Why IndyCar will likely fail again to land a 3rd engine supplier

Mark Miles signed an NBCSN TV contract….again…instead of putting 100% of the races on network TV

The IndyCar Series has met with an undisclosed number of auto manufacturers in recent months, all holding an interest in possibly joining the American open-wheel championship when its new engine formula debuts in 2021.

IndyCar competition president Jay Frye wouldn’t name the manufacturers in question, but did say more inquiries have been fielded and meeting taken in response to the 2.4-liter twin-turbo V6 non-hybrid regulations announced in May.

“It’s certainly ongoing, and we’ve been working with a couple for a while now, and recently, we’ve had a few new ones come in and that feels even more encouraging," he told RACER. “This is the window we’ve been talking about to get something moving with a third manufacturer so they make a decision before this time next year, can be track testing by spring of 2020, and get ready for 2021."

Let us list the barriers to landing a 3rd engine supplier for IndyCar:

• The automotive world is going electric and the new 2021 IndyCar engine does not even include a KERS. Hence there is zero relevance between IndyCar and the passenger cars they will sell to consumers
• The NBCSN TV ratings are so minuscule what is the ROI for a manufacturer? IndyCar has tried for 9 years to land a 3rd manufacturer – the same length of time as IndyCar has been on NBCSN. IndyCar blew it by not putting 100% of IndyCar races on network TV
• Chevy and Honda have all the good teams locked up, so any new manufacturer will run at the back for quite a number of years, making their product look like a loser. Consumers DO NOT buy loser products.
• Premium brands like BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari, Maserati, etc do not want to risk being beaten by a Chevy or a Honda so that writes off all the premium brands immediately
• The international TV package IndyCar has went away with ESPN. Mark Miles is working on a new one. Until that is announced we do not know if it will be lights out for IndyCar in the majority of the world.
• Formula E and Formula 1 have all the top brands locked up