Hailie Deegan completed her first INDY NXT by Firestone test Friday, Oct. 18 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Deegan, who was named Oct. 14 to drive the No. 38 HMD Motorsports entry next season, turned 67 laps around the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course with a top time of 1 minute, 18.9038 seconds during the Chris Griffis Memorial Test.
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But the time sheet wasn’t the priority for Deegan, who has participated in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series in recent seasons. In fact, it wasn’t much of a consideration at all. This test was all about learning, about getting comfortable with the uncomfortable.
She had never been to Indianapolis Motor Speedway before the test. Also, she had no open-wheel formula experience. Add wrestling a car without power steering, and an open cockpit with a halo for driver protection. Again, all new.
“It's definitely odd,” she said. “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.”
Another learning curve for Deegan was understanding the difference between controls on the steering wheel of her INDY NXT machinery compared to other race cars she has driven in the past.
“I was a little overwhelmed at first going out,” she said. “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.”
Deegan has plenty of resources to expedite her adaptation to open-wheel cars.
A big plus is the vast HMD Motorsports team. HMD brought nine drivers to the Griffis test, providing Deegan plenty of data and sounding boards.
“There’s a lot of teammates, a lot of quality drivers, a lot of data that I've never had access to the past six years of my life,” she said. “There's definitely a lot that you can utilize if you're willing to put in the work.
“So, watching a bunch of footage, taking a bunch of notes, going through all the data.”
That’s why her first season is going to be more about learning than results. Especially since she’s joining the INDYCAR development series as it looks poised to have one of its deepest fields in recent memory, with six of the top nine finishers in last year’s standings returning. FIA F2 race winner and FIA F3 champion Dennis Hauger also is racing next season in the series, along with 2024 Indy Pro 2000 champion Lochie Hughes.
A multiyear contract gives Southern California native Deegan, 23, the benefit of taking her time in learning the nuances of an open-wheel car.
“I wrote down my goals already for the year before I even drove the car, and none of them have finishing places on them,” she said. “I think finishing places are kind of dumb when it comes to goals because if you have one big wreck, like first turn and take out 10 cars, it's like, ‘Oh, yeah, we got our top 10 for the year.’
“I want to progress. I want to learn. I want to learn the dynamics of these cars. I don't want to go and say: ‘Oh, I'm tight or loose or understeer, oversteer.’ I don't want to do that when I can say: ‘I want to make this change. I want to do this, that.’ So, really learning the dynamics and everything, understanding every single side of this world, is what my goals are.”