Latest news with #O'Ward's
Fox Sports
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Why Pato O'Ward loves the Indy 500 track that hasn't loved him back
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis 500 has broken the heart of Pato O'Ward the last few years. And yet, O'Ward's heart still loves Indianapolis Motor Speedway. O'Ward should hate this place after he was unable to pass Marcus Ericsson on the final lap three years ago and he settled for second. O'Ward should hate this place after losing the lead to Josef Newgarden and then wrecking while battling Ericsson for second with eight laps remaining in 2023. O'Ward should hate this place after Newgarden passed him for the lead on the final lap in 2024. How can O'Ward love a place that hasn't loved him back — at least in results? "I have such great memories here," O'Ward said. "And, obviously, there's also some low ones that come with it. But that's ultimately what's made the emotion for this place so much stronger. "It's just so cool, man, the way that people embrace it. It's the perfect definition of an event where the athletes, the gladiators, the drivers risk everything." The 26-year-old from Monterrey appears ready to risk everything once again as he starts on the outside of the front row for the 109th Indianapolis 500. Will 2025 end up being the year he ends his heartbreak? The Arrow McLaren driver will try to use the lessons of previous oh-so-close attempts to finally end up where he believes he belongs. He views the race he lost last year as the most painful, partly because of the great move Newgarden made and also because of the heartbreak of the previous two seasons. O'Ward believes he had a winning car each of the last two years. "It's obviously been tough to get the timing [of a final move] right, but that just makes you appreciate the opportunities that you have even more," O'Ward said. "And I know it's going to make it so special when I win my Indy 500 because I don't think you can grasp the meaning and the value of what it is to win an Indy 500 when you've just done it for your first year. ... The more you've seen it, you can really see what that magic that everyone talks about is." Notice O'Ward said "when I win" the Indy 500. He has no doubts. "I believe that I know how to place myself into an opportunity of having that shot," O'Ward said. "And I've seen myself winning it. I see myself having that chance to experience that. "That's just the competitive racing driver in me. You have to believe it before you actually accomplish it. I hope it's not a bad read." O'Ward's boss, Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan, needed 11 starts in the Indy 500 before winning in his 12th start. "Just being part of it, it's pretty remarkable," Kanaan said. "When you're part of it, you know that you have a chance to win every time you come here. It becomes special and to me, I never actually blamed the place for my misfortunes. "It's one race. You have one shot every year, and as long as you're being competitive, I think that's all you can do. That's why his love of this place is because he's fast here. He knows he can win." Some drivers such as O'Ward who have had heartbreak wouldn't talk about when they win. But O'Ward doesn't just talk about it, he already has a plan for a win Sunday when it comes to his future helmets. His helmet for the Indy 500 depicts the Aztec mythological creature Cipactli, a creature that is perpetually hungry and eats and eats and eats. It signals O'Ward's hunger for a win at Indianapolis. "I've got his eyes here [at the top] and I will wear those eyes in that position in my helmets the rest of my career if I win on Sunday," O'Ward said. One might think that a driver without a win at Indianapolis (O'Ward has seven INDYCAR wins in his career) shouldn't worry so much about a helmet. But O'Ward does have a slightly happy-go-lucky attitude in that he seems to genuinely enjoy everything Indianapolis has to offer. "Why are you doing this if you're not having fun?" O'Ward said. "I'm not saying that those guys don't have fun, but we're so privileged to be in this position and to also have a certain reach to a lot of people. And it can inspire a lot of people, and that's what I've always strived for. "We're also here to make a difference, not just with how we perform in a race car. There's so many more things that we can bring to the community. ... We're here to entertain. We're here to have fun." O'Ward knows that when he races the 200 laps, he very well might not have fun for every second. But he's certainly looking forward to the first few moments of the race. "I can't wait to get the green flag, have the best view that I've ever had starting an Indy 500," O'Ward said. "There's a lot of new excitement that I'll be able to appreciate and experience." While he knows who will be the favorites, O'Ward admits he doesn't know how the race will play out. Some of the top drivers in the sport have crashed during the last couple of weeks, as the cars appear more sketchy with an additional 100 pounds of weight at the rear of the car because of the hybrid engine that was introduced after the 500 last year. But as he enters his sixth Indianapolis 500, O'Ward knows to expect the unexpected. "Every year, I'm always amazed on just how an Indy 500 is never like the one prior to that," O'Ward said. "They're always different. All the ones I've been a part of, they've always been different. "I expect people to be taking risks. Obviously, people are going to get caught out [on strategy]. There's going to be surprises. It's just going be gnarly. ... There's been so many accidents [this month]. You can really see everybody loves this place because of the amount of risk that you're willing to take just to have that shot." If he takes the risk, shouldn't the racing gods smile down on O'ward after the way they have treated him the last few years? If the racing gods had the heart that O'Ward has for IMS, he should end up parking in the winner's circle and drinking milk on Sunday afternoon. "That's what everyone says, but to be honest, just because you did well the previous year doesn't mean you're going to do well the next year," O'Ward said. "And, for us, it's just knowing that we've had these opportunities — just not because of luck but because we've proved to be strong around here. "And it really feels like home every single year. I love coming back here. It's really cool." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. BEST OF FOX SPORTS' INDY 500 COVERAGE: Ranking Indy 500 drivers from 33 to 1: Can anyone unseat Josef Newgarden? Got milk? 33 potential Indy 500 winners pick preferred dairy option Pato O'Ward pens letter to Indy 500: 'Had my heart broken here … but it also fuels me' No oval experience, no problem: Rookie Robert Shwartzman captures Indy 500 pole Rash of Crash: Inside a wild weekend of wrecks during Indy 500 prep From 'magical' to 'legendary': Drivers describe the Indy 500 in one word 2025 Indy 500 liveries: See the designs of all 34 cars on the track at The Brickyard Counting down the 25 most memorable moments in Indy 500 history recommended Get more from NTT INDYCAR SERIES Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Indianapolis Star
23-05-2025
- Automotive
- Indianapolis Star
'Hand him over to the world': How Pato O'Ward became IndyCar's biggest star
INDIANAPOLIS — As Pato O'Ward braced for his first meet-and-greet event as an ambassador for KitKat inside a three-story shopping mall in the heart of Mexico City, the Mexican racing star, seven times a winner in IndyCar who already had participated in two prior Formula 1 weekends before his planned FP1 in his native country's Grand Prix that week, thought he might be greeted by 150 fans. They'd only given folks 24 hours notice — for a meet-and-greet with a reserve driver, kicking off a weekend where race fans would likely be attempting to catch a glimpse with F1's Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. But that Wednesday evening in Mexico City, it was O'Ward who nearly closed down a shopping mall, as 4,000 fans by his estimate flooded in, hoping to catch a glimpse of the 25-year-old who'd spent his first 11 years growing up in Monterrey, before his family moved to San Antonio as his budding racing career began to take off. As O'Ward waded through a sea of utterly crazed, but mostly polite, supporters, there were moments when he had to physically carve a path through the sea of humanity. He could be seen staring up to the second and third levels, where late-arriving supporters were five or more deep. Every so often, as the crowd chanted O'Ward's name, he'd reach up with both arms and wave to his right, then pivot and do the same to his left, as escalators screeched to an emergency halt and nearly buckled under the weight and off in the distance a piece of crystal shattered. '(Expletive) crazy,' he says now, sitting in his Meridian Hills home one April afternoon, lounging in his Ninja PO bamboo pajama set, just one piece of an expansive and ever-growing merchandise empire he launched nearly a decade ago but which has only really taken off in recent years. 'This was the first time I'd been with my brother that it genuinely hit me that he's proper famous,' O'Ward's older sister, Elba, told IndyStar while sitting in her brother's bus during IndyCar's stop in Long Beach last month. The moments most engrained in Elba's mind that Wednesday evening are the paparazzi on motorcycles, surrounding the pair's getaway car, their flashes attempting to pierce the tinted glass. 'You had people running on foot, chasing us just to get a picture, like true celebrity paparazzi,' she said. 'There were people trying to communicate with our security. 'Where should we take him?' The car couldn't hardly move at times, because there were people all around, and I remember laughing. 'Oh my gosh, I'd never experienced anything close to that. It just hit me, 'Holy moly, is this for real?'' That's not to say fame had been altogether new. Those small, organic moments — whether it be snickering, whispering teenage girls in an ice cream shop in rural Wisconsin, one of whom dropped her ice cream as IndyCar's superstar approached to say hello; or the near-hyperventilating young woman standing a couple spots behind him in line at a San Antonio coffee shop; or the waiter at an upscale Greek restaurant in midtown Manhattan — have only become more frequent, making it clear that O'Ward has begun to breakthrough into mainstream notoriety. The Arrow McLaren driver expects the crazed fans, decked out in papaya, scrambling to reach him while standing in unorganized lines at IndyCar autograph sessions, as small pockets chant his name and home country over the span of an hour to the point that it blends into the background noise of roaring engines. But it's another thing to be almost unable to move moments after leaving a restaurant during a quiet night out on a race weekend. In most moments, these are interactions O'Ward embraces. 'I enjoy giving someone the time of day, whether it's a minute, or 30 seconds. It goes a long way,' he said. 'They make you feel like Brad Pitt.' But there have been moments where stardom has become draining, where O'Ward has had to grapple with the cost of getting to pursue his dreams — and, at times, reaching them — while discovering his worth and where his joy lies, and paving an unchartered path in a sport that hasn't seen a true mainstream superstar in recent memory. And on this ride, his ultra-tight circle of trust — his mother, father, sister and a select few — has been living this emotional, at times all-consuming rollercoaster alongside him. Seeing that young boy who made P-O-branded hats and shirts when he was go-karting to give to those who lent a hand turn into the man who hypnotizes young women with his wink — and has a massive cardboard box of friendship bracelets to prove it — and who gives his sister goosebumps when he wins feels more motion picture than real life at times. '(Elba) came back (after the KitKat event), and I'm like, 'How did it go?! I was seeing Twitter!' And she started crying her eyes out,' said O'Ward's mother, whose name is also Elba. 'She's like, 'Mom, to see Pato like this…' 'It was so touching. You'd never wish this for your kid. It's not like I've always wished he had a high-stakes career, where my nerves are shattered every weekend. But it's almost like you have to hand him over to the world. 'Here is my child. These are his dreams, and this is what he's fighting for.' You don't want that, but you need to, because that's what he wants, so then it's worth everything.' Said his sister: 'It's one thing for you to freak out about your family member. I mean, we love and adore him, but to see a complete stranger that I've never seen in my life, and he's never seen in his life, and their eyes glass over, and they say, 'You motivate me. You inspire me. You change my life. I love you so much.' Just a total stranger. It changes you. 'The next day, I felt like my heart couldn't fit in my chest, I was so proud. It was so cool to see them really embrace him so much.' Pato profile: How O'Ward has fared in IndyCar, this season and beyond "Your best investment will always be yourself." Those words from O'Ward's father, Patricio, ring through the 26-year-old driver's everyday life like it's branded on his chest. Though he remains a bachelor, IndyCar's most popular driver recently purchased a large two-story brick home, tucked toward the end of a sleepy cul-de-sac in the upscale town of Meridian Hills. Guests are greeted by two stone lions on his porch next to a driveway with a basketball hoop. His backyard contains a putting green he rarely uses — but scoffs at the $15,000 he's been told it would take to rip out — and envisions putting in a life-size chessboard or racquetball court there. His roomy kitchen is his sanctuary, the base where Chef Pato might cook up a brunch for last-minute guests or a steak dinner for close friends, as his automatic grand piano that sits in his entryway providing the evening's background noise. A tasting room, tucked away past a large plush beige couch, serves as a luxurious hideaway, and his basement is equal parts entertaining space and trophy case. While some drivers might see putting down roots in Indianapolis a cost of doing business in IndyCar — and there are many who live elsewhere — the city once chided as Naptown is perhaps the perfect fit. O'Ward scoffs at the idea of any lengthy time spent in the energetic nightlife of Miami and says, 'To me, the epitome of luxury is peace and freshness. Fresh food, beautiful greenery — to me, that's the definition of the best life I can have and I find anything I want here.' If O'Ward can't be on a quiet, secluded Mexican beach, grocery runs to Whole Foods just down the road, dinners out at Anthony's for steaks, Peto's for Greek, Convivio for Italian or Verde for Mexican and afternoons enjoying the quietness of his lush, large backyard is his paradise. And this quaint little life he's built for himself in Indianapolis and that lesson from his father began to seriously take root in his first extensive IndyCar season when he remembers his first fully throated attempts to shape his brand who would become known for more than his wins, poles and fast hands. At that second race of the 2019 season in what turned into a partial campaign with Carlin, O'Ward says he purchased his first suite with an aim at reselling them to deep-pocketed fans, admirers and supporters. In his unique, colorful language, O'Ward describes that financial move in rather simple terms: 'I lost my ass on it, and I was already broke.' At the 2021 season finale in Long Beach, a race he entered holding an outside chance to clinch the title, he purchased a suite for $45,000 and lost more than $15,000. Still, he did so again at St. Pete, Texas, the Indy 500 and others in 2022 as a way for his growing fan base to get a little something extra. He gives away grandstand tickets with the purchase of a certain amount of merch on Pato Shop — he bought 300 tickets for this year's 500 for those who bought $150 in Pato apparel — or offering suite experiences where he might do a meet-and-greet or take pictures and sign autographs. Famously, he's known to have helped delivered an outsized portion of IndyCar's fanbase that attended the final few races at Texas Motor Speedway. 'I used to lose thousands of dollars on suites, and the first time I didn't was Texas in 2023. They're hit or miss, and it's all about the price point,' he said. 'I started with taking people who had been helping get my name out, so I wouldn't totally say it was a loss. If I were to see suites as a business, I definitely lost money, but it gave cache at places people already wanted to be.' 'Turn this sport upside down': Pato O'Ward featured in latest Fox IndyCar ad Even now for the 500, he says at best he comes away flat with the outsized need of having to procure suite tickets for personal sponsors who arranged for such in their deals with him. He says he never charges his family, but he's gotten to a point where friends of his need to pay at least his costs. 'My rule is always, if you want to make money, you need to risk money. To make your first $1 million, you're going to need to lose tens of thousands. To make your first $10 million, you're gonna lose $1 million, and to make your first $100 million, you're going to lose $10 million. It's not always going to be 'take, take, take, take' and it's not going to be easy,' O'Ward said. 'You have to trust that what you're doing and what you want to do, that you believe in it, and when you lose, you stay in it. 'We all want to win races and championships, but in this day and age, how you grow your brand is a lot heavier than what you actually achieve on track, and that's what's going to give you longevity. At some point, if it's all just based on what you do on track, someone's going to come around and kick your ass, and you're not gonna last very long getting your ass kicked if you haven't had the other part of your business up and rolling.' O'Ward has seemed to be on the forefront of driver-centric merch lines in IndyCar that has seen Josef Newgarden and others follow suit. Starting with the basics branded with his personalized P-O logo, followed by his pajama line and capitalizing on the late-summer "Pato Who?" drama with a series of shirts and hats, Pato Shop has taken off in recent years. It first turned a profit in 2022 and then doubled in 2023 and again in 2024. 'Pato Shop takes care of a lot of things, now,' said O'Ward, who employs a personal photographer and videographer and frequently flies on a private jet that features his own duck emblem. (Pato means "duck" in Spanish.) Once things began to pick up, O'Ward took note of his ever-growing female following, which according to his social media accounts was just 11% in 2019 and has grown to 52%. His sister asked for his help launching a women's line, which featured relatively simple, somewhat standard pieces. But this year took on an altogether different vibe — merging Elba's chic, unapologetically high-end feminine style with her brother's brand and the idea that female race fans might want to wear something more than an uber-graphic tee or a jersey to the race track to support their favorite driver. So their collab was born, featuring a three-piece lounge set and vintage racing club tee both branded with "O'Ward Racing Club," a blue striped button-down and white cardigan with O'Ward's personalized duck logo emblazoned with his No. 5 and a simpler black tank-top and white t-shirt with 5 on the chest. Run out of their parents' home, as largely the entire Pato Shop action is, nearly 1,000 pieces sold out in 24 hours with 500 orders in the first six hours. At the Long Beach race weekend, the mobile on-site Pato Shop, which O'Ward recently upgraded to a trailer after his tent was destroyed during a dust storm at The Thermal Club earlier this year, featured a restock of 600 pieces from the brother-sister collab alone, along with 500 hats and more than 200 jerseys, tracking toward 2,000 pieces of merchandise in all. 'I don't wear a lot of logos or loud stuff, and I think there's probably lots of women like me who want to look cute and also support their drivers and don't want to be in full on merch. Maybe something you could wear to the grocery store day to day,' Elba said. 'The girls came up with a term for it — silent merch — like, 'If you know, you know.' And I came up with the little duck emblem, so you can rep him, but it's done subtly. 'And that versatility appealed to people. The sport's growing with girls, and no one thought to do something for the girls, and that's what made it a good balance of everything.' O'Ward believes the number stands at six or seven: The number of Pato fanatics with the Arrow McLaren driver's signature or his P-O logo tattooed on their bodies. Through two race weekends in 2025, he'd already signed two different fans' chest. The first? A heavy-set, rather hairy Latino man while walking off pit lane at St. Pete. The other came a few weeks later in the autograph line at The Thermal Club, when a young blonde woman accidentally smeared the signature on her phone case, and then cheekily asked, 'Sign here instead?' as she yanked down her shirt. 'Pato who?' IndyCar driver Pato O'Ward puts up billboard, sells merch line But if you spent an autograph session as a fly on the wall at the team transporters, those would sound like a rather tame Friday afternoon. For O'Ward, they begin with an unspoken competition of how many hero cards he can sign as quickly as possible, largely to get ahead of the rush. In the cramped Long Beach paddock, three separate mazes of lines form, wrapping every which way like a spider's legs stretching outward from its body. Quickly, event workers find themselves perplexed on which one to honor and move fans through. An attempt at alternating only adds to the chaos, leading to one unwelcomed fan sneaking behind the stanchion in a feeble attempt to jump the line and grab a selfie. O'Ward doesn't hardly bat an eye at the annoyance and keeps on signing whatever's set in front of him, from the typical merch from the onsite IndyCar store to bedazzled denim jackets, sombreros and Stanley cups. Often times, the signature or selfie is returned with a gift of his own, ranging from friendship bracelets to hand-painted, half-naked Pato-inspired figurine. Before the evening is over, one rowdy patron will be forcibly removed by security, and another scuffle about spots in line sparks a shouting match, as a chorus of papaya-clad infants cry and chants of, 'Mexico, Mexico, viva Mexico.' and 'PATO, PATO…' ring out. Says one security guard with 10 minutes left: 'We can't put Pato in the paddock anymore. We've got to get him his own autograph session.' Two days earlier, O'Ward spent the better part of 30 minutes posing by his McLaren loaner road car for the weekend as more than 15 groups of elementary and middle school kids cycled through and posed with him for a series of group photos at the Petersen Automotive Museum. The youngest ones are giggly and can hardly stand still and focus on the camera to pose, but as they get older, the pre-teen disinterestedness vibe grows. One boy asks in passing, 'Do you have any championships?' To which O'Ward answers rather dejectedly, 'In IndyCar? No…' Earlier that morning, he'd flown from Texas to L.A. and drove up straight to the museum with bags in hand. He'd waltz on stage as a wave of whispers followed from the back of the room onto the stage, kicking off this community event sponsored by longtime team partner, Mission Foods. There, he'd answer everything from basics about this career trajectory and the physics of racing to silly questions like, "What do you like to have for lunch?" — answer: tacos — and, "What's been the scariest moment of your career?" — answer: watching my friends get hurt. His movements in a manic 90 minutes feature brief, frequent stops for a selfie here and an autographed diecast there. After a quick trip down to the museum's basement, where he lusts over a La Ferrari, it's off to a rushed pitstop lunch for sushi before an afternoon with the Los Angeles Chargers that will feature a legitimate workout that leaves his quads and hamstrings quivering, social media shoots for both teams and a segment for Sunday's race broadcast with linebacker Denzel Perryman. Pilot Pato: Go inside the cockpit as the Arrow McLaren driver learns to fly a plane After canceling taping an episode with a popular racing podcast in a studio near the ocean, O'Ward takes this journalist in a spin around the block in his McLaren 765LT for what starts off as a follow-up interview on his rise to stardom and quickly turns into a therapy session, the rather uncomfortable Senna seats O'Ward's version of a lounging couch. 'So … what are these days like for you?' And the driver whose perhaps both best and worst traits are his inability to lie takes a lengthy sigh and pauses. 'I don't like to lie. They're very draining. A lot of people, 95% of the world, thinks I'm an extrovert, but I'm actually the opposite. I'm an introvert. I don't leave my home if I don't have to. I take vacations, and my main priority there is peace and quiet,' O'Ward says, first gunning the gas before beginning to make rather aimless lefts and rights at his leisure. 'I love early nights and early mornings. I like to start my days with a workout. I eat very clean. I like to cook and spend time with the people I love and enjoy, but that circle is really small, really small. The only people that actually know me, know that. 'I love dedicating the time to kids, cause when I was a kid, and I idolized somebody, I could never imagine getting to take a picture or have a conversation with them, so I always try and take the time to do it, but we all have a battery, right? So, you're always trying to use that battery for what's important and where your priorities lie, and obviously, too, part of this job is a lot of things off track, even more than it used to be.' Weekends like Long Beach, which to him feel like the five busiest days of the Month of May jammed together, hammer that sentiment home, he said. 'I feel like everyone wants a piece of you. A lot of the brands, when we go to big markets, they're big markets for a reason, and that's where they really hammer me,' he said. 'I love things like what we just did with the Chargers, and you get to meet someone who's a pro at their job. I love that insight. 'These days, they're not so draining, but the ones that are for me, personally, and where you're signing and standing around for an hour-and-a-half and taking pictures. What makes those better is when you see somebody who's really excited; that's what makes those better. But if you asked me if I wake up and look forward to doing that? Not every day. I try and look ahead on my calendar to make sure I have some battery saved up, because I know they're going to happen. I think it's always important to show a good face, and do it with a good attitude, because it's a lot more damaging to people here when it's not done properly.' When those "off" moments come, few and far in between in what's often a non-stop schedule for large chunks of IndyCar's six-month calendar, his family fights fiercely to help O'Ward preserve them. Last offseason, Elba practically demanded he hire her as his unofficial PA, helping arrange anything from flights to dinner reservations and hotels, while also attempting to act as a go-between for just about everyone trying to get a slice of IndyCar's most popular driver, outside his team and his inner circle. When he's back home visiting his parents in Texas, O'Ward's mother often finds herself loathing the times when family friends reach out asking for favors. "Can my daughter interview Pato for her class project?" "My nephew would love a signed Pato jersey…" "Do you think my friend could come by and meet Pato, just real quick?" All the while, all his mother wants is to spend those tiny moments slaving over his laundry, cooking him food and making sure he doesn't have to lift a finger. 'If you say yes to one, what's the excuse to say no to all the rest?' Elba said. 'There's just no easy solution. 'But he's gotten better at filling his own cup. He knows that going to the beach is his escape, and he started doing that more around last year when he starts to notice his battery. He'll purposefully put it on his schedule, 'I need this time to myself,' and he's gotten better at saying no to some things. As the demands have gone up, he's doing better at saying no when he starts to feel overloaded.' Some of that insulation, he says, stems from an increased awareness in feeling like he needs to be extra vigilant in protecting this brand he's built. Staying hyper-focused either on work, family or slow days at the beach in Mexico leave little time for what one might consider to be a somewhat normal social life. O'Ward says right now, as he flirts with Formula 1, tries to break that glass ceiling on his IndyCar career and find that final edge that he hopes will led to an Indianapolis 500 victory, there can be no distractions. 'I find myself becoming more anxious because I'm not just protecting myself anymore. I'm protecting brands, and I feel like the bigger someone gets, the heavier that gets, cause there's more money involved,' he said. 'That's part of growing up and maturing. It puts an emphasis on, 'Who can you be seen with?' If you're out in public, you can't be seen doing stupid stuff or acting crazy. F1 temptation: Could IndyCar's top drivers resist? New Cadillac team could test that 'I've never had doubts of not performing, or whether I can do this or can I do that? But I definitely have my moments where I'll overthink, just like anybody, and it can wear you down, man. You have to be so careful, cause in a blink of an eye, you can lose it.' And there was a moment, a career-defining moment a year ago this week, when O'Ward seemed primed to cash in on those endless autograph sessions and selfies and early mornings and thousands of dollars he set on fire on suites. As the white flag zig-zagged through the dusk of the late-spring midwestern sky, a flash of papaya zoomed by a blip of red, white and yellow and tore around the south short chute of Indianapolis Motor Speedway ready to be showered in glory. And then, within a matter of seconds, that dream was gone. With no regard for anything but winning, Newgarden swung around the outside and pinched O'Ward's No. 5 ever so slightly coming into Turn 3. Half a lap remained, but hope was gone. And when O'Ward finally finished that largely silent cooldown lap, pulled into his pit box and undid his belts, he flopped and folded over his aero screen with emotions far deeper than disappointment and dejection. It was pain, plain and simple. For the second time in three years, he'd been forced to accept runner-up in the biggest race in the world, and for three years straight, he'd entered the final 10 laps feeling like the race was his to win. The driver who'd made a name for himself for being famously unfiltered — both the series' most popular driver, but at times its biggest and most frequent critic — again wore his emotions all up and down his fire suit. As his mother and sister sit patiently and reflect over the last year and a fandom that has entered a new stratosphere — merch lines, suite packages, Super Bowl ads, billboards and all — they both point to that moment as the epicenter of when this whole career of longing to be someone finally clicked. The hours this self-described introvert had spent wading through throngs of fans or posing for photo after photo, trying to force each smile to be more genuine than the last, or signing autographs until his fingers grew sore and his Sharpies ran dry … those moments let you meet Pato O'Ward. In his deepest, achiest pangs, the world really could see Pato O'Ward. 'It's no fun to watch the story of a hero who arrives and just wins. Why does it matter if you win, if you're always winning? Are you even human?' his mother said. 'It's just so very rare to see him really down, and actually see him kinda stand there, not immediately getting up, and just standing and absorbing that. 'I think so many people could relate to that.' Said Elba: 'There were people who'd seen and known about him, but they weren't fans. And all of a sudden, they've become a fan. He was well-known and loved by a lot of people and had his own fans, of course, but that moment, I have people come up and tell me, 'That's when I became a Pato fan.'
Time of India
09-05-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Pato O'Ward: 'Excited to jump back in car': Pato O'Ward lined up for home FP1 race with McLaren at 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix
Mexican racing driver Pato O'Ward will return to the Formula 1 grid at the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix , driving the McLaren MCL39 in Free Practice 1 . The 26-year-old full-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES competitor will take his latest stint in the F1 paddock as a part of his continued function as McLaren's reserve driver. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now This is O'Ward's second straight FP1 session at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez , providing home fans with a homegrown hero to support again. Pato O'Ward continues McLaren F1 integration with FP1 run at Mexico City Grand Prix Pato O'Ward's next appearance at the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix will not only put him behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car for longer but also solidify his role in McLaren's development plans. The team confirmed O'Ward will be taking the seat during Friday Free Practice 1 on October 24. 'I'm excited to be jumping back in the car for FP1 at my home race in Mexico this year,' he shared with 'The Mexico City fans were unbelievable last time out, and it was a great feeling being able to extract everything from the programme that the team had planned. I'm looking forward to going again this year, working with Zak [Brown, McLaren CEO], Andrea [Stella, McLaren Team Principal] and the whole team.' F1's rookie rule and McLaren's 2025 driver strategy Under existing Formula 1 rules, each team must give two Free Practice 1 sessions per year to novice drivers—drivers who have started no more than two Grands Prix. McLaren has already announced that more will be said about the remaining three FP1 sessions allocated to young drivers in 2025. O'Ward's regular attendance in these sessions makes him a good choice in case of a substitute need, and his consistent performance in the INDYCAR circuit further adds to his credentials. Also read: As Mexico City gets set to host its motorsport hero for the second time, the spotlight will be on O'Ward to produce both speed and heart for an electric home support crowd.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
'He's about to turn this sport upside down': Pato O'Ward featured in latest Fox IndyCar ad
Earlier this offseason, Pato O'Ward, IndyCar's most popular driver, finally found himself on a billboard. And now he can say he's starred in a Super Bowl commercial about to be seen by more than 100 million people. Saturday morning, Fox Sports released its 40-second ad on social media starring the 25-year-old Mexican racing phenom, the network's finale for its preseason promo campaign for IndyCar, as Fox execs attempt to drum up interest ahead of the March 2 season-opener. The ad is expected to run during Fox's broadcast of Sunday's Super Bowl -- potentially one of three such primetime, nationally-aired ads during a game that featured a record-breaking 123.4 million viewers last year. $30 million in exposure: IndyCar expects to land 3 national Super Bowl ads The ultra high-profile spotlight is new territory for the sport -- outside the Indy 500, that has drawn nearly 350,000 fans to IMS and averaged a TV audience of nearly 6 million in recent years. Since the lead-up to the 100th running of the 500 in 2016, IndyCar has purchased occasional regional ads targeting Indiana and the Midwest on Super Bowl Sunday. But Fox's campaign, which began four weeks ago spotlighting back-to-back defending 500-winner Josef Newgarden and went on to feature two-time defending series champ Alex Palou, is an attempt to take the sport to new heights and turn its drivers into superstars. Brash, bold and authentic: Inside Fox Sports' IndyCar driver promotional campaign O'Ward's commercial features witty taglines throughout, calling him the "fastest 25-year-old on four wheels" and "can't-miss TV for everyone but his own mother" as clips pan to his rookie Indy 500 practice crash. After quickly detailing his seven-win IndyCar resume, the script flips to O'Ward's tantalizing charm, with the ad's narrator noting he "looks like a one-man boy like a British doesn't have fans; he's got groupies." "So take a look at the next face of IndyCar, because whether you love him or love him, he's about to turn this whole sport upside down," the ad closes with. You can watch the full ad here: This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pato O'Ward makes Fox Sports debut in IndyCar Super Bowl ad
