Photo: Travis Hinkle
In early 2024 the IndyCar-owning Penske Entertainment tabled the introduction of a charter system, and since then there has been debate on how one could be implemented.
Such debate was required before a formal proposal to IndyCar’s teams could be made, and a charter system – meaning teams would purchase the rights to permanent spots on the series’ entry list rather than paying entry fees for the events they want to participate in and for however many cars they wish to enter – could radically alter the paddock’s look.
Chip Ganassi Racing runs five cars full-time, Andretti Global has three (one is co-entered with Curb-Agajanian), and IndyCar has plenty of other three, two and one-car teams. Some even have partnerships helping run others’ cars. How a charter system would accomodate shared technical operations and entry ownership was a key question, particularly as a cap is likely to be placed on charter possession.
IndyCar also has a history of seat-sharing. Some drivers sign oval-only deals, and teams without full-time drivers trial multiple talents in their cars.
Penske also owns IndyCar’s primary feeder series Indy Nxt, and provides the $850,000 (£645,891) prize to the champion which will be spent on an oval test at Texas Motor Speedway, a entry into the Indianapolis 500 (and its test/rookie orientation programme) and one other 2025 IndyCar event.
The cap is set to reduce the car count of teams with big budgets, and could mean teams reliant on driver-sourced funding make up a bigger percentage of the grid. That may work for or against IndyCar aspirants.
Formula Scout asked new Indy Nxt champion Louis Foster, his title rival Jacob Abel and Bryce Aron how they thought a charter system might impact them.
“It’s less cars for some teams, more cars for others,” said Foster. “The biggest thing with IndyCar is for the teams themselves. At the end of the day they’re a business, so it’s financially making sure that the books don’t look too red. You’re always going to need drivers to bring money, in certain teams. I don’t know if that [charter] makes it easier or harder [for us]. At the moment, it feels pretty hard. I’ll tell you that now.”
He added “I think it’s a good system, in the sense that it gives continuity with the series and the teams, rather than having some teams like this year with Chip with five cars, and some with two, some with one”.
Abel echoed Foster’s comments, and emphasised the unknowns surrounding how a charter system would be implemented.
“I think the teams are holding their cards a little bit closer to their chests because of that,” he remarked. “But I think at the end of the day there will probably be the same amount of seats in IndyCar available for next year. So it shouldn’t really change too much on our end.”
Aron said “definitely more cars are better because it leaves more spots open for the young drivers”, and would be “in favour of anything that helps young drivers move forward”.