Top 5 Mexican IndyCar drivers of all time

The current IndyCar grid's only Mexican driver happens to be Pato O'Ward. Mexico has produced some great drivers over the last century, including Sergio Perez, Pedro Rodríguez, Héctor Rebaque, and Esteban Gutiérrez. However, none of them ever raced in IndyCar or if they did, they weren't massively successful.

Let's look at the top 5 most successful IndyCar drivers from Mexico.

#5 Josele Garza

Josele Garza was born in 1962 and began his professional racing career in 1980 in the USAC Mini-Indy Series. He was promoted to the CART series in 1981 and raced for 7 years in the series before announcing his retirement from the series in 1987.

His final year in CART was his most successful as the Mexican finished 11th in the championship. His career best result came at the Michigan 500 where he finished P2 in 1986. Garza was also awarded the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year award during the 1981 race at IMS.

#4 Mario Dominguez

Born in 1975, Mario Dominguez began his open-wheel racing career in 1992 as a part-timer in the Indy Lights series. 1999 was his first year as a full-time driver in the Indy Lights series, and he won his very first race, the Grand Prix of Miami. After three years in the junior category as a full-timer, he was promoted to the IndyCar (formerly Champ Car) series for the 2022 season.

His IndyCar career lasted for seven years as he retired at the end of the 2008 season. He won two races during that time, with the 2004 season being his most successful as he finished 5th in the championship.

#3 Michel Jourdain Jr.

The 48-year-old first raced in the IndyCar during the 1996 season as a part-time entry. He joined Payton Coyne Racing as a full-timer for the 1997 season and raced until the end of the 2004 season. He won two races during his IndyCar career and both of them came during the 2003 season when he raced for Team Rahal.

2003 was also his best finish in the IndyCar series as he finished 3rd in the championship. He went on to race in the World Touring Car Championship, World Rally Championship, and NASCAR in the later years of his career and returned for the 2012 and 2013 Indy 500 with RLL.

#2 Pato O'Ward

Formula 1 Testing In Abu Dhabi - Source: Getty

Born in 1999, Pato O'Ward embodies the latest generation of Mexican IndyCar drivers. He currently races for Arrow McLaren and is also the reserve driver for McLaren's F1 team.

O’Ward joined the IndyCar series in 2018 as a part-timer and got his first full-time seat with McLaren in 2020. He has five full-time seasons under his belt as of December 2024 with 7 wins to his name. 2021 was his most successful season as he finished 3rd in the championship.

#1 Adrian Fernandez

Adrian Fernandez started racing at the age of eight and participated in the National championships till the early 90s. He moved to the US to compete in the Indy Lights in 1992 and was soon promoted to the IndyCar series for the 1993 season. He was a part-time driver for the 1993 season and became a full-timer in 1994.

2005 was Fernandez’s last season in IndyCar as he moved to race in the American Le Mans Series. During an IndyCar career that spanned over 13 years, he managed 11 wins. The year 2000 was his most successful year as he finished as the runner-up in the championship. He was also the co-owner of the Fernandez Racing team in IndyCar that competed till 2009.