IndyCar is the trade name of an American-based open-wheel auto racing sanctioning body. 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, as the trade name of racing operations of Indy Racing League LLC.

IndyCar is owned by Hulman and Co., which also owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway complex and the Clabber Girl brand.

The IndyCar Series is the name adopted in 2003 for the premier series sanctioned by IndyCar. The series was known as the Indy Racing League until the beginning of the 2003 season. 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.

Emerson Fittipaldi (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈɛmeɾsõw fitʃiˈpawdʒi]; born December 12, 1946 in São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian automobile racing driver who throughout a long and successful career won the Indianapolis 500 twice and championships in both Formula One and CART.

Emerson Fittipaldi is the youngest son of prominent Brazilian motorsports journalist and radio commentator Wilson Fittipaldi Sr and his wife Józefa "Juzy" Wojciechowska, a immigrant from Poland of Polish and Russian descent. He was named after American author and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Both his parents had raced production cars shortly after the Second World War and Wilson Sr was also responsible for the first Mil Milhas race in 1956, in São Paulo, having been inspired by the 1949 Italian Mille Miglia. Emerson became a motorsports enthusiast at an early age.

Emerson Fittipaldi is the younger brother of former Formula One driver and team owner Wilson Fittipaldi. He is the uncle of former CART, Formula One and NASCAR driver Christian Fittipaldi. He was married to Maria Helena from 1970 to 1982. They had three children together, Juliana, Jayson and Tatiana. He was married again, to Teresa, in the mid-1980s. They have one daughter, Joana, and a son, Luca. Now, he has another son, Emerson Fanucchi Fittipaldi, born on March 6, 2007, with his new wife, Rossana Fanucchi Fittipaldi.

Simona de Silvestro (born September 1, 1988) is a Swiss race car driver from Thun, Switzerland. She is currently competing for HVM Racing in the IZOD IndyCar Series. One nickname which has been applied to her is "The Iron Maiden".

She raced for Newman Wachs Racing's Nuclear Clean Air Energy/Entergy team in the Atlantic Championship in 2008 and for Team Stargate Worlds in 2009. She won the Atlantic race at the 2008 Long Beach Grand Prix, making her the second woman to win in that series and providing NWR with its first win. She won four times during the 2009 season and led in points for most of the season. She ultimately finished third in the standings after retiring on the first lap during the season finale at Laguna Seca.

de Silvestro participated in an IRL IndyCar Series test on December 8 and 9, 2009 at Sebring International Raceway, a joint effort between HVM Racing and Team Stargate Worlds. de Silvestro competed full–time in the IRL IndyCar Series for HVM Racing for the 2010 season. On May 22, 2010, she qualified in the 22nd position for the 2010 Indianapolis 500. She finished the race in 14th position, and earned Rookie of the Year honors. She suffered a burned right hand after a fiery crash at the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 5, 2010. HVM Racing strongly criticized IZOD IndyCar Series safety officials for their response to that accident.

William "Billy" Leonard Boat (born February 2, 1966 in Phoenix, Arizona) is a former American open wheel driver who raced in the Indy Racing League.

Boat is a graduate of Arizona State University. He began his career in USAC where he won 11 straight Western Series races on his way to the 1995 championship. He won the Turkey Night Grand Prix midget car race in 1995. He was a three-peat winner in the event after winning in 1996 and 1997. He made his first IRL start in 1997 Indianapolis 500 driving for A.J. Foyt Enterprises. In 1998 he won 6 poles, including 5 in a row, both league records, and won his first race at Texas Motor Speedway. It was his only IRL victory. He is one of the few drivers with the distinction to have started from both the pole (1998) and final 33rd (2000, 2001) starting position in the Indy 500. He has not appeared in an IRL race since the 2003 Indianapolis 500.

In 1986 he founded Billy Boat Performance Exhaust, a company that makes performance exhaust systems for luxury and high performance cars, light trucks, and high performance watercraft.

Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR (the other being Dan Gurney). He also won races in midget cars, and sprint cars. During his career, Andretti won the 1978 Formula One World Championship, four IndyCar titles (three under USAC-sanctioning, one under CART), and IROC VI. To date, he remains the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One World Championship, and, along with Juan Pablo Montoya, the only driver to have won a race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500. No American has won a Formula One race since Andretti's victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix. Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits.

Andretti had a long career in racing. He was the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978, and 1984). He was also one of only three drivers to win races on road courses, paved ovals, and dirt tracks in one season, a feat that he accomplished four times. With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to win IndyCar races in four different decades and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five.