MSR doubling down on IndyCar after closure of IMSA program

Jim Meyer and Mike Shank have been among the most active motor racing team owners since they formed a union in 2018 with the Meyer Shank Racing program.

From IMSA’s GTD class with multiple cars to its top-tier GTP category with a single entry before expanding to two, the duo also went from one IndyCar entry to two, and with its appointment as Honda’s factory service provider, the next evolution of MSR will see it focus solely on IndyCar in 2027 as it prepares to grow to three cars in 2028.

Change has been the norm for the Ohio-based team, and with its recent departure from GTP, where it led Acura’s two-car factory ARX-06 effort, MSR is pivoting all of its staff to IndyCar, where it will run Marcus Armstrong and Mick Schumacher next season while ramping up to test and run Honda’s Manufacturer entry in 2028.

“Since the IMSA season ended, it’s just been tons of meetings,” Shank told RACER. “And since we don't have the new car and equipment yet, what we can do, and do it well, is plan everything that we know we can plan, and get people in order, shuffle people around now a little bit to optimize our people.

"We've lost three people that just didn't want to do IndyCar, which is totally fine. But let's optimize the people that are here still, and make the whole program better. I actually see it as a positive.

“We can bring some people in that are really strong at certain things, and really, time will tell, right? But I like the idea of being able to build the team stronger just within the people that we have here. It doesn't mean (that) if we found someone really good that works for another team and we had an opportunity, that we would not try to get them, but we’ve got really good people on that IMSA program, whether you're a contractor or a paid employee. So we're keeping the people that want to stay, and we’ve got tons of work for them right now.

“We're making new stuff for the new car. You think about all the fixtures we’ve got to make and everything we need to do to be ready for testing that new car... So we can get all that going, which is really good.”

MSR has also found itself with two unique engineering solutions across its IndyCar program and its now-former IMSA effort. In IndyCar, it has relied on technical alliances since MSR made its debut in 2017, with Chip Ganassi Racing being the most recent service provider where CGR employees function as the race engineers for its full-time cars. In IMSA GTP, the team handled all engineering duties for its No. 60 Acura, but the sister No. 93 ARX-06 was led by Honda Racing Corporation U.S. staff who were responsible for engineering and race strategy.

With the upcoming expansion to three Dallara IR28s in 2028, MSR, CGR, and HRC have decisions to make on who will engineer the two team cars and who will handle engineering for Honda’s No. 93 entry, which could follow the GTP model and rely on HRC’s technical group.

“We are working on that now,” Shank said. “We have a another year deal with Chip, which is great. He and I have tended to do short deals just to keep flexibility in it. And one thing Chip has taught me is, it's crazy how fast things change. A little bit of time is nothing in our business, so we keep our options open. But it's been great, and I would like to keep it going, to be honest with you.

“However, if that's not in the cards, or if either or both of our worlds change, then we'll have to pivot. But I prefer to see if we can keep it together, and the 93 car will run as the 93 car no matter what. So it's just, how do we make that all work and keep everybody happy with IP (intellectual property)? It's a really tricky position, right? But we're going to see what happens here, and my hope is that we can stay together with Chip. That's my hope.”