In 1966, Formula 1 great Graham Hill won the race as a rookie as the native of Great Britain drove the American Red Ball Special owned by John Mecom to a controversial victory over Clark and Team Lotus. Jackie Stewart of Scotland was the leader of the race until his Mecom machine stopped on lap 190. He finished sixth in the attrition-filled race.
More international stars followed in 1967, including New Zealand’s Denny Hulme and Austria’s Jochen Rindt.
By 1972, the Indianapolis 500 returned to a field of 33 drivers from the United States. New Zealand’s Graham McRae was the lone foreign driver in the field in 1973, but it was all Americans in 1974. Australia’s Vern Schuppan arrived in 1976 and Switzerland’s Clay Regazzoni finished 30th in the 1977 Indy 500.
The 1980 Indianapolis 500 was the last time all 33 drivers in the field were from the United States.
Of course, one of the stars at that time was Italy’s Mario Andretti, but he was claimed by the United States as his family emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1955 when Mario and his twin brother Aldo, were 15.
With the creation of the CART Series in 1979, road and street course races were added to the schedule. That made coming to America a legitimate goal for many of international racing’s greatest drivers.
Among the standouts of the 1980s were two-time Formula 1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi, who would win two Indianapolis 500s and the 1989 CART IndyCar World Series championship.
Teo Fabi of Italy won the pole for the 1983 Indianapolis 500.
CART quickly became a series featuring international drivers, but the real game-changer came in 1993. That is when reigning Formula 1 champion Nigel Mansell came to America to race Indy cars for Newman Haas Racing.
“Mansell Mania” elevated CART to international prominence. The British racing great won five CART races in 1993 and the IndyCar World Series Championship. He finished third as a rookie in the 1993 Indianapolis 500, leading 34 laps.
One more season in CART in 1994 and Mansell was gone, returning to Formula 1. But by then, the paradigm had shifted forever as more foreign drivers competed for and won Indy car titles.
Those included Italy’s Alexander Zanardi, Colombia’s Juan Pablo Montoya, New Zealand’s Scott Dixon, Scotland’s Dario Franchitti and, most recently, Spain’s Alex Palou.
Meanwhile, NASCAR remained a series dominated by American drivers. That changed when Montoya abruptly quit Formula 1 in 2006 and joined Chip Ganassi Racing’s NASCAR Cup Series team in 2007.
Montoya scored his first Cup Series victory at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway during his first NASCAR season. In a nine-year career, Montoya had two Cup Series victories.
After 255 NASCAR Cup Series races behind the wheel, Montoya left stock cars to join Team Penske’s Indy car team in 2014.
In 2015, Montoya won the Indianapolis 500 for the second time.
There have been numerous Canadians who have competed in CART, IndyCar and NASCAR and several drivers from Mexico.
The only Mexican NASCAR Cup Series winner is Daniel Suarez, who drove the Trackhouse Chevrolet to victory at Sonoma in 2022.
Van Gisbergen is prepared for the biggest challenge in his racing career as he will compete in all three NASCAR national touring series this season.
It also means a lot to van Gisbergen that he is the latest in a long list of incredible racers that have come from afar to compete in the land of liberty.
“It’s a terrific opportunity,” van Gisbergen told SPEED SPORT. “Since Chicago, it has snowballed into this, and it is pretty exciting. Marcos Ambrose is a great example. He had a similar background coming to America. When I researched how Marcos did it and what he went through, it took him three seasons before he was full time in the Cup Series.
“It’s not going to be an easy transition with me doing this year in Xfinity. It’s going to be a lot of listening and growing pains. It’s a challenge.
“Marcos has been really helpful speeding up my learning process. I want to emulate what he has done by being successful in the Cup Series.”
By coming to NASCAR, van Gisbergen is excited it will now be featured on television in New Zealand.
“Hopefully, this will spark a lot more interest over there,” he said.
Van Gisbergen is very good friends with Team Penske IndyCar Series driver Scott McLaughlin. Both are from New Zealand. Both drivers now live in the Charlotte, N.C., area.
“I’ve been speaking to Scotty a lot,” van Gisbergen said. “He has gone through what I’m going through now. He has been super helpful with getting up to speed here and knowing what to expect.”
Van Gisbergen’s great American adventure is one of the major storylines of the new year, but with his victory on the streets of Chicago on July 2, 2023, he has already written the first chapter.
This story appeared in the Jan 10, 2024 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
