IndyCar opens with bright new stars and big expectations

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The stars of IndyCar crowded into Indianapolis Motor Speedway to celebrate an upcoming season of opportunity for America's open-wheel racing series to further cement its legitimacy and expand its popularity.

The party to mark the 100-day countdown to the Indianapolis 500 went off course amid word Michael Andretti was again trying to acquire a Formula One team. Mario Andretti, the 1978 F1 world champion, wrote that Andretti Global had applied for an expansion team to launch in 2024 — news so very indicative of IndyCar's pecular dilemma.

IndyCar has weathered the pandemic under Roger Penske, who had the misfortune of purchasing the series and IMS about two months before the global shutdown. Despite the challenges, Penske enters his third season at the top with all critical metrics trending upward.

IndyCar's growth can be attributed to a crop of young stars — a Dutch driver, a Mexican, a Spaniard and 21-year-old Colton Herta of California

— who won races and new fans. IndyCar's growth has made it a respectable and even desirable landing spot for top drivers around the globe, but the bright young lights of IndyCar's resurgence all happened to grow up dreaming of F1.

If Michael Andretti ever does get an F1 team, he is almost certain to take Herta from Andretti Autosport with him as the next American driver. Herta was a central figure in last year's failed Andretti talks to purchase Sauber, and as he prepares this Sunday to defend his St. Petersburg victory from a year ago, he's again in the headlines for the wrong series.

“It's the same as how I was with the Sauber stuff, it doesn't really make too much of a difference to me,” Herta told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “My main goal this year is IndyCar and that's what I'm focused on. If something were to happen with Formula One, I'd have to take a good look at it. But when I'm contracted to drive something, that what I put 95 percent of my energy into.”

Pato O'Ward, a 22-yearold Mexican, races for McLaren in IndyCar and seems to already have one foot out the door.