NTT just might be the biggest company you’ve never heard of.
The Japan-based company has a huge technological footprint, and its interest in the IndyCar Series will be used as a platform to showcase the series, NTT’s technology and connect even more businesses together with NTT.
“It’s going to be a great title sponsor for us,” driver Tony Kanaan said. “Technology-wise, they are huge. They spent $4 billion a year on research and development. They are developing a new app for IndyCar. I think they are going to be a great partner here. They are huge. In Japan, they have so many businesses, I can’t even recall all of them.
“Jay Frye (IndyCar president) and Mark Miles (IndyCar CEO) did a great job turning the situation around. They were able to put a big deal like this together in four months.”
Kanaan drove the NTT Data-sponsored car when he was at Chip Ganassi Racing and continues to have a personal services contract with NTT. One of the research-and-development items was tested by Kanaan. It was a “Hitoe” shirt that Kanaan wore under his suit that gave detailed data about Kanaan’s body including body heat, muscle strain, heart rate, dehydration and other biological information during a race.
The NTT IndyCar Series will provide both the sponsor and the series another platform to make even more advances in technology.
“When they develop something in terms of a technology application for the IndyCar Series, they will be proud of that and brag about that, and we will be a case study to show what they can do,” Miles told Autoweek. “It helps propel our name around the world in important places.
“Think about if AT&T and Verizon merged — you still wouldn’t have a company the size of NTT. It’s a giant conglomerate that is Japanese-based and a household name that operates a number of companies in Japan and around the world. They have 80 percent of the global Fortune 500 companies as customers. They are in and out of critical business stores all over the world all the time.”
Five-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon had previously driven the NTT paint scheme at the end of the 2017 season before switching over to PNC Bank. He was recently featured in an NTT Data visor for an NBC commercial promoting its Indianapolis 500 coverage during recent NFL playoff games.
“When I saw that ad for the first time, I thought that was a pretty good sign,” Dixon told Autoweek. “NTT is a lot of things, mostly technology and security. They work mostly with corporate companies. They are going through a global change now with what is what of the biggest companies in the world. NTT brings us a lot of things.
“With the sponsorship we are getting from Speedway as the official fuel of IndyCar and now with NTT, we are doing a great job during a difficult economic time for sponsorship.”
Art St. Cyr is Honda Performance Development president and gave plaudits to IndyCar’s leadership group led by Miles and Frye.
“They have a very good plan,” St. Cyr told Autoweek. “They are executing a plan and it is all heading in a very good direction. It’s never bad to have continuity and with the leadership we have in place, everything is pointing up for us in the IndyCar Series.”
Current team owner Bobby Rahal is a former three-time CART champion and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner as a driver. He believes the plans that Miles and Frye have has already paid a major benefit to the teams in the series.
“Mark Miles doesn’t need to know the size of the wheel nuts on an IndyCar; he needs to know how to market and merchandise a professional sport, and he knew that,” Rahal told Autoweek. “It’s a plus that he didn’t know that much about racing because he wasn’t clouded by the history of the sport that often got in the way of making decisions. And then Jay came in and knew the sport and that was a plus.
“NTT is an international company of such scope, size and reputation. This is huge for us as a series because it gives us even more credibility. This company is careful about their investments. When we tell our sponsors we have NTT as a sponsor, they recognize this is the big leagues.
“Not only is NTT going to be good for the series, it’s going to be huge for the teams, too.”
Team owner Chip Ganassi will continue to have NTT Data as the sponsor of the No. 10 Honda, that this year will be driven by Felix Rosenqvist.
“It’s a great time to be involved in the sport,” Ganassi told Autoweek. “When NTT is entertaining their customers at racetracks, they turn good relationships into great relationships after a day at the track. A lot of these people are amazed at how close you are to the action and how close you get to the athletes. Our drivers are used to working with these companies and interacting, and this is going to help.
“I hope our cars on in the promos because I hope our cars will be in the front.”
The deal with NTT all began with a phone call to Frye from Chip Ganassi Racing President Doug Duchardt last September.
“Doug called and said NTT wanted to get more involved in IndyCar and we should call David Croxville (NTT Chief Financial Officer) and we did,” Frye told Autoweek. “Then NTT got involved and we are really pleased this all worked out.”
The agreement was reached when Miles, Frye, IndyCar Chief of Staff Mark Sibla and 101st Indianapolis 500 winning driver Takuma Sato met with NTT officials in Japan at the end of November.
The deal was officially announced January 15 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
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