The one time someone got an IndyCar right, it was over the hottest topic in politics.
Go figure.
It’s not uncommon for independent promotion efforts separate from the NTT IndyCar Series or unfamiliar media outlets to use the wrong car in pictures when discussing the open-wheel series. When mistakes like that occur, it’s generally a Formula 1 car used instead of a Dallara chassis with the universal aerokit on it.
From graphics to promotional material, the misconception is that any two-winged open wheel car is the same. It’s an accepted way of life for fans, who hope one day that the IndyCar brand is so strong that it’s easily recognizable. That’s why FOX buying into the series was such significant news, as the series struggles with promotion.
The one time someone outside IndyCar did get it right, the series was pulled into a story outside of its control. This is what happened when a post on social media by the Department of Homeland Security this week clearly showed an IndyCar, but not in a way to motivate fans to attend a race.
When the announcement for a new facility in Indiana to support Immigration and Custom Enforcement operations was released on X, the graphic used was not a win for IndyCar.
With a prison as the backdrop, and the foreground clearly a racetrack, an IndyCar appeared speeding by, sponsored by the acronym for the federal agency: ICE.
By the roll hoop was the No. 5. All of this was part of the branding message for the new facility, nicknamed the “Speedway Slammer.”
No fault of its own, INDYCAR was pulled into politics.
Sports entertainment has a legacy of trying to ride a thin line between political messaging and appealing to diverse audiences with various perspectives and beliefs. When the sports realm crosses into the political domain, it’s not without some sort of backlash or criticism. Sometimes, it’s the players who use the platform to send a message like American track and field medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos during the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Other times, it’s a governing sports body like the U.S. Olympic team boycotting the 1980 Summer Olympics held in the Soviet Union after it invaded Afghanistan.
The retribution can be severe.
Smith and Carlos were kicked off the Olympic team. Even Peter Norman, an Australian medalist who stood with the two Americans in solidarity, faced criticism at home. After the American boycott of the 1980 games, the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pacts nations did the same thing for the 1984 games, which robbed athletes from competing against some of the best talent in the world at that time.
In recent memory, when a political opinion is expressed in the sports world, the quick response can be “stick to sports.” That’s easier said than done, but generally, most abide by that because the focus is on the court, track or field, whatever the sport. It’s a fair tact to take, because sports are meant to free the mind and soul for just a few hours from an unflattering and at times tense political environment.
What do you do, though, when it’s the political machine that pulls you in without any say?
That’s what has happened with INDYCAR. Without its knowledge, its branding was leveraged in a political message about immigration enforcement. Not only was its car used — which it clearly was an IndyCar, as no other series in the world uses an aero screen, not even F1 — but the title of the new detention facility also includes Speedway, which is synonymous with Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Considering the town in which IMS sits is called Speedway, Ind., and the sport’s name derives from the nickname of the state’s capital, it’s incredibly hard to not connect dots between DHS’ post and the series.
This is a tricky slope for the series to be in. The last thing it needs is to be a pawn in the political boxing ring.
More challenging is the No. 5 used as the car number in the graphic. The series’ most popular driver, Pato O’Ward, uses that number, and the startling coincidence doesn’t go without notice that he is from Mexico, the country whose border is at the heart of the political debates over immigration.
O’Ward doesn’t deserve this, even if the mix-up was accidental. He is the series’ star power, someone that transcends above the paddock, as his personality and commitment to fans endear him to thousands. He’s a valuable piece in promoting the sport. The spirit that he lives with should be welcomed and applauded, not be ensnared in doubt and questions about what the nation or government thinks of him.
INDYCAR did release a statement about the post, but it was more about how it used its intellectual property without its consent.
“We were unaware of plans to incorporate our imagery as part of yesterday’s announcement,” a spokesperson said. “Consistent with our approach to public policy and political issues, we are communicating our preference that our IP not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter.”
But that’s not enough. A clear message needs to be vocalized by the series — and it’s not about the intellectual property violation.
It needs to be honestly stated the series wants no part in being used as a promotional gimmick for political theater.
It’s vital to do that so the paddock knows because the backgrounds of the series’ talent is so diverse. The IndyCar field has 16 international drivers in its full-time lineup, with a strong fanbase in the entire Western Hemisphere thanks to the many former-driver Brazilians like Emerson Fittipaldi, Helio Castroneves and Gil De Ferran.
Even the legacy of Adrian Fernandez still hovers over the sport.
A paddock full of different backgrounds and nationalities, INDYCAR’s leadership needs to come out and say that it does not want its property or likeness used in this messaging. It’s too important to keep its drivers, paddock and race fans out of this so that the motorsports weekend remains a place of escape via competition on track. Not riled up by rhetoric.
As O’Ward told the Associated Press, “I don’t think it made a lot of people proud, to say the least.”
He’s right.
An image of a prison, with an IndyCar with the car number currently used by the only Mexican driver in the series, with ICE logos is unnerving. DHS did eventually delete the post, only to later post another image on Aug. 9, just without the use of the No. 5.
Still, it’s not a good look for INDYCAR.
The Speedway Slammer: Coming Soon 🏁 pic.twitter.com/Ke5BOPVSVI
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 8, 2025
Hopefully the sanctioning body or Roger Penske do the right thing. The newly bought-in partner, FOX, owned by Robert Murdoch, might get them the access needed to ensure this doesn’t happen again. It just can’t.
Sports are meant to be a way to lift up out of reality for just a few hours. Motorsports has done well to stay above the fray of political climates. But this time, INDYCAR isn’t to blame for this new cycles. It was politics that pulled it in without its knowledge.
All because someone, finally, outside the series’ realm realized what an IndyCar looked like.
Tom is an IndyCar writer at Frontstretch, joining in March 2023. Besides writing the IndyCar Previews and frequent editions of Inside IndyCar, he will hop on as a fill-in guest on the Open Wheel podcast The Pit Straight. A native Hoosier, he calls Fort Wayne home. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomBlackburn42.