IndyCar’s officially-sanctioned ladder series, which have the express purpose of building young drivers’ skills so they can one day race in IndyCar, are undergoing a rebranding starting next season.
Instead of the ‘Road to Indy,’ the lower-level developments series will be known as the USF Pro Championships Presented by Cooper Tires from 2023.
Each of the three series will be known as USF Juniors, USF2000, and USF Pro 2000, and the latter two will continue to use IndyCar’s timing and scoring and race control setups.
Andersen Promotions is the long-time promoter of the junior series, and Motorsport Week understands that its loss of the ‘Road to Indy’ moniker is due to licensing requests from IndyCar itself.
When Roger Penske took over IndyCar in 2020, he began to take a tighter control of various aspects of the series. Now those changes have extended to the use of the series’ branding in its own ladder system.
“Although we are rebranding the Road to Indy, our goals remain the same – to develop drivers, teams and crew to advance to Indy Lights and ultimately the NTT IndyCar Series,” said Andersen Promotions owner and CEO Dan Andersen in the announcement.
“With IndyCar taking over the operation of Indy Lights this year, the Road to Indy designation really doesn’t work moving forward for all steps on the ladder.
“We are proud of our accomplishments under the Road to Indy banner and intend to further develop the full USF Pro Championships as the only real place for talented young drivers on the open-wheel path.”
Aside from the names and branding changes, not many changes are expected with the structure of the three development series.
They will continue to share most race weekends with IndyCar, and will still provide a direct path to the upper levels of the sport through established scholarships and agreements.
The Indy Lights series, which is the final step of the ladder and was taken over by IndyCar’s owner Penske Entertainment last season, is not affected by this change. Although, there have been hints that it will undergo its own rebranding this offseason as well.
