IndyCar Indy Racing League , LLC is an American - based auto racing sanctioning body , adopting the trade name of INDYCAR . INDYCAR sanctions four racing series , the premier IZOD IndyCar Series ( often abbreviated ICS or IICS ) with its centerpiece Indianapolis 500 , and developmental series Firestone Indy Lights , the Star Mazda Championship and the U . S . F2000 National Championship , which are all a part of The Road To Indy . The trade name INDYCAR was officially adopted on January 1 , 2011 . Indy Racing League , LLC is owned by Hulman and Co . , which also owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway complex and the Clabber Girl brand . Sanctioned series . IZOD IndyCar Series . The League ' s premier series was named the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series in 2003 . Izod was announced as the IndyCar Series title sponsor in 2010 , a deal expected to run for at least five years . The series initially raced exclusively on oval tracks , as the series was founded partly in response to the increasing prominence of road and street courses on the CART schedule . In 2005 , the series abandoned its unofficial ovals - only stance , and added three road – street course events . By 2009 , the series had a roughly 50 / 50 split of ovals and road / street courses . By 2013 , of the scheduled 19 races , only 6 are to be on oval courses . Firestone Indy Lights . Firestone Indy Lights is the development series for the IZOD Indycar series . It originally started in 2002 , as the IRL Infiniti Pro Series coincidentally in the same year as CART ' s own Indy Lights series came to an end . Since the 2008 reunification , the Indy Lights name returned . The Indy Lights run as support races to IndyCar Series races . In the past , a round during the United States Grand Prix was also a part of the schedule , and the League has also added a stand - alone race as part of the Grand Prix de Trois - Rivieres . Star Mazda Championship . The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is an open - wheel racecar driver development series in North America . Competitors use spec Formula Mazda race cars built by Star Race Cars . The original series , using first - generation tube - frame cars started in the early 1990s , with the current , high - tech , carbon - fiber car released in 2004 . The series has historically included road courses , street courses , and ovals . The series ' primary sponsors are Mazda and Goodyear and the cars , while purpose built for the track with carbon fiber monocoques , are powered by 250 horsepower Mazda ' Renesis ' rotary engines . The series ' stated goal is " to develop new race driving talent " . In 2010 the series became a part of The Road to Indy . U . S . F2000 . USF2000 is a series the organisation started sanctioning in 2010 . Originally started in 1991 and folded in 2006 , it was restarted in 2010 as part of the " Road to Indy " ladder series . The series runs with Star Mazda at every event , though it doesn ' t run at a few races Star Mazda does . Championship point system . Like other governing bodies , IndyCar awards points based upon where a driver finishes in a race . The systems for both the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights are identical . The top three drivers are separated by ten and five points respectively " ( see this section table ) " . The fourth through tenth place finishers are separated by two points each . Eleventh through twenty - fourth are separated by one point each . All other drivers who start the race score five points . A driver who leads a lap during the race earns one point , and the driver who leads the most laps earns a second point . Except for Indianapolis and Iowa , the driver who wins the pole position earns one point . For the Indianapolis 500 , qualifying points are awarded for all 33 cars at the Indianapolis 500 . The point scale slides based on the teams that qualify for the top - nine shootout , then descending by speed and position . For the Iowa Corn Indy 250 , qualifying points are awarded for the six fastest qualifiers , which are exempt from participating in the two 50 - lap heat races , and both winner and runner - up of those races . These ten drivers advance to a 50 - lap race that determines the top ten starting positions , and the point scale slides based on the finishing position of the teams in that race . History . Indy car name . " Indy car " is sometimes used as a descriptive name for championship open - wheel auto racing in the United States . The Indy car name derived as a result of the genre ' s fundamental link to the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race ( often referred to as the " Indy 500 " ) , the best - known and most - popular auto race in North America . Beginning in 1980 , the term Indy car was often used to describe the race cars in the events sanctioned by CART , which had become the dominant governing body for open - wheel racing in the United States . The Indianapolis 500 , however , remained sanctioned by USAC . CART recognized the Indy 500 on its schedule , and awarded points for finishers in the race from 1980 – 1995 despite not sanctioning it . The two entities operated separately , but utilized the same equipment . In 1992 , the Indianapolis Motor Speedway registered the " IndyCar " trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and licensed it to CART , which renamed its championship the " IndyCar World Series " . All references to the name " CART " were decidedly prohibited , as the series sought to eliminate perceived confusion from casual fans with the term kart . During the 1996 season , the " IndyCar " mark was the subject of a fierce legal battle . Prior to the 1996 season , Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George had created his own national championship racing series , the Indy Racing League . In March 1996 , CART filed a lawsuit against the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an effort to protect their license to the " IndyCar " mark which the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had attempted to terminate . In April , the Indianapolis Motor Speedway filed a countersuit against CART to prevent them from further use of the mark . Eventually a settlement was reached in which CART agreed to give up the use of the " IndyCar " mark following the 1996 season and the IRL could not use the name before the end of the 2002 season . Following a six - year hiatus , Indy Racing League , LLC announced it would rename their premier series the IndyCar Series for the 2003 racing season . Brickyard Trademarks , Inc . , a subsidiary of Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation , is the current owner of the " IndyCar " mark and licenses that mark to the Indy Racing League for use in connection with the " IndyCar " Series . CART ( and its successor Champ Car ) races outside the United States were still permitted to use the " Indy " moniker , such as the Toronto Molson Indy and " Lexmark Indy 300 " , though the distinction is moot now , as the two series have unified . Post - unification , a heavy emphasis has been placed on deemphasizing the legal entity name and its initials and replacing it with the IndyCar name . This became official on January 1 , 2011 as Indy Racing League LLC adopted as its trade name INDYCAR ( but not its legal business name ) . All legal and official documents such as race reports , investigative documents , and broadcast disclaimers state " Indy Racing League LLC . " Some documents may also include " d / b / a INDYCAR . " Split with CART . The Indy Racing League was founded in 1994 by Tony George and began racing in 1996 . CART had sanctioned Indy car racing since 1979 , when the organization broke away from USAC . George blueprinted the IRL as a lower - cost open - wheel alternative to CART , which had become technology - driven and dominated by a few wealthy multi - car teams , much like Formula One . It initially attracted some of the smaller teams who believed in the vision presented by Tony George . The split between the IRL and the CART governing body was extremely acrimonious , and both series greatly suffered because of it . The rivalry between competing groups of fans was most active on the Internet , especially on motorsports message boards , and tended to affect any attempts at impartial views of either racing series . The most bitter point of conflict between CART and the IRL was the Indianapolis 500 , long considered the crown jewel of North America n motorsports . After the beginning of the IRL in 1996 , Tony George restricted entry of the starting 33 cars to 25 IRL cars from full - time IRL teams , with only eight other cars being permitted to start . In retaliation , CART scheduled what was supposed to become its new showcase event , the U . S . 500 , at Michigan International Speedway on the same day , but it drew far less fan interest and was discontinued after its 1999 running . Although modified in 1999 , the initial Indy 500 policy toward CART was held up as proof of George and the IRL ' s ill - intent towards CART . In 1997 , Tony George specified new technical rules for less expensive cars and " production based " engines that outlawed the CART - spec cars that had been the mainstay of the race since the late 1970s . For the next few years almost all of the CART teams and drivers did not compete in the race . While this situation allowed many American drivers to participate in an event they might otherwise have been unable to afford , the turbulent political situation and the absence of many top IndyCar drivers , big - name sponsors and faster CART - spec cars cast something of a shadow over the race . It was certainly arguable that to the average fan , the replacement of at least fairly well known foreign drivers by almost - unknown American ones was not perceived as a real gain . At its inception , the series and George himself were criticized by members of the media and some CART competitors . The IRL ' s early seasons consisted of sparse schedules , mostly unknown drivers , and inexperienced teams , even in the Indy 500 . Eventually , the schedule expanded and the caliber of drivers improved . The IRL began to draw teams from CART starting in 2000 , contributing to the latter ' s bankruptcy , re - branding as Champ Car in 2003 , and ultimate demise and absorption by the IRL in 2008 . The IRL – CART split was a primary factor in an overall loss of interest in open - wheel motor racing in North America . NASCAR has since supplanted open - wheel racing as the most popular auto racing sport in the United States , and from 1995 onward , NASCAR ' s Daytona 500 has surpassed the IRL ' s Indianapolis 500 in U . S . television ratings . The split has also hurt overall sponsorship of US open - wheel racing . In 2006 and 2007 , several top CART and IRL drivers left for the more lucrative NASCAR , including Dario Franchitti , A . J . Allmendinger , Sam Hornish , Jr . , and most recently Danica Patrick , although Franchitti returned to the IRL for the 2009 season due to a lack of sponsorship in NASCAR . In later years , the IndyCar Series has become similar to the CART series from which it separated . The winner ' s circle of IndyCar is now dominated by a few wealthy teams — including those from the old CART series , such as Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske — a strong contingent of foreign - born drivers , and has a schedule which includes nine races that are not contested on ovals . Unification with Champ Car . On January 23 , 2008 , Tony George offered Champ Car management a proposal that included free cars and engine leases to Champ Car teams willing to run the entire 2008 IndyCar Series schedule in exchange for adding Champ Car ' s dates at Long Beach , Toronto , Edmonton , and Australia to the IndyCar Series schedule , effectively reuniting American open wheel racing . The offer was initially made in November 2007 . On February 10 , 2008 , Tony George , along with IRL representatives Terry Angstadt and Brian Barnhart , plus former Honda executive Robert Clarke , traveled to Japan to discuss moving the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi . Moving that race , or postponing it , would be required in order to accommodate the Long Beach Grand Prix , which was scheduled for the same weekend . Optimism following the meeting was high . In February 2008 , Indy Racing League founder and CEO Tony George and owners of the Champ Car World Series completed an agreement to unify the sport for 2008 . The result was that the Champ Car World Series was suspended except for the Long Beach Grand Prix . Many of the former Champ Car teams moved to the IndyCar Series using equipment provided by the League . Driver safety . Driver safety has also been a major point of concern , with a number of drivers seriously injured , particularly in the early years of the series . There have been four fatal crashes in the history of the series . Compared to road racing venues , the lack of run - offs on oval tracks , coupled with higher speeds due to the long straights and banked turns , means that there is far less margin for error . Car design was attributed as a leading cause of early injuries , and the series made improvements to chassis design to address those safety concerns . Following a series of spectacular high - profile accidents in 2003 , including American racing legend Mario Andretti and former champion Kenny Bräck , as well as the death of Tony Renna in testing at Indianapolis , the IRL made additional changes to reduce speeds and increase safety . IndyCar was the first racing series to adopt the SAFER soft wall safety system , which debuted at the Indianapolis 500 and has now been installed at almost all major oval racing circuits . The SAFER system research and design was supported and funded in large part by the Hulman - George family and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway .