WATCH: Pato O'Ward attracts a sea of IndyCar fans at Arrow McLaren event before Long Beach GP
Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward's pit garage at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach was swarmed with fans on race day before the event began. Motorsport reporter Marshall Pruett uploaded a video of it on social media platform X on April 13, 2025.
O'Ward is arguably one of the most famous IndyCar drivers on the grid at the moment with many Mexican fans traveling across to the US to attend races and support their national driver. The Arrow McLaren driver has more followers than IndyCar’s official account on social media at 801,000 i.e. a little over 90,000 more followers.
As the mechanics worked on O'Ward's #5 Arrow McLaren in the pit garage, the fans lined up around the same to get the experience, and in hopes of seeing the Mexican. In the video uploaded by Pruett, fans could be seen wearing McLaren merchandise with O’Ward's name on it.
As Pruett shared the video, the caption of it read:
“Pato O'Ward Mania is real here at the @GPLongBeach.”
The reporter was stunned at the gathering for Pato O'Ward as he walked around the garage to capture the magnitude of attendance. Pruett then questioned himself as to how IndyCar could do the same for other drivers as well.
The Mexican driver got off to a great start and is looking like a championship contender with strong performances in the first two races. He qualified on pole position for the Thermal Club IndyCar race but was beaten by the three-time champion Alex Palou for the victory.
After a strong showcase, the Arrow McLaren driver missed out on the Fast Six at the Long Beach qualifying. Pato O'Ward will start the race just inside the Top 10 in P9. However, the Papaya car showed pace earlier this weekend with Nolan Siegel topping Practice 2.
Alexander Rossi explained the reason behind Pato O'Ward's popularity
Alexander Rossi drove with Arrow McLaren for a couple of years and was a teammate of Pato O'Ward. Coming into the Long Beach Grand Prix, the ECR driver was asked why the #5 Chevrolet driver is popular among the fans.
Rossi compared O’Ward to Andretti Global star Colton Herta and detailed his reasons. He said:
“I think he is at the correct age group and he's fast. Colton is in the same age group, but Colton doesn't lean into the social side of things. He doesn't want to, which is totally fine.”
“Pato understands how to, like, move the needle from an online presence. He's fast and it's important to him and he wants to give fans a good experience with his merchandise line. He wants to be a brand and so you have the combination of all those things,” added Rossi via Los Angeles Daily News.
As NASCAR beat IndyCar to put a Mexican race on the calendar, O’Ward came out firing shots at the series. However, IndyCar has so far decided against holding a race there.
This led to an exchange of words between the two parties, and eventually, Pato O'Ward started the “Pato Who” campaign where he sold merch and put up billboards about the same.