Ernie Francis Jr., a Haitian American, wants to be a driving force in Indy Car racing and is in gear to do so with the Force Indy racing team.
Francis, 24, is rookie driver on the Indy Lights circuit, and drove in the Lights Series race on Saturday, August 20, 2022, before the NTT Indy Car Series Bommarito 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois.
He qualified in the 12th and final position of his race but paced his No. 99 car to a ninth- place finish.
“It has been a season of learning, a big learning curve,” Francis Jr., said before his 75-lap race.
“Everything we do on the track is about getting better and trying to improve for the next track we go to. We are trying to be more competitive and get to podiums [top three finishes] and wins.”
Francis Jr., made the move to Indy Lights after three wins in his lone season in the Formula Regional Americas Championship in 2020 and a second-place finish in the inaugural season of the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX), with a win at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in July 2021.
During a heat race before the SRX main event in Boston on June 25, 2022, Francis Jr., and SRX Series owner and NASCAR Hall of Fame member Tony Stewart made serious contact. Stewart, who competes in the series, grabbed the shoulder of Francis Jr,’s fire suit and the two had a heated exchange of words.
“I’m not going to take that from him. I know he’s the boss, but rubbing is racing out there,” Francis said after the altercation.
“He got up on my inside, I didn’t see him. I turned down and didn’t see his car in there at the last second.
“For him to hit me under caution, that’s kind of a dirty move there. For him to come in after me and push me around, after, I’m not going to take that from him. It is what it is.”
While an Indy Lights rookie and driving in just his second SRX season, Francis Jr., knows his way around a racetrack. He is a seven-time class champion in the Trans Am Series (2014-2020), and his 47 career victories are the most of any driver in Trans Am history.
In December 2020, African American business leader and former racing team manager Rod Reid formed Force Indy, which is mentored through the acclaimed Roger Penske and his team’s “Race for Equality & Change” initiative.
The team hires men and women of color, including mechanics, engineers, staffers and drivers, and Penske told the Indianapolis Star in January he wants to have a Black driver race for his team in the Indianapolis 500.
Francis Jr., said he realizes “I represent,” just as Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton and NASCAR’s Bubba Wallace do on their respective circuits.
“Out team is about change. But when I put on the helmet, I’m the same as everyone else on the track,” he said.
His father, who also drove competitively in Florida in the 1980s, introduced Francis Jr., to go karts when he was 4.
He obviously took to the sport, and his early years have been successful, but there have been setbacks.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to do this and there have been a lot of hard times where I thought it may not happen, but you just keep pushing after it and here we are now and one step closer to racing in the [Indy Car Series,]” he said.
The Reid Racing Roundup
Bubba Wallace recently signed a multi-year contract extension with the 23XI NASCAR racing team, which is owned by Michael Jordan, Charlotte Bobcats owner and NBA Hall of Fame member, and NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin. “Thanks to M.J. and Denny for continuing to believe in me. We’ve come a long way together in less than two years and we’ve checked off some major goals along the way – including the team’s first win and first pole…F1 champion Lewis Hamilton traveled to Africa during the series’ summer break and said touring Namibia, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania, “These past two weeks have been some of the best days of my entire life. I’m not the same man I was before this trip, all the beauty, love and peacefulness I experienced has me feeling fully transformed.”
