Frye hopes 2018 aerokit lures new teams, engine

Like boss Mark Miles, Jay Frye is pipe dreaming if he things a new engine manufacturer will come into IndyCar with TV ratings on NBCSN so minuscule. Where's the value?

On Monday's media conference IndyCar Competition Chief Jay Frye was asked whether going to a standard spec car would bring in new teams and manufacturers.

Of course he said he hopes so, but with TV ratings so low, sponsors are not lining up to be in IndyCar. No sponsors, no money, no participation.

"We're very fortunate right now, we have four or five possible [new] entries going forward, which is really good," Frye said. "But one of the things from a team perspective [is] that you know you can get a kit now and you can plan a three-year window, so you can plan your budgets three years out. You know what it costs. The price is not going to go up. So we were able to lock in all the costs to the car, so it's a good time to come in."

"This whole process started when we started talking to new manufacturers to come into the sport," he said. "They weren't necessarily interested in the aero kit piece, so this was one of the things that we did, so hopefully besides new teams, we have an opportunity to recruit a new OEM partner, too.

"I'm not sure if we're close. I would say we're 'closer', because there were some hurdles that we had, and hopefully we've removed the hurdles, so there seems to be more enthusiasm about the direction, and they see our five-year plan, they see where we're going.

"That doesn't mean they're coming. It's just maybe there's now an opportunity that they could come. One of the things we did when we went through this whole process is we made sure to let other OEMs who aren't currently our partners know what we're doing, and ask for their opinion because we thought it certainly behooved us to show them where we're going and what we're doing before it came out, get their opinion on it. It wouldn't have been very smart on our behalf to come out with a new plan, and then for them to say that they didn't want to do that, either

"I think we've eliminated some hurdles. I think they see we're doing what we said we're going to do, and they like our direction. They like where we're going. Now we've just got to keep doing it.