Indy Lights

Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a program of racing series leading up to the IndyCar Series.

A similar series named Indy Lights filled the developmental role for the CART series, and ran from 1986 to 1993 as the American Racing Series and Dayton Indy Lights from 1991 to 2001. The current IndyCar sanctioned series was founded in 2002 as the Infiniti Pro Series as a way to introduce new talent to IndyCar, with the moniker Indy Lights returning in 2008 when CART and IndyCar unified. The Indy Lights champion was awarded a $1M scholarship toward the IndyCar Series, and guaranteed three races including the Indianapolis 500 during this time. For 2023, Penske Entertainment announced a rebranding to the name Indy NXT.

Early origins

In the post-WWII era, through the early 1960s, American open-wheel racing cars were almost exclusively front-engined "roadsters". The primary ladder series included sprints and midgets. By the end of the 1960s, the cars evolved into rear-engine formula-style machines. Likewise, the feeder series began to follow the same mold. When United States Automobile Club (USAC) became the primary sanctioning body for top-level open-wheel racing, the ladder of progression began to change.

USAC Mini Indy Series

The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Super Vee and Formula Atlantic series were among the first formula-based ladder series. However, neither had any direct tie to USAC. In 1977, USAC started the "Mini-Indy" series, using Super Vee machines. The series ended after 1980 when USAC stopped sanctioning Indy car races outside of the Indianapolis 500.

Following the end of the "Mini Indy" series, the driver pool in the early 1980s for CART and the Indy 500 was drawn in a somewhat unorganized fashion among Super Vees, Atlantics, former Can-Am drivers, sprint cars, midgets, and even stock cars and off-road racing. In addition, a number of CART series drivers during the 1980s and early 1990s were former Formula 1 competitors, most of whom had climbed the European-based ladder series.

Original series (1986–2001)

The original Indy Lights series was an open-wheeled racing series that acted as a developmental circuit for CART from 1986 to 2001. It was founded in 1986 as the American Racing Series (ARS). CART became the sanctioning body for the series in 1988, and it was renamed as ''Indy Lights'' in 1991, with title sponsorship by Firestone. Later, Firestone's subsidiary Dayton Tires took over as tire supplier and title sponsor.

A spec-series, CART Indy Lights used March chassis (essentially a modified 85B Formula 3000 chassis, renamed to Wildcat) from 1986 to 1992. In 1992 Lola became the primary chassis constructor to the series, using a modified F3000 chassis. In 1997, a newly updated and modern-looking chassis was introduced based on an F3000 design. It would remain through 2001. Buick V6 engines were used for its entire existence.

The ARS/Indy Lights series' championship winners included two CART champions, two IndyCar Series champions, seven Champ Car World Series race-winners and two Formula One drivers.

The Indy Lights schedule closely followed that of the CART series, and typically had a gap of up to a month while the primary CART teams raced at the Indy 500. The races were usually held the morning of the CART series races, as an undercard event. In early years, the Indy Lights series skipped superspeedway races such as Michigan, but eventually found its way to race there. In some rare occasions, the Indy Lights ran at non-CART tracks, generally as a support race to a series other than CART. In 2001 Indy Lights ran at Road Atlanta the weekend of the Petit Le Mans, and ran at Kansas with the IRL.

By the late 1990s and early 2000s, CART was suffering from financial problems. Meanwhile, in 1996, the rival Indy Racing League was formed. CART canceled the minor league outright after the 2001 season. By this time, the Toyota Atlantic series was equally effective in providing CART with new drivers. In addition, the Atlantics served as a springboard for such drivers as Greg Ray, Sam Hornish Jr. and Richie Hearn to enter the IRL. The Atlantics effectively became CART's primary feeder system, and later became Champ Car World Series' official in-house feeder championship for a time.

Current series (2002–present)

The Infiniti Pro Series was re-founded by the Indy Racing League and began racing in 2002, the year after the CART-sanctioned Indy Lights series' demise. It was a spec series using a TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) developed 3.5L version of the V8 engine used in the Infiniti Q45 combined with Dallara chassis producing . The series initially struggled to attract drivers and some races have had fewer than 10 entrants. However, with the introduction of a number of road-course races to the schedule in 2005, many of America's top prospects like Marco Andretti and Phil Giebler were attracted to the series to run part-time schedules on road courses. In 2006, a boost in prize money even further increased car counts to 16 or more, with an even six oval and six road course mix. The selected races being double races, and a stand-alone race (independent of the IndyCar Series) were scheduled on the USGP weekend.

The series was called the ''Menards Infiniti Pro Series'' (MIPS) until 2006 when both Menards and Nissan dropped their sponsorship of the series. It was then known as the ''Indy Pro Series''. On March 26, 2008, the series announced a changing of names, when the historical records and proprietary information of Champ Car were acquired by the IRL. The series then became known as ''Firestone Indy Lights''.

The centerpiece of the Indy Lights schedule was the Freedom 100, contested at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the Friday prior to the Indianapolis 500. The series also held a support race for the U.S. Grand Prix, the Liberty Challenge, from 2005 to 2007. It was the series' first event that was not a support race to an IndyCar event.

On September 9, 2007, during the Chicagoland 100, Logan Gomez beat Alex Lloyd by 0.0005 seconds (approximately at 188 mph) which reflects what was the closest recognized finish in the over century-long history of organized automobile racing throughout the world, until the 2018 Powershares QQQ 300. In 2008, the margin was established by the '' Guinness Book of World Records'' as the closest finish ever in a car race.

On May 24, 2013, Peter Dempsey captured his first Indy Lights win in the Freedom 100 in the closest finish in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history (0.0026 secs) in a four-wide finish.

In June 2013, it was announced that the series would be promoted by Andersen Promotions beginning in 2014. with IndyCar sanctioning remaining. In August it was announced that Cooper Tire would replace Firestone as the official tire of the series in 2014. This resulted in all three levels of the Road to Indy leading up to the IndyCar Series being promoted by Andersen and feature Cooper tires, beginning in 2014. The Andersen team implemented a number of cost-reducing updates to the chassis and engine package in 2014 and introduced a new chassis and engine combination in 2015. On October 31, 2013, the series announced that Dallara would be the manufacturer of the fourth-generation Indy Lights chassis and it would be named the Dallara IL-15. On November 1, 2013 a new logo was unveiled for the Indy Lights series On November 26 it was announced that the engine for the new package would be a 2.0L turbocharged MZR-R four cylinder engine, tuned to last a full season of competition and producing 450 horsepower, with push-to-pass offering an additional 50 horsepower.

The 2020 season was canceled through a combination of low grid numbers and the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of 2021, the Dallara IL-15 continues to be the chassis employed by the series, but engines are now provided by AER, Advanced Engines Research, modifying and tuning base 2.0 liter I-4 Mazda power plants turbocharged to provide the same power and push-to-pass capability of the former engines, with the added capability of longevity: the engines are designed and fabricated to run an entire season without a rebuild. A halo was added to the IL-15 for the 2021 season.

Andretti Autosport's Kyle Kirkwood captured the 2021 series championship, while HMD Motorsports' David Malukas finished second and Global Racing Group w/HMD Motorsports' Linus Lundqvist was third. HMD Motorsports/Global Racing Group secured their first Road to Indy team championship.

Firestone returned as the official tire supplier for the 2023 season. That season saw the series name changed to Indy NXT, and IndyCar assume direct operation of the series from Andersen Promotions, which continues to operate the affiliated lower-tier USF Championships under IndyCar sanctioning.

Teams

Specifications

Specifications (2002–2014)

*Engine displacement: Nissan/ Infiniti built by Speedway Motors DOHC V8
*Gearbox: 6-speed sequential manual transmission
*Weight: on ovals; on road/street courses
*Power output:
*Fuel: Sunoco 100 RON unleaded
*Fuel capacity:
*Fuel delivery: Fuel injection
*Aspiration: Naturally aspirated
*Length:
*Width:
*Wheelbase:
*Steering: Manual, rack and pinion

Specifications (2015–present)

*Chassis manufacturer: Dallara IL-15
*Engine displacement: Mazda- AER P63 DOHC inline-4
*Gearbox: 6-speed sequential semi-automatic gearbox
*Weight: excluding driver and fuel
*Power output: push-to-pass
*Fuel: VP Racing Fuels 101 RON unleaded
*Fuel delivery: Direct fuel injection
*Aspiration: Single-turbocharged
*Length:
*Width:
*Wheelbase: Undisclosed
*Steering: Manual, rack and pinion

Champions

USAC Mini-Indy Series

*1977: Bagley and Johnson tied in the points and were declared co-champions.

Indy Lights

¹ Chaves and Jack Harvey ( Schmidt Peterson Motorsports were tied in points and wins (4 each). Chaves won the title based on more second-place finishes (5 vs 1).

Graduates

* Jacob Abel
* Didier André
* Jeff Andretti
* Marco Andretti
* Richard Antinucci
* Ian Ashley
* Oliver Askew
* Éric Bachelart
* Fabrizio Barbazza
* Dillon Battistini
* Ana Beatriz
* Jon Beekhuis
* Townsend Bell
* Billy Boat
* Brian Bonner
* Geoff Boss
* Claude Bourbonnais
* Matthew Brabham
* Steve Bren
* Jason Bright
* Robbie Buhl
* Buzz Calkins
* Jaime Camara
* Juan Carlos Carbonell
* Ed Carpenter
* Patrick Carpentier
* Hélio Castroneves
* Alfonso Celis Jr.
* Gabby Chaves
* Ross Cheever
* P. J. Chesson
* Max Chilton
* Zachary Claman DeMelo
* Bryan Clauson
* Wade Cunningham
* Guido Daccò
* Wally Dallenbach Jr.
* Conor Daly
* Cristiano da Matta
* Paul Dana
* Airton Daré
* James Davison
* Luis Díaz
* Mark Dismore
* Scott Dixon
* Mario Domínguez
* Fredrik Ekblom
* RC Enerson
* Wim Eyckmans
* Juan Manuel Fangio II
* Adrián Fernández
* Louis Foster
* Stan Fox
* A. J. Foyt IV
* Franck Fréon
* Luiz Garcia Jr.
* Affonso Giaffone
* Felipe Giaffone
* Phil Giebler
* Jorge Goeters
* Marco Greco
* Michael Greenfield
* Mike Groff
* Robbie Groff
* Dean Hall
* Matt Halliday
* Scott Harrington
* Jack Harvey
* Naoki Hattori
* Shigeaki Hattori
* Jack Hawksworth
* Jon Herb
* Bryan Herta
* Colton Herta
* J. R. Hildebrand
* James Hinchcliffe
* Jay Howard
* Ken Johnson
* Davy Jones
* Ed Jones
* P. J. Jones
* Niclas Jönsson
* Kyle Kaiser
* Tony Kanaan
* Sage Karam
* Dalton Kellett
* Charlie Kimball
* Kyle Kirkwood
* David Kudrave
* Rodolfo Lavín
* Eddie Lawson
* Jaques Lazier
* Matheus Leist
* Alex Lloyd
* Linus Lundqvist
* Arie Luyendyk Jr.
* David Malukas
* Pippa Mann
* Raphael Matos
* Hiro Matsushita
* Hunter McElrea
* Casey Mears
* Thiago Medeiros
* Chris Menninga
* Dr. Jack Miller
* Greg Moore
* Carlos Muñoz
* Brad Murphey
* Hideki Mutoh
* Josef Newgarden
* Hideki Noda
* Ryan Norman
* Johnny O'Connell
* Patricio O'Ward
* Benjamin Pedersen
* Franck Perera
* Spencer Pigot
* Martin Plowman
* Ted Prappas
* Graham Rahal
* Christian Rasmussen
* Greg Ray
* Tony Renna
* André Ribeiro
* Sting Ray Robb
* Billy Roe
* Mario Romancini
* Felix Rosenqvist
* Marty Roth
* Sebastián Saavedra
* Gualter Salles
* Vinicio Salmi
* Franco Scapini
* Oriol Servià
* Nolan Siegel
* Jeff Simmons
* Kyffin Simpson
* Guy Smith
* Mark Smith
* Toby Sowery
* Sammy Swindell
* Mark Taylor
* Didier Theys
* Brian Till
* Paul Tracy
* Robby Unser
* Jimmy Vasser
* Tristan Vautier
* Zach Veach
* Rinus Veekay
* Jeff Ward
* Dan Wheldon
* Stefan Wilson
* Cory Witherill

See also

* IndyCar
* Freedom 100

References

External links

*

{{Class of Auto racing

Auto racing series in Canada
Auto racing series in the United States
One-make series
Recurring sporting events established in 1986
Formula racing series
Road to Indy
Indy Pro Series