WEST ALLIS, Wis. – The line for Pato O'Ward at every IndyCar autograph session snakes around corners, blocks the entrances for other drivers and pretty much shames his rivals.
When his Arrow McLaren Racing team tries to debrief at the track, fans of the 25-year-old Mexican gather outside the team transporter and are so raucous that teammate Alexander Rossi said the meetings have to be halted.
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So when NASCAR announced this week that it would race in Mexico City in 2025, IndyCar drivers were stunned that another American series beat them to a fertile market starving to see their most popular driver.
“I think that’s a massive miss,” six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon said. “I don’t know how that happens.”
Neither does O'Ward, a Monterrey native who in five full IndyCar seasons has built a following in Mexico probably second only to Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez. And yet it is NASCAR — with Mexican driver Daniel Suarez — who will be racing next season at Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
O'Ward is the reserve F1 driver for McLaren and needs security to navigate track property. It's not that he's in danger; it's just that his 2022 trip into the stadium bowl grandstands with a GoPro camera showed how quickly the petite driver can be mobbed by adoring fans.
But he wants to race in front of them and given NASCAR's new multiyear deal in Mexico City, O'Ward isn't sure it will happen.
“They beat us to the cake,” O’Ward said. “I strongly believe that we’re not only late, but I strongly believe that there isn’t more room in Mexico City. Like, not only did they beat us there, but now that is not an option for IndyCar. You need to understand that these people save up their money to go to these events."
His fellow competitors felt for O'Ward, who has opened his own wallet with ticket promotions to get his fans to IndyCar races.
IndyCar points leader Alex Palou smacked his forehead in exaggerated shock as to how IndyCar did not get the race that went to NASCAR, which next June will hold a points-paying event outside the United States for the first time in modern history.
“It’s like, everybody is overtaking us, like left, right, left, right,” Palou said. “One-hundred percent, we should have been (in Mexico City). It doesn’t make much sense for me. But for Pato, he’s been growing, so I think we’re like five years too late, and now NASCAR overtakes us.”
O'Ward thinks IndyCar's only shot to race in Mexico now is finding an entirely new venue. The series raced in Mexico from 2001 through 2006 in Monterrey at Parque Fundidora, a circuit that needs major upgrades for any kind of big league return. The 2007 CART season finale was held in Mexico City.
Salvador de Alba, the reigning NASCAR Mexico champion who currently competes in Indy NXT, disagreed that Mexico City can't sustain three international races. He also acknowledged that there aren't any other suitable venues in the country ready for an IndyCar race.
“At the moment I think none of them. It has to be rebuilt, a racetrack,” de Alba said. “But we have a pretty good racetrack in Monterrey, which is Pato’s hometown. Guadalajara is also a big city, which is my hometown, but we don’t have a big racetrack. But I'll do whatever it takes to have IndyCar in Mexico.”
The Monterrey track would need such extensive upgrades for IndyCar that it likely would be cheaper to rebuild it from scratch, said Michel Jourdain Jr., a former NASCAR and IndyCar driver who promotes races in Mexico.
Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles said IndyCar has annual discussions about returning to Mexico, but before Roger Penske bought the series in 2020, IndyCar was offered only a deal to lease the track in Mexico City because the promoters of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course did not believe the series was a big enough attraction.
But, Miles said, “Mexico remains a market of heavy interest, and we believe there will be an amazing IndyCar race weekend there sooner rather than later.”
Later Saturday, The Associated Press reviewed a letter written by Miles in July to the operators of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez that authorized two proxies to negotiate in Mexico on behalf of IndyCar. The letter stressed that IndyCar wants to be in the country and suggested the race dates of April 12, 2026; April 4, 2027; and April 2, 2028.
Miles was clear Saturday that O'Ward is a key piece of the puzzle.
“Pato is a superstar, and his popularity and talent will be critical to making this happen,” Miles said. Pato is a natural star, and his popularity is tremendous and growing. He is a marquee personality for our series and a terrific partner in our marketing and promotional efforts. We continue to invest in our drivers, and Pato absolutely continues to be a primary individual we direct resources and support to.”
O’Ward steadily has grown his following, which exploded after his second-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 in May. Had he not lost to Josef Newgarden on the final lap, O’Ward would have been the first Mexican to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” and an instant legend in his country.
But he argues the push to get IndyCar back to Mexico should have begun in 2021 when he earned his first career victory and was deep in the title hunt throughout the entire season.
“That was the year for talks to have already started, or at least been commencing,” O’Ward said. “OK, maybe you can’t get it done for 2022, but it should have been a very hard push for it to be done by 2023 and at the latest 2024. Obviously, if I had all the money in the world, it would have already been part of the calendar.”
Miles said O'Ward isn't involved, and probably not even aware, of conversations that have occurred regarding racing in Mexico. O'Ward very much wants to be in the discussions and said he'd fund a race in Mexico himself if he had the cash.
“I don’t have the capital to risk $5, $6, $7 million to put up a race. And I don’t promote the race," he said.
And he acknowledged not being privy to all the details but believes IndyCar badly missed out on a massive growth opportunity for both the series and O'Ward.
"Just as an outsider looking in, obviously, there wasn’t enough pressure from the series in order to get it done,” O’Ward said.
Miles said IndyCar is in international discussions to hold exhibitions outside of the regular season and that a backer of Marcus Ericsson is interested in holding a demonstration in Sweden featuring the series' Scandinavian drivers. IndyCar has three drivers in the field from Sweden and two from Denmark.
But if IndyCar ever went to Mexico, Miles said, it would be a championship race and not part of any offseason exhibitions. O'Ward believes that's the right way to go, even if exhibitions in Australia and Japan also would likely draw large turnouts.
“To me, Latin America should be the focus of where we go,” O’Ward sad. “But I think the way they (IndyCar leadership) do things is not with urgency. At some point, I get it. If you’re impatient, you could end up being too antsy getting to where you want to go.
"But the series has moved way too slowly. That’s the reality. You’d at least want to see we’re getting somewhere, but as an outsider looking in, it seems like a no-brainer that we’re already three years late.”
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This story has been corrected to show that Roger Penske bought IndyCar in 2020, not 2002.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing