INDIANAPOLIS — For IndyCar President Jay Frye, the job is never complete. As the man in charge of all IndyCar operations, Frye and his staff move from one task to the next in rapid-fire succession.
He also must be resilient to making decisive changes if one of those tasks needs modified.
Under Frye’s tenure, IndyCar has made some dramatic changes as the NTT IndyCar Series continues to move forward and remain competitive.
“In 2021, we had this whole page of all of the things that happened that were really great and in 2022, we had a similar-sized page of things that happened in 2022 that were really great,” Frye explained. “We have a great paddock. Everybody has bought into the plan and the process of what we are doing. It’s a great group.”
When Frye became IndyCar President after the 2015 season, one of his goals was to harness the power of the paddock. He believed there were a lot of smart people in the paddock that had some great ideas and equity in the series.
Those are the team owners, engineers and sponsors.
The 2023 season begins season No. 8 for Frye’s regime as IndyCar President as he continues to try to navigate the issues and steer the series to a brighter future. The fundamental metrics are positive for IndyCar, although growth may not be as fast as some fans would like. But in a difficult time of rapid change and a troubling economy, IndyCar has grown its ownership base and car count.
It has also brought in new and engaged sponsors, including companies such as Hy-Vee, a supermarket chain based in West Des Moines, Iowa, that helped revive Iowa Speedway with a stellar doubleheader weekend of racing and entertainment.
“It was amazing to see,” Frye said. “It was unique. Going into year two with the same program will be bigger and better. It’s an amazing ticket with two headline acts and a race in the middle of it. That’s cool. It’s not just the on-track stuff or the race, you must have an event around it. That is a pretty good template that our friends at Hy-Vee showed us, and we will have more of that moving forward.”
Another bold move for IndyCar was the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville. It shows the diversity of IndyCar by racing on high-speed superspeedways like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the short ovals such as Iowa Speedway, the streets of Nashville and the road courses such as Road America.
“We pride ourselves on being the most diverse series in the world with the different race courses we compete on,” Frye said. “The whole part of going over a bridge at Nashville was something unique. It worked out great for the past two years, but one of the unique things about the bridge is we would go out and inspect it every night because it’s a suspension bridge that moves and things change.
“It’s amazing when you think about uniqueness, there are things like that you would never think of — the bridging moving. It’s important because these cars race very low to the ground.”
Frye has helped evolve the current IndyCar chassis/engine platform that began competition in 2012. Although the tub of the car remains the same, the car itself has undergone many major changes, including the “Aero Kit Era” from 2015-2017,” the advent of the universal aero kit that continues today.
Also, the addition of the aeroscreen — a canopy that partially encloses the cockpit of the race car and has provided increased driver protection. That went into competition in 2020.
“This plan evolves,” Frye said. “In 2024, the next big initiative is the hybrid engine coming into play. It’s been complicated because it is unique. We have taken a 100-pound piece and tried to fit it into a five-pound bag. Hopefully, we’ll be able to announce what is going to happen and how it is going to look. It will be light and safe and will produce more horsepower. Some changes will come to the car because of this, there are a lot of things being worked on behind the scenes.”
On December 4, IndyCar announced that it would not move to the 2.4-liter engine and will keep the 2.2-liter engine when the hybrid assist device is added to the car in 2024. There were many reasons to make that decision, including increased costs to Chevrolet and Honda and the ability to supply engines for every car in the field.
“There is still an evolution to this process of how it is going to look and where it is going to go,” Frye explained. “The weight we have added to the car has been for a safety perspective and safety is non-negotiable.”
Frye likes to point out that for the past two years at the Indianapolis 500, qualifications have produced the fastest field in the history of the Indy 500. In 2022, it was the fastest pole speed in the history of the Indy 500 and the fastest front row in the history of the race.
There were also a couple of hits that registered 100 G-forces, while the drivers were able to walk away uninjured.
“This car is extremely safe, it’s extremely fast, it races extremely well,” Frye said. “This year we had 5,900 on-track passes and that was 2,500 more on-track passes than last year. This car does a really good job. It races well and it is safe, and it goes fast.”
Frye and IndyCar owner Roger Penske have sound reasons why the series isn’t moving to an entirely new car.
“We look at everything from a team perspective,” Frye said. “Economics matter. We want it to be fresh. We want it to be different. From 2017 to 2018, the car was much different. We got our identity back. In 2020, the aeroscreen changed the look of the car. The cars look completely different. There is nothing on this car in 2023 that was the same in 2012. It has evolved over the years. It looks completely different. We understand that things need freshened up. There will be some changes in 2024 because of the hybrid program.”
Frye and IndyCar aren’t finished with the current car, either.
“There is more to come,” Frye said. “Economics matter and we must be smart how we do things. We want to give the teams 24 months before we obsolete the part. We try to keep the plan updated based on that.”
Because of COVID, 2020 was basically a survival year and it paused the hybrid planning just to get through the season. But in 2024, IndyCar will implement a lighter, safer hybrid assist unit that will boost horsepower by at least 100 hp. IndyCar also must deal with the dramatically growing audience in the United States for Formula One. There will be three F1 races in the United States in 2023.
IndyCar needs to fit into this Formula One world.
“I think it’s great,” Frye said. “I’m a Formula One fan and high tides race all boats. It all creates different and unique eyeballs to what we do. When we talk to European fans, they are mesmerized by how great the IndyCar races are. From an event perspective, we must do more. The Indianapolis 500 is still the largest single-day sporting event in the world. We have a lot of work to do and are working on different things. Our core product is good, and we must sustain that. We have a car with less downforce that is harder to drive.
“We are a little behind on the horsepower piece, but less downforce, more horsepower, put it back in the driver’s hands, that is what we strive to do.”