Days after Roger Penske-led Team’s Indy 500 scandal, McLaren CEO Zak Brown suggests changes in IndyCar’s financial structure

Penske Entertainment and Team Penske owner Roger Penske has recently been in the limelight due to the Indy 500 scandal. Two of the three Team Penske cars were found to violate IndyCar rule 14.7.8.16 for illegal modifications. Amidst this, the issue of Penske being the sole stakeholder of the sport was brought up. The CEO of McLaren, Zak Brown, also spoke about the same.

Zak Brown transformed the McLaren Formula One team from a mid-field team to a winning team. Brown, over the years, has accumulated a large number of sponsors and has also put in a considerable amount of capital towards the turnaround. He also believes that the same is possible with the IndyCar Series, and it can gain popularity in North America.

As reported by Racer, while in conversation with Marshall Pruett, the McLaren CEO showed interest in becoming one of the stakeholders at IndyCar alongside Penske so as to give IndyCar a chance to pose a challenge to Formula One in terms of popularity. Additionally, he also spoke about how IndyCar would benefit from a franchise system like Formula 1.

“I would love to see a true franchise system. If you think about NFL, MLB, NBA, F1 kind of – technically, they're not equity owners, but the way it's set up, I'd love to see that, because I think that then means the teams share and can take the same view. My annual P&L is one thing, but [if] the value of my IndyCar team has gone up, then you also have everyone rowing the same direction because everyone's sharing in the growth of the sport. It’s not my decision, but personally, I'd love to see that.”

Roger Penske took ownership of the IndyCar series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2020. This gave rise to a unique structure in the sport as Penske became the team owner of a competing team, along with becoming the owner of the sport. This structure faced a lot of scrutiny, and many of the fans raised questions about the conflict of interest. The recent Indy 500 scandal has further solidified the questions about the same.

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Roger Penske reacts to the axing of his team's key individuals

Roger Penske let go of three of his top individuals from Team Penske days after two of the three cars were found in violation of technical rules during the Indy 500 qualifying. He spoke about the same during an interview with Fox Sports.

On May 21, Team Penske announced that they had parted ways with Tim Cindric, IndyCar Managing Director Ron Ruzewski, and IndyCar General Manager Kyle Moyer. Roger Penske, who also owns the IndyCar series, spoke to Fox Sports' Jamie Little about how he felt about the whole incident. Here's what he said,

"I really have to go back four and a half years ago when we bought the speedway and I said that I would invest capital, I'd get the best people, and we take the series and certainly Indianapolis Motor Speedway to higher levels.” (0:25 onwards)

“I think we've done that, then I look at my right hand and say, ‘What about Team Penske?’ And when I think about Team Penske, we really had an organization failure two times, not once but two times, and believe me, it hurts me in my gut when you think about it,” Roger Penske added.

Scott McLaughlin's #3 car was the only Team Penske car that passed the inspection. However, he could not complete the Indy 500 as he crashed on the opening lap.