IndyCar IOB members meet in Indianapolis

The three members of Penske Entertainment’s new Independent Officiating Board (IOB) met in person for the first time in the days prior to Christmas.

Assembled under Penske’s non-profit IndyCar Officiating Incorporated (IOI) banner, the trio of veteran NASCAR crew chief and team owner Ray Evernham and former Ford executive Raj Nair – who were selected by IndyCar team owners – and the FIA-supplied Ronan Morgan gathered in Indianapolis to start the in-person talks on how they want to govern IndyCar races, technical inspection, and other aspects of event oversight.

“For the first time, our three IOB board members gathered together here in Indianapolis,” said IndyCar president Doug Boles. “They knew of each other, maybe not really knew each other. So to get them together, to begin to go through the bylaws of the new organization (IOI), which is separate from us, and begin to set things in motion. Ronin’s from Ireland, so he came in from Ireland. Ray coming in from the Charlotte area, and then Raj coming in from the L.A. area.

“And they went to dinner together, spent all day together yesterday. They have some marching orders that they've basically pulled together what they want to do as we continue to prepare for the season. I can't tell you how excited, frankly, I am to have this group in place, obviously understanding motorsport and really understanding people and how to put people together. They've seen the best in all of the sport across the board.”

For Nair, who serves as CEO of Singer Vehicle Design, his involvement with Ford’s international endurance racing campaign with the Le Mans-winning Ford GT program in the FIA World Endurance Championship complements Evernham’s experience owning and running a racing series – the former Superstar Racing Experience, or SRX – which ties into Morgan’s day-to-day role working for the largest international motor racing sanctioning body.

“Raj had an awful lot of investment and time in WEC seeing how they work,” Boles noted. “Obviously, Ray does all kinds of things in terms of motorsport, seeing it all from the lowest level to the highest level, and then Ronan, getting a chance to see things from the FIA and the international level. So I think the three of them will bring a lot of great ideas together and really be able to run the officiating side of the IndyCar Series in a way that creates that firewall that we all want and makes us successful as we go forward.”