American open-wheel racing in the postwar era lacked a coherent feeder structure until the late 1970s. The Sports Car Club of America ran Super Vee and Formula Atlantic series, but neither was formally tied to the top-level USAC championship. USAC attempted to address this by establishing a "Mini-Indy" series in 1977 using Super Vee machinery; it folded after 1980 when USAC ceased sanctioning Indy car races outside Indianapolis.
The original series that would become Indy Lights was founded in 1986 as the American Racing Series (ARS), acting as the developmental ladder for CART. CART took over sanctioning in 1988, and in 1991 the series was renamed Indy Lights with Firestone as title sponsor. From 1986 to 1992 the cars used March chassis based on a modified Formula 3000 design; Lola supplied chassis from 1992 onward, with a revised F3000-based design introduced in 1997. Buick V6 engines powered the field throughout the series' existence under CART.
The schedule closely shadowed the CART calendar, with races typically run as morning undercards to CART events. The championship produced notable graduates including two CART champions, two IndyCar Series champions, seven Champ Car race-winners, and two Formula One drivers.
By the late 1990s, CART's financial difficulties and the rise of the rival Indy Racing League eroded support for the series. CART cancelled Indy Lights after the 2001 season, by which point the Toyota Atlantic series had become an equally effective driver pipeline.
The Indy Racing League refounded the developmental series in 2002 as the Infiniti Pro Series, using Dallara chassis paired with a TWR-developed 3.5-litre V8 engine based on the Infiniti Q45 unit, producing 420 horsepower. The series struggled for entries initially but grew after road courses were added from 2005 onward.
The series was briefly called the Indy Pro Series after Menards and Nissan withdrew their sponsorship in 2006. Following the IRL's acquisition of Champ Car's historical records and assets in 2008, the name Firestone Indy Lights was adopted to signal continuity with the original championship.
The centrepiece event became the Freedom 100, run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the Friday before the Indianapolis 500. On 9 September 2007, the Chicagoland 100 produced what was at the time certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the closest finish in the history of organized automobile racing: Logan Gomez beat Alex Lloyd by 0.0005 seconds — approximately 1.65 inches at 188 mph. On 24 May 2013, Peter Dempsey won the Freedom 100 in a four-wide finish decided by 0.0026 seconds, the closest finish in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history.
Andersen Promotions assumed management of the series from 2014, bringing all three Road to Indy levels under unified promotion with Cooper tires. A new chassis and engine package was introduced in 2015: the Dallara IL-15 paired with a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder Mazda-AER engine producing 450 horsepower plus a 50 hp push-to-pass system. A halo was added to the IL-15 for the 2021 season.
The 2020 season was cancelled due to a combination of low grid numbers and the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Autosport won the championship.
In 2023, Penske Entertainment rebranded the series as Indy NXT, and IndyCar assumed direct operation from Andersen Promotions, while Firestone returned as the official tire supplier.
During the Firestone Indy Lights era, the series champion received a $1 million scholarship toward the IndyCar Series, including guaranteed entries in three races including the Indianapolis 500.
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