One Race Away From His Dream | Pato O'Ward

Pato O'Ward: [00:00:00] If you have a plan B, you will not drive through the pain through plan A.

Nate: Yeah.

Pato O'Ward: I know how to make shit happen.

Nate: You know, the Tom Bradys, the Michael Jordans, the Kobes. Like, it's winning for the sake of just loving to compete.

Pato O'Ward: What I had to put the car through just to give myself an opportunity to win that damn race, I say that is the best race that I've ever done in my life.

Nate: Where was the floor where you're like, "I don't know how in the hell I'm ever gonna be able to keep going"?

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Now let's get in. Pato O'Ward is a professional IndyCar driver driving for Arrow McLaren. He won the 2018 Indy Lights championship and has since become one of IndyCar's most popular and competitive drivers, earning multiple race wins and podium finishes. He is one of the best-known IndyCar drivers, not just in Indiana, not just in the US, but globally.

I'm really excited for this conversation. If I thought back, oh, man, we're episode about 290. So 290 episodes ago, if I thought back and made a list of who I'd want to come in the studio and hang out and chop it up all about the state of Indiana, you would've been near the top of the list, my friend. Welcome in the studio. I'm so excited to learn about your journey through IndyCar, your journey to Indiana, and the entire story, Pato. Welcome to the show.

Pato O'Ward: Thanks, Nate. I'm happy to be here, happy to be a part of this great chat that we're gonna have. Yeah, man. And I love Indy, man. I keep spending more and more time here in Indy every single year. I recently, a couple years ago, purchased a home, so it is the first place that I would call home because I haven't really had one anywhere else. It's the first time I've purchased one.

Nate: Oh, when you were looking through where you were gonna live around Indy, like, what were the qualifications as you're picking out a house?

Pato O'Ward: I'm all about, if I want chaos, let me pick if I want chaos. I don't wanna live in it.

Nate: Okay.

Pato O'Ward: So I went more the older guy approach, you know? I do like quiet, peaceful, safe. I'm a huge fan of older architecture, so I definitely looked into a home that was, I would say, not so recently built. Because I do think the build quality as well has slacked the last few years, from what I've seen. So I went back to before I was born. And I, it's quite close. I'm from '99, and I found something quite close to that.

Nate: So here's the question, then. You move into a neighborhood, wherever it is. Do you have to go around and introduce yourself to people? Do you try to stay covert? What's the...

Pato O'Ward: Man, I'm gonna throw Alexander Rossi under the bus, but I didn't tell anybody where I was moving in. He knew I bought it, because when it came on the market, he was like, "Oh, dude, you know, this is sick." And like six days later I bought it. I feel like he knows everybody around the block, and I think he told everybody where I moved and where I live.

Nate: Yeah.

Pato O'Ward: So before I even moved in, everybody was already bringing me bottles of wine. My neighbors are amazing. They really are.

Nate: Well, there's probably, like, an unspoken, or maybe it is spoken, like, a truth.

Pato O'Ward: They wanna know who's moving in. They probably wanna know who's moving in, yeah, yeah.

Nate: But then you probably also are like, "Hey, be chill. Be cool. Don't be weird, and we can be friends."

Pato O'Ward: You know? I mean, they've got a lot of little kids that they actually walk to Park Tudor. That's quite close. And I always see them coming back, walking from school. I don't see them in the winter, because they probably don't walk then. But I love it, man. I love my street. I love my neighbors. They really are great. They've all kind of reached out and invited me over for dinner. And I'm always running around traveling, so I feel like I spend more time on the airplane than actually at home. But I love it here. I love it here because I've never been in a place that I've experienced four seasons. I would say winter is my least favorite. I don't enjoy it here. It's too...

Nate: But does it give you a fond appreciation of summer? Like, when you're...

Pato O'Ward: Oh my God. It gives me a new appreciation, yeah, because I was not used to snow. And the first year that I saw snow, I was like, "Oh my God, this is great." After that year, I was like, "Uh-uh."

Nate: Yeah, it's like the first snow is always great. First snow, I love it. Second snow, I'm over it, you know?

Pato O'Ward: It's got so much. Like, you have to worry about so many more things that you're not really paying attention when it's summer. You gotta take care of your cars because of all the salt. There are a lot of other little things that they don't really tell you about whenever you're going to a place that actually has snow.

Nate: Yeah. Well, but before Indy was home, Monterrey, Mexico was home.

Pato O'Ward: Born and raised Monterrey, Mexico. But then I moved when I was 11, or my parents moved us to San Antonio, Texas, which there is a lot of Hispanics there anyways, so it didn't feel like I was way too far from home. But I've actually spent more time in Texas than Mexico now because I am 26.

Nate: At 11, when you moved to the States, was the path to be a professional driver, like, that was, the wheels were already in motion there?

Pato O'Ward: The wheels were in motion. I wouldn't say the end goal was obviously yes, but it starts as a hobby. And it mostly was because the security got pretty bad in Mexico at that time, so we actually moved to America because of that.

Nate: Oh, so where is Monterrey?

Pato O'Ward: Quite north in Mexico. It's like three hours from the border of Texas.

Nate: Okay. I got you.

Pato O'Ward: So it's not too far south. You can drive from Monterrey to San Antonio, it's like a five, six-hour drive max. It's not bad.

Nate: Yeah.

Pato O'Ward: That is the main reason why we moved, but it also did make all the traveling much easier, because I was already traveling a lot to Florida for the go-kart races, and to Europe. So it just made sense.

Nate: You were 11, getting to travel to Europe for go-kart races?

Pato O'Ward: I was. I mean, that's pretty sick. Yes, very lucky.

Nate: Well, and then a piece of you moving to Texas, you end up in military school.

Pato O'Ward: Only because the... Not because I was a bad child, but because that was the nearest school to our home, called TMI, Texas Military Institute. I mean, talk about...

Nate: So I was not in the Corps. I was a civilian.

Nate: You were... Oh, so what, did you have friends with, like, the high and tight, like, buzzed haircuts?

Pato O'Ward: Yes. And yeah, and like your hair... Well, I still had that rule, your hair couldn't touch your ears.

Nate: No way.

Pato O'Ward: Yeah, you get demerits. Three demerits were one detention. I kept finding myself in detention.

Nate: No way. So you go from racing go-karts in Mexico, your family moves to San Antonio, and you're going to military school. But are you also traveling to races? Like, you know, "I gotta leave on Thursday at noon."

Pato O'Ward: I wasn't getting demerits for that. I was getting them for the just dumb stuff, like chewing gum and having your phone out.

Nate: Did you have a new sense of appreciation for discipline, like, coming through there?

Pato O'Ward: No.

Nate: No?

Pato O'Ward: A big part of life, in my opinion, is you gotta have fun, man. If you're not doing something and you're not enjoying it and you're not having fun, I think there's no point in you doing it.

Nate: Well, but, I mean, are there parts of the job of being a professional driver, like when you have to go train and you're 50 minutes into a 90-minute workout and you're getting your ass kicked and you're like, "Oh, this is fun"?

Pato O'Ward: No, you love it. You love it because you know it's working towards something. But since I didn't really see myself in anything that, like, I know school taught me the basics. I would thank the traveling to a lot of the personal growth that I had in my life.

Nate: Yeah. Now, I've had some drivers on that have to go and they end up, you know... I mean, like Tony, for instance. He ends up a continent away from his entire family at a young age. Were you traveling with your family or were you kind of solo?

Pato O'Ward: Some of it's solo, some of it with my dad. My dad has been to every race.

Nate: Every single one?

Pato O'Ward: Every single race that I've ever had, that I've ever done, he's been at that.

Nate: Was there ever any close counters where he almost wasn't there?

Pato O'Ward: No. He's always been there. That's sick. He's still going strong. I've always been a homebody. I've always been a family person. I don't really seek out socializing, which is weird. I feel like a lot of people mistaken me as someone that loves to socialize. I actually don't like it at all.

I love being home. I love dedicating my time to people that I care about and that's pretty much it. I don't enjoy having to socialize with somebody that maybe isn't a part of your life or whatever. Sometimes it is more of a waste of time than not.

Nate: When you have a ton of surface-level conversations and you're like, "What are we doing?"

Pato O'Ward: You like depth.

Nate: Yeah. Yeah. Like, get in deep.

Pato O'Ward: Yeah. But I've got enough friends for that. I don't need any more friends, you know? I've encountered a lot of different people. I've been very grateful that I've lived this pretty crazy life.

Nate: Well, have you ever found yourself in one of those conversations, it's like, I don't know, you might be at an IndyCar event or you're at some wildly cool event, and you meet someone and you're like, "Wow, I didn't expect to have such a great conversation with Tom Brady," or whoever it is?

Pato O'Ward: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would say it goes both ways. I've been in a lot of situations where you really look forward to, or knowing that a pretty big name is gonna be there, and then you meet them and you're like, "Damn, he or she is a disappointment." There is more disappointment than actually, like, wow, you know, this was amazing. And that makes you really cherish the moments of when you actually meet somebody that is genuine and that you can actually talk to about basically anything or somebody that kind of understands you.

Nate: Well, I was gonna say, are there any of those conversations that still resonate with you?

Pato O'Ward: More than the conversation, it would be advice to those people that have experienced many other forms of life that maybe I haven't yet. I always ask them questions, because I'm just curious, because I think there's still so much to life that I haven't experienced or haven't lived, even though sometimes I do feel like I'm 45. I would say those are the ones that kind of stay with me the most.

Nate: Like give me an example. Who gave you a piece of advice that just still sticks with you today?

Pato O'Ward: I've met some wonderful, really powerful people from brands that I've either represented or kind of partnered with. I would say, both men and women, even in the brands that I'm currently representing, some of the CEOs are women, which is phenomenal. It's so much to admire. And the other half is men.

It's crazy to see sometimes the way that they work or the way that they attack things. I've learned so much of how somebody in the women's point of view, the way they attack something is different, but the end goal is the same. There's actually so much to learn of how they approach these things with, like, how you need to... I wouldn't say one or the other treats people badly, but it is different in how they approach, for example, if something were to go wrong. I do think you see one that's more cutthroat, and then you see one that's a bit more gentle, but at the end of the day, it's the same end result, right?

Nate: Yeah. You would say at surface level you're an IndyCar driver, but it does seem as though you've got a good grasp on the business side of things, the marketing, the branding, the whole nine yards. How much deeper than just racing a car is the business of Pato O'Ward?

Pato O'Ward: Oh, I'm very involved. I'm very, very involved in everything that I do. I'm involved in everything that comes out from the merch side, because it's all in-house. My family's involved, and we don't really have any outsiders involved.

Nate: That's awesome. As things were progressing, were you just like, "Hey, someone's gotta design T-shirts. Who wants to do that?"

Pato O'Ward: Yeah. My sister is so good at it. Brilliant. I used to do it. Like, I stopped doing it after 2022. She's so much better than me.

Nate: Okay. Hey, there you go. What's your sister's name?

Pato O'Ward: Elba.

Nate: Shout out to Elba.

Pato O'Ward: I feel like I have a very good radar at knowing what I'm good at. But I also have a very good radar of knowing what I'm not good at.

Nate: Okay. So besides racing, what are you the best at?

Pato O'Ward: I know how to make shit happen.

Nate: Yeah.

Pato O'Ward: Regardless of do we know how we're gonna do it, let's take the first step and let's keep going that way. It will always find its course because from the years that I've been around this career, this job, both sides, both in the car and outside, anything that you plan, you might reach your goals, but the way that you get there is gonna be not how you expect.

It all usually comes from a passion or something that you wanna do, create. For me, it's always been a passion about driving a race car, taking a machine to the limit, and I feel like that passion that's been shown through the race car has now opened up the doors to having something beyond that, which is what I've seen with my brand and with fans.

I was always the first one to have an idea of, oh, let's do this, let's do that. Sometimes when I was younger, I couldn't do so many of the things, even though I always end up doing them anyways and losing a lot of money. Apart from me enjoying it, kind of branching out and giving that opportunity to somebody that, yeah, maybe they're not gonna get to drive the race car, but they will have a different experience to maybe what they've been used to at an IndyCar race or whatever.

Nate: So it's a journey of figuring it out as you go. It's like taking the step and figuring it out as you go.

Pato O'Ward: I think that is the whole purpose of life.

Nate: Yeah. Well, you and your family took on a huge challenge that you had to figure out as you go. When push came to shove and the idea of going all in on becoming a professional driver, that struck when you were... I mean...

Pato O'Ward: I learned that from my parents.

Nate: Didn't they have to go all in and basically bet the farm on Pato's racing career?

Pato O'Ward: Yes. I would say my dad was the main part of that. He's dedicated his life to give me the opportunity to do my dream.

Nate: Where on the... How old were you when you had to make the jump and say, "I'm going to be a professional driver. This is gonna come to reality, come to fruition"?

Pato O'Ward: I would say when I dropped out of school. That's where it was like...

Nate: How old were you?

Pato O'Ward: I was 15, so I was not done with high school. Sophomore year, and the advisor at the school was like, "Dude, you can't be missing all these days. You gotta pick one or the other." I was obviously not gonna pick school.

Nate: Well, all the best entrepreneurs dropped out of school.

Pato O'Ward: In this scenario, there was nothing that school could offer me that I wasn't gonna learn in racing. I genuinely see it that way. I've actually... I would thank racing before I thank school for the growth that I have had as a professional and as a person, because the only thing that's gonna force you to grow is when you actually have downfalls, not when you're winning.

It might feel great when you're younger, but I feel like not having those tough times whenever you're younger do set you up for failure later on, because life doesn't get any easier, and as you keep growing, your problems will get bigger. Regardless if you've got money or not, the problems do change. The way that you're taught or you teach yourself how to break through tough moments when you're young is what actually keeps driving you forward later on.

Nate: So 2018, you win the Indy Lights series.

Pato O'Ward: I never had a plan B.

Nate: Never had a plan B?

Pato O'Ward: Never had a plan B, and I will stick to that until the day I die. I do believe that if you have a plan B, you will not drive through the pain through plan A.

Nate: On your journey to win the 2018 Indy Lights championship, where was the floor where you're like, "I don't know how in the hell I'm ever gonna be able to keep going"?

Pato O'Ward: My floor was actually that year that I dropped out of school. After that year, I had to win the championship in order to have the scholarship to go to the next one.

Nate: So you're 15, and you have to win. If you don't win, you won't have a scholarship.

Pato O'Ward: I was second. My teammate took me out at the end, last race, to win the championship, because we were both fighting.

Nate: Oh.

Pato O'Ward: I passed him for the lead. He kind of tucked his tire into my rear axle and broke the suspension. I didn't end up winning the championship. After then, it was kind of like, well, we're done.

Then about a month before, in a completely different race class, it was Daytona, and it will probably take me to another point that I would like to share. The Daytona comes around and they're like, "Here, we need a fourth driver to do Daytona 24," because you need four drivers for one car.

Nate: The 24-hour?

Pato O'Ward: Yeah. I won, and they're like, well, we'll just go race by race. And I kept winning with them. So I ended up doing the whole championship, won the championship.

Nate: All 24-hour races or just...

Pato O'Ward: No, some of them are 24, some of them are 12. For the 24-hour race, you need four drivers. For Sebring, you only need three. And then for the rest of the championship, you only need two.

Nate: So you went from the fourth driver in on the 24-hour Daytona to second driver for the rest of the championship.

Pato O'Ward: Yeah. Finished the championship, we won. I won Daytona, which is one of the best wins that I have in my career because, I mean, you get a pretty nice watch. It's one of the nicest trophies that I have, that I get to wear and appreciate.

That part of my life has taught me so much, for current and future opportunities because sometimes you're so focused on one thing that you forget to actually take advantage of the opportunities that are available to you at that moment. For me, at that moment, my focus was I need to get to IndyCar, I need to get to Formula 1. What am I gonna do? Sports cars isn't gonna get me there. But I didn't have another choice.

By actually branching out and doing that for one year, I got to accomplish things that I never thought I was gonna do, and it ended up being one of the best years of my career, which then led me to Indy Lights in 2018. So it just delayed the process into Indy Lights for a year.

Nate: So you go from sports car, and then...

Pato O'Ward: Back to Indy Lights.

Nate: And then you're in Indy Lights, and then you win the championship?

Pato O'Ward: I win the championship.

Nate: Year one?

Pato O'Ward: Yes, year one. And it was the first shot that I had.

Nate: Well, then you talk about adversity. Adversity is what gives you the lessons to continue to win. You win Indy Lights, so you're off the high of a win. You have...

Pato O'Ward: I would say that's the biggest low after that, after my Indy Lights win.

Nate: Was it the Red Bull contract?

Pato O'Ward: Well, no, the Red Bull contract came after, I would say, one of the biggest blows of my career. I win Indy Lights. I get signed to move to IndyCar with Harding Steinbrenner. It was me and Herta, which we were teammates in Indy Lights. The guy that was supposed to fund us runs out of money. Colton gets the seat even though I had the scholarship. I kind of knew he was gonna be the one getting the ride rather than me because I know his dad was involved with Andretti and whatever. If someone was gonna be saved, it was gonna be him, not me.

Nate: So then you find yourself...

Pato O'Ward: Well, I asked them to let me go of my contract, and then they're like, no. So then I was about to file a lawsuit, and then they finally let me go. But by then it was too late to start the championship. I take my scholarship elsewhere, which I wouldn't say worked out very well either. I went to Carlin, didn't even qualify for the Indy 500. Had a decent first race in Austin, which is what gave me the Formula 1... Right after that weekend is where all the Red Bull stuff came about. Helmut just straight up called me. I went to do a Formula 1 test, signed to go into Formula 1.

Nate: So you were like, "Okay, I'm out of IndyCar."

Pato O'Ward: I'm out of IndyCar, I'm going to Formula 1. Have a contract signed, and then Charlie Whiting passes away, which he was the director, the main guy at the FIA who had approved my super license. The new team comes in. Then they kind of pedaled back on what Charlie had said. By then, he had just passed away. May he rest in peace.

So then that new team was kind of like, "Well, no, no, no. We don't wanna count his Indy Lights championship points because of the car count." So then that goes to hell. I get shipped off to Japan to try and get super license points, but they weren't gonna allocate me the super license points regardless if I won or not because I didn't do the full championship. Everywhere I looked, brick wall.

Nate: Yeah. So you're... And you're coming off of an Indy Lights championship.

Pato O'Ward: It shows to me that nothing in life is certain because that certainty of winning that championship gave you a seat in IndyCar, and not even that gave me the seat. Not even exceeding expectations and doing what you were supposed to do to the best of your abilities and actually executing gave me...

Nate: Yeah. You're like, "I get this scholarship. Great. I'm ready to rock." Do you kind of feel like you're walking on eggshells, like you're in glass? You're not safe, you're not secure at the time.

Pato O'Ward: You're never, never safe. Wow. You're never safe, and that's just how this career rolls, man. You're always starting from zero. You can have a great year the year before, right? But then the next year, maybe not as good.

Nate: I mean, it's a business, right? Exactly.

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You're trying to get your super license points in Japan.

Pato O'Ward: Yeah.

Nate: It's not working.

Pato O'Ward: Doesn't work out.

Nate: Do you actually end up in Japan? Are you over there?

Pato O'Ward: Oh, bro, yeah, I was there three months.

Nate: What?

Pato O'Ward: One of the best experiences of my life. Not racing. That went not very... I mean, that was kind of eh.

Nate: But culture-wise?

Pato O'Ward: Oh my God, yeah.

Nate: Okay.

Pato O'Ward: I mean, it was crazy.

Nate: Did you win races?

Pato O'Ward: No, I didn't win a race. I scored some points.

Nate: Got some points, but then the Formula 1 kind of...

Pato O'Ward: Yeah. Helmut calls me while I'm in a meeting.

Nate: Who's Helmut?

Pato O'Ward: Helmut Marko, the guy that used to call the shots at Red Bull. He's gone this year. Last year was his last. He calls me and he's like, "Well, you know, there's no super license. I can't use you for what I need you, so you're good to go."

I actually really like him because if he wanted to be an ass, he would've just waited until my contract ended with them at the end of December. He called me in September. He's like, "I can put you in Formula 2, but I can't promise you a Formula 1 seat." And I was like, "Dude, I need to go make money." At this point in my life, I needed to find somewhere to make money.

Nate: Wait. I mean, you have a Red Bull contract for Formula 1. You're not making money? See, that's the part that I don't think people realize, too. Like, as you're on this ascent...

Pato O'Ward: I mean, they gave me 100 grand, but just the trips to Japan were more than that, so.

Nate: I think a lot of people think, okay, you win Indy Lights or IndyNext and you're on the track, you get this scholarship, multi-bajillionaire.

Pato O'Ward: Oh, no. You're making peanuts. It costs you as much as you're making probably to get around the year just to travel.

Nate: No way. Okay. So from there, how do you end up finding a home within IndyCar? How do you end up at Arrow McLaren?

Pato O'Ward: Zak had been poking me a bit, and he was like, "What are you doing?" I was like, "Dude, I can't. You know, I've got another girlfriend. I can't."

Nate: You gotta be faithful, right?

Pato O'Ward: Yeah, bro. You're married to someone else. You can't just leave. At least I've never broken a contract, not yet. I don't plan to.

Nate: So when you get broken up, you're kind of going your own separate ways, and you hit up that old fling, and you're like, "Hey, I'm on the market now."

Pato O'Ward: Literally. Helmut calls me when I was in a media tour in Mexico for Red Bull, in the middle of the day. He's like, "Well, yeah, you're done." I was like, "Okay, so I'm free?" He's like, "Yeah, free to go." Great. I called Zak, and I was like, "Look, man."

Nate: The classic.

Pato O'Ward: "I know it's late."

Nate: Exactly.

Pato O'Ward: "I know it's late. I hope I'm not too late." And he was like, "Let me see," because they had already signed their two drivers. Within the week they were like, "All right. Here's a contract." They fired one of the guys that they had.

Nate: Talk about walking on glass.

Pato O'Ward: Yeah, and fans were pissed. Fans hated me. Fans hated the team for doing that to a very likable and...

Nate: It was James Hinchcliffe, actually. He was the one with the seat.

Nate: Is there any, like, is that just business is business and that's the way it goes?

Pato O'Ward: Yeah, yeah. At that point teams gotta do what they gotta do. I think you see it in a lot of different scenarios, right? But no one wants to be left with nothing in the last minute. That was the main thing. Not that he got let go, but that it was pretty late in the year. But I'd say, I mean, I think it's safe to say that they made the right call.

Nate: Yeah. It seems to have paid off at this point. Things progress. Obviously, you have had a wild run the past...

Pato O'Ward: I can't believe I'm here. Seventh year.

Nate: Seventh year. And you're 26 years old. Think about what you've accomplished thus far. Where are the pinnacle moments so far in the career? Where do you look back on and say, "I'm so proud of X"?

Pato O'Ward: My first win. Texas 2021. That was a great day. Just the culmination of my life's work, I would say, of just getting to that point. And then I feel like my rose field of thorns has been the Indy 500.

Nate: Yeah.

Pato O'Ward: That's probably where I've experienced the most emotion that I've ever felt, just because the highs are high and the lows are low, right? The highs are high. It's almost smelling the freaking milk, right? Two corners to go. And the low is low is you cross the finish line and you're not the first car to do it, right? And you're right behind. I've experienced that multiple times, not just once.

Nate: Can we talk about that a little bit? Talk to me about being in the seat at that moment. Two corners to go and it just slips away at the end. The emotional side of that. Obviously you're in the car, you gotta slow down, but what do you feel inside after something like that happens?

Pato O'Ward: I wouldn't say hit the instance crossing the line, but I'd say when I arrived to the pit lane and I parked the car, that's where it really sunk in that I was not going to victory lane. That's where all the emotions kind of unbottled, because it wasn't a first experience at that. It was already multiple times, right?

That is what made it quite powerful, but also just the fact that I had an opportunity to win that race. I was nowhere all race. What I put that car through the last 60 laps, I shouldn't have finished that race, but I almost won it.

Nate: Yeah.

Pato O'Ward: That is what made that moment very emotional for me because I gave it... I still look back and see that race, and if I see the onboard, I say that is the best race that I've ever done in my life because of what I had to put the car through just to give myself an opportunity to win that damn race.

Nate: When you say that, what do you mean by what you had to put the car through?

Pato O'Ward: There were so many moments during the race that I shouldn't have come out the other side on that corner because the car was on such a knife's edge. I knew that was the only way that I was gonna be able to make it work if I wanted a shot. I knew that is what I had to do, but to do that every single corner at 230 miles an hour for the last remaining 60 laps of the race just to get by people to have that shot is what made it so powerful because I do think we should have never been in that position to win that race. But I somehow found a way.

That coupled with the past experiences or whatever is what just made it such a feeling of heartbreak. It's like giving everything you've got and more, and then just being kind of ripped from you. Yeah. Two corners to go, it's crazy.

Nate: Just like for this dream that you've been dreaming for your whole life to just...

Pato O'Ward: Yeah, bye.

Nate: With two corners to go.

Pato O'Ward: It ain't yours yet, right? It's tough, man.

Nate: When you wake up, and you can be honest, is there some piece of "poor me," you're just sorrowful, you're kind of in your feelings, like, this stinks, why, anger, sadness, like, you wake up on that Monday?

Pato O'Ward: I kept replaying the last few laps.

Nate: Like, replaying in your mind or watching it?

Pato O'Ward: No, replaying in my mind. I couldn't watch it for a while.

Nate: Then when the time comes and you say, "I'm locked back in. It's time to get back to work," like, how hard are you... This past off-season, it would appear from the outside sights are set to win an Indy 500.

Pato O'Ward: It's a very achievable goal for us.

Nate: Yeah.

Pato O'Ward: I think the championship is probably a little bit more of a miracle.

Nate: Because to win a championship right now with the way Alex, like, you're gonna need to be good...

Pato O'Ward: We're not to their level yet. We're not. But to be good for the month of May and to be great on race day, to be great at the Indianapolis 500, I know what I need.

Nate: What do you need?

Pato O'Ward: Timing. That's it. It all comes to timing. That is ultimately the only thing that has lacked for me in the past. Just when I've chosen to do the move, one time it was too late, one time it was too early.

Nate: You always say, like, Goldilocks and the three bears. Too late, too early, this, right on time.

Pato O'Ward: I know we can win that race. I know we are ready to win that race. I know we can do it.

Nate: What would it mean to you to win an Indy 500?

Pato O'Ward: I have such an appreciation for the event, for what it means, for what it's like, and just to be a part of it, right? All these people say, "Oh, it's gonna change your life. It's gonna do this, it's gonna do that." I won't really know until it happens.

I've quickly come to realize, especially recently, my life is not gonna change at all. I already live like I've won 10 of them. I really think that the whole purpose of this passion that I have for winning this race is all from the start, which is because we love to race, because we love to compete. And that is the pinnacle of speed and risk. It screams pure racing. That's why I love it.

Nate: As you research the greats, like the Tom Bradys, the Michael Jordans, the Kobes, it's not about winning for the big paycheck or winning for the bigger house or the more beautiful girl or whatever. It's winning for the sake of just loving to compete.

Pato O'Ward: It's winning for the sake of, like, the six-year-old kid that grew up with this dream kind of thing.

Nate: How old were you when you set out and made the goal, like, "I wanna win an Indy 500 before I die"?

Pato O'Ward: When I started watching IndyCar, it was about 2008, 2009.

Nate: So you would've been in Texas at that point.

Pato O'Ward: No, I was still in Mexico.

Nate: You were still in Mexico. So you're a little boy growing up in Mexico.

Pato O'Ward: Yeah, and I was starting to get into Formula 1 and IndyCar.

Nate: When you thought of the Indianapolis 500 as a little boy in Mexico, how did that make you feel? What did you think about Indy, the speedway, the whole nine yards?

Pato O'Ward: I think they made it a way bigger deal than what it was. But as I've been involved, I've quickly come to realize that it deserves the hype that it gets and more.

Nate: Oh, so you at first thought it was over-hyped?

Pato O'Ward: Yes.

Nate: You were like, "Oh, what," and then you got to be a part of it?

Pato O'Ward: And when I got to see it for the first time, 2016, I just watched. That was my first Indy 500. Alexander Rossi won.

Nate: What legend. As a rookie, right? Take me through the moment you stepped foot in the speedway. What was your first experience walking into the speedway?

Pato O'Ward: It's over-hyped.

Nate: No way.

Pato O'Ward: When I first went to the speedway, I was like, "This is over-hyped." And every time that I go under the bridge right now, every single time, there's not once that I don't get goosebumps. But not the first time. The first time you said it was over-hyped.

Nate: Where along... You're watching your first Indy 500 in 2016. Rossi wins it, but where in that journey did you realize, "Oh, I'm wrong. It's not over-hyped"?

Pato O'Ward: When I heard the crowd when the race started.

Nate: Where were you watching from?

Pato O'Ward: Tower Terrace.

Nate: You're in Tower Terrace.

Pato O'Ward: It was Hinch and Hunter-Reay were switching the lead. I remember like it was yesterday.

Nate: And you just hear the crowd erupt.

Pato O'Ward: Yeah, when I heard the crowd, I was like, "Oh my God." Yeah, I'm getting goosebumps while I'm telling you. Before, when I first went to the speedway, it was empty. And I was like, "Okay, it's big. What else?" I'm being honest.

Nate: No, I love that.

Pato O'Ward: That's amazing. From the first day that I went there to what I feel there now is in a different stratosphere in appreciation to knowing what's about to go down.

Nate: Yeah.

Pato O'Ward: It's taken being in it to understand, which I feel like it's fair to say with a lot of things. People don't understand a lot of things until they see it or live it once or twice, and then they're like, "Oh, I get it."

Nate: I mean, 1911, that's when the first, I think, the speedway was created and basically the first Indianapolis 500 happened. You think about, I don't know what the number is, definitely under 1,000 people have got to tow the starting line of the Indy 500. I don't know what the number is. I'm sure someone at the museum would know the number. Could be anywhere from 500 people to 1,000 people, maybe less. It's like you are, just by towing the starting line, already in hallowed ground. You're already in a very select group. Then to be someone who's finished the race, led laps, that pool keeps getting smaller and smaller.

Pato O'Ward: The whole process is just awesome.

Nate: Besides the actual race itself, what's your favorite tradition?

Pato O'Ward: You can just feel the energy of the fans when you go under Gasoline Alley before you go to the grid. It's fricking nuts. You can feel it. I don't know how to explain it.

Nate: Yeah. Well, no, we're...

Pato O'Ward: You can hear it and see it, but you can feel it. You really can.

Nate: We've hosted a turn three tailgate for a lot of years, but for the last, this'll be year three, that I've been the first car in the infield. I get there the day before. I camp out overnight on the North 40, get in there, get in turn three. I bought this old-school Dodge pickup truck that I've renovated and flipped and literally made this whole thing.

I don't know if you know the history of Larry Bisceglia. He was the first guy in the infield for 37 years straight. In the '60s, '70s, '80s, he would drive from Yuma, Arizona, to the race. He would camp out two, three-plus weeks in advance of the race. The locals in Speedway would say it's not the month of May until Larry comes into town. He did it so many times that Ford bought him a new van, that they ran power to where he used to park his van to camp out. Absolute legend.

I read that story and was like, well, one, I'm never gonna be a professional driver. But how can I experience a little bit of the history and the magic that is the Indy 500?

Pato O'Ward: Have your own story in it.

Nate: And so we've been, this will be year number three, lined up first. We get there the night before. We camp out. Last year, we served coffee and donuts, and we throw an all-Indiana tailgate. While you guys are racing around there going crazy, the freaking snake pit's ripping back there, we're giving out two grand to someone on this prize wheel. It's just a whole...

That's what I love about the 500 from our perspective, is that you have the pageantry, you have the racing, you have the competition, but then even if you've never watched an IndyCar race, you can still have fun. You can still be part of this. And the best part, when you leave there, you're going to have a fonder appreciation for what you all do than when you did when you came in. You might come in for the EDM or people-watching, and I've never met anyone who hasn't watched a couple laps and been like, "Holy shit. That is so cool." It's awesome, and I can only imagine what it feels like to be on the inside.

Pato O'Ward: I'm telling you, it's the greatest motorsport event in the world. It will always be.

Nate: I mean, I would go as far as it's the greatest event in sporting.

Pato O'Ward: I mean, it is the biggest sporting event in the world.

Nate: It's insane.

Pato O'Ward: I know we're biased, but honestly, if you can film me the amount of times of me telling people that have never been to it.

Nate: If IndyCar bought you a 60-second commercial to pitch the Indy 500 to non-race fans. Obviously, the race fans, obviously the state of Indiana, they're gonna love it. But if they bought you a 60-second commercial that only got streamed to non-racing fans, how would you convince them to come to the Indy 500?

Pato O'Ward: What I tell everybody is it is something that you have to experience in the flesh, in person, and it will be the greatest event you will ever step foot in your life.

Nate: You don't even need 60 seconds. That was 15 seconds. Done.

Pato O'Ward: And you don't have to be a race fan. You don't have to enjoy cars. When you get there, then you'll be like, "Oh my God." You will be when you walk out.

Nate: How did it feel last year? You're going through the laps, and the helicopters just show up above you.

Pato O'Ward: I could hear it. I knew it, and I could see one in the mirror, and then heard the other one above me. I was like, "Oh, yes."

Nate: The video of that at the front level is the most badass video I've ever seen.

Pato O'Ward: It's so sick. Dude, it's awesome. I recently went into a fighter jet, and the Blue Angels gave me a ride-along. There are so many correlations to fighter jets and what the cars feel like at the 500.

Nate: Did they do any crazy tricks?

Pato O'Ward: Oh my God, I was out there for an hour. I thought my stomach was inverted.

Nate: Are you an adrenaline junkie?

Pato O'Ward: Yes. Oh, yeah.

Nate: You feel like you have to be a little bit.

Pato O'Ward: I don't watch any sports besides anything with fuel, motorcycles, race cars. Love fighter jets. That's why I ended up doing it, because I genuinely really wanted to ride in one.

Nate: Well, hey, we've come towards the end of the show. We're here to talk all things Indiana. This question is brought to you by our friends at J.C. Hart. They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out at homeisjchart.com. My question for you, Pato, why do you call Indiana home?

Pato O'Ward: Because it feels like home.

Nate: Mic drop right there. I love it. Before a big race, are you music?

Pato O'Ward: No.

Nate: No music, no headphones.

Pato O'Ward: No.

Nate: What's the pre-game ritual?

Pato O'Ward: I can't get pumped up, otherwise I'm gonna get too worked up.

Nate: You think before a game or before whatever it might be, people wanna get hyped up. You wanna be chill.

Pato O'Ward: I'm the opposite. I need to chill.

Nate: Have you ever, I'm sure you have all the trackers. What does your heart rate get up to during a race?

Pato O'Ward: Depends what race, but it usually averages like 180s.

Nate: Oh. That's like running a marathon.

Pato O'Ward: It's high. The 500 usually a little bit less because it's not so physical, but it's very mentally wearing. Your eyes get really tired. So for me, it's always been very important not to look at my phone so much and not be on it, because it does make your eyes tired. You gotta have them tip-top shape. Also, the chances of sleeping well the night prior are not good.

Nate: Like, what time do you try to go to bed?

Pato O'Ward: Everyone... I'm the only driver that goes home the night before the race.

Nate: Is that, like...

Pato O'Ward: I want my bed, I want my bathroom, I want my shower, I want my sheets. I like leaving the track. And I like coming to the track in the morning.

Nate: Is it hard to stay focused on the task at hand with all the pageantry, all the theatrics?

Pato O'Ward: When I get home, it's easy to relax.

Nate: But if you were there the whole time...

Pato O'Ward: Oh, I can't. It's just like, so it's kind of like resonating. For example, I do not like working out at home. I resonate home with relax and peace. I don't resonate it with heart rate's up and you are stressing your body. It's the same. The bus, for me, I resonate it with we're racing. We are still in race mode. I'm about, I'm probably there, but in a few minutes I'm probably gonna have to walk out and go and get into the car. I can't relax in it. I can't sleep in it and not feel like I am on edge. I'm always just kind of anxious and on edge there. So when I get home, I can relax.

Nate: When you're not racing, I know you've been traveling, you've been a reserve driver in F1, you've been obviously crushing it on IndyCar, you're on the road traveling a bunch. But when you're not, what do you do for fun?

Pato O'Ward: It's crazy, man. I feel like I'm consumed by my job. When I actually am not doing something that's work-related, I really do nothing. If I'm not traveling for vacation, I'm at home, just cooking and enjoying my time by myself.

Nate: Okay. What's, like, your... If you had to impress whoever, a date or the biggest executive whatever, what would you make? What would be the dish that you would make to wow people?

Pato O'Ward: Do some ribeyes. Ribeyes on the grill with a homemade salad, homemade dressing.

Nate: Ooh, what kind of dressing are we doing?

Pato O'Ward: It's like an avocado feta dressing.

Nate: Whoa. This guy.

Pato O'Ward: And then I would do maybe some sweet potatoes.

Nate: Ooh. Now we're cooking.

Pato O'Ward: Yeah. Literally. We're cooking, for sure.

Nate: Is that therapeutic?

Pato O'Ward: I love it, yes. I cooked yesterday. I love it, man. I miss homemade meals. I'm on the road all the time. I just wanna get home and cook.

Nate: You're a homebody.

Pato O'Ward: I'm a huge homebody. If I'm traveling for pleasure, I go to the beach or I go to Vegas. I don't really party in Vegas. I like to play.

Nate: What's the game of choice?

Pato O'Ward: Baccarat or roulette.

Nate: What's the number? If you had one number you're picking on roulette?

Pato O'Ward: Zero and double zero.

Nate: The green guy. All right, man. We've come to the end of the show where we ask the same three questions to every guest who comes on. The first one, what is your favorite Indiana memory?

Pato O'Ward: The whole experience of the month of May for the 500. I can't just pick one day. I'd say the whole thing, and I would say that experience has been enhanced with my house now. That I get to come home every day.

Nate: It's home.

Pato O'Ward: Yeah, my family, so the dogs are coming, and my mom, and my dad, and my sister, and my brother-in-law. Everyone's gonna be there. I'll have a full house, and that to me is what is the best.

Nate: I love it, man. Okay, this is your opportunity to shed some light on a part of the state that more people need to know about. It could be a restaurant, could be a park, could be something, but a part of the state that more people need to know. What is a hidden gem in Indiana?

Pato O'Ward: There's this new restaurant in Westfield called H. Just the letter H, and they have the best... It's a steakhouse, but they have a phenomenal bolognese pasta.

Nate: At the steakhouse? H stands for hidden gem.

Pato O'Ward: Yeah. So if you guys like bolognese and wagyu, try it out. Let me know what you think.

Nate: There we go. H, I love that.

Pato O'Ward: It just opened. I recently went with a friend of mine and we ordered that pasta, and I was like, "Oh, my God. This is phenomenal." And I'm a huge foodie, you know, so of course I'm gonna go with food.

Nate: Yeah. Well, now Michelin, the Michelin guide coming to Indiana. That's huge for us.

Pato O'Ward: What?

Nate: Yeah, Michelin, like the guide, will now have Michelin star restaurants in Indiana.

Pato O'Ward: Really? They're gonna get reviewed?

Nate: Yeah.

Pato O'Ward: Oh. They're picking and choosing?

Nate: Yeah.

Pato O'Ward: I have mixed reviews on my Michelin guides. I'm not big on, like, "This is a Michelin star. Let's go." I'm actually the opposite because they focus on other things that I don't really care about. I care about the food being high quality and good. I don't eat like a bird. Don't bring me one bite.

Nate: He says, "No chianti."

Pato O'Ward: The Michelin loves to do this presentation, but only 20% of the actual presentation is edible. So what am I supposed to do with all these flowers and stuff that I can't do anything with?

Nate: He's out on small portions. You're already a Hoosier. We don't want the fluff.

Pato O'Ward: Small portions, get out of here. That's weak.

Nate: I love it. This is your final question. This is how we source new guest recommendations and other people that are doing awesome things with ties to the state of Indiana. Who's a Hoosier we need to keep on our radar, someone who's doing big things?

Pato O'Ward: Kiwi. He takes care of my gearbox.

Nate: The gearbox guy. I mean, absolutely. The unsung hero.

Pato O'Ward: Gearbox and other things. He's been an employee for such a long time.

Nate: He was employee number 10?

Pato O'Ward: He's been with us through the thick and thin.

Nate: Kiwi?

Pato O'Ward: Kiwi. He is a Kiwi.

Nate: Oh.

Pato O'Ward: Yeah. He's got this accent. And, yeah, Kiwi. He's such a fun guy.

Nate: That's incredible. I'm gonna go with Kiwi, the unsung hero. I love that, man. Pato, this has been so much fun learning more about you, your journey from Mexico to San Antonio to now calling Indianapolis home. We're rooting for you.

Pato O'Ward: Oh, thanks, man. Thank you for having me on the show.

Nate: Yeah. Man, it's an incredible journey. I think that people can take away, it's about a lot more than just being in the car and running laps. From the business side of things to learning from, whether it's your sponsors or executives within the racing organization. You have a bright future. As a 26-year-old spry young man, I'm so excited to watch you in the 500. I'm so excited to see how your career continues to develop, man. Best of luck. Be out there. If you wanna follow, what's your handle? How can people follow you?

Pato O'Ward: Patricio O'Ward, two O's together. Everywhere.

Nate: I love it, man. Well, hey. Good luck, and we'll talk to you soon.

Pato O'Ward: Yeah, I appreciate you guys. Hope to see you guys at the track.

Nate: This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok @NateSpangle. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoosier State great. We'll see you next time here on Get In.