Celebrating the 2024 INDY NXT Championship with the Champion – Louis Foster of Andretti Global

ROGER:

This is Roger Penske and you're listening to Pit Pass Indie, sponsored by Penske Truck Rental.

BRUCE:

IndyCar fans, it's time to start your engines. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, a production of Evergreen Podcast. I'm your host, Bruce Martin, a journalist who regularly covers the NTT IndyCar Series. Our goal at Pit Pass Indy is to give racing fans and insiders view of the exciting world of the NTT IndyCar Series in a fast-paced podcast featuring interviews with the biggest names in the sport. I bring nearly 40 years of experience covering IndyCar and NASCAR, working for such media brands as NBCSports.com, SI.com, ESPN SportsTicker, Sports Illustrated, AutoWeek and SpeedSport. So let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental, as we continue our fourth season of giving IndyCar fans a behind-the-scenes look at the NTT IndyCar Series and the drivers and teams that compete in the Indianapolis 500. Now that IndyCar is in its off-season, it gives us a chance to take a deeper look at some of the storylines from 2024. One of those was IndyNex champion Louis Foster of Andretti Global. The 21-year-old driver from Oldham, United Kingdom had a spectacular season with eight wins, six poles, 13 top fives, and 14 top tens in 14 races in 2024. With 639 points, he finished 122 points ahead of Jacob Abel of Abel Motorsports. A two-time nominee for the Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award, Foster moved from his native Great Britain to America, intending to race an IndyCar after a successful career in European single-seaters. Foster has raced and won in almost every series in which he has competed, including Formula Regional Oceania, USF Pro 2000, MRF Challenge, Euro Formula Open, British F3, British F4, and Genetta Junior. Foster has racing roots. His grandfather, Alan Foster, wrote the original rulebook for karting in the 1960s, and Louis' father, Nick, drove rally cars and competed in the British Touring Car Championship, ultimately leading to Louis' successful racing career. Outside of racing, Louis enjoys watching the Netflix series The Crown and thinking about the Roman Empire. His favorite race car driver is James Hunt. Let's get to know more about the 2024 IndyNext champion, Louis Foster, as he joins me for this exclusive PitPass Indy interview. Let's get to know the 2024 Indynex champion. It's Louis Foster Andretti Global, winner of eight races, seven polls in the 2024 Indynex season. Louis, congratulations on your championship. When you look back at the year, how do you assess how well everything went with the team?

LOUIS:

Yeah, firstly, thank you. Yeah, I think this was the first year I'd ever done a championship two years in a row, back to back. I always progress after one year. So I think going into this year, we had a very good understanding as a team and as a driver of the areas we could improve on. And that was our key points. You know, we looked through the year as a whole, last year as a whole, and kind of went through everything with a fine toothpick, just to kind of see what we could do different, how we could do things better and just dominate this year. So yeah, we just worked really, really hard over the winter on those specific things and those specific tracks and then also specific things in my driving. And yeah, it's gone really well, obviously. I mean, we had a little bit of a rough run at the start, not too rough. I mean, fifth and a seventh isn't the end of the world, but it wasn't the best thing in the world. But yeah, as soon as we could get qualifying sorted and kind of confidence back up on top, we were good to go.

BRUCE:

And when you look back at the year, there were more ovals on the schedule. Like I'd said the other day, there used to be any next schedules where there weren't any ovals on the schedule, or maybe just one. But in order to prepare a driver properly to make the next step up to IndyCar, they need to learn the oval racing. How valuable was that to have a couple more oval races added to the schedule in 2024?

LOUIS:

Yeah, massively. I think, especially with the addition of the National Super Speedway, We, obviously, Indynex no longer does the Freedom 100, which I would love to see back, but the best, the closest thing we have now is the National Superspeedway, which I think is a good kind of feel-ish for, like, kind of like 500 racing. A lot more drafting involves. So, yeah, but as a whole, I mean, every event we go to is really different, and it makes it really interesting to go there, because there's always something new to learn and something new to do. And yeah, like I still feel like somewhat of a rookie on oval racing. But, you know, there's always more to learn. But the more races I can get under my belt on an oval before I step up to the big leagues, the better.

BRUCE:

What is the biggest style difference when you get out there on the ovals? There's a lot of times in the next drivers will get out there and sometimes we'll see some really close packs of racing.

LOUIS:

Yeah, I think, you mean between road courses and ovals?

BRUCE:

Yes, on the ovals, it's, you know, a different skill set. What was the most dramatic thing that jumped out at you?

LOUIS:

I think, firstly, the importance of the car setup just cannot be understated. On a road course, you can kind of... deal with what you've got on an oval. If it's not good, you're going to be lost. It doesn't matter who you are. So that was probably the biggest thing is the hardest thing on ovals isn't the actual driving, it's getting the setup right. If the setup's right, you're going to look like a champ. But if it's not good, then you're going to struggle. So I think that's the biggest thing is getting a good relationship with your engineer and your team and really working on the car and making sure you're happy with it and making sure it's in the window.

BRUCE:

You drive for Andretti Global and they have a deep engineering staff in IndyCar and other forms of racing. So how valuable is that to have all of those resources, not only on the IndyNext operation, but throughout the entire organization?

LOUIS:

Yeah, I mean, obviously it's a huge organization and everyone has their own departments. We don't get a ton of engineering input from the Indianex side from other parts of the Andretti Global team as a whole. The Indianex engineers that we have and the crew on the Indianex side of Andretti are just phenomenal. So yeah, they're just the best in the business.

BRUCE:

But from time to time, you have input from Michael Andretti, the team owner, and maybe even Rob Edwards, the CEO. What's that like to get experience from those guys?

LOUIS:

Yeah, I mean, obviously, they're there for all of our qualifying sessions and races, keeping an eye on the ground on the floor and just kind of seeing what's going on. But yeah, I mean, obviously, to have the experience of those guys who have been in this for years and years and years and Michael, who's also a driver, you know, for example, this year when we went to Milwaukee, I was, you know, kind of picking his brains all weekend trying to figure out how best to go about as you know, he's won quite a few races there. So, um, Yeah, it's nice to have that. It's great to have that relationship. And yeah, it's enjoyable.

BRUCE:

You said in your championship press conference that you are talking to teams for next year. It's going to be a very busy offseason. How stressful is that to try to put together a deal that could get you up to IndyCar?

LOUIS:

Yeah, it's pretty stressful, but I'm lucky I have a great group of people behind me, you know, with my family and my manager. You know, they do a lot of the brunt work for me. You know, I do the work on track and they do the work off track, so to speak. But, you know, I'm confident that we should get something. I think that winning Indie Project 1000 and then Indie Next, coming over to America, doing the whole ladder, or sorry, half ladder, but winning everything I've done. So I would have hoped that that would be enough to get an Indie Car opportunity. And I'm sure it will be. So I have faith in the progression tier that Indie Car offers. And we'll see what happens.

BRUCE:

Also, with IndyCar getting a charter system coming in, I asked you after the championship press conference whether that makes it more difficult for an IndyNex driver to move up to the top because some teams that had five cars this year are only going to be able to have three charters. How do you view that, and how it might possibly affect your ability to land a ride?

LOUIS:

Yeah, I mean, it's a strange one. I think, firstly, for the series, it's a great thing, the charter system. To have that continuity is a great thing for IndyCar as a whole. I don't know how much it really affects. I mean, it would only affect the Chip Ganassi cars, really, because everyone else runs maximum three cars. There's no other team that runs three or more than Chip this year. So, yeah, I don't think it will make it much more difficult, but that's with an asterisk. We'll have to wait and see. I know that there's not many seats left and there's a lot of drivers trying to get in. So, I think it's hard either way. It's never easy to get into IndyCar. But I, my gut feeling is I don't think it's gonna, has made it much harder. I mean, you look at Lina's two years ago. There was no charter system then, he couldn't get a ride. You know, and even Christian did get a ride last year, but I don't know how close that was. But you know, there has been times where drivers haven't been able to move up immediately. So I think it's just hard to get in as a whole. I don't think the charter system has too much to play in that.

BRUCE:

Every time I look at the paddock in D&D Next Series, it's all drivers relatively all the same age and sometimes they hang out together. What's it like with you and your fellow drivers?

LOUIS:

Yeah, I have a pretty good relationship with most of my drivers, I think, or the drivers I race against. I think at the end of the day, we're all here chasing our dreams, trying to do the best we can, and I think it's quite easy to tell which ones can kind of... There's a difference between on-track and off-track, you know? On-track, I'll race anyone as hard as possible, but off-track, you know, it's different. So, yeah, I've got a good relationship, especially with my teammates. And yeah, they've been a pleasure to race this year, pretty much everyone.

BRUCE:

But is it also a little bit of a kinship in the fact that you know that they're all there with one goal, and that's to get up to IndyCar, and the chances are really only a couple of drivers are going to be able to... advanced to that. A lot of the others will have to find another form of racing someday or a different profession. So in some ways, is there a little bit of a kinship that you feel for not many of us are able to make the jump up to IndyCar?

LOUIS:

Yeah, for sure. I mean, yeah, we're all competing week in, week out to beat each other and, you know, tensions get high and emotions rise. So, you know, there are times at which the things can boil over. I had my fair share of that last year. with some drivers, but, um, you know, this year has been pretty plain sailing, you know, pretty much everyone I've got on with really, really well. Um, and, uh, I mean, had no incidents with anyone on track, so maybe that would have been a bit different had, had we had some incidents, but, um, yeah, it's been, uh, it's been fun to be with them all. Um, and yeah, I wish them all the best.

BRUCE:

Is there a couple of drivers that you really enjoy racing with?

LOUIS:

Yeah, I think the drivers that give the most respect. You know, if I'm raced cleanly, I will race others cleanly. You know, you get what you're given. And what you give, someone else will give back to you. So I think, you know, drivers like Jamie, Kaio, you know, they're very clean drivers, good drivers, and you always know where you stand with them. You never expect anything dumb from them. So they're really fun to race against. And to be honest, like I said, most of the grid, there's only a few, short name, a few drivers that, you know, aren't as good in that aspect.

BRUCE:

We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

WILL:

This is Will Power of Team Penske and you're listening to Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

BRUCE:

Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental. And now, here's the rest of my interview with Indy Next Champion, Louis Foster of Andretti Global for Pit Pass Indy. So how did it all start for you? How did racing start for you?

LOUIS:

Okay, so my grandfather in the 50s or 60s, he wrote the helped to write the initial rule book for go-karting in the UK, the blue book as we call it. So he was involved in motorsport that way, and he was the clerk of the course of a lot of tracks in the UK back in the day. And then from that my dad picked up racing, loved cars, my dad did rallying back in the day in the 80s. And then, yeah, when I turned of age to be old enough to hop in a go-kart around six, I think I was, hopped in a go-kart in the UK, and then did that for the best part of four or five years, and then started jumping into some cars. Ginetta Junior's in the UK, and then F4, and then worked my way up. But it's a family thing, as I think most racing drivers are. It's usually a family thing. Your dad threw you in a go-kart when you were young, and you just loved it.

BRUCE:

Who were your racing heroes?

LOUIS:

I would say my racing heroes growing up, probably Alain Prost was one of my favourites. Jenson Button, I remember watching that Brawn car in 2009. Yeah, I mean, drivers like, I mean, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti as well, you know, like some of those, the boys who came over to IndyCar from their home countries, just done a phenomenal job. And, you know, it, you know, with Scott, especially still on the grid, it's just inspirational.

BRUCE:

When you brought up the name Jensen Button a couple of times in the last couple of years, he's driven the Project 91 car in NASCAR. And when you sit and think Formula One World Champion out there driving a stock car around, how cool did you think that was?

LOUIS:

Really cool. When I first came to America, you know, NASCAR, you didn't really think much of it, you know what I mean? But as the years have gone by, I love NASCAR. It's awesome. It's my favorite thing to do in my spare time on a simulator is just hop on a NASCAR around some random track and hack. So it's, they're really fun cars to drive. But yeah, to see a world champion ripping around a stock car is, yeah, it's cool.

BRUCE:

A lot of the drivers like Montoya and other people who have come from open-wheel racing say the one thing they liked best about driving a NASCAR stock car is you can slide it. And to have that sensation, how long does that take to get used to as a race driver?

LOUIS:

Well, I started out, the first car I raced was a small, basically the British version of a Mazda MX-5. It was 105 horsepower, small little Ford engine on road tires. It was called the Ginetta Junior. So that thing moved around for days. So I'm very much used to that. You know, the blocks would move and the tires would get better as they wore. So old tires were better than new tires because you would wear off the tread, because obviously they were road tires. So I grew up on slippery stuff and slippery surfaces, especially in the UK. I mean, it rains six days a week there. So, you know, I'm very much used to kind of the sensation of not having grip. And that's just how I grew up. So, I mean, if I were to hop into a car like that, I'm sure I would enjoy it and I'm sure I'd kind of get used to it pretty fast.

BRUCE:

What are the other sports you enjoy following and who are your favorite teams?

LOUIS:

I don't support football, if that's what you're going to ask. Unfortunately, I'm the one British person that doesn't really care too much about Premier League. So not that. I like basketball, enjoy basketball here in the US. Obviously, I'm going to go with the Pacers, hometown heroes. So yeah, they've done really well this year especially. But yeah, I mean, I don't watch a ton of sports. Obviously I'm invested in our own. So I do a lot of watching back of our races and the IndyCar races and then stuff like that. But yeah, I think basketball was probably my favorite sport. And then rugby, like rugby. I've been a rugby boy growing up. I had to stop doing rugby for racing because I kept breaking fingers and dislocating stuff. So I had to stop doing rugby, which is a shame, but it's worth the sacrifice.

BRUCE:

And what do you think of American football, the NFL?

LOUIS:

At first, I just saw it as kind of a spin on rugby, as I would. And I kind of was like, oh, they stop every 20 seconds and there's always these ads all the time. And it was like, ah, boring. But actually the technical side of it is what I enjoy most about American football. Like watch it, like I'll sit there and watch a game completely sober, just watching what's happening. And I really enjoy kind of like the technical plays that they do. That's really enjoyable for me. And also just how athletic those guys are. They're insane. Yeah, that's a fun sport. I haven't watched a ton of them. I think my first ever game I watched was the Super Bowl in 2022. That was the first full American football game I watched. I think it was the Rams versus someone else. I forget now. But it's a fun sport. It's a fun sport.

BRUCE:

There's a growing international culture in Indianapolis, but a lot of it is because of racing. So what's it like to have all these drivers from different countries? We've got The Scandinavians, Marcus Eriksson and Christian Rasmussen and people like that, Christian Lungard, they all hang together. And then we have other drivers. And what's it like just when you sit and see all of these different drivers from around the world and they all live in Indianapolis because that's, they're chasing their dream.

LOUIS:

No, it's great. I mean, I moved to India about a year ago. And I'm close friends with a lot of the drivers, especially both the Christians. So yeah, I spend a lot of time with them. We know we go play pickleball all the time. We go and go for dinner and stuff like that. And also a lot of us train at PitFit, so I see a lot of faces there every day. We get to chat about racing stuff or life stuff really. So it's nice to see such a vast culture of different people. I think obviously predominantly it's either Americans, Europeans or people from Australia slash New Zealand, Oceania. So yeah, it's a fun environment.

BRUCE:

When you come from a city that's had so much great international history, such as London, and then you move to Indianapolis, what was it like? It's pretty much a quintessential Midwestern city in the United States, but what were some of the things that surprised you and what were some of the things that you really liked?

LOUIS:

Yeah, I mean, I had kind of an ease into Indianapolis when I first moved to America. I was living in Los Angeles for the first two years. And obviously living there but racing around. And then yeah, moving to Indy for the first time. I mean, like I said, I'd been there quite a lot because we didn't see the team and stuff like that. So I've been to Indy a decent amount before I moved. And What I quite enjoy is just the calmness of it. You know, there's not a ton going on, which is nice. It allows you to focus on your job at hand, focus on your training, no distractions. And yeah, it's just an easy, easy life. It's a really nice area, safe, clean. You know, I can't really ask for much more. It's a pleasure to be there.

BRUCE:

Now, there is traffic in Indianapolis too, but nothing like LA.

LOUIS:

Nothing like LA, yeah, trust me. Yeah, when people are like, oh, rush out of here, I'm like, oh, you have no idea.

BRUCE:

So what are some of the other things that you like to do?

LOUIS:

Spare time. What do I do? I do a bit of simulator racing. I have a group of guys that I spend a lot of time on the simulator with. I like to go and travel and see friends a lot. Whenever I've got a spare weekend, I'll hop on a flight and see some friends, a lot of friends out back in California. So I try and go and see them quite a lot. And then honestly, training takes up a lot of my day. You're waking up and then training for a few hours, eating right, and then recovery stuff. So only really the evenings I get time off. So a few TV shows here and there and a few video games just to ease the evenings. But yeah, training, especially in the off-season now, it's full force. So it's a real day job.

BRUCE:

How many times have you been to the Indianapolis 500? Three times. And what did you think? What was your first experience going to the Indianapolis 500?

LOUIS:

Yeah, the first time we were in the grandstands, you know, no special passes, no sweets, which I loved because I wanted to do it raw and feel as a fan. The privilege of not being an IndyCar is you get to experience that, you know, and I hope that I don't have to experience that again, because I'll be racing it for the foreseeable future. But it was nuts. I mean, I remember the first time I just looked down the pit straight as the race started, and you just get goosebumps, you know, when they're singing the national anthem, as the cars peel out of turn four, three abreast, and everyone's on their feet cheering, like... and the amount of people there is just unbelievable. And it is the greatest spectacle in racing. There's no doubt about that. I grew up as a Formula 1 boy, obviously being in Europe, following that a lot more than I'd followed IndyCar. But yeah, since being here, I can wholeheartedly tell you that IndyCar racing is a million times better than Formula 1.

BRUCE:

How many Formula 1 races did you get a chance to attend in person?

LOUIS:

A decent amount. I think a lot of the time it's easier to watch it on TV, you get to see a bit more, especially with Formula One. But at Silverstone, obviously, went to Silverstone quite a few times. I'm a proud BRDC member, the British Racing Drivers Club, so they've got a clubhouse there and, you know, I usually attend whenever I've got a free weekend and I'm home, I'll go and attend the British Grand Prix. And then, raced alongside Formula One in 2021 in Euroformula during COVID, there was some mix-up with races and stuff, so we ended up racing alongside Formula One that weekend. And that was a cool experience, because I thought my car was fast that year, and then I watched Formula One cars, and I'm like, oh, never mind.

BRUCE:

Wrapping up here with Louis Foster, the 2024 and the next series champion, you have great reason to celebrate a very great season, but at some point, when does the celebration end, and when do you focus forward? Now.

LOUIS:

Honestly, now, I mean, like, for me, I've always been to the mindset that it's never enough. You know, it's obviously amazing this year. It's been awesome. And I can't thank everyone enough who supported me throughout it. But it's immediately on to the next step. I mean, the earlier I start focusing for IndyCar, the better I'll be when I get there. So, yeah, back tomorrow, back in the gym tomorrow morning.

BRUCE:

Well, Louis Foster, congratulations on an outstanding 2024 Indy Next Series Championship. Hopefully you land that ride in IndyCar and we'll see you out there racing all the NTT IndyCar Series races in 2025. And thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental. Thank you. And that puts a checkered flag on this edition of Pit Pass Indy. We want to thank our guest, 2024 Indynext champion Louis Foster, for joining us on today's podcast. Along with loyal listeners like you, our guest helped make Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental your path to victory lane in IndyCar. On the highways, the raceways and every pit stop in between, Penske Truck Rental keeps you moving forward. Gain ground with Penske. For more IndyCard coverage, follow me at X, previously known as Twitter, at BruceMartin, one word, uppercase B, uppercase M, underscore 500. This has been a production of Evergreen Podcast. A special thanks to our production team, executive producers are Bridget Coyne and Gerardo Orlando. Recordings and edits were done by me, Bruce Martin, and final mixing was done by Dave Douglas. Learn more at evergreenpodcast.com. Until next time, be sure to keep it out of the wall.