Nolan Allaer is set to make an almighty leap from racing Formula Fords, the junior open-wheel class that has introduced thousands of karters to car racing, straight to Indy NXT with the defending series champions at HMD Motorsports.
The Michigan-born, Florida-bred Allaer has been busy racing in the U.S. and in England, keeping himself busy testing all manner of cars in the interim, and impressed HMD GM Mike Maurini to the point of signing him to conduct his rookie campaign in NXT.
“It’s a surreal experience for me to make the move to Indy NXT,” said Allaer, who captured two SCCA Runoffs National Championships last year. “The whole idea came from a phone call from a friend who said you should look at the United States ladder program. I reached out to Mike Maurini via direct message on Instagram and the rest is history. The team has been so welcoming and the knowledge and experience that they bring to the table will help fast-track my learning.”
Huge moves from the bottom of the open-wheel training ladder to NXT or IndyCar have been rare; the greatest attempt in recent history came with George Mack, a champion karter from Southern California, who completed the 2002 Indy Racing League season for 310 Racing — despite having no formula car or oval experience — and fared well throughout the wild one-year adventure.
“The jump from Formula 1600 to Indy NXT is big, but what most people don’t know is that Nolan was testing other vehicles as he prepared for Indy NXT,” Maurini said. “Despite the conditions at Sebring, Nolan learned a lot, and while two days of dry running would have been great to see where he stacked up, he was able to experience a lot of conditions and scenarios in just two days all while not running any new tires to better prepare himself for our upcoming Laguna Seca test.”