Myles Rowe: trailblazing championship leader with one race to save his career – at Indianapolis

He set up a crowdfunding page to keep his resurrected career alive, and managed to secure a seat with top USF2000 team Pabst racing – but with only enough money for the first two events of the championship.

Despite his St Petersburg shunt, Rowe has won two of the season’s four races and leads the championship, but the money is about to run out. After this weekend’s event in Indianapolis, he could well be in the extraordinary position of heading the standings, but having no seat in which to continue his campaign – and keep the dream of reaching the Indy 500 alive.

Recalling heading into February’s St Petersburg season-opener, Rowe emphasises the tension he has had to deal with at each race so far.

“The main difficulty was realising, ‘Even if I execute, if things go weird – like they can in racing – I could just lose my whole career,” he says.

“It was less pressure and more just stressful – you know how racing is, it can go any way. Every session is like: “I just need to get through this.’

“It sucks – weekend to weekend, you know your career could be done.”

Drivers are often seen fighting for their career on a race-by-race basis but its rare to see a championship leader with such an uncertain future.

After that misdemeanour with Thomas Nepveu in the first Florida race, Rowe’s Pabst team put in the rapid and painstaking work to rebuild his almost completely destroyed car.

“Josef [Newgarden] messaged me just last weekend, telling me “Great job, keep it going”,” says Rowe. “He’ll keep me motivated, he’s so high energy.

“It’s really cool to see someone like that support you – same thing with Scott [McLaughlin], all the Penske boys. Will Power will call me just to check in. He’s been a good mentor for me, mentality-wise.”

Willy T Ribbs, the first black person to qualify for an Indy 500 and now F1’s ambassador for diversity and inclusion, has also been banging the drum on Rowe’s behalf, telling him he would “knock some heads together” in the grand prix paddock.

With all this support, you’d be forgiven think Rowe couldn’t lose, but the reality is he’s still a long way from being able to make it to the second or even third tier of the IndyCar racing ladder.

Rowe believes that both the work of Force Indy in supporting ethnic minorities, and the wider need for junior drivers to be financially supported, is now stronger than ever. He also emphasises that he does not believe there are issues of racism within motor sport itself.

“The problem lies in history, it doesn’t lie in the present,” he says. “Ethnic minorities that were pushed down now lack of the same sort of financial status [as many white people in Western society].

“In a sport that requires so much financial support, we’re seeing the consequences of those actions in history really happen.

“It’s not even an issue of race at this point – there needs to be an unspoken law that does not require drivers to bring financial support – right now, if we don’t have the support, we cannot drive.

“What has already happened in history, we can’t change. It’s the present and the future that needs to be changed.”