Nashville marks final race for Ilmor president Paul Ray

Ilmor Engineering became a powerhouse of achievement under Paul Ray’s watch. The Briton, who joined the American arm of the racing engine design and supply company in 1990, recently announced his retirement after decades of serving as its president and will relinquish the role after Sunday's IndyCar race at Nashville Superspeedway.

Will Power’s latest win at Portland using the Ilmor-built 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 Chevrolet engine pushed the company’s IndyCar win tally – spanning all of its clients in CART and today’s IndyCar Series – to 387 victories, with the majority delivered while Ray led the organization.

Factor in the dozen-plus Indianapolis 500 wins – including seven straight from 1988-1994, along with its latest in 2024 – and all the IndyCar championships that have been produced with Ray in charge of Ilmor, and his departure will be felt across all of the firm’s North American racing activities.

“It was probably 50 things, not one particular one that led me to this decision,” Ray told RACER. “I've always run my life and my productivity by asking myself, ‘If not now, when?’ I turned 65 and started to ask myself, ‘If not now, when?’ I came to the conclusion that it's time; when you still have your health, you still have your wits, you still have opportunities in front of you to do many things that the dedication to this job doesn't afford.

“Haven't had a summer vacation, realistically, in 30 years, without the pressures of work getting in the way, so I started thinking of this when I turned 65 and told everyone of my decision when I turned 66.”

Ilmor's IndyCar success was quick, with Mario Andretti sitting on pole already in 1987. Marshall Pruett Archive

Formed in the United Kingdom in 1985 by Mario Illien and Paul Morgan – the "Il" and the "mor" in Ilmor – with the financial backing of Roger Penske, the company entered the CART IndyCar Series in 1986, and by 1987, its first win with Mario Andretti using Ilmor’s Chevrolet-badged 2.65-liter A-spec V8 turbo and its first pole position for the Indianapolis 500 with Andretti were secured. By 1988, Ilmor’s Chevy A had taken over CART as Penske’s Rick Mears won the Indy 500 and the championship. A new and dominant force had arrived.

With Team Penske having delivered Ilmor’s products to victory lane more than any other team, "The Captain" spoke fondly of Ray and the role he played in helping Team Penske to become IndyCar’s winningest outfit.  

“Paul Ray has been a great leader, a true innovator and a good friend for more than three decades,” Penske told RACER. “Under Paul’s leadership, Ilmor has established itself as one of the world’s leading engineering companies. From engine design and development, to precision manufacturing, to premium marine performance, Ilmor has continued to evolve and build on its legacy of success in racing with Paul leading the way. I want to thank Paul for all his hard work, dedication and commitment to Ilmor for more than 35 years and we wish him all the best in whatever lies on the road ahead.”

As the Michigan-based Ilmor offshoot was developed at the end of the 1980s, Ray moved across from Cosworth, makers of the once-dominant DFX CART engine, having started with Cosworth in 1982.

Ray’s first major assignment within Cosworth was with its new 1.5-liter turbo V6 Formula 1 motor, and as the rigors of constant international travel to support the F1 program settled in, a downshifting of sorts with a move to California with Cosworth’s CART IndyCar program was the direction chosen by Ray and his wife.

The move to Michigan while the Ilmor Engineering office was in its infancy – contained inside a fuel testing wing at Detroit Diesel – saw Ray form a staff of five, and decades later, he leaves a group that’s surpassed 150 employees who oversee its IndyCar, NASCAR, and marine engine programs.

From a small staff of five to a 155-strong team, Ray's leadership took Ilmor from the burgeoning Ilmor-Chevrolet A days to a multidisciplinary powerhouse. Marshall Pruett Archive

A second significant downshift for Ray is next on his list with a new house being built in Idaho and some high-performance car projects to complete. He’ll make occasional visits to IndyCar races in the future, advising on the next-generation engine formula that will debut in 2028, but the constant travel will become a thing of the past.

More than the trophies and titles, Ray looks to the people within Ilmor as his legacy.

“Really, it's having built a company,” he said. “There's now 155 people that have been strong and stable, and those people can come to work every day knowing that they have a job. In our racing enterprise between IndyCar and the things we do with NASCAR, marine programs – we've always done it with the greatest sense of integrity.

“We don't sugarcoat things. We tell people how it is, and you take your lumps and your bumps. I'll call it a legacy of integrity that's built into every person that works for the company. When we have our Christmas party, all the families come, and I always take time in my brief speech to thank the families, because without the family support, the people that come to work every day can't do their job.

“It can be seven days a week, 12 to 14 hours per day, particularly when we get to Indianapolis. The families are the ones that support the people that come to work. The engines don't build themselves. The machines don't run themselves. The effort is all human, and that, in the end, is the best part of it.”