IndyCar Rumor: Honda to leave IndyCar for NASCAR

After the man [Penske] who owns the IndyCar Series, the Indy 500 and the engine company that designs and builds the Chevy IndyCar engines had to apologize for his IndyCar team cheating to all the other team owners yesterday at Barber, Honda certainly cannot be too happy.

Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) President David Salters says he’s unsettled by the developments surrounding IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske’s race team.

HRC President David Salters told Motorsport.com this latest situation raises concerns: “Right now, our job is to get racing and do the best job for our people and our team.

“That’s the first thing we’ve got to concentrate on. Having that in the background is not helpful, is it?

“It gives truth, so it’s a fact. I’m always going to give it a straightforward answer, so having that in the background is probably not… It’s unfortunate in all ways, isn’t it?”

“I cannot speak for Ilmor, Chevy, et cetera, or the series,” Salters said. “I’m not in the business of speculating.

“I cannot speak for other people. That’s just speculation, and I think that’s wrong. I could speak for Honda.

“I would sincerely hope that my engineers would see things like that. That’s what we pay them for, so I think that’s within our stuff. I can’t speak for anyone else.

“You don’t know the circumstances; it’s not up us to speculate – and there can be lots of things there to speculate. All I can speak to is for my engineers following our engines and stuff, I would hope that they could see stuff like that.”

How ironic it would be if Honda left Penske’s series because of his team cheating?

February 28, 2024

It’s looking more and more likely that Honda will focus its open wheel efforts on Formula 1 and leave IndyCar to start a NASCAR program.

HPD staff in California are now working on Honda’s 2026 Formula 1 hybrid engine (along with staff in Japan), and rumors are growing stronger that Honda will announce they are planning to enter NASCAR by 2027.

Honda would be a fantastic addition for NASCAR and its fans.

Remember, the deadline for the NASCAR Cup Series OEM Body Approval Process is September 1st, two years before the race season for which the race vehicle will be introduced, so expect an announcement before then.

One would assume that Honda would run the Accord against the Toyota Camry, Ford Mustang and Chevy Camaro.

Should this rumor turn out to be true, IndyCar will become a true ‘spec’ series with a ‘spec’ Chevy engine and a ‘spec’ Dallara chassis – on par with Formula 2.

Why would Honda want to leave IndyCar?

The person who owns the series and an IndyCar team, supplies the opponent’s Chevy/Ilmor engine – Roger Penske
Honda had their new Twin Turbo 2.4-liter V6 engine designed and tested and were near ready to race it. But when the opponent’s Chevy Ilmor engine (Ilmor is owned by Roger Penske) was not ready, IndyCar pulled the plug on the larger displacement engine and stuck with the current 2.2-liter. Honda was furious – all that money developing the new engine IndyCar asked for was wasted.
They have supported IndyCar a long time. Their marketing to the IndyCar fanbase is exhausted. NASCAR opens up Honda to a much larger customer base.

February 14, 2024

Honda is committed to F1 and IMSA (via its Acura brand) and now it is taking a serious look at NASCAR. The writing may be on the wall for Honda in IndyCar given its low global TV ratings.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

NASCAR COO Steve O’Donnell says negotiations to add a new auto manufacturer for competition are “heating up.”

Asked about that this week by Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal, Honda & Acura Motorsports Manager Chuck Schifsky wrote in an email: “As part of our role managing American Honda’s motorsports programs, we need to investigate all forms of motorsport here in the U.S., and as a part of that process, educate ourselves on what race fans are looking for. With that said, we have nothing new to report in terms of our future motorsport direction.”

O’Donnell said automakers “know that at the end of the day, being in NASCAR sells cars. It’s a proven thing and it’s a place OEMs want to be and should be.”

December 13, 2023

American Honda Motorsports Manager Chuck Schifsky told RACER that IndyCar should switch to a ‘spec’ engine manufactured and supplied by Ilmor, which is owned by Roger Penske.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

In return Honda would just write the engine management software and then call the engine a Honda!

In essence, manufacturers would ‘badge’ a spec engine to reduce cost. Ironically, way back in 2005 during the Champ Car vs. IRL war that was making teams financially unstable, I wrote this article titled Engine Badging may be the only way as a way to get more manufacturers into the series at a reduced cost.

Back in 2005, Honda rejected this idea of badging when AutoRacing1.com presented it to them, and now, under new management, they bring up my idea from 18 years ago.

“I think there are several areas where you could save money,” Schifsky told RACER. “The biggest way that you could do that is to take a page out of the development of the hybrid system. So the hybrid system, once it’s up and developed and in the cars, and you’ve worked out all the bugs, and it debuts, the bulk of that development cost is finished. Everybody’s using the same part.

“You can’t mess with it. Teams can’t take it to their super-specialized dynos to trick out their supercapacitor packs or any of that. And so one could look at that and say that we should probably do the same thing with the ICE, where it’s a spec engine; everybody runs the same engine. Ilmor could build it.”

“And what’s left is the software piece of it, which is a pretty big deal,” Schifsky said.

“And hopefully at that point we’d have three or four or five manufacturers,” Schifsky said. “Because now, just like some brands are coming into F1 to partner with teams and they’re not actually developing bespoke engines for them, instead of spending 60 or 70, or 100 million dollars on your engine program in IndyCar, you can spend a few million and gain access.”

“It’s a scary one to think of, because we’re an engine company,” Schifsky said. “And all of a sudden, we’re not going to build our own engines. But you’ve got to look at what’s happening with IndyCar and what’s happening with NASCAR.

“All of the engine stuff has gotten so homogenized, I’m not sure any of the fans would know, if you took and put an engine on the floor and took the logos off of it, which engine belongs to which manufacturer. You couldn’t tell them from each other now, and I’m not sure any of the fans today would really notice if they weren’t different. Fans want good, close racing, lots of passes, and cars that sound cool.”

December 8, 2023

Not only can’t IndyCar land a 3rd engine manufacturer despite 15 years of trying, one of its two, Honda, is threatening to quit the floundering series.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Rumors to have turned down several offers by Liberty Media (owners of Formula 1) to buy IndyCar, IMS and the Indy 500, and turn it into a prosperous series were rebuked.

The next offer won’t be nearly as good.

Meanwhile, IndyCar goes from one challenge to another, infuriating its fanbase.

A little History on IndyCar Challenges

13-year-old chassis because teams cannot afford a new one.
Failure to land a 3rd OEM despite 15 years of trying. Normally when a series announces a move to implement new tech (in this case hybrid engines), it has a host of manufacturers sign up. IndyCar hasn’t managed that.
Postponement on the new 2.4 Liter engine after Honda spent a lot of money designing and testing theirs
Unable to implement a ‘spec’ hybrid engine, even though F1 did so 15 years ago, with no issues and each OEM had to design their own. They may finally succeed later in 2024, but…..IndyCar’s case for a hybrid power unit is shrinking with each passing failure to get it done.
They want to now implement the hybrid unit mid-way into the 2024 season. Trying to implement a new technology and a new set of rules mid-season is a recipe for black eye.
The IndyCar hybrid unit system has zero relevance to passenger cars, so new OEMs have zero interest
A failed new IndyCar game after pissing off iRacing
A race at Thermal Club, not for IndyCar fans but for elites only. The joint does not even have a grandstand.
A possible Exhibition Race in Argentina. Why? When Mexico is so close why go all the way to Argentina?
Many failed race venues over the years – not enough fans to buy tickets
Meager prize money
Race officials that are paid by one of the team owners – talk about conflict of interest.
They pander to their small oval track fanbase despite road and street circuits being far more popular with fans – don’t let the large Indy 500 crowd fool you as many are fans of the 500 that don’t show up the rest of the season
TV viewership that averages a little over 1 million per race vs. 70 million globally for F1. Hence, F1 sucks up all the big USA sponsor dollars

Now Honda Threatens to Leave

Honda has supported IndyCar for longer than any manufacturer, but now even they are questioning the value of IndyCar vs. the cost.

“We have great concerns over the costs,” American Honda Motorsports Manager Chuck Schifsky told RACER when asked if they will renew after their contract expires in 2026. “If we were to choose not to renew, that would be the reason why. And it’s easy to see. We don’t have a third manufacturer, and there’s a reason for that: It has to do with the cost. If the return on investment matched up with the investment, we’d have a number of other manufacturers involved.”

“We’re looking for a wholesale change to the engine regulations so that we can eliminate fives and tens of millions of dollars of annual technical costs,” Schifsky said. “Because if we don’t, then it’s too much money, and we will go do something else. That something else could be NASCAR, or a further investment in our Formula 1 effort. Or something that isn’t motorsports at all.”

“You look at IMSA where they are at 18 or 19 OEMs now, or you look just at GTP and LMDh globally; there are a number of manufacturers there and more are rumored to be getting in because the costs match the value,” he said.

Formula 1 will soon have 7 OEMs despite it being the most expensive form of motorsports in the world.

Why?

Because the value exceeds the cost for OEMs.

“Yes, it would change our outlook quite a bit,” Schifsky said about a 3rd OEM. “If you imagine we’re now supplying 15 or 16 or 17 cars, if that drops down to say nine or 10, that will definitely reduce our costs and improve the return.”

“They are a historically committed, long-term partner that we value,” Penske Entertainment Executive Mark Miles said of Honda to Racer.

“The one obvious thing, which is not new news, is how impactful it would be if we had the third OEM in terms of reducing the costs for both Honda and Chevy.

“If you have to supply fewer engines and teams, it’s going to cost you less. It’s not a new priority. It’s something which is important that we’re working on, but feel like there’s opportunities there with the hybrid launch.

“Other than that, I think we are constantly working to manage costs. And yet, I think we’re reluctant to do anything that would dumb down the racing. So I think that the best positive way forward is to find that third OEM.”

“We still have about a year to make a decision on what to do,” Schifsky said. “And it should not be considered by anybody that Honda will automatically stay in just because we’ve been in it for 30 years. Of course, it shouldn’t necessarily be assumed that we’re going to get out. We love this series.”