Ed Carpenter’s team has been spending too much time in IndyCar’s midfield, a place where no veteran team wants to call home.
Its last era of high competitiveness ended when Josef Newgarden left after the 2016 season, and since then, amid a sprinkling of pole positions and a solitary win, Ed Carpenter Racing has hovered in that anonymous midfield void, somewhere between 12th and 15th with its best drivers across the last eight championship runs.
Financial instability has been among the greatest conspirators against ECR’s ability to achieve greater success in recent years. The oft-rumored and alleged problems of overdue sponsorship payments haven’t helped the team to keep up with the bigger and wealthier teams, the ones who use their budgetary might to push the ECRs of IndyCar out of the spotlight.
In his final year for ECR, Newgarden was fourth — evidence of its true potential – which made the eight underwhelming years that followed an ongoing source of frustration, all signs of targets being consistently missed.
If it’s taken the right way, mediocrity can be a powerful motivator, and to break free of the midfield, a sizable investment would be required. There were a few interlopers along the way who promised big and delivered small, and nothing much changed to move the team forward. That’s where the announcement of Ted Gelov as ECR’s new co-owner is such an important happening for the team. And for the NTT IndyCar Series.
Among a range of motivations, Gelov, the owner of Heartland Food Products Group, is said to have been particularly interested in Penske Entertainment’s development of a charter program that would give IndyCar’s full-time entrants commodities of value to hold, seek investment in, or sell. The charters would also guarantee each member’s participation in IndyCar races, outside of the Indianapolis 500, which inspired confidence in where the series was headed.
Gelov’s privately-owned, Indianapolis-based Heartland Food Products Group is said to generate more than a half-billion dollars in annual revenue, which will certainly benefit ECR through his investment into the team. Two of the company’s signature products in the Splenda sweetener and Java House coffee additive have already been announced as sponsors for the team’s Chevy-powered entries next season. And in Gelov, ECR welcomes a businessman with a passion for IndyCar who put in plenty of time and effort to find an ownership position in the series.
RACER understands he met with multiple teams last season and is said to have made one or more offers to either purchase or invest in teams. The fit or timing for the other IndyCar owners wasn’t right, but with ECR, everything fell into place. The rumored investment is said to be in the low eight-figure range and also comes with the funding for multiple seasons to cover the annual operating costs for both cars. A quality budget for a two-car team in 2025 would fall in the $20 million range; some spend slightly more or less in the paddock, but it’s a solid number to hit per season with the new hybrid-powered cars.
However the blend of financial outlays with buying into ECR to become co-owner and backing the cars with Heartland Food Products Group brands adds up, and it comes out to a sizable and team-changing decision.
Carpenter’s good friend Alexander Rossi, who’s been the top IndyCar free agent for months, has been mentioned as the first option for every remaining team with a solid budget and the need to hire a pro’s pro to lead a team. In light of its previous financial limitations, the Rossi-to-ECR angle has always had a monetary hurdle to clear, and as former lead driver Rinus VeeKay was informed on Friday, the decision to move on from him was for commercial reasons.