Opinion: IndyCar management’s outdated ideas of growth and popularity will destroy the series
Mexican driver Pato O'Ward generates huge social impressions for the IndyCar series.
Two American race series have been pursuing an event in Mexico City, but NASCAR has beaten IndyCar to the punch — and it all comes down to the fact that IndyCar’s management has failed to understand what it takes to operate a successful race series in 2024.
Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles has offered some revealing quotes about IndyCar’s pursuit of a race in Mexico — namely, that the sport sees no value in expanding beyond the confines of its American borders if there’s any element of risk. And IndyCar’s inability to take a risk can only harm the sport.
Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles: “It’s clear Pato isn’t as famous as the last Mexican driver”
This week, NASCAR has announced that in 2025, it will race at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in a historic move for the stock car series; it’ll be the first international points-paying race for the Cup Series since the late 1950s. It also represents a complete dropping of the ball by the IndyCar Series when it comes to expanding its horizons.
But Penske Entertainment, which owns IndyCar, has failed to actually field an international event despite discussing the possibility for years.
Drivers in the IndyCar paddock were deeply disappointed in the fact that IndyCar failed to secure a race in Mexico before NASCAR did. Scott Dixon referred to it as “a massive miss” while Spanish racer Alex Palou lamented, “everbody’s overtaking us left and right.”
But no driver is more disappointed that Mexico native Pato O’Ward.
“[NASCAR] beat us to the cake. I strongly believe that we’re not only late, but I strongly believe there isn’t any more room in Mexico City,” O’Ward told media ahead of the Milwaukee Mile doubleheader, as reported by IndyStar.
O’Ward noted that the next best option would be racing at Parque Fundidora in Monterrey, Mexico — but that doing so would require a massive amount of investment in order to bring the facility into racing shape. It’ll be a much more challenging prospect than simply turning up at an FIA Grade 1 circuit in the biggest city in the country.
“I’m not shocked that this is what it’s come to, to be honest,” O’Ward told IndyStar. “Obviously there wasn’t enough pressure from the series in order to get it done.”
He also took aim at Penske Entertainment, which owns IndyCar, by saying, “I think the way [Penske Entertainment] does things isn’t with urgency.”
Mark Miles, CEO of Penske Entertainment, didn’t take the criticism lightly. He said that, after O’Ward’s first win in 2021, he explored the option of a Mexico City race.
“I’ll be frank, they said, ‘If you want us to rent you the place, we’ll rent it to you, but we don’t want to partner’,” Miles told media, including IndyStar.
“‘We think it’s too early. You’re not well enough known yet to be in Mexico City.’ It means they have a view that we’re not well enough known – and nor is Pato yet – to populate an event at the track.
“I know how many seats they can take out, and they can do a lot of things, but they think we don’t have the market penetration yet.”
Miles did state that IndyCar has pursued a Mexico race in some capacity in the years since, albeit unsuccessfully.
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However, Miles also offered a perplexing comment about O’Ward’s popularity.
“I will say that it’s clear that Pato isn’t as famous as the last previously famous Mexican driver – Adrian Fernandez – but he’s really gaining ground, and he’s actually on some billboards now,” Miles said.
“He’ll probably complain that I haven’t dragged him in, and that he should be the guy to go in and make the deal.
“I do think Pato is a natural star, and I do think this is going to happen, but in 2021, I’m quite certain they didn’t think it was time.
“But there have been a lot of conversations this time around. It hasn’t been a drive-by thing.”
O’Ward may not have ascended to the levels of superstardom that followed Fernandez — but this is also a different time. Fernandez raced for CART back when the series was at the pinnacle of its popularity, when CART could compete with Formula 1 for talent and viewers. IndyCar itself is nowhere near the level of popularity of CART; naturally, IndyCar’s biggest stars also won’t be as popular.
But Miles’ metric for success — billboards — is immensely outdated, as is his belief that one single driver should shoulder the burden of appealing to an entire country.
Critical success in 2024 isn’t measured by billboards or advertisements placed in magazines. Rather, it’s measured by social media impressions and the ability to convert interested viewers into dedicated fans.
As PlanetF1.com reported earlier this month, O’Ward has a larger social media following than IndyCar itself; the only driver with a larger following than O’Ward is former F1 driver Romain Grosjean. O’Ward has sold out dedicated grandstands, negotiated deals to air IndyCar on television in Mexico, and developed a rock-solid personal brand that is arguably more recognizable than that of IndyCar’s. Social media has exploded today with stories of casual racing fans who made the leap to travel to an IndyCar race solely because of Pato O’Ward.
(And if we want to go by Miles’ billboard metric: In Milwaukee, there are no IndyCar billboards advertising the race. There are, however, billboards advertising the NASCAR Truck Series race that took place last Sunday.)
IndyCar, as a series, has seemed immune to taking risks since the discipline was formed from the ashes of various other American open-wheel categories in 2008. It has allegedly been in talks with international racing venues for years without any progress being made. It has struggled to draw fans to any race but the Indy 500, or to encourage at-home viewers to watch a non-500 race.
One person who has taken those risks is Pato O’Ward.
“I think a lot of people don’t want to have losses, and that’s what scares people out of doing something,” O’Ward said on The Elizabeth + Ash Show.
“I’ve spent thousands of my own money,” O’Ward continued. “I remember a few years ago getting IndyCar races on open TV in Mexico, and obviously I was paying that out of my pocket as well,” O’Ward said. “Nothing came of it, so that was a lot of money down the drain.
“But you don’t know until you try. I would say that’s how I do a lot of the [brand-building].
“Like, maybe you try something, and it doesn’t work out, but it brings something, it opens doors to another idea.
“I just try and have fun with what we can offer that people want to be part of.”
Further, O’Ward admitted that even when his efforts at growth may not have panned out as he’d hoped, he has still witnessed overall growth in his fanbase — perhaps because he has simply put in recognizable effort to appeal to new markets. When he attends non-IndyCar races like Formula 1’s Mexico City Grand Prix, he’s mobbed by fans; people know and love Pato O’Ward.
Unfortunately, it seems as if IndyCar management has failed to recognize that growth because it doesn’t conform to outdated notions of popularity.
Further, IndyCar’s failings as a series and its inability to expand beyond the comfort of a familiar schedule are not Pato O’Ward’s failings — nor is it O’Ward’s responsibility to be the sole catalyst for drawing fans in a foreign country. IndyCar, as a race series and a brand, should be making those inroads itself. IndyCar, as a race series, needs to take accountability for its own growth.
It only takes one look at NASCAR to understand what I mean. Mexican racer Daniel Suarez is popular, yes, but NASCAR doesn’t expect Suarez to be the sole driver of interest in its international event. NASCAR did not expect Suarez to negotiate the deal with Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, and it will not expect him to do the bulk of the promotion for the event.
Rather, NASCAR has made steady investments in growing its international profile and evolving its product. The Cup Series features a new car designed with international GT3 regulations in mind, and it has encouraged drivers from around the world — Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, Shane van Gisbergen — to take a spin at its growing slate of road and street courses. A race in Mexico City is the next logical step for the sport.
IndyCar, by contrast, has not evolved. The “new” events on the 2024 season calendar are either revived oval tracks from the series’ history, or the $1 million exhibition race at private club track Thermal — the latter of which was designed more to liaise with investors than it was designed to put on a good race.
That stagnation is the fault of IndyCar management alone. To grow, IndyCar needs to experiment, invest, and expand; IndyCar needs to celebrate its wins and learn from its failures.
Instead, IndyCar seems too scared to even try, and the series is suffering as a result.
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