Honda’s Salters on the company’s IndyCar future

Honda Racing Corporation US president David Salters isn’t ready to say whether Honda will remain in the IndyCar Series after its supply contract reaches its end in 18 months’ time. But with its current supply deal set to expire at the conclusion of the 2026 season, the clock is ticking, and it’s not as simple as choosing whether it will stay and continue its decades-long fight with Chevrolet.

There’s also the bigger picture to consider while series owner Penske Entertainment is attempting to create a new car and engine formula that could debut as early as 2027, but also might fall to 2028. If a gap-year emerges in 2027, new agreements with Honda to continue provide its current 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 — assuming Honda would have an interest in doing so — and for 2028 and beyond with whatever IndyCar selects as new formula would need to be negotiated.

Honda could also opt to skip negotiations and leave the series where it has been a staple since 1993 and serves as the only manufacturer to continuously compete in IndyCar since its arrival.

With a major investment in the hybrid GTP formula found in IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, a growing desire to go global with the GTP program by expanding into the FIA World Endurance Championship, and planting its flag in NASCAR’s Cup series — which is a possible destination for the American arm of the Japanese auto manufacturer — there’s no shortage of places to race outside of IndyCar that require significant expenditures from HRC.

In a conversation at the recent two-day IndyCar test at Sebring, Salters provided RACER with his thought process on the stay-or-go topic.

MARSHALL PRUETT: It’s a touchy subject, but it’s also the elephant in IndyCar’s room. I know this isn’t the place or format to break major news, but what can you tell me on the process side of coming to a decision?

DAVID SALTERS: Good question. It’s important to make clear that there’s some very important parties in this, and in my view, the fans of Honda, and our Honda customers are number one. So to explain to the fans, what is the process?

We’re very privileged to do what we do. IndyCar is amazing. The Indy 500 is like nothing else. You go and stand there with 300,000 people, and hats off to IndyCar for having 300,000 people there, because that place is like nowhere else. I’ve been privileged to do lots of things. Go stand somewhere near the star finish line, see all the amazing ceremony, jets flying overhead, national anthem played. Very emotional. And then for our fans to watch that…it is why we do it. And then we do it to develop our people and technology.

So we love IndyCar racing, with the lovely Indy 500, which we’ve been doing for 30 years. But how do we decide what we’re doing in the future? We have to balance a number of things. Effectively, Honda Racing Corporation is its own company. It looks at short- and long-term plans, and then it has to deliver for the return on investment to make sure it works. So what happens?

We look at our plans and we try and figure out what’s going to work for Honda and Acura to do a number of things. What’s going to help develop our people and our technology best? That’s actually why Honda goes racing — people, technology. And then what’s going to show that to our fans and customers and make them proud? What’s going to promote our brand well?

And then, what can we afford? Because it’s just like running a house. I’m privileged to be the president, but I have to balance the books at the end of the week. It’s just like being at home and what can we afford? Because there’s competition for all these sort of things, many series to consider. So basically, within that formula, we constantly try and look at what is going to work for us. That’s how our business works.

As the racing guy, I would like to do everything. But just like being at home and wanting to do everything your mind can think of, there are limits. We constantly review these things, and we’re currently in that process.

All I can say is we love IndyCar racing — the teams are brilliant, we love the Indy 500, and we constantly look at where we are as these cycles come through contractually. It’s not correct for me to talk contractual stuff. That’s private business. We will review what makes sense for us, but we do love IndyCar racing.

This is a normal process. I don’t think it’s anything to get excited about. We will review where we are. We’ve been doing it for a long time, and then as that cycle comes through, we’ll try and figure out what makes sense for us. But again, bottom line is, there’s nothing quite like the Indy 500, so please, if you get the chance, go and experience it, because I stand there every year with a mixture of pride and terror.

PRUETT: Let’s talk about being on the clock with that decision. It’s one thing for HRC to have a decision to make on staying and building a new engine to comply with the next formula. But as of today, I’m unaware of an actual engine formula being in place. So from a process standpoint, I’d assume you’d need to know what you’re building and how much it’s going to cost before saying yes or no?

SALTERS: What those rules are, and how they’re formulated, is plainly the rule makers’ responsibility. So, best to ask them when something changes with significance on a car or a powertrain. To properly bring some new form of engine forward, it’s typically a 24-month period. So now is a good time to be thinking about this sort of stuff, because it depends what the motor is. It depends how much it changes.

But you can see how different series typically try and get their rule sets made a couple of years in advance to give everyone a chance to react, because then it makes it efficient and not a rush, which costs more money. More time makes it more affordable as well. The more time, the better. So my experience is typically that rule makers should try and get their rules out a couple of years before a major change, at least.

And then also try and engage different manufacturers. Get everyone around the table, speak to them. What do people want? We have one view for Honda. It may or may not be the right view, but get everybody around the table to hear from them. IMSA has done a really, really good job of that recently with GTP, haven’t they? And there’s an appetite for it.

So now’s the time to be sorting this out. But it’s the rule makers’ responsibility to try and craft a rule set that’s going to appeal to people. And they’ve got to figure out what they want. What do they want? I don’t know, but it’s got to be relevant.