IndyCar reveals new race director

As race director, Novak will lead operations in Race Control at all Verizon IndyCar Series events and will work in conjunction with IndyCar’s race stewards – Arie Luyendyk, Max Papis and Dan Davis – to initiate reviews of on-track incidents, although it will remain with the panel of stewards to decide whether a penalty should be levied against a driver or team.

Novak, whose interest in motorsport began with amateur drag racing, has spent the past three years as a race director or steward for IMSA-sanctioned series.

Said Frye: "Throughout our extensive search for a race director, one name was mentioned repeatedly - and that was Kyle Novak. We have been aware of Kyle's work for the past couple of years. He's clearly impressed those he's worked with and, after meeting with him, we knew he would be a great fit for our Race Control team.

“Kyle has a great future and we couldn't be more excited to have him as part of IndyCar."

"Always been a gearhead," Novak said. "Always working on cars; muscle cars, mostly. That's how I got my feet wet, and then one thing led to another. And here I am."

Novak isn’t a novice to Indy car racing, having been operations manager and director of operations for the group promoting Champ Car races in Cleveland, Denver and Houston from 2004 to ’08. His jobs in the years that followed were as a program manager for the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Series with the SCCA, team manager for the Battery Tender Global MX-5 Cup Series now sanctioned by IndyCar; and then IMSA. There he was race director for the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge and Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge, while also serving as a race steward for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Novak added: “Jay and I hit it off immediately - it's the fresh outlook he brings that is a huge part of it (for me). Ironically enough, three people who work in INDYCAR Race Control are some of the first people I met in the industry, and that goes all the way back to 2004. Those are among the key people I'll be working with on a day-to-day basis.

"IndyCar has always been at the forefront of professional motorsports in North America, and I had the opportunity on several occasions to witness that first hand, since many IMSA races are run in conjunction with IndyCar events. I can't thank the people at IMSA enough for the opportunities I was given and for their assistance in making this a smooth transition to IndyCar.”