Road to Detroit GP: Young driver Rowe, engineer Gundlach talk about climbing the ladder
Henry PayneDetroit — When it roars into the city streets this June, the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear aims to seed future racers as well as celebrate current stars.
To that end, Penske Entertainment is working to build local infrastructure through schools and sponsors to expose youth to the loud, fast, and technical IndyCar circus. With sponsor Comerica Bank, the Grand Prix also makes the event’s opening Friday Detroit Free Prix Day to give families more access to the venue. Announcing Free Prix Day this week, Penske Entertainment brought drivers and engineers into Detroit classrooms, engaging students on the array of career opportunities that motorsports offers.
Rising stars Myles Rowe, Salvador de Alba, and IndyCar Arrows McLaren race engineer Kate Gundlach — all of whom will be competing at the Detroit GP — met with some 500 students across 20 Southeast Michigan high schools to talk about climbing the IndyCar ladder.
Rowe and Gundlach are trailblazers in the hyper-competitive world of motorsports. Rowe, an Atlanta native, is a rookie in the INDY NXT series this year. He’ll compete alongside his IndyCar idols — the next step in a fast career that saw him crowned the first African-American champion of the open-wheel USF2000 series last year.
Gundlach, a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh’s Formula SAE racing program, is a rare female engineer in a male-dominated sport. Both emphasized the importance of determination and networking in their professional rise.
“My dream was to be like (Formula One stars) Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton,” said Rowe, 23, who got his first taste of speed like a lot of people — renting go-karts at shopping centers. “I won a lot of rental go-kart races!”
Like Hamilton, Rowe didn’t come from wealth or a racing background like many drivers. But he had strong family support and got attention for his raw talent and discipline — including from Penske team driver Will Power.
“I came to learn that those corny phrases your parents always use — do your best, work hard — have so much more depth to them,” he told students from Detroit high schools including Fordson, Cass Tech, and Detroit Lions Academy. “It gave me the energy to be successful, to make my family proud.”
Rowe attracted sponsors that kick-started his racing career in the 2016 Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series where he excelled — before the money ran out. He took a break from racing to get a college degree,
“Money is a critical part of this sport, that’s the reality,” he said. “I’ve had to get sponsors to cover the . . . financial capital for equipment and the constant travel. You have to be business savvy and communicate with people to make your opportunities.”
That savvy impressed Rod Reid, founder of the Force Indy racing team and NXG Youth Motorsports, a program that introduces students to careers in motorsports.
“Miles showed the mental capacity to perform well,” said Reid, who offered Rowe a seat on the Force Indy team when he graduated from college. “We gave him a test, and it was like he had never been out of a race car.”
Rowe won the 2023 USF2000 series, opening the door to his rookie year in INDY NXT — the AAA racing series that feeds IndyCar. Both he and Mexican driver de Alba — two-time winner of the Mexican NASCAR series — will be rookies on the Detroit GP INDY NXT grid.
Reed is adamant, however, that motorsports is not just about race jockeys. “At NXG we bring 11- to 15-year-old kids in to help understand what motorsports is all about,” he said. “We want to expose them to the opportunities and careers around the industry.”
Opportunities like engineer — of which there are three for each driver on an IndyCar grid.
Gundlach is the performance engineer for IndyCar superstar Pato O’Ward, one of the sport’s most recognizable faces and a Detroit GP inner in 2021. Gundlach works with O’Ward and a systems engineer and race engineer.
“I’m in charge of anything that makes him go fast,” Gundlach told students. “I’m his eyes in the sky for chassis behavior (and) making better torque to the wheels.”
Gundlahch got hooked on motorbikes at a young age before graduating to four-wheel racers where she found her calling in college.
“I wasn’t the best student in college, I struggled with the course load,” she said. “But I always showed up, always asked questions, and. . . my work ethic was high.”
She learned her craft on Pittsburgh’s SAE team that builds and races a car — then worked her way up through the pro ranks, eventually landing in IndyCar. “The best racing there is,” she smiled. She said the sport’s sophistication into carbon fiber is attracting new kinds of engineers from the aerospace industry as well as traditional auto trades schools like Lawrence Tech.
Gundlach, Rowe, de Alba and the rest of the 34 annual Detroit GP circus will be on display for free, May 31, for Free Prix Day sponsored for the 11th year by Comerica. The GP is back in downtown Detroit for the second year in a row.
Visitors can watch the on-track action — NTT IndyCar series, INDY NXT, and IMSA Weathertech Sportscar practice — for free over half of 1.7-mile track layout, including the two most coveted viewing locations: Grandstands 1 and 9.
IMSA will race on Saturday while the INDY NXT and IndyCar feature races will be Sunday following Saturday qualifying. More information is available via DetroitGP.com/tickets.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne