People power: How Arrow McLaren attacked IndyCar hiring challenges to add its third car

The recruitment pitch to join the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team started with the 21st century social media version of a corporate headhunter’s cold call.

Kate Gundlach, a performance engineer at Arrow McLaren, was leafing through a sports car magazine a couple years ago when she stumbled upon a story about Grace Hackenberg, an Oregon-based racing engineer.

“I messaged her on Instagram, ‘Hey, I think you’re super cool, you’re really killing it, and if you ever want to work in IndyCar, let me know,’ ” Gundlach told NBC Sports. “I’ll see what I can do help you out. She’s like, ‘Absolutely.’ ”

Gundlach forwarded Hackenberg’s contact information to an Arrow McLaren hiring manager, and the match turned out perfect.

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In Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Gundlach and Hackenberg (a damper specialist who also works on pit stops) will begin their third year together in the engineering department of Arrow McLaren as the team enters its most critical season yet in trying to become a perennial powerhouse championship contender.

“Gracie is a rock star and can do anything,” Gundlach said. “She’s a complete unicorn and super hard worker. And I found her in a magazine and just reached out to her.”

As in any industry, networking and recruiting are cornerstones to motorsports, where big-league success is predicated as much on driver and car as the countless people who support the stars and build the machines behind the scenes for any IndyCar, NASCAR or Formula One team.

And it’s especially true during a season with the kind of expansion that Arrow McLaren has undertaken for the 2023 season.

Adding 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi as a