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Hailie Deegan announced midway through October that she will be racing for HMD Motorsports in the 2025 Indy NXT season. Despite the holiday season and with most drivers traveling, Deegan is focused on her debut and preparing for it. She posted a story of a Formula Regional Americas Championship Car on her Instagram account.
Hailie Deegan drove for the Tony Driver Development team in the 2024 FR Americas Championship for the season's final two races at the Circuit of the Americas. The 23-year-old scored just one point in the two FR Americas races she participated in. She finished P11 in COTA Race 1 and P10 in COTA Race 2.
She was at the Sebring International Raceway with the team and took the team car around for testing and preparation for the 2025 season. In the IG story, Deegan tagged @monsterenergy (her sponsor) and @tonydriverdevelopment (her FR America team).
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The Tony Driver Development team's official Instagram account also posted a picture of Deegan's car from the test. The caption read,
“Winter testing continues with @hailiedeegan back in the #framericas car preparing for 2025.”
The FR Americas Championship was Hailie Deegan’s first open-wheel race. The American took the Indy NXT Chris Griffis Memorial test in October at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. She completed a total of 67 laps around the 14-turn road course; her fastest time was 1:18:9038.
“Little overwhelmed at first”: Hailie Deegan on her first outing in the Indy NXT car
Hailie Deegan is the daughter of motocross rider Brian Deegan. Following her father's footsteps, Hailie started her racing career driving in the dirt. She raced in the different categories of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. Deegan made her Asphalt racing debut in 2017 and has raced in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and Truck series. However, she never raced in an open-wheel car, making the Indy test a little overwhelming.
Hailie Deegan said, (via Indy NXT.com)
“It's definitely odd. I could tell you that it's different not having a windshield. That’s something when you race at Daytona, you don't think about. On this side of things, you feel like your head's going to rip off. That’s something that I'm definitely having to get used to. Not having the windshield and being able to really feel everything is unique.”
“I was a little overwhelmed at first going out. So, I'm like, ‘OK, pit road button.’ And then there's these lights flashing at me, warning alarms. And I'm like, ‘I need to bypass those real quick.’ And then looking at shift light, there’s just a lot going on. I feel after the second session, I figured out what is important or don't worry about that, bypass that. So, I'm getting the hang of it.”
HMD is a successful team with 10 cars on the Indy NXT grid for the 2024 season. Christian Rasmussen won the championship with the team in 2023. Caio Collet finished 3rd in the 2024 championship, becoming the rookie of the year. Deegan has some great drivers on her team from whom she can learn a lot in her debut season.
