Scott McLaughlin earns special win with parents on hand at eventful Mid-Ohio race

LEXINGTON, Ohio — Scott McLaughlin picked up his second career IndyCar victory, which might go down as one of the most special wins of his career because of his parents’ presence at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The New Zealander won Sunday with his nervous mom and dad watching from pit lane. McLaughlin had not seen his family in 31 months because of the pandemic, but his parents finally were able to leave New Zealand in May to attend the Indianapolis 500.

Wayne and Diane McLaughlin booked their trip to maximize their visas and planned nine IndyCar races on their tour of the United States. It took four to see their only their son drive his Team Penske entry to victory lane.

“I really wanted to get a win here with Mom and Dad,” said McLaughlin, who had won three consecutive V8 Supercars championships in Australia.

“I’m just so excited for him just that he could get a win while we were here,” Wayne McLaughlin told The Associated Press in victory lane. “I knew he wanted to do that, but we’d never talked about it because we didn’t want to put any pressure on him. What an amazing result.”

It was one of the few celebrations at Mid-Ohio, where Chevrolet lost five cars to malfunctions and the Andretti camp fumed over contact between its drivers.

Alexander Rossi and Romain Grosjean kept bumping wheel-to-wheel and their final contact knocked the steering wheel out of Rossi’s hands, leaving him unable to turn as both cars went off course.

Rossi finished 19th, Grosjean was 21st and Colton Herta spun midrace and finished 15th, best of the four-car Andretti fleet.

When he won his first race in February on the street course in St. Petersburg, Florida, he had to celebrate with his parents via FaceTime.

McLaughlin, who won three