A New Role

By Marshall Pruett - Dec 23, 2025 at 10:54 AM ET

Frye steadying RLL ship with leading ideology

Jay Frye had no idea he was about to lose his job as president of the IndyCar Series. The unceremonious call was made in early February and no reason was given for his termination during the call, which came just weeks ahead of a new season he’d spent months preparing for with the rest of his IndyCar operations team.

During the 10 years of leading the American open-wheel racing organization, Frye’s motto of “Make S*** Happen, Get S*** Done” was spoken on a daily basis within the ops team. His commitment to doing what he felt was best for the series—living the MSH/GSD ideology—took precedence over appeasing his bosses. Frye’s a hardcore competitor, and as the political tides changed in the workplace, his racing-first, paddock-first approach likely brought an end to his tenure as the commissioner of the league.

It was a cold and stinging rebuke for such a loyal character, but the former NASCAR team owner made a positive impression on many of IndyCar’s team owners while leading the series. It’s here where Bobby Rahal, whose Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing outfit was losing ground to its IndyCar rivals, saw great value in the free agent.

Years of ineffective leadership and errant decision making within RLL’s IndyCar program turned the team into a backsliding mess by 2023 that struggled to qualify for the Indianapolis 500—a race it had won in 2004 and 2020—and lost Christian Lundgaard, its brightest young talent in ages. The Dane, having grown tired of the team’s hit-or-miss output, held on for three seasons but departed at the end of 2024 for the front-running possibilities offered by Arrow McLaren.

If there was an IndyCar squad more than any other that needed a new leader to come in and MSH/GSD, it was RLL, which hired Frye in April, one month after the season started. All of the deals for 2025 were done long before Frye arrived; major alterations would have to wait until the offseason.

Without Lundgaard who rose as high as eighth in the championship for the team, RLL plumbed new depths as veteran Graham Rahal, talented but inexperienced Indy NXT champion Louis Foster, and young journeyman Devlin DeFrancesco combined to finish 19th (Rahal), 23rd (Foster), and 26th (DeFrancesco) in the 27-car field. Promise was shown on road and street courses, but on most occasions, a strong qualifying performance or encouraging run during whichever race went unrealized at the checkered flag.

Thanks to his in-season arrival, Frye was afforded the time by RLL’s owners to watch how it went racing and scribble observations into his ever-present notebook: Too much talent resided within the team and too much money was being spent for RLL to be such an afterthought.

In some areas, fixing the problems needed the precision of a scalpel while others deserved a sledgehammer’s swing. RLL was also in dire need of a culture shift. A priority was placed on rooting out malaise and negativity as the new MSH/GSD boss preached a fresh and open-minded belief that RLL best days were waiting to be discovered.

It’s a process Frye had gone through more than once before landing at IndyCar where he’d run small NASCAR teams, big NASCAR teams, done sponsorship and driver deals that ranged from modest to monumental, and built impressive things with committed tribes. Even as IndyCar’s president, a title that conjures images of power and self-importance, Frye downplayed the notion and to referred to himself as a ‘team guy,’ a person who cared little for the spotlight and preferred to be in the proverbial trenches with his teammates.

The former Missouri State college football player grew up playing organized sports and spent most of his early life in locker rooms, part of a collective with fellow athletes chasing the same victories. Frye’s ‘team guy’ approach was born there and carried forward to become his core in racing--an asset while improving his NASCAR teams.

It was also viewed as an invaluable attribute by Rahal, David Letterman, and Mike Lanigan, who needed someone to take control of RLL, identify its weaknesses, and construct a spirited plan with motivated players who wanted to dig their way out of the yearslong dive.

“Jay gets shit done, makes shit happen. That's not a saying. That is a philosophy,” Bobby Rahal told RACER. “And I just have to tell you, I've been so pleased. I mean, this guy doesn't sit around. He's very proactive, and he doesn't wait for anything or anyone. He just knows what he wants to do and just starts to get it done. And the energy that he brings to the organization is much needed in the direction, the example, and all the things you can say about a leader. There's no doubt in my mind that Jay Frye is a hell of a leader and it's been great to watch it, to trust it.”