Q: Do you foresee being in a position where you have more cars than pit boxes in pit lane and have to send some entries home without making the race?
FRYE: We’ve all worked very hard to get to the point where we are all growing. That would be a last resort. We have no intention of sending anybody home. We are working with a few venues about expanding the capacity of pit road. We think we can get that done.
Our intention is not to send anybody home.
Q: From a business standpoint, how important is it for new teams to compete in the races in order to grow stronger?
FRYE: Yes. One of the things we ask our teams that are going to run an extra entry, they communicate with us all the time which venues they may be running. We have a pretty good idea which venues we might have trouble on. We work with the teams and the promoters about expanding the capacity of pit road. We might talk to the teams about going to a different venue on the schedule. Sometimes, they can’t do that.
It’s a good problem to have and we have to manage it.
Q: When you see young drivers the likes of Alex Palou, Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta winning races, how much hope does that give you for the future of IndyCar?
FRYE: I think what is really cool right now is you look at the veterans out there who are very competitive and racing at a high level right now. How cool is it to be competing against a Scott Dixon, one of the all-time greats, who is still as good as he has ever been? The veteran drivers teach the young guys what is expected out of an IndyCar driver from on-track to off-track. It’s great to see the depth we have from a driver perspective.
Last year, 40 percent of the full-time field won a race. That’s spectacular. It could have been 60 percent. Add that up and it’s pretty amazing how competitive this series is and the depth of the field that we have.
Q: What is it like to see the pipeline of young drivers from Europe competing in the NTT IndyCar Series?
FRYE: This is part of the growth of entries. There are so many talented race drivers that want to race in IndyCar. That has created even broader and enhanced competition. It’s an amazing time to be in the series and see the younger drivers coming up and what the veteran drivers to continue to do and the races are immensely competitive.
Q: What was it like to have a driver the caliber of Jimmie Johnson switch gears and join IndyCar?
FRYE: It was hugely flattering that he wanted to do this in the first place. We had talked for the past couple of years before he made this commitment. We kept Jimmie updated in where we are going and what we are doing, the status of the aero screen and things like that. He has been thinking about this for some time. When he put everything together, we were very excited about that.
He’s a champion and when you bring another champion into the organization, it rubs off on others. It was fun to watch him get better every week. There is nobody that works harder than he is, is more driven and you can see why he is a seven-time champion.
Running on ovals is his bread and butter. I think he will have an amazing amount of fun running an Indy car on the ovals. He got a taste of that with his test at Texas and ROP at Indianapolis. I’m sure he will be great. Nothing he does surprises us.
Q: Television ratings improved and attendance was up last season. How do you assess the upward trend IndyCar appears to be on?
FRYE: I think there are many things coming into play, the entries and expanding. Carvana came into the sport and that is huge. They activated on the track and off the track. Everything is coming together. We still have lots of work to do and will continue on this plan to enhance the overall product.
There is a point where it is all coming together. It shows that things are going well. We have to keep after it and we are excited about the future.
Q: Would you like to see NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson compete in the Indianapolis 500?
FRYE: He’s an amazing talent, an amazing kid. We would welcome him at the Indianapolis 500, of course. That would be great. But there is timing that has to happen and line up. Who knows? We would certainly love to have him.
Q: How do you compare where IndyCar is today to where it was when you first started?
FRYE: It’s been a great paddock-wide effort since we started in this role. We talked about harnessing the power of the paddock. There are so many smart people in our paddock. That is when we started up with the cadence of the meetings that we have. Everybody had input in what we were doing. The manufacturers have input. We have been able to stick to our plan. The teams know what we are doing and are a part of it. We probably have 80 percent agreement in our meetings, but the other 20 percent know what we are doing, so it’s not a surprise to them.
We have team manager calls every week. We try to overcommunicate. It’s a great paddock with great people and we are following our plan. We’ve come up with a sweet spot to the weekend schedule from a team standpoint to the promoter standpoint to a partner standpoint to having enough practice. We have to come up with a balance.