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My Thursday morning at work looked like it was going to be fairly uneventful. I was going to be gathering information for month-end reports to be done today. I answered a few e-mails, then headed for the break-room for a cup of coffee. When I returned to my office, I sat down and checked my personal e-mail. It was there that I saw an e-mail from IndyCar Communications.

That didn’t necessarily tip me off that this was a big announcement. Sometimes these e-mails are sent to announce a driver availability for a Zoom press conference. When I saw the subject line that read “Fox Corporation Acquires One-Third Interest in Penske Entertainment”, I realized this e-mail had a little more teeth to it. I had to set my coffee down for this one. Make no mistake – this was a bombshell!

By now, most have seen all the reports and opinions on this. Some are a little out there, while some are completely on-point. Now that I’ve had time to digest the press release, I’ll share some of my thoughts on this transaction.

Overall, I think this is going to be very good for IndyCar as a series. There is such potential for this series to be so much better than it has been. I’ve gotten in (big) trouble in the past for criticizing IndyCar’s marketing and promotional efforts. But I said what I believe to be true and I’ll never apologize for speaking the truth as I see it.

Let’s be honest…Penske Entertainment has not been effective in promoting the series. When it was announced in November of 2019 that Roger Penske was buying IMS, IMS Productions and IndyCar – I thought this was going to be the infusion of cash that the series needed to get over the top. Hulman and Company did not have the resources that Roger Penske had. As Chairman of the Board for Hulman and Company, Mark Miles was limited in what he could spend to effectively promote the series. With Roger Penske taking ownership and creating a separate company (Penske Entertainment) to run all things racing related – it promised to be a whole new day for IndyCar.

More than five years later, we are still waiting for that new day. One thing that few of us counted on was this: rich people didn’t get rich by throwing money around foolishly. They get rich and stay rich by being frugal and only spending money on things that will eventually make them money – and they sure don’t let emotions guide their thinking.

Penske Corporation is the parent company for all of the different companies related to Roger Penske’s business empire, including Penske Entertainment. There is no denying that Roger Penske is one of the most astute business-persons on the entire planet. But Penske Entertainment sits far outside of the comfort zone of Penske Corporation. Most, if not all, of Roger Penske’s empire deals with business-to-business (b2b) sales and marketing.

That’s a completely different animal than consumer sales. Getting a trucking company to lease trucks takes a far different skill set than what it takes to convince fans to watch or attend races. That’s not to say that one is much harder than the other, but it is totally different. The Penske Corporation has a long and established track record with doing business with other companies, but not so much to end-user consumers. Penske Entertainment is so far removed from the normal core way the Penske Corporation does business that it’s like they exist on two different planets. Just because a corporation is successful in one way of doing business, there is no guarantee that they can succeed in something completely different.

If you need a clear example, look no further than Iowa Speedway. For three years, Hy-Vee pretty well took over promotion of the double-header at Iowa. They subsidized top-level musical acts and promoted the race relentlessly. The result was three successful years where Iowa was the place to be that specific weekend. This year, Hy-Vee was out and IndyCar promoted the race. The place looked like a ghost-town to the point that I was embarrassed for them.

Someone like Roger Penske does not like to admit failure. But if we are being totally honest here, I think Penske Entertainment has been the one company in his portfolio that could be deemed a failure. The Captain has put a whole lot of his own money into fixing up IMS – his true passion. I don’t think he was as willing to invest as much into promoting and improving the series. I’m merely speculating here, but from everything I’ve witnessed and been told over the years – I think IndyCar was bleeding a lot of red ink, and he wasn’t near as willing to prop it up, as he was to give the IMS restrooms a makeover.

Allowing Fox Corporation to invest into Penske Entertainment and have an active interest in promoting the series could be a Godsend. They have the ability to promote this series like it needs to be promoted. Not to knock IndyCar marketing, but I’m fairly certain that their marketing team has a much better idea who they are marketing to, and how to market to them.

For the series, this could be the best thing that ever happened. FOX has the ability to really grow the series for the long term. Not only do they have the ability to market and promote the series, they can provide the digital content that has been mostly absent and causing the series to lag behind other sporting entities in that department.

It can go beyond that. Perhaps FOX can help in the schedule. Huge gaps at the start of the season is not ideal. It’s even worse in the second half of the season, when there are eight events over ten weeks to close out the season. Curt Cavin is fond of saying that IndyCar can only go where they are wanted. That’s very true, but FOX has the ability to make IndyCar be wanted at tracks where they normally would not be.

NASCAR-owned tracks like Phoenix, Homestead, Kansas and (dare I say it?) Michigan that have previously shown no interest in hosting another IndyCar race, may suddenly show an interest if FOX leverages their NASCAR relationships. Could FOX take over direct promotion at these tracks? It would be better than counting on the track or IndyCar to promote it.

Ratings are up this year at FOX, but that’s a little deceiving. St. Petersburg and Indianapolis were up significantly over last year, but Long Beach was abysmal and others have been worse than last year. Nashville should be up over last year, because they won’t be going up against Week Two of the NFL.

I don’t know what FOX’s stand is on going head-to-head with the NFL, but since they are partners with the NFL – I’m guessing they would prefer to avoid it and keep things the way they are this year. But they can get creative in starting the season in early-to-mid-February, instead of mid-March. They can also get a little more balanced by running more races in the spring, to relieve that hectic stint in the summer.

I cannot over-emphasize how big this has the potential to be, now that FOX is all-in. My fear was with some of the poor ratings, they might try and take an early out of the broadcast rights. Now that they are doubling down on IndyCar, the sky could be the limit.

Of course, change in ownership brings change in execution – and everyone knows how I feel about change. FOX Sports has a history of innovations, but some of those innovations turn out to be gimmickry. Remember the highlighted puck, when FOX was broadcasting the NHL? But a lot of things we now take for granted were pioneered by FOX. They were the first in football to have an on-screen box with score, down & distance and a game clock we could always see at a glance. Prior to 1994, we were at the mercy of the producer to occasionally let us know what the score was and how much time was left. The first-down line? That was a FOX innovation that all the other networks quickly adapted. In racing, they were the first to use transponders to show current speeds and position.

Will they try to run double-headers with NASCAR, and force both parties to play nice? Possibly. Will they try and copy NASCAR’s stage races and playoffs? God, I hope not.

Overall, I think there is a lot more potential good that can come from Thursday’s announcement, than potential bad.

What I am concerned about is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For the first time in its 116-year history – there is (partial) corporate ownership at 16th and Georgetown. Let’s assume Roger Penske does not live to be 100. In a dozen years or so (or before), Fox Corporation could take complete control of the facility that so many of us have cherished for generations. Corporate control takes passion and emotion out of the equation. The grounds that we hold near and dear to our collective hearts would then become nothing more than an asset on a balance sheet. As long as the value of that asset grows or at least holds steady – they are likely to keep it, and even improve it. But if the value drops, they will likely sell it to the highest bidder.

Would that bidder want to continue racing, or is that property so valuable that it might be more profitable to build storage units or warehouses on the property. As ludicrous as that sounds, remember that Wilbur Shaw saved The Speedway from the wrecking ball in the fall of 1945. Had Tony Hulman not jumped in a purchased it, that property was destined to become a housing development. Could history be repeating itself? I certainly hope not.

Some say that Penske Entertainment should have sold the series to FOX, but kept The Speedway. I get why they would say that, but keep in mind – CART and the Hulman-George family did not always play well together, That’s what eventually led to The Split in 1996. If Penske and FOX had a falling out in a few years, who is to say that FOX wouldn’t take IndyCar and run elsewhere on Memorial Day. That’s another piece of history that I would prefer to not see repeated.

One friend of mine suggested the ghastly possibility of starting the Indianapolis 500 at 3:00 pm or 4:00 pm. On paper that makes sense. They would be grabbing viewers in the late afternoon, as well as making it a lot more friendly to west coast viewers. But while it makes sense to a corporate entity, it is abhorrent to many traditionalists to change a schedule that has mostly gone unchanged for decades.

Race Day traditions are now more likely to fall by the wayside, in favor of better ratings. While we cherish the singing of (Back Home Again in) Indiana, FOX may decide that it is too provincial for one state, and it alienates viewers from 49 other states as well as international viewers. Does this sound far-fetched? It’s probably a lot closer to reality than it sounds.

So I am not near as bullish on Fox Corporation buying one-third of IMS, as I am the NTT IndyCar Series.

Besides IndyCar fans and team-owners, who is the biggest winner from Thursday’s announcement? In my mind, it’s IMS and IndyCar President Doug Boles. Since he took over IndyCar and added it to his duties at IMS, I felt like Boles would be running into opposition on anything he wanted to do – due to budget constraints and conservative management that could not read the pulse of today’s racing fan. Doug Boles is a thinker. He is an idea man. He has the gift of being a natural promoter, and the unique ability to relate to bankers as well as bricklayers. He is a man of the people, and clearly has his finger on the pulse of what race fans want.

Now that FOX is on board and clearly has a vision of how the series could and should be promoted, I can see their vision aligning with that of Boles.

I’ll say one thing for Roger Penske – the man can keep a secret. Whether it was developing the Mercedes pushrod engine in 1994, his purchase of IMS and IndyCar that was announced on November 4, 2019 or Thursday’s acquisition of one-third of Penske Entertainment. No one seemed to get a whiff of any of these before they were announced on Penske’s terms.

While I’m not as excited about IMS being part of the deal, this could be that whole new day for IndyCar that we were all expecting more than five years ago. It’s better late than never.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on August 1, 2025 at 4:04 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.