The Indianapolis Star

Secret tutor helped McLaughlin clinch the pole for Indy 500

‘A good driver’ provides lessons on intensity IMS reveals 2024 Indy 500 pace car driver

- Scott Horner

Motor Sports Insider

INDIANAPOL­IS – Indianapol­is 500 polesitter Scott McLaughlin has a secret – or rather, a secret weapon – and it may just have the fourth-year IndyCar driver primed to chug some milk, kiss some bricks and race himself into immortalit­y.

From Tuesday’s driver bullpen to his team’s Fast Friday presser, his TV hit immediatel­y after he hopped out of his No. 3 Chevy with NBC and in a solo sit-down with IndyStar two hours later – the Team Penske driver had been dropping hints.

“I’ve tried to lean on people I won’t disclose…”

“There’s one person I know that’s watching this who’s helped me all week. You know who you are, brother. Thank you so much for your help.”

“He’s taught me…”

It’s an ex-driver – “A good driver,” McLaughlin interjecte­d Friday – but he’s chosen to reveal nothing else, out of respect for the driver’s privacy.

“It’s told me that what I was doing and thinking wasn’t too far off. This is about your intensity level and controllin­g that,” McLaughlin said about the lessons learned over the last 12 months. “When I get in the car, I want to get the best possible outcome, but Indy is such a long month. You have to look after your car – after your baby – and I think he’s taught me that.

Baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. will lead the 33-car field to the green flag as pace car driver for the 108th Indianapol­is 500.

Griffey has been to Indianapol­is Motor Speedway as a photograph­er and is eager to return.

“Driving the pace car and leading the field to start the Indy 500 is one of the coolest experience­s,” Griffey Jr. said in a news release. “I came to the track a few years ago as a photograph­er and look forward to seeing the race from a different perspectiv­e.”

Griffey, 54, hit 630 career home runs and earned 10 Gold Gloves as an outfielder while playing for the Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016.

Griffey will drive the hybrid Corvette E-Ray, a 6.2-liter V-8 that comes with

GRACE HOLLARS/INDYSTAR

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