When IndyCar approached the Dallas Cowboys about potentially hosting a street course race in Texas, Jerry Jones saw that Roger Penske was involved and had no hesitation in striking a deal.
The trust between the two businessmen goes back to Penske's successful effort to convince the NFL to hold the 2006 Super Bowl in Detroit. Penske was chairman of the host committee for a game that stood as proof the NFL could host its biggest event in cold-weather cities — a test run that helped Cowboys owner Jones and Dallas land the Super Bowl in 2011.
“Bottom line is that Roger has really been a model for me in terms of how he has taken competitive racing and nailed that into an economic scenario that works,” Jones told The Associated Press. “He is my sports man. He changed that mentality of needing (the NFL) to go where you can have sunshine and the ocean. He changed that concept and was very effective.”
The two have teamed again, along with the Texas Rangers, on a new street race that will be added to IndyCar's 2026 calendar. The IndyCar Arlington Grand Prix will run on a 2.73-mile circuit at Texas Live!, the entertainment venue adjacent to Globe Life Field and just across from AT&T Stadium.
Promotion of the event — and IndyCar — will begin immediately with Fox Sports and Sunday's NFL game between the Cowboys and the Detroit Lions. Fox Sports becomes IndyCar's new broadcast partner next season.
The course layout and other details were revealed Tuesday at a flashy event in Arlington attended by Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, members of the The Texas Rangers Six Shooters Squad, Pro Football Hall of Fame player DeMarcus Ware, a former Cowboy, and Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, a former Ranger.
Also in attendance were three-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden, who said the concept of the Arlington Grand Prix gives the series another prestigious event.
“When I was a young kid and I wanted to be a race car driver, I dreamed of winning iconic events like the Indianapolis 500. And I think the Grand Prix of Arlington will be one of those events that you want to circle that you have to win every single year,” Newgarden said. “It’s an honor for us to come race here in Arlington, to be a part of an iconic brand like the Cowboys and the Rangers.”
The Arlington sports district is just off Interstate 30, and halfway between downtown Dallas and Fort Worth, where IndyCar raced at Texas Motor Speedway from its 1997 inaugural season through 2023. Texas Motor Speedway was one of IndyCar's biggest supporters until a change in track presidency in 2021 ultimately led to the track falling off of IndyCar's schedule this season.
But the market remains very important to the series as the population of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area was listed at 8,100,037 in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Jones also noted that 1,000 of the Cowboys season-ticket holders come from Monterrey, Mexico, home of popular IndyCar driver Pato O'Ward.
“They'll all be here for this race and we’ll make sure they know about it,” Jones said.
Penske noted the Arlington circuit will be the longest street course on the IndyCar schedule and feature the longest straightaway at .9-mile. Speeds are expected to reach over 180 miles per hour on the 14-turn layout that features sweeping curves and technically challenging sectors.
The track will twice pass underneath circuit hospitality and suites, feature a double-sided pit lane and a horseshoe-style carousel in Turn 6.
And, having the Cowboys and Rangers as partners with IndyCar on the project, gives Penske the high-profile type of event he's trying to add to the schedule. The Indianapolis 500 remains the centerpiece, and the Grand Prix of Long Beach is a crown jewel, and Penske wants more of those must-be-there events.
“When you take the Cowboys and the Rangers and put them with our series, I think it gives us such credibility,” Penske told the AP. “I think we've stepped out of our shadow. Just standing here looking at these stadiums and what they have built here... it takes an anchor, it takes a tenant. Jerry has built a massive business here and I think our ability to be part of his team going forward, we're going to take this to the next level.”
And with that, Rangers public address announcer Chuck Morgan, who is known for his “It's Baseball Time in Texas” call, ended Tuesday's event by saying, “It's IndyCar race time in Texas.”
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AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins contributed to this report from Arlington, Texas.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing