Former Supercars engineer oversees Indy 500 win
Former Supercars alumnus Luke Mason has helped steer Josef Newgarden to a stunning Indianapolis 500 victory.
In front of over 300,000 fans at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Team Penske driver Newgarden passed Marcus Ericsson on the final lap to win.
In Newgarden’s corner was Mason, who has been the #2 entry’s race engineer for all of six races.
Australian Mason has won two of them, including this year's Indy 500, which was the 19th win in the famous race for Team Penske.
The Penske name was prevalent in Supercars between 2014 and 2020 with Dick Johnson Racing, winning three drivers' titles and the 2019 Bathurst 1000.
Mason (pictured above with left arm raised next to Tim Cindric) later took part in Monday's (AEST) celebrations, with Newgarden jumping into the crowd on the pit straight.
"You spend your whole life working towards achieving this one goal, and having done it now, I’m speechless," Mason told RACER.
"It’s such a good crew, this group of people; not just the No. 2 car or the No. 3 or the No. 12, but the whole crew.
Mason (closest to Davison's right) in Perth 2015
"Everyone back at the shop; it’s been a big goal. It’s no secret that we haven’t done well enough here at the Speedway.
"Coming into this year after a championship victory last year, it was priority number one to get Roger’s 19th win.”
Mason’s background in Supercars stems back to 2012, when he was a data engineer at Stone Brothers Racing.
He remained with the team as it became Erebus Motorsport in 2013, with the team running three Mercedes-AMG Supercars.
Mason engineered Will Davison in 2014 and 2015, notably skippering a Perth win (2015) and fourth in Bathurst (2014).
He then moved to the United States, first with NASCAR squad Richard Childress Racing.
Mason then moved towards IndyCar with Carlin Motorsport, and was picked up by Team Penske for 2023.
Former Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin, Newgarden’s teammate, finished 14th in the race.
Mason isn't the only former Supercars engineer to find success Stateside in 2023, with crew chief James Small helping Martin Truex Jr. win at Dover.
Small was a long-time fixture of Ford Performance Racing, and famously engineered Mark Winterbottom to Bathurst victory in 2013.
