indycar

The term "Indy car" began as a nickname for the cars that competed in USAC's Championship Division of open-wheel racing in the United States, deriving from the sport's most popular competition, the Indianapolis 500. The division's link with Indianapolis resulted in the term surpassing the official term "championship car" in common use and promotions.

The sanctioning body was formed in 1994 under the name Indy Racing League by Hulman & Company, which also owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway complex, and began competition in 1996. The trademark name INDYCAR was officially adopted on January 1, 2011. On November 1, 2013, the company's legal name was changed to INDYCAR LLC. IndyCar is the fourth major sanctioning body to govern the sport of Indy car racing, following the American Automobile Association's Contest Board, the United States Auto Club (USAC), and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART).

The term continued to be used by CART, which called its main series the "CART PPG Indy Car World Series" despite the body not sanctioning the 500. In 1992, during an attempt by CART to broaden their board membership, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway registered the camel case trademark IndyCar with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and licensed it to CART as their new trade name.

The dispute between CART and IRL centered on the Indianapolis 500, long considered the flagship race of the sport. From 1980 until 1995, USAC continued to sanction the Indy 500, although CART drivers predominantly competed in the race and points counted towards the CART drivers' championship. Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George felt his opinions regarding increasing costs and revenue sharing were being ignored, while CART team owners felt George used his influence over USAC to have a disproportionate impact on the general operation of the sport.

After compromise attempts failed, IMS formed the Indy Racing League in 1994, with competition beginning in 1996. George blueprinted the IRL as a lower-cost open-wheel alternative to CART, which in his view had become technology-driven and dominated by a few wealthy multi-car teams. The IRL was designed to run only on oval tracks, to promote American drivers from the midget and sprint car ranks — the same path followed by IndyCar legends A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Johnny Rutherford, Al Unser Sr., and Bobby Unser in the 1960s.

Starting with the first IRL season, 25 of the 33 spots in the Indy 500 starting grid were reserved for cars from full-time IRL teams. In 1996, CART retaliated by scheduling the U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway on Memorial Day, the traditional date for the Indy 500. In March 1996, CART filed a lawsuit against the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to protect their license to the IndyCar mark after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway attempted to terminate it; in April, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway filed a separate lawsuit against CART to prevent them from further use of the mark. A settlement was reached in which CART agreed to give up the IndyCar mark following the 1996 season and the IRL agreed not to use the name before the end of the 2002 season.

The new 1997 technical rules featured less expensive chassis and "production-based" engines purchased rather than leased, technically incompatible with CART specifications. The IRL's early seasons consisted of sparse schedules and inexperienced teams, with degradation in quality especially apparent during the Indianapolis 500, which saw a dramatic decline in prestige.

The IRL began to draw top teams from CART starting in 2002, contributing to the latter's bankruptcy. CART was reorganized as the Champ Car World Series in 2003.

On January 23, 2008, Tony George offered Champ Car management a proposal that included free cars and engine leases to Champ Car teams willing to run the entire 2008 IndyCar Series schedule, in exchange for adding Champ Car's dates at Long Beach, Toronto, Edmonton, and Australia to the IndyCar Series schedule, effectively reuniting American open-wheel car racing. The offer was initially made in November 2007. On February 10, 2008, Tony George, along with IRL representatives Terry Angstadt and Brian Barnhart, plus former Honda executive Robert Clarke, traveled to Japan to discuss moving the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi. In February 2008 the owners of the Champ Car World Series completed an agreement to unify the sport for 2008. The Champ Car World Series was suspended except for the Long Beach Grand Prix, and many former Champ Car teams moved to the IndyCar Series using equipment provided by the IRL.

Randy Bernard was announced as the new IRL CEO in February 2010. The new Dallara DW12 race car was introduced for the 2012 season. Bernard was fired in October 2012 and replaced by Mark Miles.

Following unification, prominent former CART teams such as Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske became frequent race winners. The schedule came to include more road and street courses than oval tracks. The IndyCar Series subsequently introduced hybrid powertrains.

Today IndyCar is owned by Penske Entertainment Corp., a subsidiary of Penske Corporation. Penske purchased IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from Hulman & Co. in November 2019. In July 2025, Fox Corporation purchased a one-third stake in Penske Entertainment Corp for around $125–135 million.

Driver safety has been a major point of concern, with a number of drivers seriously injured, particularly in the early years of the series. There have been five fatal crashes in the history of the series. The lack of run-offs on oval tracks, coupled with higher speeds from long straights and banked turns, means less margin for error than road racing venues. Car design was attributed as a leading cause of early injuries, and the series made improvements to chassis design to address those concerns. Following a series of high-profile accidents in 2003 — including accidents involving Mario Andretti and former champion Kenny Bräck, as well as the death of Tony Renna in testing at Indianapolis — the IRL made additional changes to reduce speeds and increase safety.

IndyCar was the first racing series to adopt the SAFER soft wall safety system, which debuted at the Indianapolis 500 and has since been installed at almost all major oval racing circuits. The SAFER system research and design was supported and funded in large part by the Hulman-George family and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Five drivers have been killed in IndyCar competition:

Scott Brayton (May 17, 1996) — 1996 Indianapolis 500 practice session

Tony Renna (October 22, 2003) — Firestone private testing session

Paul Dana (March 26, 2006) — 2006 Toyota Indy 300 practice session

Dan Wheldon (October 16, 2011) — 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship

Justin Wilson (August 24, 2015) — 2015 ABC Supply 500

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.