The legend of Will Power, IndyCar’s ‘most fascinating man in the world’

By now, all IndyCar fans know that Will Power, the man from Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, is one of the best drivers of his generation. He’s won two IndyCar titles (2014 and 2022), won the Indianapolis 500 in 2018 and is one of the top winners on the circuit.

What fans may not know, unless they spend ample time in the drivers’ paddock, is that Power is one of the quirkiest people (sometimes funny and sometimes awkward) in the sport. Almost everybody has a Power story, although a few were reticent about sharing their personal adventures with the veteran driver. But I was undaunted.

This past week, I reached out to several drivers and former drivers for their impressions of the most unique, and most successful, drivers in the sport. Here’s what they had to say.

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Graham Rahal

He’s direct and to the point. I mean, he told me the other day, the reason I don’t win races is because I’m 20 pounds overweight, which was really nice, which is also inaccurate because I just took my body fat percentage and it’s pretty damn low for a guy my size. … He’s a straight shooter. That’s the one thing I love about him though, too, is he is a straight shooter in everything he does.

Everyone’s quirky (in the sport). You’ve got to be a little crazy to do this job. So Will’s a little crazy, right? But that’s a good thing. It’s good enough for Penske and it’s good enough to win championships and win the 500.

Simon Pagenaud

Oh, he’s not going to like me telling this one, but whatever …

We were testing at Road America (in Elkhart Lake, Wis.) and Will goes off track (and takes a substantial hit) and he comes to me and says, “I think I’m concussed. I can’t smell, I can’t smell.” … So he asks me, “Can you take me back to Indianapolis?” We’re still testing at that point. Two hours later, we’re done and he asks me again to drive him to the hospital. It’s a six-hour drive, it’s already 7 (p.m.), but I’m like, “OK, I’ll drive you to the hospital in Indy.” The whole time, he’s on the phone with his wife. The whole ride.

I think I’m being a good Frenchman, a good buddy. I’m not going to leave a man behind. So I drop him off, I go to the hotel next door, and the plan was for us to fly to Charlotte the next day. Well, I call him the next morning and he’s gone. He flew there before me. He left without me.

I guess he wasn’t concussed.

Conor Daly

Will Power has said some of the greatest things in IndyCar history, most of which cannot be repeated publicly. But one of my favorites happened recently at the Long Beach drivers’ meeting. We were talking about passing in the hairpin, which is a big, arguable thing. Like, if someone does it, there’s usually a crash. So somebody asked, is IndyCar going to penalize somebody who passes in the hairpin? They say no.

So Will says, “If somebody passes there, we should murder him.” I’m sitting right next to him and I’m like, “Yeah, all right, murder!” That’s a stout penalty right there.

Alexander Rossi

Last year when we were (playing a prank and) moving Romain Grosjean’s scooter from his bus to the sniper perch at the top of the Pagoda, Will wanted to play along. And he did the entire thing in the middle of the night barefoot, just carrying his Evian water. I’m like, “Don’t you need shoes?” “No, man, I grew up in Toowoomba.”

He’s one of my favorite people on Earth. I have so much respect for him as a driver and as an individual. He’s one of the most generous-hearted people I’ve ever met. But it’s strange, because you’ll have these moments when you’re having a really great conversation and relationship with him, and you’ll see him the next day and you feel like he doesn’t even remember the conversation. He’s very, very unique. But I love the guy.

Tony Kanaan

He’s changed a lot. I think he’s softened up a lot since he’s become a father (to 6-year-old Beau). I remember when he started, he said he didn’t want to be friends with any of us because we’re all trying to beat him. But that’s changed. Nowadays, we’re friends. He’s weird, but that’s just Will. Very focused, total tunnel vision and sometimes he’s standing right in front of you and you feel like he’s looking through you. But he’s a sweet guy. Just different.

Ed Carpenter

I really appreciate his weirdness. I could say it’s because he’s Australian, but I know a lot of them and they’re normal and not that weird. Maybe it’s culture; maybe Aussies have a different sense of humor than we do. But look at his brother (Damien, a noted comedian in Australia). He’s just Will. One of a kind.

Danica Patrick, former driver, now with NBC

It was my last year in 2011, and watching back the (video) clip (from Loudon), everybody was like, why on earth are we going green? It’s raining out. It went green, and I spun. Like I barely got on the throttle and spun, and everybody started spinning on the front straightaway, but there’s an awesome clip that shows Will Power’s reaction because I’m pretty sure this had a negative effect on the championship. He crashed and he flipped off the stand, like the timing and scoring stand where everybody is at, where (former IndyCar president of race operations) Brian Barnhart is at. It was a great view, great picture.

… He’s such a nice guy, but he’s kind of crazy, too.

Pagenaud

We met in 2005 in Europe and I was having breakfast, so he comes around with a teammate, I can’t remember his name, and they sat at my table and we never spoke. Not a word. He looked at me like he was going to kill me with those big eyes. … And I didn’t know what was going to happen. … I will say, he’s come down a little bit to Earth since then. But I still wonder if he’s from this planet.

Josef Newgarden

He has a very awkward humor in that he thrives on making you feel awkward. The more awkward the situation is, the more he thinks it’s funny. … Typically when people think he’s being serious and it’s awkward, he’s totally messing with you — at least 90 percent of the time.

Helio Castroneves

We used to do a lot of media together, and you know, he can be a very awkward person, so we go to a TV studio in Detroit, I went to say hello to the reporter. I knew her and we hugged. Then Will comes in, (she) comes in for a hug, he reaches out his hand. Then she reaches out to shake his hand, he goes in for a hug. So awkward. She said to me, “I think he’s germophobic.” He is, but that’s not what happened. The whole way we were walking out, he kept asking me, “Should I go back and apologize to her?”

Sometimes people wonder what the heck is wrong with this guy, but that heart and talent he has is incredible. One of the toughest qualifying guys out there. Once you know him, he’s very honest and warm, he’s genuine. We share the same passion, love what we do, (but at the) same time we’re competitive. … When he throws it, it’s every corner, to the limit.

Newgarden

He’s a peculiar man. I don’t know how he gets to the airport, quite honestly. I don’t know if he knows how to print out a boarding pass or put it on his phone. But he somehow makes it everywhere and it’s always surprising to me. I don’t think he grocery shops, I really don’t. Or that he can make dinner. He’s the most fascinating man in the world.

Townsend Bell, former driver, now with the NBC broadcast team

When I think of Will Power, I think of those transfixed eyes, certainly when he won his first Indy 500 and just the passion and rage, frankly, at that moment. After he crossed the Yard of Bricks, he screamed, “Yes!! Yes!! Show me respect, mother——.” But also on a personal note, just anytime I have a conversation, sometimes I’m looking at Will and I feel like I’m speaking a foreign language because I’m not sure if he understands anything I’m saying.

But that’s what makes him special. He’s such a unique character, one of the most talented racing drivers that I have ever had the pleasure of racing against, and if you’ve ever seen some of his performance data and speed traces, especially on places like street circuits, he does things that are seemingly inhuman. A special guy. He’s a friend, and yeah, I’ll always think of those eyes.

James Hinchcliffe, former driver, now with NBC

It was my rookie season in 2011, and the race in Brazil, I’m pretty sure he won it, and we were flying out on a Monday, and we were sitting there at the airport and just talking about the race and congratulating him on it, and remember, this is in an era when Will was winning like four to six races a year. It was just sort of assumed that he was going to be winning a handful of races and fighting for the championship.

He looked at me and he said, “Yeah, man, you know what, you just never know when you’re going to win your last race, so you’ve got to enjoy every one of them.” It was like, “Yeah, but you’re Will Power; you’re going to win a lot more races.” He goes, “You just don’t know that.”

It kind of caught me off guard at the moment. I thought he was just being kind of goofy … but at the same time, it’s a very true statement, and it just showed the humility of a guy that was absolutely dominating the sport at the time and was still just so thankful for the situation he was in, appreciative of the opportunity that he had been given, and doesn’t take a single day for granted.

Rahal

I think everybody knows, the most fascinating thing is to look into the guy’s eyes; they’re like laser beams. He sees right through everybody and everything. He’s a different dude, that’s for sure. But there’s no doubting his intensity and focus on racing. That’s it for him. … In his brain, (racing) is 24-7 programmed to go through his head. Great character, entertaining, great personality and one of the fastest drivers who live on this planet.

(Photo: Sean Gardner / Getty Images)