Scott McLaughlin knew the taste of success long before he ever arrived in IndyCar with Team Penske. In the Australian Supercars series, he secured three championships and 56 wins with Dick Johnson Racing, setting records along the way. His transition to the IndyCar series, though, has come with a slew of new attitudes, and one of McLaughlin’s favorites is the fact that America properly celebrates its winners.
(Full disclosure: XPEL invited me to the 2023 Hy-Vee IndyCar weekend at Iowa Speedway. It also set up this interview with Scott McLaughlin.)
McLaughlin has had ample opportunity to discover the way American motorsport treats a victor. Since his IndyCar debut in 2021, the New Zealander has taken four wins and come close to countless other victories. To him, it’s a much different world than what he’s used to.
“In America, if someone is doing a good job, it’s because they’re working hard, where I think it’s the opposite in Australia,” he told me. “If someone is doing well, people think they’re cheating or something.”
McLaughlin is more than well aware of those accusations; in Supercars, McLaughlin or his team faced countless accusations of cheating, team order issues, and more — resulting in ample amounts of controversy, penalties, fines, and stripped results. For the New Zealander, it was something of a “positive culture shock.”
Part of that, he reasons, comes down to the way that different cultures acknowledge stars. In Australia and Europe, he noted that “there’s more of a devotion to a team or manufacturer” than in America, where “a lot more people just support the driver.” He noted that his teammate, Josef Newgarden, has inspired countless fans to follow him from smaller teams to the big leagues of Team Penske due to his skill and personality, whereas in Supercars, it would be more likely to see someone support the collective of the team.
“Growing up, I always wanted to be someone. I wanted to be a role model,” he said. “From Penske’s perspective, we hold ourselves to a high standard for sponsors and fans, and that translates into being a good role model. I have a lot of fun, because Americans really allow you to let your hair down, but there’s always a balance, because people are watching.”