INDIANAPOLIS — Entering the 2026 IndyCar season, the newly introduced independent officiating board (IOB) is a looming question heading into the year.
IndyCar announced in December that races in its premiere series and Indy NXT will be officiated by an independent panel beginning in 2026. IndyCar Officiating Inc. has been established as a nonprofit organization and will be governed by board members Ray Evernham, Raj Nair and Ronan Morgan.
A managing director of officiating (MDO) will be selected by the board. The MDO will report directly to the board, not IndyCar or Penske Entertainment.
The majority of IndyCar’s full-time drivers were in Indianapolis last week for content days, and they got to share their thoughts on the board being introduced to the series in 2026.
“I think it’s good to put some distance between Penske and the series,” Felix Rosenqvist, of Meyer Shank Racing, said. “I think they’ve been doing a good job with the situation. You need to create a barrier between the two. … I’d rather go on Twitter reading about great racing than reading about Penske this, Penske that. I think it’s good.”
“It’s nice to know that there is somewhat of an officiating board that might not have biases, simple as that,” 2025 rookie of the year Louis Foster said. “It’s nice. It’s a good step for the series. I think it gives confidence in teams and drivers that this is the right place to be, the series is going in the right direction from a competitive standpoint.”
The IOB will be in effect when the season begins March 1. While some drivers are optimistic about the new officiating process, veteran Graham Rahal isn’t ready to fully endorse it. Rahal, who drives the No. 15 car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, wants to “give it a few races” before fully assessing the IOB.
“Hopefully the new group is independent, can be truly independent, can give an honest take on every situation, and hear us out and see things through different lights,” Rahal said. “And (hopefully) at the end of the day, we all feel like we’ve been respected and our views have been shared, whether we agree or not. It’s the same as politics, same as life. I’m not going to agree on a ruling that I got a penalty and that somebody didn’t. We just got to kind of move on with it. Hopefully, this year will give a little bit more stability to it.”
In 2025, the most notable violations assessed by IndyCar surrounded the Indy 500. After qualifying, Team Penske’s No. 2 and No. 12 cars – driven by Josef Newgarden and Will Power, respectively – failed tech inspections that pushed Newgarden and Power’s starting position back to the last row. The failed inspections led to Team Penske firing three strategists the week of the race.
After the race, Andretti Global’s No. 27 and No. 28 cars – driven by Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood – failed tech inspections due to modified energy management system covers. Ericsson finished the race second while Kirkwood finished sixth, but the failed inspections knocked them to 31st and 32nd, respectively. Prema Racing’s Callum Ilott was bumped to 33rd after a failed inspection as well.
The controversy around the various penalties led IndyCar to work on an officiating body separate from itself and Penske Entertainment. IndyCar had served as its own officiating body since the middle of the 1996-97 Indy Racing League season.
“That’s something I stay out of,” Kirkwood said. “I don’t understand it that well if I’m being honest. I don’t think much is going to change. Quite honestly, I don’t think us drivers or teams really want things to change. It’s more, there’s a political view maybe from the outside that see it as a negative.”
Many drivers (including Ericsson) admitted to not knowing much about the IOB as of now. Until the season begins and until an MDO is hired, it’s hard to know what effect the new board will have in 2026 and onward.
Penalties overshadowed the racing for much of last May, and it should be the goal of all parties – teams, drivers and IndyCar – to not let that happen again. The IOB is a step to mitigate the frequency and bias of tech penalties, but the inner workings of it are still somewhat of a mystery.
Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar news: Drivers reactions to independent officiating board
