Doug Boles: Inside Chevy-Honda renewals & IndyCar’s health
- Archie O’Reilly
- 2h
- 6 min read
This time last year, Doug Boles was in the very infant stages of an IndyCar presidency thrust upon him mere weeks before the start of the 2025 season.
There was no time to settle. And from the very outset, one task loomed larger than any other on an agenda of critically important duties. That task? Renewing Honda and Chevrolet as the series’ two engine manufacturers. And it was a pressing order.
Both were nearing the end of their contracts and distinct fears over their futures were emerging. For Boles, replacing the outgoing Jay Frye, this was now in his hands.
“For me initially, it was just being able to sit down and understand what both manufacturers wanted out of the series to continue to be in the series, what had some of the challenges been up to that point,” Boles told DIVEBOMB in a Friday media availability in St. Petersburg.
“There was a lot of speculation that Honda might not return; I think everybody just assumed Chevy would but Chevy had not agreed to come back either.”
Indeed, there was particularly a lot of talk about the future of Honda beyond the 2026 season and whether the manufacturer would depart after over 30 years involved with the sport. But the reality facing Boles was that neither organisation had re-signed to remain as one of the series’ engine suppliers for the 2027 campaign and beyond.
This amounted to a lot for Boles, simultaneously president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, to manage and attempt to solve - all while the IndyCar campaign was progressing at pace and his duties surrounding the Indianapolis 500 were intensifying.
Nonetheless, in the background, while juggling everything else, he kept working away. Masses of problem-solving, conversing and formulating of solutions.
“I spent the first probably half of the year really trying to understand what was best for both of those manufacturers and focusing on the season,” Boles explained. “Once we got through the end of the season was really when we had an opportunity to sit down and talk about: how do we put together something that both manufacturers are excited about?
“[And putting something together] that both manufacturers can go back to their boardrooms and say: ‘Look, we are partners in this series; as the series grows, we’re going to grow. We are more than just engine suppliers and manufacturer support. We are invested in the series.’ And that’s where charters come in.”
As conversations ramped up, there came a light-bulb moment. Why not offer each of the manufacturers a charter, under the charter system introduced to IndyCar for 2025?
Starting last season, charters were handed to the series’ full-time entries from the previous two seasons, capped at three per team and amounting to 25 across the field. Among the intentions was to provide teams and their ownership with more value to their assets.
So it was proposed to Chevrolet and Honda executives that each of the organisations could receive one charter - bringing the field-wide total to 27 - when IndyCar introduces its new chassis, intended for 2028, as part of their renewed deals. With that, they could partner a ‘factory’ effort with any of the existing teams not in possession of three charters.
After the tireless work of Boles and company, this was something of a silver bullet.
“As the series grows, they can get some benefit from that,” Boles asserted of the idea to offer each of the manufacturers a charter. “It was just several iterations that took place over time and then, ultimately, we got to a point where in principle, right before Christmas, we were all in a good spot, finalising it once we got back to the new year.
“And now we’re just ready to get started, focused on 2026 and watching Honda and Chevy do battle and knowing that they’re here long-term.”
And so, it was announced earlier this month that both Chevrolet and Honda had reached agreements with IndyCar on new multi-year deals to remain the series’ engine suppliers from 2027 onwards. Both will play a major role in the development process of the new car, including the new 2.4-litre, twin-turbo V6 power unit amid a change of engine formula.
The long-term renewals of both Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) marks a crucial piece of news for the future of IndyCar. And that is not only in preventing the reduction to only a single OEM, but also in possibly attracting interest from other parties.
There is now the welcome stability and certainty of having a guaranteed two manufacturers for the foreseeable future. But Boles is keen to find solutions to possibly expand even further.
“The one thing certainly hanging over us when I started [as IndyCar president] was making sure that we found a way to keep Honda and keep Chevy both in the sport,” he said. “To be able to get that finalised at the beginning of this year as we go forward is great for all of us.
“It gives us an opportunity now to really have more robust and hopefully fruitful conversations with a potential third OEM. One of the biggest challenges leading up to that point was the amount of time that Chevy and Honda have been in [IndyCar] was a deterrent for others to invest because they’re going to invest and be significantly behind.
“So I’m hopeful that we can find that. But the best news is even if we don’t, we’ve got two great partners with us through 2030 at least and that’s going to help us continue to grow.”
This is the latest in a string of moves contributing to burgeoning positivity about the future of IndyCar and its growth potential, also continually fuelled by the partnership with FOX Sports.
Within five months of broadcasting their first IndyCar race last year, in a major show of faith from the series’ new broadcast partner, it was announced that FOX had acquired one-third of Penske Entertainment, the Roger Penske-led group which owns IndyCar. And once again in 2026, they will showcase every race live on network television.
“Obviously last year we started with our new partners in FOX and we knew it was going to be good,” Boles acknowledged. “We just didn’t know how good it was going to be. The investment that they made to help us grow the series was phenomenal.
“And they’ve doubled down on that this year. In fact, not only that, they’re actually a partner in the business now, which I think is a great thing for us.”
The 2026 season gets underway with three quickfire rounds in successive weeks - and four races in five weeks - as IndyCar bids to build on the momentum of another pre-season of promotions from FOX. This is a marked change from recent years, when there was frustratingly as much as a six-week hiatus between the opening two points-paying races.
Even last year, the season started with three three-week breaks at the beginning of the campaign. So for this season to boast a return to Phoenix Raceway six days after opening the season this weekend in St. Pete, then moving on to the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington the following week, is a refreshing revamp of the beginning of the season.
These are opportunities for growth there, too. Next week, IndyCar will pair with the NASCAR Cup Series for the Phoenix weekend, unfortunately playing second fiddle but nonetheless served a chance to expose the series - markedly quicker than Cup - to a different audience.
The weekend after, IndyCar’s return to Texas in the new market of Arlington is being built up as a marquee event too, staged in collaboration with the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers, racing around their NFL and MLB stadiums within the state’s entertainment district. It has been relentlessly promoted in IndyCar’s quest to create more tentpole races.
“Excited about kicking off in St. Pete every year; 22nd year here at St. Petersburg is a fantastic way to kick the season off. Just the electricity in the city is helpful,” Boles detailed. “[There are also] a lot of new things on the schedule.
“We redid the schedule this year so that instead of St. Pete and then a big gap to our next race - we almost had a second off-season last year - [IndyCar is] able to run three weekends in a row. [The St. Pete weekend is] run with NASCAR Trucks and then getting to go run with NASCAR Cup Series at Phoenix, a track that has so much IndyCar history.
“We’re looking forward to that and then certainly Arlington is going to be a great way for us to race in and around the Cowboys and Rangers stadium, in a market that’s really important.”
There is rising sense of anticipation around IndyCar again, ahead of what should be an enthralling six months of racing ahead as the field attempts to chase down imperious four-time champion Álex Palou and deny him a historic championship four-peat.
And off the track, in so many ways, the series continues to head in an encouraging direction.
“I’m really excited about the 2026 season,” Boles expressed. “Obviously I’m a year and two weeks into this new job and, looking at the IndyCar Series today versus how I looked at it a year and two weeks ago, we’re in a much better spot.
“I think we’ve got a lot of great growth potential and 2026 is going to be a great year.”
