- Ohioan Casey Putsch has been chasing his dream for more than a decade.
- He has competed in vintage racing, sports racers, Formula Ford, Formula Atlantic, Can-Am, WSC prototype, and IMSA GTO Corvette.
- Putsch will race in the 2022 Road to Indy Pro 2000 Championship and hopes to enter the Indy 500 as early as 2023 or 2024.
Casey Putsch is a man who firmly believes in the “better late than never” philosophy. After years of perseverance, Putsch is finally being given an opportunity that should have come 15 or 20 years ago.
At an age when many IndyCar drivers are mulling retirement, the 40-year-old Perrysburg, Ohio resident isn’t letting Father Time get in the way of his lifetime goal: eventually racing in the Indianapolis 500.
After chasing his dream for more than a decade, Putsch is finally taking his first step towards ultimately qualifying for and racing in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, perhaps as early as 2023 or 2024. That first step is contesting the 2022 season in the Road to Indy Pro 2000 Series.
Putsch has the great-grandson and family of one of the Indy 500’s most legendary figures to thank for helping him hopefully get to Indy and the 500 in the next year or two.
Louis Meyer was the first three-time winner of the Indy 500, capturing the checkered flag in 1928, 1933 and 1936. It was Meyer’s great-grandson, Louis Michael Meyer, team co-owner of Legacy Autosport, who saw several of Putsch’s YouTube and Instagram videos.
Putsch has developed quite the social media following as an influencer, and one video in particular, Why Casey’s momentum to race Indy Cars died, prompted the younger Meyer to give Putsch a test drive recently on the hallowed ground at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I am extremely excited to do this with the Meyer family," Putsch said. "They are an old school real team that sees the big picture and know how to get things done. I have been welcomed to the team with open arms, or as I like to put it: the family. I really enjoy their company and am looking forward to fighting for a podium in 2022.”
Louis Michael Meyer’s father, Butch – who is Louis Meyer’s grandson and previously built engines for Team Menard in IndyCar (won the championship in 1997 and 1999) as well as served as Indy Lights series director – and Louis Michael’s brother, Matt, the pair has embraced Putsch as literally one of their own.
“I was a big fan of Casey's YouTube channel and reached out to him after a video he put out about his struggles in racing," Louis Michael Meyer said. “He went into details about some situations he had been dealing with and I really understood what he was saying and thought that maybe working together we could break past some of the barriers.
“We are looking forward to the 2022 season and beyond with Casey. He is a one-of-a-kind spokesman, a talented driver and great human being. Pay close attention to his journey, it’s going to be unique and exciting.”
If Putsch ultimately qualifies and makes the field for the Indy 500, he won’t be the oldest rookie to do so. But to him, age is just a meaningless number anyway. Rather, it’s all about confidence, motivation, and desire.
And having a great sense of humor about being an “old guy” certainly helps.
“My goal is to race in the NTT IndyCar Series and the Indy 500, be a positive public figure for young people and show that you can still dare to dream and attain impossible dreams even if you are 17 years older than the next oldest person in the field,” Putsch said. “I know everyone is going to be watching through social media and I can’t wait to just race. Let the old guys jokes fly.”
Putsch is no stranger to auto racing by any means. He’s made quite a name for himself in vintage racing, as well as competing in production-based cars, sports racers, Formula Ford, Formula Atlantic, Can-Am, WSC prototype, IMSA GTO Corvette and still races regularly with a Top Kart program.
Putsch also restores all types of vehicles, not just race cars but also high-end rides that need a new coat of paint, a new interior, or just some TLC to get that like-new look and feel once again.
But Putsch also has one other task that is especially close to his heart: he’s the founder of Genius Garage, which for the past eight years has helped students prepare for careers in motorsports on all levels, from mechanical to marketing/PR. He believes racing at Indy will further grow and enhance the program.
Ironically, Putsch grew up in a golf environment: his father was a teaching PGA professional, and the family owned a small public golf course in rural Ohio. But Putsch is emphatic when it comes to what his first love has always been (next to his wife and kids, of course).
“I love cars,” Putsch said. “I grew up going to Mid-Ohio (Sports Car Course) as a spectator with my dad, largely to the vintage races, motorcycle races and so forth. That was our greatest love.
“When I was 13, my dad went to the Mid-Ohio performance driving school. So I stole all his books and learned everything I could because it vastly fascinated me, the art of race driving. My greatest dream was to race, but at that time in life and where we came from, I could only afford slot car racing or radio control.”
Putsch took to racing like a duck to water and became successful not only in karts but gravitated more to vintage racing as time went on. But he never gave up on his dream of running in the Indy 500, even though he increasingly grew more frustrated as each race season went by, and he couldn’t find a ride or sponsors or even a team that would be willing to take a chance on him.
“I always wanted to race Indy cars, that was my love, Midwestern guy, watching it throughout the 90s, being all mad when there was the split (between CART and the upstart Indy Racing League, which is now the NTT IndyCar Series), things like that. But when I was in college, I started kart racing, I was very serious about it.
“And so that's where I just started, I'd spend all my money and buy some vintage race car that needed to be restored. And I just kept, shall we say, trading up and driving and driving.”
Yet as much as he drove, his dreams of racing at Indy and in the IndyCar Series continued to fade, to the point where Putsch was ready to chuck his biggest dream once and for all.
Until:
“A couple of years ago, a friend of mine and I had this conversation about the theoretical thought of me driving in the Indy 500,” Putsch said. “He said, ‘Hey, Casey, you remember that time in Indianapolis when we had a conversation about you driving the Indy 500? I'm like, ‘Yeah, I remember the conversation, but honestly, I gave up on that dream because I wasn't born wealthy. And he said to me, ‘maybe don't (give up on the idea just yet)’.
“Because of my growing social media, I quickly realized that if you were to take all the Road to Indy drivers, and all the IndyCar drivers, and basically everybody in the United States, and then consider me in that lot, and then you look at how many people are watching through social media, it didn't take rocket scientist for me to go, I've got an angle for sponsors that no one else does. And at the end of the day, what makes racing happen, right? So that first whole thought with them didn't work out and it led me to somebody else.
“But after a while, when I knew it (his dream) was dead, I did do a heartfelt campfire talk. I literally drove my motorcycle at night, parked next to a campfire … and said, ‘I can outbuild most people, but I'm not independently wealthy. So the one thing I can do is be honest,’ which is dangerous in this world, so you’ve got to be mindful, but I felt I at least owed it to everybody to tell them what happened. And also, I found it embarrassing that I like we're going to do this, and then I never got to do it.
“So, I made the video and some interesting people reached out to me that night. When I got up the next morning, I had an email from Michael Meyer, who said, to paraphrase it, ‘I've been watching you for the last two years. You're one of the few YouTubers I actually respect. I know the people that you were involved with that steered you wrong. I was honestly worried for you but couldn’t do anything about it. But I've got a Road to Indy team and a number of cars, and I think I could help you with your dream and getting to the Indy 500. Give me a call and let's talk and see. And at the very least, if we can't do anything, it's nice to make a new friend.’ That’s what he wrote.
“Of course, I reached out, we got to talking and it was funny because within like two phone calls, we just got each other. Similar age, similar life, we understand, we know the people. So for both of us, I think it was meeting someone else that you connect with and understand and can become friends with and relate or work together.”
As is the case with many young drivers coming up the ranks, the number of races Putsch will run in the Pro 2000 Series in 2022 will be predicated upon securing sponsorship. Right now, he and the organization have secured funding for what they term “a select number of races,” but are hoping to eventually build out the program and run all 18 races in the Pro 2000 season.
Last month, Putsch ran several test laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and did well, considering he had never raced on the world’s most famous racetrack before. Now, he knows the talent is there. Next up is finding the money to run the whole season.
“Now the Debutante Ball has happened,” Putsch said. “So if we talk about the age thing, here's the way I look at it: I'm fit and there's been people that have been rookies at Indy in their 40s, and there's people that have won Indy in their 40s. Now, I'm not saying that I'm even going to be able to get out there and have the chance to win. But I'm just saying, I'm not afraid to take a swing and do it.
“I realize I'm way behind in terms of practice and everything like that. I don't want to sound campy, but you're not going to squelch the American dream with me. I'm going to walk in, I'm going to take a big swing, and I might get knocked the heck out, but I'm still going to swing.
“For myself and millions of other people that have always dreamed of racing in Indy, but will never get the chance, I think I owe it to myself and everybody else to take a shot as long as it's reasonable.”
Follow Autoweek correspondent Jerry Bonkowski on Twitter @JerryBonkowski
