Why Frye and Rahal Letterman Lanigan are the perfect fit

Today at 12:06 AM

Bobby Rahal, David Letterman, and Mike Lanigan were struggling to identify the right candidate.

Facing frequent personnel changes and a recent competitive downturn, they'd been searching for someone to entrust with the running of their three-tiered racing business and build a new success-driven culture.

In former NASCAR Cup team owner and 10-year IndyCar Series president Jay Frye, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Frye have found each other at the perfect time.

With an array of businesses to run outside of RLL, plus families to enjoy in their twilight years, 72-year-old Rahal and 74-year-old Lanigan aren't meant to put in the 20-hour days that come with bringing a team back to title-contending prominence. Together, they sought a younger version of themselves with vast experience running teams, running businesses, and with in-depth marketing and sales knowledge to function as the daily engine that powers RLL in boardrooms, on the shop floor, and at the race track. Frye ticked every box.

Their new shop in Zionsville, Indiana, which houses the factory BMW M Team RLL IMSA GTP program, its three-car IndyCar effort, and BMW North America's racing heritage collection, is a testament to RLL's commitment to the sport.

The building also represents an abundance of unrealized potential. Being a modern team with the nicest garage in town is meaningless if the grand trophy case is largely filled with yesterday's achievements. Creating reasons to open the case and add more hardware is why Frye was pursued by Rahal and Lanigan.

And for Frye, who was released by IndyCar in February, years of being underappreciated by the series owners met an end. Walled off from most of the areas of the job he performed before IndyCar's purchase by Penske Entertainment, the chance to dive headfirst into RLL's competitive restoration process was the best offer among the many he received. The prospects of being happy and fulfilled and empowered by folks he knows and respects was another part of the job's appeal.

Frye should have a steadying effect on RLL after becoming its third team leader in the last four years. RLL hired Piers Phillips as its president heading into the 2019 season, but that relationship met an abrupt end late in 2022. After Phillips, RLL brought former Honda Racing Corporation VP Steve Eriksen into the fold in January of 2023. Eriksen was invaluable in specific ways, but the big, long-term fit they'd hoped for didn't develop, which spurred the search that led them to Frye. Eriksen was released once Frye was secured.

And now, like Chip Ganassi has Mike Hull and Roger Penske has Tim Cindric, RLL has Frye.

RLL's IndyCar program is a familiar one to its new president, which is good, because it's farther away from the front than its IMSA campaign. The last time RLL was in the championship mix? Buddy Rice in 2004.

Two years removed from its last IndyCar win, Frye has an intensive learning process to go through within the company to find its strengths and weaknesses. Who needs to go, stay, or be recruited? Is everyone in the right position? Are there voids in management? What level of accountability is in place across the various departments?

In a personnel-driven sport, it's who you have, their ideas, their capabilities, the supportive infrastructure, the tools they're given, and their individual performances that separate winners from losers. The cars and drivers are equally important, but ultimately, it's people vs. people. And Frye is about as people-first as it gets.

For RLL to become a threat to its title-worthy rivals, hard decisions and constant tuning will also be required. Changes are coming.

It's here where some of the progress has already been made coming into 2025. A revolving cast of drivers and engineers have made it nearly impossible for the IndyCar side to establish a solid baseline and build the kind of consistency and quality required to hassle the Ganassis, Penskes, Andrettis, and McLarens. Although two of its three drivers are new, RLL's talented engineering group has received the overdue attention it deserved.

A new leadership structure was created. More engineers have been hired. New investments in engineering R&D programs have also been carried out. But there are no immediate fixes to apply that will fire the trio of Graham Rahal, rookie Louis Foster, and Devlin DeFrancesco ahead of the main contenders. Together, the latest version of RLL's IndyCar engineering corps has real promise, but it needs time to jell.

One area where Frye would be smart to get started on is finding RLL's next marquee driver.

We can't underestimate how the loss of Christian Lundgaard to Arrow McLaren has affected the IndyCar program. Having grown tired of the shortcomings associated with a midfield team, the Dane jumped at the chance to leave. The move has already paid off: Lundgaard sits fourth in the standings, four points shy of second after two races.

In his absence, Rahal has had an encouraging start with runs to 12th and 11th across the opening races, but the teams RLL is chasing continue to operate in a different area code. DeFrancesco is 21st, and Foster is 27th and last after a pair of rough introductions to IndyCar at St. Petersburg and The Thermal Club.

The highly-rated 2024 Indy NXT champion can't be expected to pick up where Lundgaard left off. The most experienced team managers will tell you it takes at least two to three years for talented NXT drivers to discover most of their potential. Assuming that clock is close to accurate, it will be 2027 or 2028 before Foster would be in front-running form.

DeFrancesco continues to deliver his best work on Fridays and Saturdays, but his decision-making on Sundays is where the stumbles tend to emerge. It leaves Rahal, at 36, and in his 19th IndyCar season, as its on-track leader.

RLL's best showings of the decade belong to Rahal, who placed sixth in 2020 and seventh in 2021. With a rapid car he's certainly capable of repeating that form, but looking down the road, there isn't a ton of runway left for Rahal as a full-time IndyCar driver.

Whether it's a young IndyCar star approaching free agency, or another instantly-ready type from European open-wheel – which it might already have in the still-under-contract Juri Vips – RLL would benefit from zeroing in on the next Lundgaards and Rahals to race into 2030 and beyond.

After the future driver hunt, Frye's marketing and sales expertise could be put to use in trying to land sponsors for the team’s third IndyCar, which relies on funded drivers. Sponsor-wielding drivers are a necessity for some outfits, and thanks to them, those teams remain in business and 15-20 people have jobs to support their families. But only in the rarest of instances do those drivers make the team more competitive.

Converting the third car from being available for hire to having the budget to pay a badass to form a three-car assault on the championship is an important development for RLL to reach its full potential. And like so many other items on Frye's to-do list, it won't be resolved in an instant.

RLL's IMSA wing is in better shape, with BMW's M Hybrid V8 GTP car taking its most recent victory last September. The BMWs have been fast, with pole positions to start the season at Daytona and Sebring, but the raw pace hasn't been converted into podiums. Porsche and Acura are off to impressive starts this season, and to help raise BMW's GTP game, Frye needs to learn the inner workings of endurance sports car racing — a new arena for him — while getting up to speed on everything else that comes with the job.

Frye's hiring speaks to Rahal and Lanigan’s motivation to leave the midfield behind in IndyCar and take the fight to the other GTP manufacturers. There could be a few uncomfortable moments ahead as Frye sits in his first IndyCar team owner/manager meetings alongside his new bosses while staring back at his old bosses, but the awkwardness will pass.

He poured himself into IndyCar, came with the series when it was purchased, and was eventually rejected. And then the best thing happened following a bad breakup: Frye was courted and chosen by RLL to lead its proud organization at a pivotal time.

Self-worth restored. Inner doubts quieted, if not erased. RLL will prosper from Frye's arrival. Good things do happen to good people.