Winning the Indy 500 could take famous racer Pato O’Ward to the top of IndyCar on and off the track

INDIANAPOLIS – Pato O’Ward was supposed to be in front of his hotel at 8:15 a.m. on the first day he’d set up his car on the track for the Indianapolis 500 practice. He texted that he was 15 minutes late, but would try to make time on the road.

Of course, he did because O’Ward didn’t want to drive lazily through downtown Indianapolis. He pulled up in a custom McLaren GTmatte black with the number 5 on it, and he’s flashing the peace sign.

“Hello, ma’am,” the young IndyCar driver said cheerfully, noting that he had cut the commute by nine minutes. And then he randomly drove onto the Indianapolis Auto Speedway with the Associated Press on his way to work.

The car is only a lender — Arrow McLaren have all four of their drivers race on Sunday by tooling around town in branded McLarens – and the carpooling has suggested a far-fetched story of why O’Ward became such a sensation for the IndyCar Series and his team.

He’s so miserable at the beginning of last season, when he wanted a place in Formula 1 and he felt his contract was not commensurate with his value. Thinking too much about it all ruined his performance. So he decided to focus on his work with McLaren.

Sure enough, he got a new contract and O’Ward included a McLaren 720 in the deal.

When he new car to Indianapolis, he could tell it wasn’t true – even before it was discovered. The delivery driver thought he was crazy, so O’Ward started pulling the visor off and it was clear it wasn’t the right blue. (McLaren is specifically about the shade. )

“And I said, ‘Dude, this isn’t my car,’ and he told me he does this every day, and there’s no way it’s not the right car, and I said ‘ It’s not even a Right color!'” O’Ward recall. Wrong model, too.

So O’Ward came face to face with his boss, McLaren Team head Zak Brown, who was laughing like crazy. He mistakenly wrapped the car and shipped it to O’Ward as a joke. Just to get the reaction he got.

The relationship between the team boss and his many drivers — McLaren competes in Formula 1, IndyCar, Formula E, Extreme E and esports — resonates for the entire organization. Arrow McLaren is a fun team, with an elaborate and youthful social media presence, the best in IndyCar, and a spark plug at O’Ward.

He could have three wins this season, but instead has three second-place finishes. It’s annoying, but he’s just six points behind series leader and Indy 500 extreme winner Alex Palou. O’Ward finished second at Indy a year ago, and he starts Thursday this Sunday.

O’Ward is so focused that earlier this year he decided to stay single. He feels a relationship can be a distraction “and I don’t want to leave anything on the table. The goal is to win the championship.”

Alexander Rossi joined Arrow McLaren this year from Andretti Autosport, where his final season was marred by disagreement. It was clear to him that O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist had a close relationship at McLaren, but Rossi didn’t know what to do with the excitable Mexican.

“He’s not crazy. He was very funny,” Rossi said. “He is better at analyzing than what people give him. And he is a complete racer. He’s not a kid who gets involved and gets nasty quickly and that’s it. He knows what’s going on.”

O’Ward finished fourth and third in his first two years with McLaren. He finished seventh by a distance last year, but defending champion Will Power has seen a change in the way O’Ward races since the middle of last season.

“He is in control of himself in races more when it comes to tires (degradation) and fuel economy,” said Power. “He’s definitely taking an approach to trying to win the championship.”

O’Ward admitted as much as he drove to the freeway, in-depth discussions with the AP about his views on an incident on the track with six-time champion Scott Dixon last month. Dixon, 42, vehemently believes O’Ward was too aggressive, but O’Ward is unrepentant and refuses to apologize.

O’Ward was confused by the whole argument.

“The guy has been doing this for a long, long time,” said O’Ward. “I don’t know why he’s so childish.”

That confidence is what has made O’Ward one of IndyCar’s growing stars, and the numbers show it. His jersey sales topped IndyCar, nearly 35% higher than the next driver. His Collective Merchandise Service delivers the highest revenue of any retail driver line.

O’Ward also has his own line of products, and his boutique is thriving. For the April race at Texas Motor Speedway, O’Ward purchased three suites and gave away tickets to any fan who purchased an item from his merchandise store. He filled the suites as well as the seats overflowing the stands.

Yes, many of his fans are Mexican. O’Ward is from Monterrey but was primarily raised in San Antonio. Texas is still home, but he spends most of his free time in Monterrey or Punta Mita, where he’s celebrating his 24th birthday this month.

“People say, ‘Oh, you’re lucky, you’re Mexican. You have a lot of fans.’ And it was like ha-ha, funny,” said O’Ward. “No, man, I do this. I work to attract fans to the track. I’m doing another giveaway and buying 100 tickets to the Indy 500. I might lose money, but I’m trying to connect with my fans and try to grow the audience.”

He has accepted that IndyCar is his home — listing for a seat in F1 has been growing for a long time and he’s just a name on it – and he’s delighted. Like his peers, he sees IndyCar as the most competitive racing series in the world, and he’s always at the top of his game.

O’Ward also loves where he works, and the relationship he’s built with Brown is part of what motivates him to focus on winning the IndyCar title. Recently, he noticed that Brown had bought a new watch – a rather expensive Richard Mille, model by Rafael Nadal.

O’Ward wanted it, so he made a deal with the boss: Win the Indy 500, and I’ll get the watch.

Brown said absolutely.

“But now I’m cheering for one of my other cars to win,” Brown said. “I like my watch.”