When Rod Reid launched Force Indy in late 2020, there was a clear mission for the organization: develop black talent behind both the wheel and wrenches and advance from open wheel racing’s lowest rung on the ladder to one day compete in the NTT IndyCar Series.
Black drivers have not had a long history at the top level of open wheel motorsports in America. After the Gold & Glory Sweepstakes ended in the 1930s, Joie Ray was the first black driver granted a racing license by AAA in the late ’40s, but the Kentucky native never qualified at Indianapolis. Nothing happened for black drivers in IndyCar until Willy T. Ribbs‘ unsuccessful effort at Indianapolis in 1985 and then Ribbs finally made the race in 1991 and 1993.
After George Mack ran a full IRL campaign in 2002, there was nothing on the horizon to indicate that black drivers would be back in IndyCar for the foreseeable future until Force Indy arrived.
The plan was to take a driver from USF2000 and move them through the ladder system, hopefully all the way to IndyCar. Myles Rowe started that journey and won for the team at New Jersey Motorsports Park in August of 2021. After narrowly missing out on the 2022 USF2000 title with Pabst Racing, Rowe moved up to USF Pro 2000 in 2023, winning that title on debut with Augie Pabst’s team.
While Rowe was on his way to Indy NXT, Force Indy entered Ernie Francis Jr. in the top category of the IndyCar ladder system. The multi-time Trans Am champion scored one podium finish in two years in the category before moving on to Lamborghini Super Trofeo, allowing Rowe to fill the seat.
In three seasons in Indy NXT, Rowe as of writing has three victories on ovals (two in 2025, one in 2026) and finished fourth in the 2025 Indy NXT points behind Dennis Hauger, Caio Collet and Lochie Hughes. Hauger and Collet moved up to IndyCar for 2026 while Hughes stayed in Indy NXT.
The 2026 season has been a roller coaster for Rowe. A first lap misjudgement at Barber and brake failure at the IMS road course resulted in two DNFs. A mechanical failure in Mid-Ohio qualifying put Rowe on the back row for both races of that weekend, limiting his chances to move forward on a track where overtaking is difficult.
Additionally, two collisions that weren’t Rowe’s fault at Portland resulted in a 22nd-place finish, putting the Georgia native seventh in Indy NXT points with three races remaining in the 2026 championship.
Even counting Barber as Rowe’s fault, if the other failures or collisions don’t happen then Rowe is likely fifth in points. With some good fortune, maybe fourth is his ceiling. However, that position in points is still behind the three rookies of Enzo Fittipaldi, Nikita Johnson and Tymek Kucharczyk. As it stands right now, four rookies are ahead of Rowe, the fourth being Alessandro de Tullio who has eight pole positions.
That’s not a dig at Rowe, that’s just what the standings say.
This leads to an uncomfortable conversation about Rowe that many will not want to have. In nearly three full seasons of Indy NXT, Rowe has yet to score a pole position, has one front row start in 42 races (Portland 2025) and scored four podiums on road and street courses (Detroit 2026, IMS road course 2025 x2 and Portland 2025).
When looking at IndyCar opportunities for Rowe, team owners will not be looking at a third-year driver in Indy NXT to put onto the starting grid, especially ones that are 26 years old and don’t have significant sponsorship dollars behind them as has been rumored about Rowe for 2027.
Want proof? There are several drivers competing full time in Indy NXT in 2026 that have three or more years of Indy NXT experience besides Rowe. Salvador de Alba and Bryce Aron have three seasons each, Josh Pierson has three and a half seasons under his belt while James Roe has four and a half seasons behind the wheel of an IL-15.
Of the 72 drivers that have started an IndyCar race since the start of 2021, only three of them competed full time in Indy Lights/NXT for at least three seasons. Jacob Abel, Dalton Kellett and Ryan Norman make up that club with a combined zero top-10 finishes in 59 IndyCar races. Abel is the only one of them that has started an IndyCar race in the last four years.
Abel got onto the IndyCar grid in 2025 with a large sponsorship check going to Dale Coyne Racing, and a similar-sized check will be needed to put Rowe onto the IndyCar grid full time for 2027. If a full time seat is not available, then a still-sizeable check will need to manifest itself to put Rowe into an entry for the 2027 Indianapolis 500, because another year of Indy NXT for Rowe won’t help his career.
That’s not to say that Rowe is a bad driver. Far from it. Rowe has shown, especially on ovals, that he is capable of navigating traffic and that he is comfortable at higher speeds that tracks like World Wide Technology Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway demand. The racecraft Rowe has displayed on ovals should make everyone take note of his ability to navigate the high banks.
Rowe will likely find a very steady ride competing in sports cars for 2027, a best case scenario being if an LMP2 team needs a steady set of hands to be their professionally-rated driver to pair up with their mandated amateur.
There shouldn’t be any sense of failure in Rowe being able to win in Indy NXT but unable to get to IndyCar full time barring a major sponsorship check. Rowe has been the most successful driver in Force Indy’s brief history, and there are no guarantees of success in racing. Rowe moving on from Indy NXT is necessary for his and the team’s development.
However, there is a major problem on the horizon for Force Indy that cannot be overlooked. Once Rowe leaves Indy NXT, there will be no black drivers in the IndyCar ladder system for the team to put behind the wheel.
So where does the team go in the future for drivers? The closest black driver to getting in the ladder system is California kart racer Johnie Stamps who is old enough to race in USF Juniors in 2027. Beyond Stamps, the next two drivers that would have a shot would be Grayson Walcott and Zayne Burgess. However, Walcott is two years away from being old enough to compete in USF Juniors with Burgess being a further two years younger than Walcott.
That’s where Reid’s other major venture outside of Force Indy comes into play. NXG Youth Motorsports (Nexgeneracers) introduces motorsports, particularly karting, to young minority drivers in their early teenage years.
Force Indy can use drivers from NXG to pivot the organization into becoming a karting team in SuperKarts! USA and other karting sanctioning bodies. Those drivers can then move into USF Juniors and USF2000 if their results in the karting championships are sufficient.
The change will not be easy. There will be a large amount of corporate sponsorship dollars needed to put the program together and results are not guaranteed. Patience will need to be in abundance as the program goes through growing pains.
That pivot might be what’s needed to bring more black drivers into racing, and the similarities between Force Indy and their mission and F1 Academy are striking.
It would take a minor miracle to get Rowe into IndyCar, much like it will take a minor miracle to get any driver from the current F1 Academy grid into a proper Formula 1 race seat. What F1 Academy and Force Indy are doing now is laying down the foundation so that the fruits of their labor can be on display several years down the road.
Nothing will take away from what Force Indy has achieved since first racing in 2021. That was the starting point in getting black drivers back to IndyCar. Now it’s time to look at the grassroots level and start building a stronger foundation using assets that the team can access.
That will be the best way to get IndyCar’s next black racer on the grid and it will help promote IndyCar to a more diverse audience that will have a possible future star to cheer for.
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.