IndyCar planning to introduce new car in 2027, Roger Penske says

[u/ryanro24]

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/motor/2025/04/02/indycar-planning-new-car-roger-penske-2027/82758165007/

Archived link here https://archive.is/2025.04.02-214846/https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/motor/2025/04/02/indycar-planning-new-car-roger-penske-2027/82758165007/

[u/ryanro24]

“Right now, we have a car in design. It’s in the wind tunnel, and our plan is to bring in that car in 2027,” Penske said. “It’ll look like an Indy car, and it’ll be safer — that’s one of the things we’ve tried to do. We’re looking at speed and also the ability to take some weight out of the car, which all the teams want, and then of course we’ll have hybrid technology.”

When asked to clarify that the full car was set to roll out in less than two years, Penske told IndyStar, “That’s the plan. Yeah.”

“We’re talking to Honda, obviously, and talking to Chevy, and our goal is to have them with us in 2027,” Penske continued.

[u/FarAwaySeagull-_- → u/ryanro24]

“It’ll look like an Indy car,"

Big if true.

[u/Pure_Picture_1370 → u/FarAwaySeagull-_-]

So youre saying the Delta Wing could make it's comeback 

[u/Appropriate-Owl5984]

When it’s on the grid I’ll believe it

[u/DonJugless]

ThisTimeForSureRockyBullwinkle.gif

[u/aurules]

I’ll believe it when I see it

[u/Hank_Scorpio74]

And I am planning on dating supermodels.

[u/korko]

How long until Marshall Pruett puts out an article about how a new car will ruin the series?

[u/MyDesignerHat → u/korko]

MP, like literally everyone else, believes the series needs a new car.

[u/Confident-Ladder-576 → u/MyDesignerHat]

Until he doesn't. One of his buddy owners will bitch to him about something and he'll write a scathing piece. He's been fairly predictable since he got his weiner stepped on by Roger and Chip.

[u/korko → u/MyDesignerHat]

MP just wants to play chicken little and scream the sky is falling because he is mad that Roger isn’t his friend.

[u/MyDesignerHat → u/korko]

Now you are just being petty and small-minded.

[u/korko → u/MyDesignerHat]

Not nearly as petty as MP.

[u/SpreaditOnnn33]

Insert Ron Burgundy "I Dont Believe You" GIF here

[u/Spiddy771]

Cool, can’t wait to see it in 2030

[u/Leuel48Fan]

Introduce some 1.5+ mile ovals on the schedule...

[u/BlitZShrimp → u/Leuel48Fan]

As soon as they become profitable and don’t need a massive ownership group to operate at a loss to hold them…

SMI/Nascar tracks are expensive to rent and people don’t show up. Fans clearly voted with their wallet on Texas and that’s a reason why it’s not on the calendar.

[u/FarAwaySeagull-_- → u/BlitZShrimp]

Or it was because the IR18 didn't race very well on superspeedways its first few years as well as the PJ1. That doesn't mean fans don't want 1.5s on the schedule.

[u/BlitZShrimp → u/FarAwaySeagull-_-]

It doesn’t help the argument of the 1.5s that the only race that isn’t being fully funded by outside groups had fans leave the instant racing became bad.

Iowa crowds are not impressive during the race - nearly everyone there is there for the concerts, and I bet we’ll see empty stands this year with no concerts. Milwaukee was helped out by Hyvee and happened during Labor Day weekend so Indy residents could travel - reports suggested that the majority of fans there were from Indy. Nashville as well is being held up by an outside group that’s probably operating at a loss given how empty the stand was.

The series isn’t able to get an outside source to fund every race. Until fans show that they will routinely show up to ovals regardless of race quality, you won’t see 1.5 ovals return. Too expensive to get the track and too few fans show up to make it worth the series’ time. I don’t like it, but there’s a business side to things beyond us saying “we must race here.”

[u/FarAwaySeagull-_- → u/BlitZShrimp]

Or the series should put on quality races, not expect people to constantly pay for a subpar product.

Oval racing is an essential part of Indycar, including superspeedways. It cannot go away.

[u/BlitZShrimp → u/FarAwaySeagull-_-]

It’s a two-way street. Fans can’t bail at the sight of bad racing and the series can do better. Sometimes it’s just a bad year for a race. But attendance trends usually show that ovals don’t garner a crowd.

Ovals are something I love seeing on the schedule, but it’s very easy to understand why we don’t see more, and it’s because fans, as much as they cry online that they want ovals, never show up. Fontana had atrocious attendance in its last few races.

It’s expensive as hell to rent these tracks from SMI/NASCAR, and if you don’t have Hyvee or Steve Borchetta holding the event up, you need to break even. INDYCAR fans do not show up in good enough numbers for events to break even/make a profit. It’s as simple as that.

[u/FarAwaySeagull-_- → u/BlitZShrimp]

If Indycar wants fans to show up, they need to make events worth going to. Bad racing and few support series isn't worth going to. Fans clearly want ovals, otherwise they wouldn't beg for Indycar to add more of them.

And Indycar needs to understand that Marlboro isn't giving out free tickets anymore, nor are fans forced to buy Indycar tickets to get NASCAR tickets, so the attendance isn't going to be what it once was.

[u/BlitZShrimp → u/FarAwaySeagull-_-]

And this is the issue - most ovals are in the middle of nowhere, so you aren’t getting big partners for them like you would a street circuit. Without big partners, you can’t make it much more than the IRL model. Fans view their being in attendance as a privilege for the series to experience, so they don’t show up, meaning you can’t get partners to make the race excellent. INDYCAR isn’t in the financial position to break this paradox on their own.

Hell, even Iowa with the concerts was not selling out, so Hyvee pulled back.

[u/FarAwaySeagull-_- → u/BlitZShrimp]

I feel like Indycar's situation is somewhat like NASCAR was a couple decades ago. They are growing, which is good, but in their attempt to grow, they are going to chase off their diehard fans by trying to put money ahead of fan wishes.

[u/adri9428 → u/FarAwaySeagull-_-]

+ 'We want superspeedways'

- Series races on superspeedways

+ 'Not with this car/package!!'

People will always find an excuse not to attend. Fontana had always great racing, and always drew crickets. Racing at Texas was already 'iffy' since at least 2006 because it wasn't pure 'pack racing' like you had at Chicagoland, Kentucky and such, but people don't like to remember that.

[u/Mjyys99 → u/BlitZShrimp]

Fans clearly voted with their wallet on Texas and that’s a reason why it’s not on the calendar.

Eh, not really. The attendance figures at Texas were growing in the last few years, as soon as they fixed the racing. The actual reason it's not on the calendar anymore is because the track and the series couldn't agree on a date, not because either of them wanted it gone altogether.

[u/Mikemat5150 → u/Mjyys99]

I feel like everyone always misses the subtext.

Wildly successful events aren’t falling off the schedule because of scheduling. Everyone would make it work or find some sort of solution.

The reality is, no one was happy and “scheduling” is a vague excuse to not blame the actual core challenge. It happened at Texas, it happened at Pocono, and at countless other tracks.

[u/BB-68 → u/Leuel48Fan]

Attendance is terrible at ovals in general.

Find me an intermediate oval in a market that moves the needle.

[u/khz30 → u/BB-68]

IndyCar fans that grew up during the IRL's existence need to give up on the idea that intermediates were ever viable venues for IndyCar. There;s a reason that outside of the Triple Crown, the vast majority of ovals during the USAC and CART eras were either flat or banked no higher than 20 degrees.

[u/FarAwaySeagull-_- → u/khz30]

They are viable venues for Indycar. And only Texas, Atlanta, and Charlotte are higher than 20 degrees.

[u/sellersgaming → u/Leuel48Fan]

With cars that like to stay on the ground.