Hunter McElrea’s recent victory in the Mazda Road to Indy Shootout is an enormous story.
Born in California to Kiwi parents who live on the Gold Coast in Australia, Hunter may be a child of the world but he’s also a great tale of young talent representing this corner of it.
In winning the Australian Formula Ford Championship, Hunter gained an entry ticket into the Road to Indy Shootout. In winning that, he gained a US$200,000 scholarship into the USF2000 category, the bottom rung on the pathway to the IndyCar Series.
The best thing is, if he wins that the next step to Formula Pro 2000 (ProMazda) it’s funded.
Win that, it’s an IndyLights seat on your table and if you win that series, IndyCar pays for you to contest the Indianapolis 500 and three other races in the top US open-wheel series – and one of the fastest growing in the world at the moment.
It looks easier on paper, of course, than it really will be given the depth of competition currently in the system but it’s certainly one small step for the lanky lad with a great racing heritage.
Hunter’s story mirrors that of Jaxon Evans, another Gold Coast based Kiwi driver who used the local scene as a proving ground before winning a scholarship shootout, this time in Europe, to progress his career towards an international trajectory.
Evans’ will tackle the Porsche Supercup next year and the well-documented recent stories of Matt Campbell and Earl Bamber are proof of purchase of what can happen if you’re successful there.
It’s an amazing story that in the same year McElrea and Evans should both make the biggest leaps in their respective careers, by means of winning an intense shootout competition.
Those with a familiar nod to the respective history of both will know that they grew up together – family ties between both going back several generations.
That they should both achieve so much in the same short timescale is the stuff feature films are made of. Perhaps, should Jaxon go on to be a Le Mans winner and Hunter an Indy 500 champion, they will do just that and in that case, I’ll claim exclusive rights to it now.
There is, of course, a chance that both drivers would have progressed their careers without success in the respective prize-winning competitions they took part in. Both are obviously talented, affable drivers who have galvanised a supporter group with the means to take them at least some of the way up.
But it’s hard to argue how immense a boost winning the Road to Indy and Porsche Shootouts are.
Building that tangible ladder system where there’s actually a carrot at the end of the hard-work stick is something that we still seem to struggle with in this part of the world.
The strength of Porsche Carrera Cup and GT3 Cup Australia, especially with young drivers, show that there’s enormous value in having such a prize on offer if someone is willing to back it.
The same can be said for the local Formula Ford class, which continues to remain strong despite being shunned, for the most part, from mainstream events after a change in strategic direction by the governing body. Surely, the Road to Indy incentive for the champion has played a role.
Investing in your talent is critical, now more so than ever, in running a successful series; especially one geared to young drivers.
It’s always baffled that Supercars, for all their commercial strength and potential, has never guaranteed the winner of the Super 2 series a drive in the main game the following year – at the very least, a funded wildcard round or an enduro seat would be a worthy step.
Another alternative would be underwriting the entry or tyre costs of a title-winning Super2 entry that steps up into the main game the following year: Todd Hazelwood the perfect example.
At least it would show, in the same way IndyCar does for the Indy Lights champion, that you’re backing your next group of driving of talent and giving them a chance.
In return they become a walking, talking, racing billboard for the development category below the top step – in turn, bringing people in to it.
It’s not a criticism and in the end it’s dictated by the commercial means around it: Porsche can afford to tip in to a young driver for a season of Supercup whereas a privately-owned championship in a small market is unlikely to be able to compete with that.
But Porsche has also proved that there’s return on investment, too. The ‘Matt Campbell’ scenario has seen an influx of young talent come into the two tiers of Porsche racing in Australia in recent years; ensuring grids are full of entry-fee paying and spare-parts buying customers.
Finally, it’s ironic that Toyota – a brand that has never seriously considered investing in Australia’s top tier of motorsport – is the best in the region for backing their young drivers: opportunities to test Toyota Racing Series cars are abundant and the prizemoney on offer in the 86 Series is significant.
How good would it be if our domestic series’ offered more of a progression between each other (and from one side of the Tasman to another, as well) so there are more chances for us to see great stories like those being written by Hunter McElrea and Jaxon Evans this year.
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