving forward.

Ultimately it is Roger Penske who now owns this sport that defines his personal identity and the competitive spirit of his $39 billion business empire. Those critical of Penske cannot deny that the Indy 500 and the NTT IndyCar Series are clearly his lifelong passion. So, as these recent developments illustrate, Roger always plays to win. History shows us that he's usually several laps ahead of the competition in his strategic thinking, We also should appreciate his obvious urgency to "get it done," given that he will celebrate his 89th birthday on Feb. 20, so I like his chances in this 115-year race to what's next,

The intention of Penske Entertainment is clear to many who make the decisions to invest in the sport: They know Roger Penske's goal for IndyCar is to make it better by every measure, by doing what it takes to reposition, redefine and re-energize the sport at every touchpoint. These partners likely appreciate the reasons why this has been a challenging period for IndyCar racing, but they also understand that this is the sport's golden opportunity to reset, and that the commitment is there to succeed.