The RACER Mailbag, February 19

Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. We love hearing your comments and opinions, but letters that include a question are more likely to be published. Questions received after 3pm ET each Monday will be saved for the following week. Q: It sounds like you had some insight that Jay Frye was on the way out, but maybe something behind the scenes caused the sudden ouster? I understand that Mark Miles can’t divulge personnel details, but it would be interesting to know what drove the sudden firing at the start of the season. I think your questioning in the Zoom call about whether the president of IndyCar is now responsible for growth was spot-on, and too quickly overlooked. Doug Boles seems to be doing a great job, and is well respected by competitors and fans, but I wonder if he’s being put in a no-win situation, with Penske Entertainment making him responsible for the series growth, when factors like marketing and race promotion are outside of his control. Did anyone in the series or Penske Entertainment give you any additional feedback that you can share? Have any team owners given feedback about Boles taking over the dual roles? We sure wish him well. Tom Pate MARSHALL PRUETT: I heard from approximately half of the owners/leaders and countless drivers from today and yesterday asking what happened and why. The fact that the most in-the-know people in the paddock — the people who dealt directly with Frye – were left scratching their heads and didn’t get a straight answer from Penske Entertainment is telling. Nobody is providing answers, but I have a suspicion it might be related to repeated disagreements around where Penske’s executive steering committee is trying to take the new car. I’ve heard that Frye routinely championed a cost-saving compromise where as many of the current parts as possible would be carried over into the ‘new’ design. A new tub is needed, for sure, and some other components to reduce weight, but Frye had been pushing for a compromise while the Penske execs are said to have been pushing an all-new car. And while many of us would love a 100-percent new car, that note above about costs being on the rev limiter — while using an extremely old car the teams all own outright — is a fear that Frye held. I believe his latest salvo to Penske to try and steer the new-car conversation away from where the execs are taking it might have been the final straw. I’m aware an email was sent days prior to his firings, and by last Monday, a press release was being written and the wheels were in motion for his termination on Tuesday morning. Coincidence? If so, then I have no idea why it happened, nor can I explain the bizarre timing. Q: I wrote in to the Mailbag some time ago about the possibility of Doug Boles taking over IndyCar altogether, and as I read the news I have to say I’m excited for the future of IndyCar. If he is half as passionate about IndyCar as he has been about IMS, the future is bright. If you were Roger Penske, what three projects would be at the top of the list for Mr. Boles to work on right now? Kaleb Hartman MP: Great question, Kaleb. Penske Entertainment’s three biggest problems to solve with IndyCar: 1) Its fans are waaaay to old, and that means more than half of its current audience will be gone in 10-15 years unless it backfills that audience with a big wave of newer and younger fans. As the saying goes, ‘Father time is undefeated.’ 2) Honda is nine toes out the door once its supply contract is fulfilled after 2026. Is there a chance Penske/Boles could convince them to stay? Of course. But it’s starting to feel like Honda is Lauren Holly and Penske is Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber. 3) Costs are close to, at, or beyond what half of the teams can afford (more accurately, five of the 11 by my current count) and sustain. Brings costs down, appreciably, or increase revenue, significantly. Preferably, do both. But doing nothing isn’t an option. Boles is the perfect person for the job, and not because it lacked a single thing under Jay Frye, but because Penske gradually stripped Frye of the authority to make decisions in the same way he did while running IndyCar for the Hulman George family. He was also blindsided by the move. He knew he’d been on the hot seat, but was stunned by the firing and was given no answers from Mark Miles as to why it was done. Doug’s amazing. I think the world of him. My frustration with the treatment of Frye is wholly unrelated to Boles. This was just cold, and underserving for someone who gave 12 years of his life to IndyCar and left a huge list of achievements behind. And as I said about Boles, he’s the perfect person for this job because what Penske wanted, but didn’t get with Frye, was someone who’ll carry out his vision and add his own ideas and flair, which wasn’t extended to his predecessor. Doug has overseen many incredible things at IMS since Penske bought it, and just as Penske’s wishes have been executed at the Speedway, I expect the same cohesive approach to be involved at IndyCar. Q: Any updates on where Michael Cannon may land? I’m hoping he returns to Foyt as that combo worked well, but it sounds like they didn’t end on the best of terms. Ben Malec, Buffalo Grove, IL MP: Gardening leave. I’ve been told the PREMA deal came with a 12-month non-compete clause and it was slashed in half, but even so, that would push his availability to work for another IndyCar team beyond the Indy 500, which is when he commands the most interest from the paddock. Q: While we all love Doug Boles, it certainly feels like Frye disagreed with Penske considering this change happened so close to the start of the season. I’m sure Doug knew he was swimming with sharks before taking Jay’s job, but I’m wondering what his thoughts are now that the growth of IndyCar had been planted on his shoulders? Jake MP: We share the same curiosity, Jake. But the growth isn’t being planted on his shoulders. The executives at Penske Entertainment are in charge there. On the racing side, the series has been sitting firm at 27 cars, and could be 29-30 if not for the charter system, so that former president must have been doing something positive. There’s the other aspect to consider, and that’s how Penske pursued Frye’s replacement last year, and according to an impeccable source, at least two people, late in 2024, turned them down. Since Penske decided a change had to be made, I’m glad it was Doug who was asked to pull double duty. It’s also not a surprise the job went to someone who was already on the payroll.