One of the Western Bulldogs’ most passionate international supporters is preparing for the biggest stage of his season this weekend, with Scott McLaughlin set to tackle the world’s biggest motorsport event, the Indianapolis 500.
In front of a race day crowd of 350,000, the Bulldogs tragic will start 26thin his Team Penske Chevy, set to be staged in the early hours Monday morning, Australian time.
Such is his passion for the Dogs, he’ll tune in on Saturday morning in the US to see how the team goes against the Eagles in the west.
“I’m a hardcore Dogs man – so yes I’ll be watching and thankfully it’s a night game which makes it a little easier to get up for,” McLaughlin said.
The triple Supercars Champion and 2019 Bathurst 1000 winner is currently sitting third in the IndyCar standings in his new pursuit in the United States.
After a brilliant start to the year – headlined by his maiden win on the streets of St Petersburg in Florida, McLaughlin is kicking himself after a qualifying bungle left him starting from the ninth row of the grid.
“There’s no real way to sugar-coat that one, we rolled the dice for qualifying… and unfortunately we lost!” McLaughlin said.
“We were a bit bummed after the rain hit during qualifying ruining our chance to advance – we have a car that deserves to be well ahead of where we start on the grid.
“At the end of the day, it’s a long race, and we’re confident we can still give it a serious shake on Sunday.”
The good news for McLaughlin, after two and a half years living away from his family – his parents have arrived from New Zealand, and his sister from Sydney to watch him race in America for the first time.
“It’s so good that everyone is now able to travel – it’s been two and a half years since I last saw my folks so we’ve had a great couple of days catching up,” he said.
“I’ve got to invite some of the Doggie boys over – I know Aaron Naughton loves motorsport, having spent some time with us at Bathurst in the past – so we’ll have to get him over soon!
“I just want to wish the boys well – after a shaky start to the year I’m thrilled how well they’ve been going.”
The Indianapolis 500 is in the early hours of Monday morning, shown on Stan Sport.
