The NTT IndyCar Series will have its officiating done by an independent organization beginning in 2026, INDYCAR announced Dec. 11.
INDYCAR Officiating Inc. will oversee officiating with governance from a three-person independent officiating board.
Neither INDYCAR nor Penske Entertainment will have any power over the organization.
That board’s first members are Ray Evernham, Raj Nair and Ronan Morgan. Evernham and Nair were appointed via a vote from chartered team owners, while the FIA appointed Morgan.
“We have remained committed to independent officiating for 2026, and we are pleased to announce this next step,” INDYCAR’s J. Douglas Boles said in a release.
“The INDYCAR team owners and the FIA have selected a world-class board with high character, incredible knowledge and an intense passion for motorsports and INDYCAR racing.”
The IOI will be led by a managing director who will report to the board. That individual has not yet been appointed.
Kevin Rutherford is the executive editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2025 after being the managing editor since 2015, and serving on the editing staff since 2013.
At his day job, he's a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio -- you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.
This is good news.
While I didn’t see anything from IndyCar officiating to indicate they were giving Penske preferential treatment, it was a matter of time before it became a problem. Penske owning some teams as well as the series was always going to make Indycar directly interpreting rules a landmine waiting to be stepped upon.
I hope the board avoids what F1 has done, where guest stewards determine rules violations every week. Not having a persistent group seems to have caused perceived officiating inconsistencies within F1.
Speaking of F1, why did the FIA get to place a board member? I get there are some ties between FIA and Indycar, but as far as I know they aren’t directly financial, so it seems odd for the FIA to have a voice here, in what could theoretically reemerge as a direct competitor.