33 Dreams of Indy is the credentialed media project we launched at Gateway Motorsports Park in 2019. The premise is simple. Track the young drivers on the Road to Indy ladder. Find the ones with potential. Tell their stories before the mainstream IndyCar media discovers them. Watch where they end up.

The where-are-they-now format is the annual update on the drivers from previous 33 Dreams content. Some of those drivers reach IndyCar. Some reach Formula 1. Some leave racing and end up doing something completely different. The where-are-they-now is the long arc of the project.

How 33 Dreams started

The 33 Dreams project began at Gateway Motorsports Park outside St. Louis in late 2019. The Indianapolis 500 has 33 starting positions. The Road to Indy ladder runs USF Pro 2000, USF2000, USF Juniors, and Indy NXT. Hundreds of young drivers move through the ladder every year. A few reach IndyCar. The handful that reach the top of the sport take a path that the media coverage at the time was not following.

The first credentialed access was Gateway in October 2019. Indy NXT and USF Pro 2000 paddocks. Robert’s stock car background and pit crew experience meant the conversations with young drivers worked differently than the conversations a traditional motorsport media outlet would have. Drivers experiencing their first oval racing weekend connected with someone who understood what they were going through.

COVID shut down the planned 2020 follow-on season. The project survived through podcast interviews, written content, and the where-are-they-now format we are continuing now.

The where-are-they-now format

Each year we update the public on what has happened to the drivers from previous 33 Dreams content. Some have moved up the ladder. Some have moved into Indy NXT. Some have reached IndyCar. Some have transitioned to other series. Some have left racing entirely.

The format covers:

Who reached IndyCar. The drivers who completed the full Road to Indy progression and reached the NTT IndyCar Series. The biggest career outcomes.

Who reached Formula 1. The drivers who chose the European single-seater path through Indy NXT, then F2 or F3, and reached F1.

Who moved series. The drivers who shifted from the Road to Indy ladder into NASCAR, IMSA, or other professional series. The lateral career paths.

Who is still climbing. The drivers currently in Indy NXT or USF Pro 2000 working through the ladder. The active prospects.

Who left racing. The drivers who left professional racing entirely. The honest part of the tracking format that most media outlets do not cover.

Why the format matters

Most racing media covers drivers who are already established. The 33 Dreams premise is that the more interesting story is the one before the established drivers became established.

The Road to Indy ladder produces career outcomes that are not predictable from any single weekend’s results. A USF Pro 2000 champion is not guaranteed to reach IndyCar. An Indy NXT race-winner is not guaranteed to reach Formula 1. The factors that separate the drivers who make it from the drivers who do not are not always the ones the entry-level results suggest.

The where-are-they-now format is the long-term test of the prediction. The drivers we wrote about in 2019 are now seven years into their professional careers. The ones who made it have stories worth telling. The ones who did not have lessons worth learning.

What we have learned

Three patterns hold across the drivers we have tracked.

First, the talent gap is real. The drivers who reach IndyCar from the Road to Indy ladder are measurably faster than the drivers who do not. The talent identification happens early and is durable. The drivers who looked promising in 2019 at Gateway are mostly the drivers who are in IndyCar today.

Second, the funding gap is just as real. Talent without funding does not reach IndyCar. Multiple drivers we tracked had the speed to advance and did not have the budget. The funding gap is the most-discussed and least-changed structural issue in the Road to Indy.

Third, the timing matters more than the points. A champion in USF2000 in one year may have a different career arc than a fifth-place finisher in another year. The state of the IndyCar driver market in any given year shapes who gets the seat next.

What is on the Racing Passport site for 33 Dreams

The 33 Dreams interview library lives at /33-dreams/. The interview catalog covers seven years of credentialed media access. Specific driver profiles are at the Road to Indy drivers index.

The where-are-they-now Prescott Campbell to Williams Formula 1 story is at Where Are They Now: Prescott Campbell to Williams F1. The general Road to Indy series page is at Road to Indy.

What is coming next

The 2024 33 Dreams class update is in progress. The 2025 ladder champions across USF Juniors, USF2000, USF Pro 2000, and Indy NXT are included in the year-end roundup. Specific driver where-are-they-now content runs across the year as the stories develop.

For Racing Passport guests planning Indianapolis 500 trips, the 33 Dreams content provides context on the young drivers who will be on the entry list for the next several years of the race.

Bottom line

33 Dreams is the long-arc media project that tracks the drivers on the Road to Indy ladder. The where-are-they-now format is the annual update on the career outcomes. The project started in 2019 at Gateway. Some of the drivers we wrote about then are now in IndyCar. The next class is coming.

For readers interested in the next generation of IndyCar and Formula 1 talent, the 33 Dreams library is the place the coverage lives.

Frequently asked questions

What is 33 Dreams of Indy?

33 Dreams of Indy is the credentialed media project that tracks young drivers on the Road to Indy ladder. The premise is to find drivers with potential, tell their stories before mainstream media discovers them, and watch where their careers go. The project launched at Gateway Motorsports Park in 2019.

Why is it called 33 Dreams?

The Indianapolis 500 has 33 starting positions. Every young driver on the Road to Indy ladder is racing toward the dream of one of those 33 spots. The project name is the connection between the ladder and the destination.

Who can be in 33 Dreams content?

Drivers on the Road to Indy ladder (USF Juniors, USF2000, USF Pro 2000, Indy NXT). The selection is based on Robert’s credentialed paddock access and the conversations that emerge. Not every ladder driver is featured; the project is selective and the criteria evolve with each season.

What is the where-are-they-now format?

The annual update on drivers from previous 33 Dreams content. Coverage includes which drivers reached IndyCar, which reached Formula 1, which moved to other series, which are still climbing the Road to Indy ladder, and which left racing entirely. The format is the long-term test of the project’s early predictions.

Where can I find 33 Dreams interviews?

The interview library lives at /33-dreams/ on this site. The catalog covers seven years of content across multiple ladder series. Specific driver profiles for the Road to Indy ladder live at /series/road-to-indy/drivers/.

Does Racing Passport plan Road to Indy trips?

Yes. Racing Passport plans trips to Road to Indy weekends as part of the larger Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar season. The Road to Indy support races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and other IndyCar venues are typically included in race-weekend packages.

What is the 33 Dreams connection to Racing Passport?

33 Dreams is a media project; Racing Passport is the travel side of the same brand. The two share the same editorial perspective: long arcs, real stories, and access that the standard motorsport coverage does not deliver. The 33 Dreams content informs the editorial voice on Racing Passport.