Myles Rowe on aiming for IndyCar dream: 'My career feels like a movie'

“Because I have to put myself out of my body just to see it. I’m in my natural environment now, which is crazy. But then I think about it and it’s like: ‘I’m really here.’ It’s just super cool.”

However, Rowe emphasises that until Penske’s positive intervention, the difficulty of making any progress in racing made envisioning being at this stage in racing nigh on impossible.

The IndyCar’s CEO’s funds are paired with the vision of Rod Reid, who founded Indianapolis’s diversity-driven Nexgeneracers racing programme for juniors and acts as the head of the ‘Force Indy’ racing team, now paired with Indy NXT squad HMD Motorsports in Rowe’s case. These forces coming together have helped to facilitate Rowe’s obvious talent.

“Because of how hard it was to even get a singular test in USF2000 [the first step on the IndyCar ladder, equivalent to F4] when I was younger, I just didn’t even picture myself in the other series,” he says.

“And so USFPro2000 [F3 equivalent] was pretty crazy, and it’s the same thing here. I used to look up to where am I am now and wonder ‘What’s it like?’

“And now to be close to the top part IndyCar, it’s definitely surreal.”

Things have only become more ‘Cloud Nine’ for Rowe when, in recognition of his achievements, the UK’s Sky F1 channel – which broadcasts both the IndyCar and the Indy NXT championships – secretly organised for him to meet his hero and double F1 champ Fernando Alonso.

Visiting the Aston Martin F1 base, Rowe thought he was going for a relatively run-of-the-mill factory tour, until he realised something was up.

“The first person we saw when we came through the doors was Lawrence Stroll, and we saw Lance [Stroll] idling through hallway,” he says laughing.

“All these photographers came out, and I was super confused like: ‘What’s going on?’

“Then when Fernando came out, my very first thought was ‘What the f*** are you doing here?!’ I thought he was supposed to be on his way to a race!”

“He was just really genuine, I thought it was gonna be tough to talk to him at first, or like this character would take over – but it was just like having a conversation with any normal person.”

Back in the day job after meeting his idol, and despite the strong competition in the field, Rowe has no doubts about his ability to do battle at the sharp end.

“I expect to be in the fight,” he asserts. “It’s just about keeping it clean in qualifying, the first half of the race, protecting the tyres, not locking up, not going off the track, hitting the wall, causing a red flag in qualifying – there’s a lot of variables!

“I think people know that I’m going to be fast. Put me in the car in the car, and I’ll be fine. So we can say that, but we know it’s such a tough series.”

However sensible it is to play it down, there is a sense of destiny in the way Rowe’s miraculous career rebirth has played out thus far. For all the clichés, he’s just trying to keep his feet on the ground while still dreaming big.

“I just want to live it, I don’t want to squander it,” he says. “Every time I put it [reaching the top of motor sport] into words, it makes it more legitimate.

“80% of kids in class are going to want to race cars, fly planes or a spaceship. And I’m doing that at a very high level now. Furthermore, people want me here – I’ve had help along the way.

“I do think I’ve earned it, and I know I will capitalise on the opportunity. I just try to keep it one day at a time.”