IndyCar CEO Mark Miles and engine manufacturers Honda and Chevrolet are often seen as the power behind the Verizon IndyCar Series.
But Mazda and U.S. F2000 Championship Series founder Dan Andersen are playing important complementary roles.
Supported by Mazda and Cooper Tires, Andersen has almost single-handedly revived the formula car "ladder system" in America. With engines from Mazda powering every level, the "Mazda Road to Indy" gives promising young drivers the opportunity to advance from karts all the way to the Verizon IndyCar Series thanks to a unique scholarship system.
The champion driver in the USF2000 Championship receives a scholarship to advance to the Pro Mazda Championship, where a drive in Indy Lights will give that driver the opportunity to win yet another scholarship toward a ride in the IndyCar Series.
With the European scene a confusing jumble of open-wheel series competing for Formula 1 hopefuls, Andersen has helped create a logical and direct path to Indy cars in the U.S.
"As the parent of a driver, you have to decide, 'Where do I want my kid to go? What's his best choice?'" Andersen said. "With Mazda's support, we actually have a very defined ladder. There are other things you can do in America to race open-wheel, but if you're going to be a career open-wheel driver, this is it. I don't think worldwide there is anything like it."
Andersen knows from experience. A self-made man from his construction businesses, Andersen caught the racing bug 25 years ago when he attended a Skip Barber Racing School with his son, who wanted to become an open-wheel racer.
"There was no place for him to go; he was fast, I wasn't," Andersen explained. "So I started the U.S. F2000 Series in 1992."
Andersen sold the series in 2001 because he wanted to become a team owner.
"[I] started out with F2000, then added Pro Mazda, then an Indy Lights team," he said. "We ran as many as 11 drivers in a season with my teams, and I lost my shirt. It's very expensive."
Andersen got back into the promotion game in 2009 when IndyCar asked him to resurrect the F2000 series, which had essentially been run out of business. In 2012, he acquired the rights to Pro Mazda.
"Then we got talking to Mark Miles about where Indy Lights was going, and all of a sudden we're involved in that, too," Andersen said.
Indy Lights was a key part of the equation, because the series had been seriously neglected. The same spec chassis had been in use since 2002 and there was no manufacturer branding for the engine. By 2014, the series car count was under 10.
The development of an attractive new car (by Dallara, under the direction of Andersen and Tony Cotman), powered by a four-cylinder turbocharged Mazda engine, has garnered Indy Lights the most attention it has received in years and some interesting new entries. Carlin Racing, one of the dominant teams in European formula car racing, is making its initial foray into the American market and swept both races of the opening weekend of the season with rookie driver Ed Jones.
The size of this year's Lights grid is likely to double the number of cars that ran in 2014, an impressive achievement in an equipment switchover year for a development series.
"The interest in the new car is greater than I expected," said John Doonan, director of motorsports for Mazda North America. "A lot of folks wondered if Indy Lights would survive at all, and we all felt having that step in the MRTI was important, but we struggled with having a relevant power plant.
"The planets aligned and an engine that we had initially purposed for a sports car project fit in the car, and it all came together. We couldn't have scripted it any better and there is a lot of momentum."
The engine, produced by Advanced Engine Research, features a unique push-to-pass system that allows drivers to accumulate additional boost as the race progresses.
Several IndyCar Series drivers helped develop the 2015 Indy Lights car, and Andersen hopes they might make occasional cameo appearances on race weekends.
"When they do that, the fans will start paying attention, they'll see who the other drivers are and they'll recognize the names and we'll gradually start to build a fan base," Andersen said. "We'd like to do some one-offs where we are the feature, but we're not ready yet."
For IndyCar, the success of the Mazda Road to Indy is critical to developing new stars. With rare exception, the days of midget and sprint car drivers clamoring to be Indy car drivers disappeared decades ago.
The key to grooming Indy car drivers of the future is to make the road racing ladder system stronger, so young drivers on the rise can start to build a following by the time they reach the Indy Lights level.
"I wish we had fans so we could get more sponsors so we could pay more drivers to drive instead of having them have to pay," Andersen said. "The reality is somebody has to pay the teams because the teams can't attract a quarter-of-a-million-dollars sponsor to fund a driver.
"That's just the way it is and I think it's even come around that way in Midgets," he added. "I think Indy Lights can draw fans, but it's going to take years."
IndyCar and American open-wheel racing fans should be grateful that Andersen has taken on the mantle of shoring up the developmental series ladder. It's often a thankless job, and not especially lucrative.
"Why do I do it?" he mused. "I have no idea. I don't make money at it; it's a hobby. My construction businesses are what pay my salary. My company [Andersen Promotions] is a barely break-even proposition, and that's with me not taking out any money. I don't pay myself a salary. I'm doing this for free.
"My accountant keeps asking me why I do this, but I've always enjoyed the sport at this level."
Even though he plays such an important role in the Road to Indy ladder series, Andersen has no desire to get involved in Indy car racing at the top level.
"I don't know if I could handle the politics that come with IndyCar," he said. "I'm very comfortable being the promoter of a development series. I like watching the kids grow up. We have a lot of kids that came through our ladder who are doing well at higher levels of racing, and not just IndyCar.
"We're doing a job," he added. "It's fun, and it's rewarding. I like the people that I deal with, and I sympathize with the parents because I was a racing parent once.
"I'm not a good golfer, so it's a fun way to spend my living."