Fewer cars, bigger cities, more risks part of McLaren Racing CEO's advice for IndyCar's future

Indianapolis Star

2 days ago

DETROIT — If you see McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown walking around the IndyCar paddock during the tail end of the Detroit Grand Prix, and you notice he's not wearing a hard card, don't be alarmed. It's simply result of forgetting to pack it during a whirlwind couple weeks that culminated last weekend with his first Monaco Grand Prix win and bled into his first visit to the IndyCar paddock in 2025.
He's not, as he joked with a small group of assembled media Saturday afternoon, run so far afoul of Roger Penske to have had his hard card pulled.
But that doesn't mean Brown doesn't have bold ideas for the sport that expand far beyond Penske Entertainment's MO of prioritizing cost savings, balancing the books, making incremental steps toward growth and largely only looking toward partners in order to tackle big, bold projects, rather than stepping into the unknown and betting on the sport's brand, momentum and stars on its own.
'We need to play more offense. Sometimes, we're playing too much defense,' Brown said. ''Cost savings, cost savings, cost savings …' At some point, you've got to say, 'I want to spend more to make more.'
'I'm of the view that whatever (Roger Penske) bought (IndyCar, IMS and IMSP) for, it can (be worth) 10 (times) that, but the way to get there is to put in even more substantial investments into the sport. There's a difference between sustaining the spot and covering some losses, versus going and putting $100 million in. There's no reason why IndyCar as a series shouldn't be worth billions, but I think we need to put in more investments in key areas, and that's where the payback comes from.'
Now, that's not to say Penske, Penske Corp. and Penske Entertainment haven't injected untold amounts of millions into the sport that weren't being spent before Tony George approached Penske on the grid at Laguna Seca in 2019 to gauge his interest in stewarding the sport's future. At last count in 2023, Penske had spent at least $50 million on refurbishing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to bring it up to "Penske perfect" standards.
Other sizable, notable investments in and around the sport include backstopping the ever-delayed hybrid launch that IndyCar and its manufacturers eventually had to take into their own hands to get to the finish line after a series of delays, purchasing the Long Beach Grand Prix, expanding staffing levels at key areas of IndyCar to help the sport in its attempts to seek growth and reach younger audiences in the ever-changing media landscape and taking on various levels of promoter roles at new events like Iowa, Milwaukee and Nashville.
Undoubtedly, the sport is in a better place than it was before Penske took the reins, but after years of solidifying IndyCar's foundation — a process many in the paddock would privately say has lasted too long — teams outside those annually competing for championships are finding it increasingly difficult to stay afloat, with budgets that have risen as much as 30% or more in recent years and prospective partner interest not following the same trajectory.
Many of the sport's biggest events have seen multiple years of attendance growth, and IndyCar, too, has experienced the occasional TV ratings win — most notably last weekend's Indy 500 that averaged more than 7 million viewers and saw a peak at 8.4 million, despite a rather lackluster closing stint. But even as series leadership parrots its off-track victories in ratings, attendance and merchandise sales, the implication around the paddock is that all isn't so swell for the teams who put their all on the line each weekend — without which the series wouldn't survive.
And so, in Brown's eyes, in order for the entire ecosystem to experience a positive financial impact, the swings from series leadership need to be bigger — something ex-IndyCar team owner Michael Andretti famously said a year ago at St. Pete, only for Penske and his leadership to be up in arms privately, and public announce the creation of multiple small committees within the paddock to tackle the various issues at hand.
That weekend, Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles told reporters that, among that project, Brown had been added to a new marketing committee, something which has turned into a running joke Brown brings up with any chance he gets. Because that 'committee' has never met. Brown said he was never formally invited to anything and only found out second hand of the nomination, and he quipped Saturday that perhaps he actually is the chairman of said committee, 'And maybe that's why there's been no meetings, because I'm supposed to call them.'
Several of Brown's big-picture ideas aren't altogether new. After all, he's been known to release the occasional manifesto or open letter to fans and, for years, he's been the sport's loudest and most frequent voice that IndyCar should be pushing boundaries, leading instead of following, investing in more cutting edge technology in its cars and racing in bigger markets.
But it was notable Saturday to hear that a meeting he had earlier in the day with Penske, Penske Corp. president Bud Denker, Penske Corp. executive VP of marketing and business development Jonathan Gibson, IMS and IndyCar president Doug Boles and Penske's son, Greg 'was one of the best meetings I've had with IndyCar,' according to Brown. 'I was very encouraged. I think they recognize the issues and opportunities.
'It was a good hour, and you could see a few raised eyebrows of, maybe everyone doesn't always say that to (Roger), but I was doing it in a productive (manner).' Brown later accused some of his rival team owners of 'when 'the captain' isn't around, they say one thing, but then when he is, they say another. When he's not around, the teams are like 'grrrr', and when he is, it's like, 'Hey, everything's great!' It's like, that's not what you said 20 minutes ago.' And I actually think that does a disservice when you don't give him real feedback.'
On a positive note, Brown said the addition of Fox Sports as IndyCar's exclusive media rights partner, led by CEO Eric Shanks, has been 'mega,' noting that, 'When you look at the list of things we need, you need to get the right broadcaster, and I think we've done that. We still have the other 19 things to do, but that one has been done and done successfully.'
Brown would, though, like to see IndyCar start its schedule even earlier — as early as the Saturday of the Daytona 500 race weekend, he boldly said, and if not at minimum the weekend immediately after NASCAR's Super Bowl-esque event, so as to expand IndyCar's season as much as possible and shorten the period during which it largely becomes irrelevant in the motor racing world. Like so many, he thinks IndyCar is sorely in need of a new car and an explicit road map for what that will look like. Though he understands current and prospective manufacturers are continuing to weight their options on whether to hop on board the proverbial IndyCar train for 2027 and beyond, 'but at some point, you've go to go.'
As the team boss of the 2024 World Constructors' Championship in Formula 1, Brown intimately knows and has first-hand experience in the ways in which F1 commercial rightsowner Liberty Media has taken the sport to new heights, particularly in the U.S. Among the ways in which he thinks Penske should take a page out of Liberty's playbook are the ways in which F1 has twice now launched game-changing new races in the U.S. in the last five years and used those additions to supercharge the entire ecosystem with funding and revenue opportunities.
'Even though (the Las Vegas Grand Prix) isn't profitable today, it brought in a ton of new sponsors, and you've got a more lucrative TV contract. So if I look at the (IndyCar) schedule, I think we need to be in bigger cities,' Brown said of his not altogether new refrain. 'I know it's got to be fiscally difficult to say, 'I want to race in New York City,' but I think you've got to invest in a few more key markets where races may not be profitable, but you'd drive greater following of the sport, more sponsorship and bigger TV ratings. And then you'd get your money back in value creation and growth of the teams and the sport.
'The payback probably doesn't come on a race-by-race basis, but what it does is elevate the sport. You might not be making millions off of the New York Grand Prix, but you could have hundreds of millions off the value creation growth, which then drags up all the teams and gets more sponsorship.'
And though Penske Entertainment launched a charter system last fall that gives full-time teams on the grid (outside newcomer Prema Racing) something tangible to be able to sell, should they wish to scale back or take advantage of tides rising within the paddock, that system comes with very little in terms of true revenue sharing that major American sports fans see across the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL, beyond rather miniscule Leaders Circle payments ($1.2 million in 2025) that make up somewhere around 10% of an individual car's budget.
Brown would love to see what he calls 'a true franchise system' for IndyCar, where teams could ride the waves the sport's governing body and ownership group are said to be feeling while also benefitting from a truly exclusive club that can't be joined without purchasing an existing team's entry, or 'charter.' Last fall, Penske Entertainment doled out 25 charters, but still allowed for Prema Racing's two open cars to make for a 27-car grid.
'Then, that means as a team, my (profit and loss) is one thing, but the value of my IndyCar team has gone up," Brown said. "You have everyone rowing in the same direction, because everyone is sharing in the growth of the sport.'
And it's in that vein where Brown holds perhaps his most controversial take: the McLaren Racing CEO sees multiple cars on the grid as anchors holding IndyCar back, or parachutes significantly slowing the sport's growth potential. In his 'quality over quantity' vision, he points to Ferrari road cars and Richard Mille watches, the ownership of which exude luxury and exclusivity.
'Is it 20, or 22, or 24 cars? It's probably in that range, and all a sudden, you've got three or four people looking, and they might want to buy a franchise, and you can't get in unless you buy your way in,' he said. 'I think like any sport, 75% of your fans are mostly interested in your top teams. I don't think the fans would miss three or four cars from the grid that aren't going to win races and don't add much value. And if you have scarcity, it'll help with fewer yellow flags. These tracks are congested, and you'd probably have a better on-track product.