As the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner and 2014 IndyCar Series champion, Will Power has been the driver whose career fellow Australians wish to emulate.
A pair of Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires hopefuls are looking to do just that. Cameron Shields hails from the same town as Power. Hunter McElrea, a transplanted Californian, has already turned heads by winning a shootout over 18 competitors that guaranteed him a ride this season in the first rung of the three-tiered development ladder, the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship.
Shields (shown above), 18, is – like Power – a native of Toowoomba, Queensland, some 110 miles from Surfers Paradise, where Indy cars held successful races from 1991-2008. Shields holds up Power as an example of what could be.
“To see that another boy from a small town like Toowoomba has made it all this way and just recently winning the Indy 500 as well is absolutely incredible and really inspiring for myself,” Shields said. “I know I can make it if I work as hard as he did.”
Shields began racing on two wheels in motocross before moving to go-karts. He was the 2018 Australian Formula 3 runner-up, winning seven races. He also finished fourth in the F4 Australian Championship and raced Formula Fords.
During this offseason, Shields has tested both an Indy Pro 2000 presented by Cooper Tires (formerly Pro Mazda) car with Juncos Racing at the Chris Griffis Memorial Test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September and a USF-17 entry for Cape Motorsports at Homestead-Miami Speedway in December, where he set the second-fastest lap of the open test. He hasn’t signed a deal for 2019 yet but is hopeful of one soon.
“When I was in a go-kart, I never thought of driving a car,” he said. “But things change as they do, so as I got further through, now I’m looking at options at becoming a professional driver and staying in open-wheelers at this stage as well.”
McElrea, meanwhile, knows how important first impressions are. The 19-year-old won the Mazda $200K Scholarship Shootout in December to secure a USF2000 ride this season, but, like Shields, has yet to ink a deal with a team.
The son of a Porsche Carrera Cup GT3 team owner in Australia, McElrea had racing in his blood since he was young. He lives in the Gold Coast area of Queensland where the Indy car race was held.
McElrea won the 2018 Australian Formula Ford championship with 13 wins in 21 races. He’s already sampled a USF2000 car twice for Pabst Racing, recording the best lap at both the Griffis test in Indy in September and at the Homestead test in December.
“These cars are so cool, so different from what I’m used to,” said McElrea.
“I’ve always wanted to come to America and race (in) INDYCAR,” he added. “To win the Indianapolis 500 and become INDYCAR champion would be my ultimate goal, so guys like Will Power, Scott Dixon (that) I always looked up to, guys who have done that and for sure I would love to repeat that.”
Both Shields and McElrea recall attending the Indy car races at Surfers Paradise when they were very young. Like many fans, they remain hopeful that recent discussions between INDYCAR executives and the Queensland government could lead to a deal for the series to return Down Under.
Shields credits the event for giving him the motorsports bug.
“I did go down to the Gold Coast and watch the Indy there,” he said. “Seeing (Power) put it on pole there for the years I went (2006 and ’07), that was incredible. Unfortunately, his luck didn’t follow throughout the races, but that was really good and that’s where it started.”
McElrea didn’t remember many details from when he went to the Surfers race as a youngster, but he’d like to collect more memories in the future.
“I vaguely remember how cool and loud (the cars) were and how many people were there and how much the city changed when it was there,” he said. “I was quite young, but it was cool memories. It’d be awesome for them to be back there, for sure.”