VAN GISBERGEN FOR INDIANAPOLIS 500
Motor racing’s unchallenged 'can-do' man, Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks, is dreaming big – really big – and his dream could see his star protege Shane van Gisbergen racing the reality of the Indianapolis 500.
The mercurial Marks, a man who has never seen a motor sporting pie he doesn’t want to stick his finger into – from NASCAR to MotoGP – is in the early stages of pondering, plotting and planning a Trackhouse one-off assault on one of the sport’s crown jewels in 2026.
He wants and needs to make an impact at the event described as 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing' and, not surprisingly, the man he has in mind to occupy the hot seat at the Indy 500 is his most adaptable, fast learning and quietly but fiercely competitive driver.
It's Kiwi top gun Shane van Gisbergen.
“I don't think that Trackhouse will ever be complete without us competing in the world's greatest open-wheel race," says Marks.
“Obviously, we won't be competing in the race in 2025, but there are discussions ongoing about how to make something like that happen."
If you think that Marks is just dreaming, you’re seriously underestimating the 43-year-old former racer, who founded Trackhouse as recently as 2021 with his fellow co-owner Armando Christian Perez.
Perez, no relation to the sacked Red Bull grand prix driver, is probably more famous for his music moniker, Pitbull. But, when it comes to the racing, he’s the silent partner.
So, in just a few short years Marks, backed in part by Pitbull’s $150 million-plus in assets, has managed to turn Trackhouse from a no-name outfit of wannabes into probably the most dynamic and fearless racing team in the world.
Marks may be a dreamer, but then he goes out and makes those dreams come true without seeming to raise a sweat. You can’t turn around at a racing circuit these days without seeing Trackhouse somewhere in the mix.
In 2025 the team will field three cars in the NASCAR Cup series with full-time series rookie van Gisbergen joining incumbents Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez.
SvG will also be on duty with a Trackhouse-entered Chevrolet Corvette GT3 in IMSA’s Daytona 24-Hour sports car classic at the end of January, where he will share the car with fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin.
And a Le Mans outing somewhere down the line isn't out of the question.
Alongside NASCAR and GT cars, Trackhouse also has its own MotoGP team, running as a satellite operation for the factory Aprilia effort with Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez on the bikes.
However, despite all this and the feverish expansion of Trackhouse into whichever category seems to capture Marks’ attention at any given moment, there’s an itch he’s yet to scratch. And that itch just happens to be the biggest race on the planet, the annual 500 miles of eye-popping speed, car annihilating carnage, soul destroying disappointment and, for the chosen ones, sheer euphoria that is the Indianapolis 500.
His love for the race tracks back to when Marks first attended the Indy 500 in 1995 as a wide-eyed 14-year-old and decided, there and then, that motor racing was going to be his lot in life. And, as we’ve seen over the decades since, when Marks dares to dream, well, they tend to come true thanks to his his sheer belief and determination.
“I was so moved and so captivated by the Indianapolis 500, and it was really that moment that I knew that the racetrack was going to be home for me, in some capacity, my entire life,” Marks says.
“The Indianapolis 500 really cemented the passion for motorsports that I had and put me on a path to start thinking about it as a career.”
Now the dreams of that 14-year-old are getting closer to fruition as he’s already in preliminary talks with potential teams and sponsors about a one-off Indy 500 attempt in 2026.
“It's very high on my personal list, and then I’ve got to sort out all of the business and commercial and partnerships and all that worked out, to figure out how to do it in a meaningful and competitive way," he says.
“Certainly it is a dream of mine to have Trackhouse represented in that race."
"There are continuing discussions. It's no small feat. It's something that we've looked at as a company for a number of years."
Marks has already tapped the Indy 500 knowledge banks of his mates Chip Ganassi and Michael Shank, co-owner of Meyer Shank Racing, to get the inside mail on what it takes to compete at the Brickyard.
And he has a driver already in mind.
It's no surprise the focus is on van Gisbergen - because, as Marks explains, “I’ve never seen a driver learn so fast.”
The Kiwi, who will race full-time in the main game NASCAR championship this year and will also make a series of high-profile starts in the second-tier XFinity series, is still learning the art of ovals. But he’s getting there, and getting there fast, and it’s this trait that has Marks seeing him as the man most likely for the Indy 500 seat
Marks even flew to New Zealand in the holiday season to watch SvG in action racing a sprintcar, which is not really a 'I was just in the neighbourhood so I just popped in' kinda move.
He already knows that SvG has won in open-wheeled cars, capturing the New Zealand Grand Prix a couple of years ago in a one-off run, kicked some serious butt in rallying in Australia and New Zealand, and excelled in sports cars over the years including at Bathurst, Spa and Daytona.
Put van Gisbergen in a car and he’ll do the job. Even one travelling at 340km/h around the mighty Brickyard.
If it happens, and no-one is betting against it, it will see van Gisbergen lining up against his epic Supercars rival Scott McLaughlin, who has proved his IndyCar credentials by leading at the 500 and winning for Roger Penske.
So Justin Marks has a dream and SvG is the man he believes can make his Indy 500 dream come true.
