IndyCar exploring independent governing body that doesn't include Penske employees
Visitors to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum watch the "Starting Grid Experience" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
President of Team Penske Tim Cindric, left and driver Josef Newgarden wait for the start of during practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Sunday, May 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
The winning car that Josef Newgarden drove to victory in the 2024 Indianapolis 500 is shown in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/\Michael Conroy)
The winning car that Josef Newgarden drove to victory in the 2024 Indianapolis 500 is shown in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/\Michael Conroy)
Visitors to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum watch the "Starting Grid Experience" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
President of Team Penske Tim Cindric, left and driver Josef Newgarden wait for the start of during practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Sunday, May 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
The winning car that Josef Newgarden drove to victory in the 2024 Indianapolis 500 is shown in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/\Michael Conroy)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — IndyCar is exploring the creation of an independent governing body absent of any Roger Penske employees in the wake of the Team Penske cheating scandal ahead of the Indianapolis 500.
Penske owns three-car Team Penske, IndyCar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500. On Wednesday, he fired his top three racing executives after two of its cars were found to be illegal ahead of the second round of Indy 500 qualifying.
Advertisement
It has since been shown that the spec part Team Penske had modified on the cars of two-time defending Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden and Will Power had been done so for some time. Both Newgarden's winning car from his 2024 victory that is displayed in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum and the one he took to the White House last month have the same modified part.
Rival teams claim they have photos of the Penske cars with the modifications dating some time, and others have claimed they told IndyCar technical inspectors the Penske cars were not legal.
'We want to ensure that we have an officiating entity that has no ability for folks to say it's got influence from Roger Penske," said Doug Boles, named president of IndyCar in February while already holding the title of president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Since IndyCar caught Newgarden and Power's cars Sunday — with help of complaints from rival teams — the fellow competitors have alleged the Penske cars get preferential treatment because they are owned by Penske. They have also questioned how it wasn't discovered Saturday when Penske's three cars locked into the race, and are publicly wondering if the cars were legal at the time.
Advertisement
Optics of favoritism have dogged Penske since he purchased all things Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2020 because everyone who runs an arm of his organization is paid by Roger Penske. Late Wednesday, new IndyCar president Doug Boles, who is also president of the speedway, said there is an evaluation of bringing in outside governance in the future.
'We have been working very, very hard to create an entity, an officiating entity, and by officiating I mean race control and tech inspection and an entity that is completely removed from anything that has to do with Penske entertainment, or Roger Penske or the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the IndyCar series,' Boles said.
Boles also said one of the reasons the cars were not caught with the illegal modification is because the change had been made to the rear attenuator, a safety piece that is prohibited from being altered because it could compromise its abilities. Therefore, the part isn't routinely checked because IndyCar inspector assume teams want their cars to be safe.
NASCAR is governed by the France family, which owns the series and most of its track. Race control and the competition department are NASCAR employees. NASCAR does not field any cars.
Advertisement
Formula 1 has an independent governance in the FIA. F1 owns only the commercial rights to the series, while the FIA has full control of how the series is governed.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Drive
31 minutes ago
- The Drive
2026 Canadian F1 GP vs Indy 500 Start Times: Who Will Budge?
The latest car news, reviews, and features. The 2026 Formula 1 season calendar was unveiled earlier this week, and as expected, Monaco has been pushed back to June and will no longer happen on the same day as IndyCar's Indy 500 and NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600. This is good news to some racing fans, bad for others, and completely irrelevant to most. However, what it does cause is a clash between the 2026 Indy 500 and the Canadian F1 Grand Prix. Previously, both races could coexist on the same day because one happened on North America's Eastern Time, while the other happened on Europe's Central European Summer Time, six hours ahead. This allowed fans to start their day by watching the entirety of the Monaco parade, err, race, at 9 a.m. ET before fully switching on to the 500, which starts at 12:45 p.m. ET. In fact, as an Indy local, I'm used to watching Monaco from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as I get there early enough to avoid the traffic. And that's where everything's gone wrong for 2026. Because IndyCar and F1 are both racing in North America, in the same time zone, fans will be forced to choose one over the other. Or, if they can, watch both of them simultaneously, though that option is entirely impossible for the half-million race fans who will attend either race in person. The Canadian GP is set to start at 2 p.m. ET this year and likely the same next year, with the Indy 500 retaining its 12:45 p.m. start time. You don't have to be great at math to figure out why that might not work. Former F1 pundit and now IndyCar commentator Will Buxton shared on social media how silly this new clash is, and asked the heads of both championships to come together and figure something out for the sake of the race fans (and network viewership, of course). Worth noting this year's Canadian GP starts at 2pm ET and could be pushed back to 3 in 26 with ease. Historically, the Indy500 always started earlier than it does now with a 10am start for its first 30 years, and an 11am start from the 1940s all the way into the 2000s. — Will Buxton (@wbuxtonofficial) June 11, 2025 Buxton's theory is that Canada could be pushed back to 3 p.m., and the Indy 500 moved an hour or maybe even to, giving it an either 10:45 or 11:45 start time. With the 500 typically running about three hours long on average, this would allow fans to watch both races in their entirety back-to-back. 'Should either race move start times? Will they move start times? That's ultimately for the championships to decide. But could they? Absolutely,' said Buxton on X. 'Crucially, there's ample wiggle room, and interestingly, there is historical precedent to allow both races to coexist without clashing.' Frankly, I would be very surprised if Roger Penske or Stefano Domenicali budged on start times. These times aren't just set for people physically attending the race, but for huge TV networks to fit in with all of their other programming. Logistics also play a big role. From law enforcement (traffic control, crowd control, etc.), flyovers, public transport, third-party vendors, and other international TV partners, these times are extremely difficult to change, even with an entire year's notice. Is it impossible, though? Nope. Got a tip? Email us at tips@
Associated Press
35 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hildebrandt leads new Real American Freestyle wrestling signees
Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hildebrandt headlines a group of four women who have signed with Real American Freestyle wrestling. Hildebrandt became the fourth American woman to win a gold medal in Olympic wrestling when she defeated Yusneylis Guzman Lopez of Cuba in the 50-kilogram final last year in Paris. Other signees the new company announced Thursday are Olympic silver medalist Lucía 'Jami' Yepez Guzman, Audrey Jimenez and Zeltin Hernandez Guerra. They join Kennedy Blades, a silver medalist for the United States at the Paris Olympics, as the anchors of the women's division. 'Real American Freestyle was created to trailblaze, and these incredible women joining our roster are a critical part of that,' RAF commissioner Hulk Hogan said in a statement. Yepez Guzman, who is from Ecuador, was a silver medalist at the Paris Olympics. She also won gold at the 2023 Pan American Games, the 2021 Junior Pan American Games and the 2021 U23 World Wrestling Championships. Jimenez, 19, was a U.S. Olympic Trials runner-up. She was the first female to win an Arizona state championship in the boys division. She won the 2025 Senior Pan American Championships at 50 kilograms last month, with a win over Guzman Lopez in the semifinals. Hernandez Guerra is a Mexican who won gold at the U23 Pan American Championships last year. Real American Freestyle events will feature matches at eight men's and four women's weight classes. The first is scheduled for Aug. 30 in Cleveland, with other sites to be named in the coming months. ___ AP sports:
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
NASCAR's Mexico City race: Daniel Suarez balances racing at home with uncertainty over contract
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Daniel Suarez has become the unofficial tour guide for all things Mexico City as NASCAR prepares to race internationally this Sunday for the first international points-paying Cup Series event of the modern era. From where to eat, what to do, how to navigate the city and even basic conversation in Spanish, Suarez has been the go-to guy in the garage since NASCAR said it would take the Cup Series outside the United States for just the third time in 77 years. The Monterrey native has made multiple trips to NASCAR as the face of Sunday's race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where he's raced on a different course layout 13 times, with three wins in NASCAR's Mexico Series. He'd like to win at the Cup level — if he pulls it out in his home country Sunday it will be his first victory of this season — but Suarez is juggling a very difficult balancing act. He's elated to be racing in front of a home crowd, honored to show of the culture and magic of Mexico City, but at the same time tremendously concerned about his NASCAR future. Suarez is in a contract year with Trackhouse Racing, which has Ross Chastain and Shane van Ginsberg under contract while Connor Zilisch is its development driver and on loan to several teams at lower national levels of NASCAR racing. Trackhouse only has three Cup Series seats, math Suarez can't ignore as he heads into Sunday ranked 28th in the standings. 'It's not the first time that I've been in this position. Definitely the first time with the Mexico race, but it's not the first time that I've been in the position that we have to win or in the position that we have a contract negotiation in the middle of the season,' Suarez said. 'It's definitely a distraction. I won't sit here and tell you that it doesn't really matter. I'm trying to be as smart as possible and to put all this stuff on the side and just do my thing on the track.' Return to Mexico Suarez, the only Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR national series race, has two Cup victories, three Xfinity Series wins and one Truck Series win. His 2016 championship in the second-tier Xfinity Series made him the only foreign-born driver to win a national series title. Suarez has faced adversity before, but never like the pressure he's feeling hoping to deliver in front of the local crowd. This weekend in Mexico is special to Suarez, who expects well over 100 of the spectators in attendance Sunday to be friends and family. They've watched from afar as he's worked his way into the NASCAR spotlight, a journey full of ups and downs that have seen Suarez drive for four different Cup teams. He joined Trackhouse Racing in 2021 and last year signed a one-year extension through 2025. At the time, he said he wanted to reassess where the program was before signing a long-term deal. But it's been a disappointing start to the season and his average finish of 21st is three spots worse than last year. 'The Mexico race is something that I've been hoping and waiting on for many, many years, and I'm not going to let anything else from outside take that week and that moment from myself,' Suarez said. 'We have to just continue to put one foot in front of the other and continue to move forward. I think that in Trackhouse, we have found some decent speed in the last few weeks, so that's promising, and hopefully we can continue to move in that direction.' Suarez will have Mexican communication company Telcel on his car this weekend. 'For many years, I never had a sponsor deal with a company from Mexico because I wasn't racing there,' Suarez said. 'So right now that we're going to be having an event down there, it opens a whole new world of opportunities and that's great, obviously for me, but for the entire sport.' Contract Distractions It's another layer of pressure for Suarez, who wants nothing more than to balance the demands of being the star of Sunday's show with delivering a strong showing. 'Once we get into the race, we don't want to deal with any of this stuff, and I just want to focus and have fun driving race cars,' he said. 'There is going to be more on my plate just by nature, just being the local guy, the very first race ever in Mexico City in the Cup Series. I have to accept that. With that being said, I have to protect my space for the competition stuff because if we don't do the competition stuff right, everything else doesn't really matter. So we have to put a balance on everything.' As Suarez noted, a win on Sunday would dramatically improve his hopes of remaining with Trackhouse on a contract extension. It could happen: Suarez's first Cup victory came on the road course at Sonoma, and the next five Cup races include road-course races at Mexico City, Sonoma and the Chicago street course. He admitted 'honestly, I don't know' about what he'd like out of a contract extension, but said he speaks regularly with team owner Justin Marks. 'The trajectory of Trackhouse has been tremendous,' Suárez said. 'We have learned so many things. I really want to help Justin bring Trackhouse to the next level. I believe that 2022 has been our best year as a company, still. So why is that? Are we missing something? Do we have to change something? What do we need to do better? As a new team, to have your best years that early, it's kind of uncommon. One of the reasons, I believe, was because of the new car. So I believe that we have to continue to grow. 'Ross just won a race a couple weeks ago, and that's brought a lot of energy to the team and some more momentum. Before that, it was a little bit of a struggle. So we have to continue to find that speed in a consistent basis, just like the big teams,' he continued. 'So we're having all these conversations. I wish I didn't have to have these conversations, and I didn't have these distractions, but it's part of life, right? Sometimes you have to do several things at the same time. But I'm trying not to think about it too much and trying to work in my job and push as hard as possible for competition and trying to help the team slowly get better and better.' ___ AP auto racing:
