Zak Brown takes aim at IndyCar in new letter: ‘There’s more we can do to elevate the sport’

The 2024 IndyCar season is set to come to a close this weekend with one last race at the Nashville Superspeedway, but the atmosphere remains murky in a season of cheating scandals, scheduling fiascos, and frustration between teams, drivers, and Penske Entertainment, the company that owns IndyCar.

Heading into this season finale, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has penned a long letter asking for changes to the future of IndyCar — including growing the sport’s profile and ensuring fairness for everyone involved.

Zak Brown’s checklist for IndyCar success

What makes a racing series good ? Different fans will provide different answers, pointing to everything from rampant technological innovation to close competition to cutting edge approaches to social media. Some series thrive more in one are than another — but 2024 has highlighted just how much work the IndyCar Series has yet to do to improve its sport.

From outdated equipment to the series’ six-month off-season and its lack of international events, fans have begun to wonder if there could be a different way forward.

Surprisingly, many of the answers to the “way forward” questions have come today from an unlikely place: Zak Brown.

Ahead of IndyCar’s season finale in Nashville this weekend, the McLaren CEO has taken aim at the series’ weak points via a letter in hopes of encouraging IndyCar management to begin taking truly comprehensive steps forward. Brown’s summation also looks surprisingly similar to what many fans have been begging IndyCar for for years.

Brown’s suggestions are varied, and we’ll touch on some of the key points below.

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In many ways, IndyCar is an outdated racing series. All cars share the same chassis, called the DW12, that was introduced to the sport over a decade ago . Minor evolutions have been implemented — notably in the form of the protective halo and the hybrid engines — but the basics of the car were designed back in the early 2010s.

For Brown, that lack of evolution has resulted in something of an overall stagnation in the series.

“There’s no getting around the fact that our cars are outdated,” Brown wrote.

“We have been using the DW12 Dallara for a dozen years now, and given the additional weight of the hybrid systems, a new chassis is essential to make the cars nimbler and more drivable.”

Building a brand-new chassis would be a big, expensive lift — but Brown has some ideas about how we get there.

“I believe the series would also benefit greatly from a technical working group focused on enhancing the sport’s regulatory development by fostering collaboration between teams, their engineers and series officials,” Brown wrote.

“The work of such a group would ensure regulations are not only fair but also promote cutting-edge technology and competitive balance.

“One area of focus for the group could be how the series amplifies technology behind developments. Currently, most, if not all, research and development projects are in areas invisible to the fans, but technology advances on cars and pit equipment may create new, interesting storylines that draw attention from fans and sponsors alike.”

Brown pinpoints that there’s a lack of overall storytelling in IndyCar, particularly on broadcasts. A swap from NBC to FOX for 2025 promises evolution in broadcast qualify, but the McLaren CEO wants to see coverage “revolutionized.”

“There’s also room for more data-centric broadcasts, similar to what we see in Formula 1,” he said.

“Sharing key data such as race strategy, predictive analytics, and information on the different tire compounds and tire wear would engage the fans more in the intricacies of our sport.”

The data is an exceptional point; while IndyCar broadcasts do feature some information about tire life or hybrid power, that data is haphazardly displayed at best. Even the commentators can struggle to understand and explain a team’s pit strategy; providing data and information to fans — including a camera in Race Control to create a “transparent decision-making process” — could only help engage fans in new and diverse ways.

Further, Brown also tore down the idea of a potential international series of exhibition events that would be staged during the off-season, which was recently pitched by series CEO Mark Miles.

“Non-championship races are a distraction we could do without,” he stated — which perhaps also includes IndyCar’s widely-panned exhibition race at Thermal Club in early 2024.

“With no championship points at stake, these events are merely exhibitions rather than bona fide competitions and really only serve to dilute the competitive nature of the series.”

“There has been talk about adding international races and it’s not a subject we should shy away from,” Brown added.

“While we’ve had events at Motegi in Japan and Surfers Paradise on Australia’s Gold Coast for many years, I think we would be much better served by focusing on more events in large markets closer to the U.S. to enhance our foray into Canada.

“In the past, the races we’ve run in Mexico and in Brazil were extremely popular with fans as they also love IndyCar racing, so when we talk about international expansion, my preference would be to remain within the continents of North and South America.

“I think we will see more growth in major markets closer to home so let’s focus on the Americas and not get distracted. Focusing on these regions makes much better strategic sense, building on our established fanbase.”

Brown’s ideas are reasonable, and they echo many of the sentiments of long-time IndyCar fans who have been desperate to see their sport evolve. While the series has been largely resistant to change, Brown’s voice may be powerful enough to enact meaningful evolutions in the future.

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