Pigot, Juncos live Indy 500 dream
Ricardo Juncos is one step closer to fulfilling a lifelong dream. Tuesday, he and Juncos Racing announced that 23-year-old Spencer Pigot would pilot the rookie team’s first entry in the Indianapolis 500.
The IndyCar sophomore will sit in the cockpit of Juncos’ No. 11 Chevrolet with Oceanfront Recovery serving as the primary sponsor. Juncos’ journey to the 101st running of the 500 has been an unusual one. The Argentinian came to the USA in 2002 after losing everything in the country’s economic depression. He spoke no English and found his first job in Miami as an unpaid go-kart mechanic.
“We lost our business,” Juncos told The Indianapolis Star on Tuesday. “We lost the race car. And we actually lost the last race because we crashed. The whole world changed for me then, and I couldn’t see any escape, to be honest. I didn’t panic. But the only thing I knew was what I wanted. That’s it. I came to this country with no expectations and tried to come here with an open mind. … Without knowing anybody, without any money, I didn’t know what my chances were to do anything. And, obviously, I never expected to be where we are today.”
Despite his modest beginnings in America, Juncos’ rise through the country’s racing ranks has been meteoric. He quickly latched on to Brazilian driver Christian Fittipaldi’s karting team and soon became a team manager. Not long after, he started his own karting team, and that’s when he met and hired a youngster named Pigot.
The pair began racking up wins together, including wins on the Pro Mazda circuit and the 2015 Indy Lights title.
“We grew up together in a way,” Juncos said. “I started with him when he was 9 and I was learning how to be a team owner. Today, to be joining in this Indy 500 dream together is amazing. Having him with us is more than we can ask for.”
Pigot, who has been competing in Verizon IndyCar Series road and street course races this season for Ed Carpenter Racing, said Carpenter let him know early on that the team would not field a third car for the 500. Pigot pursued other opportunities, but the deal with Juncos didn’t come together until the past couple of weeks.
This will be the second consecutive 500 for Pigot, who finished 25th last year as a rookie with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. It was his first and only oval start in IndyCar, though he did test on the Texas Motor Speedway oval earlier this season while filling in for injured teammate JR Hildebrand.
“It’s the biggest race in the world,” Pigot said. “It’s the one we all want to be in and we all want to win. It’s what you dream about as a little kid, putting your face on the Borg-Warner (Trophy). ... I don’t know if it’s destiny or fate (that I’m reunited with Juncos), but it all worked out for us, and I think once we got a sense from Ricardo that they were interested and we were obviously interested, then all of the parties involved were excited that it could happen.”
Juncos, who built a racing shop in Speedway in December and purchased the racing equipment and cars of KV Racing a couple of months later, has been running two cars in the Indy Lights Series this year. His top driver is Kyle Kaiser, who is in second — behind Colton Herta — while Nicolas Dapero is in eighth. Pigot’s addition to the 500 field officially brings the car count to 31. Juncos is expected to announce a second driver in the coming days.