LONG BEACH, Calif. — Jack Harvey’s final race with Meyer Shank Racing will be bittersweet to say the least.
This was the team that gave Harvey the big break he needed to start a career in IndyCar. Harvey was also the first driver for a fledgling Indy car operation owned by sports car team owner Michael Shank.
Together, they would grow together and eventually make it to victory lane in the NTT IndyCar Series.
From a three-race schedule in 2017 that included a 31st-place finish in the 101st Indianapolis 500, to a six-race schedule in 2018 that included a 16th place finish in the 102nd Indianapolis 500, Harvey and Meyer Shank Racing were taking a methodical, deliberate approach to building an IndyCar team together.
In 2019, the team competed in 10 of the 17 races. Harvey gave the team its first podium finish in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis with a third-place finish.
The breakout season was set for 2020 when Meyer Shank Racing and Harvey would compete in the full NTT IndyCar Series season, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed the complexion of the campaign.
Harvey had one sixth-place finish in the Indianapolis road course and three seventh place finishes in 2020.
When Harvey started second and finished fourth in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in April 2021, the team sensed its first victory was near.
They were right.
But it wasn’t Harvey that gave Meyer Shank its first win in the NTT IndyCar Series, it was Helio Castroneves in the 105th Indianapolis 500.
That was Castroneves’ first race of a six-race deal with Meyer Shank Racing and he delivered in a huge and dramatic way. It was Castroneves’ fourth Indy 500 win, and he became just the fourth four-time winner in Indianapolis 500 history.
As team owners Shank, Jim Meyer and the team celebrated Castroneves’ historic victory in a wild celebration, Harvey watched with extreme mixed emotion after he finished 18th in the No. 60 Honda.
“It was tough to describe,” Harvey confided to SPEED SPORT. “I was really happy for Helio, the team and a lot of guys on the team I have become friends with. There was a lot of happiness for them.
“I would say as equally, I felt pain in all fairness. How I felt after that, I’ll keep to myself. It was such a tough one. I was pretty gutted on the inside. That was a tough one to process.
“It sucks to see what we worked for, for five Indy 500s and not be that person. I think most people could understand why I felt that way.”
Harvey did all the groundwork for the team and Castroneves achieved the glory with the team’s first victory in the biggest race of all.
“Frankly, I was pissed off, too,” Harvey admitted. “I was pissed off because I was the Guinea Pig of the team to see what was working and what hadn’t been working and helped lay the foundation for that to happen.
“Naturally, I wanted to be the driver rewarded with that.”
Harvey made the difficult decision to move on, presumably to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in a ride that will be announced after the season concludes.
“Where we are going next the goal is to win races, win the Indy 500 and challenge for championships,” Harvey told SPEED SPORT. “We can be a great team together and I’m very anxious to get that started.”
Before that step begins, however, Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will be Harvey’s final race for Meyer Shank Racing.
“I’ll be honest with you, Long Beach will be emotionally the toughest one,” Harvey admitted. “I’ve had so many incredible memories with this team from the first race in IndyCar to where they are now is an incredible progression. I’m proud to have been a part of that.
“When Michael and I mapped it out, we took risks on each other. We managed to build this team well and meld it together.
“Ultimately, I made the decision to leave the team and make a change. I’m excited about what the future will be. I have so many amazing memories of Meyer Shank Racing, it will be a tough goodbye.
“It would suck to fill a little unfulfilled potential.”