September 17, 2025 • 8 mins
Another case of a Kiwi punching above his weight.
Hailing from Christchurch, 20 year old motorsport driver Jacob Douglas is currently competing in the USF Pro 2000 Circuit over in the States.
He’s on the road to IndyCar, and has just wrapped up the season, finishing 5th overall and securing a win and eight podiums.
At age 16 Douglas made the move to America in order to chase his dreams, and told Mike Hosking at the time he didn’t realise how big of a deal it was.
“I was kind of just, y’know, another Kiwi going off overseas to chase my goals in sports,” he said.
“But it was a great experience, and yeah, I loved every minute of it.”
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Another name to add to our collection of the young New
Zealand motor races going place. Jacob Douglas competes in the
USF Pro two thousand circuit in America. Basically it's the
road to Indy. His seasons just wrapped. He finished fifth
over there, already had a win and eight podiums and
Jacob Douglas as well as Jacob morning to.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
You, Good morning Mike. How you're doing very.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Well and did good to meet you sixteen years old?
You were when you left for Indy as a move
as a thing. How big a deal was that?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, yeah, no, it was a pretty big deal. In
the moment, it was really really cool, and I was
kind of just, you know, another key we going off
overseas to chase my goals in sports. But now they
look back at it, I feel, you know, I see
how crazy it really was moving away to America at
(00:46):
sixteen on my own. But it was a great experience,
and yeah, I loved every minute of it.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Is each year getting better and easier with experience.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yes, definitely. Yeah. I meet more people over there, get
to grips with everything, and then of course as I'm
getting older, there's more things I can do.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It makes it easier.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
This year, for example, I could rent a car, which
was the first time, whereas otheriars have hit uber so,
so that made it a lot easier.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Just talk to it for non motor racing followers, the
USF Pro two thousand. What sort of car are we
talking about it? It looks to me like a single seat,
like an F two single seater. But you explain it
and how far off the big dance are you?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, so it's a single seater.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
It just looks like a junior if one car, if
you like, we're probably about a little of a ten
seconds off IndyCar.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
And yeah, we have.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Kind of all the bells and whistles. I guess they
go pretty quick. We get up to around two hundred
and sixty kilometers at the end of the straightaways, and yeah,
we go pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
The is it directly connected to the Indie circuit? I mean,
are you on the circuits and the ovals and the straight.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah. So we we have six out of our eight
rounds are with IndyCar, like on the same weekends, on
the same tracks we we race on ims. So on
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, we don't go on the oval
there just on the road pust but all of our
tracks that we drive at all IndyCar circuits.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
And yet your story so you I'm assuming, like everybody
else in this country in a motorsport generally started in
a cart.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah that's right.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Yeah, I started out in a in a go cart
at Cars Road and Houswell, christ Church.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
How was it immediate? How did that? Is there a
family connection to karting or you just thought you'd like
karting or and when did the magic kick in?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
So my dad was always into all things kind of motorsport.
He did a little bit of racing himself back in
the day, but definitely there was nothing write home about.
And yeah, so I started out on a motorbike and
then we went out to the go kart track one
day to have a look and someone offered me a
go and it kind of all went from there.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Fantastic and it felt natural right from the start.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I was actually pretty pretty average to start with, so
there was a lot of improvement, but I got there eventually,
so I wouldn't say I was a natural from the
get go.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Did you have mentors or people who advised you? I mean,
how did you get good.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah. I had some mentors I had and go karting,
Matt Hamilton and Tiffany Chittenden.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Who helped me out a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
They helped the likes of Marcus Armstrong who's an Indy
car at the moment. They are great people and helped
me a lot along the way and still.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Do at the moment.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Tiffany's amazing, isn't she huge? I mean, Lord knows how
many people she's helped over the years. So from karting to.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
What karting and then into Formula Forward locally around New Zealand?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Is that worth it? Somebody offered me a drive and
a Formula Forward the other day. I've never been in one.
Would that be the thrill of my life?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I reckon you should do it.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I think it would be pretty cool that the old cars.
But but they're good fun. It's got a four speed
hpatt and gearbox and they're pretty tricky to drive.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
But yeah, I reckon you should do it.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
They look they look tricky from Formula Forward to what.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And then then to Formula for in America.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Wow, so you skipped the eighty sixs and all that
sort of stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, I did it.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I was I was kind of in a tricky, tricky
time period because it was right in the middle of COVID,
so a lot of the things in New Zealand got
shut down, so I kind of had to make them
move over quite early.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Jacob, the team you're in pepst am I pronouncing that
it's a famous racing name. Are they good people?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, they're great people.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
They do a lot for their drivers and for the
sport and helping out Yeah, people as much as they can.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
The school thing, when you left to go to Indy
at sixteen, where were you at school? How did you
handle that with your parents? Did you have qualifications all
that that? I mean, what was thinking? What was the thinking?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Yes, I was at christ College and I was in
year eleven and I yeah, left school and I kind
of had a year off school and then I enrolled
in online.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
School, which was a tricky. I was kind of just
doing it.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
On my own over there, with no one kind of
forcing me to do it, so it took a while
to get it done.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
So you got twelve year, twelve and thirteen, so you
got in CEA or university entrance or whatever it was
you were chasing.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Ah, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah, Okay, So what's now that you're at this USF
Pro two thousand, what's the plan for the next season.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yeah, so next year I'm heading back to do another
year of USF Pro with a goal to win the
championship and the scholarship into Indie Next, which is one
level below IndyCar. So then all goes well, We'll win
that scholarship, move into Indie Next, and hopefully then into IndyCar.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So Indie Next is Callum Hedge Liam Skeets there currently
in that side it, where's the money fit into it?
How hard is money and how hard is the hustle?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Yeah, I mean it's a problem every driver faces unfortunately.
The funding side of it, Yeah, I've got to work
hard to find sponsors and stuff. We have a unique
way of trying to fund my motorsport career. So we
have a company called JAD and Properties. And JAD and
Properties is our funding pathway from my career. So my
(06:29):
parents come from a background and property. Yeah, so it's
a way for us to be able to offer a
return on the money invested into JAD and Properties, with
the remaining profit going toward my motorsport career and helping
on the road to IndyCar.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Is that working, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
It is working, and it's a way we can we
don't have to ask for something for nothing, which is
a lot of what sponsorship is unfortunately, so we can
offer a return on the money with the investor making
someone on top of that.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
So, like all of you guys, your parents are they're
and they're fully supportive and they're along for the ride.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah, my parents are amazing. They've always been supportive of
me since they won, both my mum and my dad. Yeah,
they work really hard to give me the opportunity. So
I'm really grateful for that.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
How close to Dixon McLaughlin those guys, I mean, do
you do you share the paddick? I mean are you
in there or is there you know, is there any
sort of contact there or not?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Yeah, definitely they're really great guys. All three of the
keywis over this are both Scott's and Marcus. I go
to the same gym as Scott Dixon actually, so I
see him every now and then occasionally occasionally get a
workout and together, which is really cool. And then Scott
McLoughlin is.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
A great guy.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
He offers a lot of guidance, a lot of advice
is always.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
There to Linda Linda Eyre whenever, whenever.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I need, so it's always cool when I catch up
with him as much as they can on the race weekends.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
No one seems to be a prick and motorsport do they.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
No? No, Yeah, everyone's great people and they're all there
to help, which is really cool.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Well, good on you. And so between now and the
next season, what do you do? You just hang in
New Zealand? Do you drive a lot?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I drive as much as I can, so we'll be
out in a go card at Cars Road hopefully twice
a week.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
And then I own one of the old model.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Tier Risk cars, so I'll drive that out at Roy Puna.
So yeah, trying to stay sharp.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Fantastic Go well mate, and I wish you all the
very best and we'll stay in touch. Jacob Douglas, who
was part of the USF Pro two thousand and yet
another QN we flying the flag internationally and we wish
them all the very best. For more from the Mic
Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks. It'd be from
six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
Another name to add to our collection of the young New
Zealand motor races going place. Jacob Douglas competes in the
USF Pro two thousand circuit in America. Basically it's the
road to Indy. His seasons just wrapped. He finished fifth
over there, already had a win and eight podiums and
Jacob Douglas as well as Jacob morning to.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
You, Good morning Mike. How you're doing very.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Well and did good to meet you sixteen years old?
You were when you left for Indy as a move
as a thing. How big a deal was that?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, yeah, no, it was a pretty big deal. In
the moment, it was really really cool, and I was
kind of just, you know, another key we going off
overseas to chase my goals in sports. But now they
look back at it, I feel, you know, I see
how crazy it really was moving away to America at
(00:46):
sixteen on my own. But it was a great experience,
and yeah, I loved every minute of it.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Is each year getting better and easier with experience.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yes, definitely. Yeah. I meet more people over there, get
to grips with everything, and then of course as I'm
getting older, there's more things I can do.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It makes it easier.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
This year, for example, I could rent a car, which
was the first time, whereas otheriars have hit uber so,
so that made it a lot easier.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Just talk to it for non motor racing followers, the
USF Pro two thousand. What sort of car are we
talking about it? It looks to me like a single seat,
like an F two single seater. But you explain it
and how far off the big dance are you?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, so it's a single seater.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
It just looks like a junior if one car, if
you like, we're probably about a little of a ten
seconds off IndyCar.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
And yeah, we have.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Kind of all the bells and whistles. I guess they
go pretty quick. We get up to around two hundred
and sixty kilometers at the end of the straightaways, and yeah,
we go pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
The is it directly connected to the Indie circuit? I mean,
are you on the circuits and the ovals and the straight.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah. So we we have six out of our eight
rounds are with IndyCar, like on the same weekends, on
the same tracks we we race on ims. So on
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, we don't go on the oval
there just on the road pust but all of our
tracks that we drive at all IndyCar circuits.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
And yet your story so you I'm assuming, like everybody
else in this country in a motorsport generally started in
a cart.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah that's right.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Yeah, I started out in a in a go cart
at Cars Road and Houswell, christ Church.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
How was it immediate? How did that? Is there a
family connection to karting or you just thought you'd like
karting or and when did the magic kick in?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
So my dad was always into all things kind of motorsport.
He did a little bit of racing himself back in
the day, but definitely there was nothing write home about.
And yeah, so I started out on a motorbike and
then we went out to the go kart track one
day to have a look and someone offered me a
go and it kind of all went from there.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Fantastic and it felt natural right from the start.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I was actually pretty pretty average to start with, so
there was a lot of improvement, but I got there eventually,
so I wouldn't say I was a natural from the
get go.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Did you have mentors or people who advised you? I mean,
how did you get good.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah. I had some mentors I had and go karting,
Matt Hamilton and Tiffany Chittenden.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Who helped me out a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
They helped the likes of Marcus Armstrong who's an Indy
car at the moment. They are great people and helped
me a lot along the way and still.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Do at the moment.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Tiffany's amazing, isn't she huge? I mean, Lord knows how
many people she's helped over the years. So from karting to.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
What karting and then into Formula Forward locally around New Zealand?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Is that worth it? Somebody offered me a drive and
a Formula Forward the other day. I've never been in one.
Would that be the thrill of my life?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I reckon you should do it.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I think it would be pretty cool that the old cars.
But but they're good fun. It's got a four speed
hpatt and gearbox and they're pretty tricky to drive.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
But yeah, I reckon you should do it.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
They look they look tricky from Formula Forward to what.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And then then to Formula for in America.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Wow, so you skipped the eighty sixs and all that
sort of stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, I did it.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I was I was kind of in a tricky, tricky
time period because it was right in the middle of COVID,
so a lot of the things in New Zealand got
shut down, so I kind of had to make them
move over quite early.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Jacob, the team you're in pepst am I pronouncing that
it's a famous racing name. Are they good people?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, they're great people.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
They do a lot for their drivers and for the
sport and helping out Yeah, people as much as they can.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
The school thing, when you left to go to Indy
at sixteen, where were you at school? How did you
handle that with your parents? Did you have qualifications all
that that? I mean, what was thinking? What was the thinking?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Yes, I was at christ College and I was in
year eleven and I yeah, left school and I kind
of had a year off school and then I enrolled
in online.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
School, which was a tricky. I was kind of just
doing it.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
On my own over there, with no one kind of
forcing me to do it, so it took a while
to get it done.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
So you got twelve year, twelve and thirteen, so you
got in CEA or university entrance or whatever it was
you were chasing.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Ah, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah, Okay, So what's now that you're at this USF
Pro two thousand, what's the plan for the next season.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yeah, so next year I'm heading back to do another
year of USF Pro with a goal to win the
championship and the scholarship into Indie Next, which is one
level below IndyCar. So then all goes well, We'll win
that scholarship, move into Indie Next, and hopefully then into IndyCar.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So Indie Next is Callum Hedge Liam Skeets there currently
in that side it, where's the money fit into it?
How hard is money and how hard is the hustle?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Yeah, I mean it's a problem every driver faces unfortunately.
The funding side of it, Yeah, I've got to work
hard to find sponsors and stuff. We have a unique
way of trying to fund my motorsport career. So we
have a company called JAD and Properties. And JAD and
Properties is our funding pathway from my career. So my
(06:29):
parents come from a background and property. Yeah, so it's
a way for us to be able to offer a
return on the money invested into JAD and Properties, with
the remaining profit going toward my motorsport career and helping
on the road to IndyCar.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Is that working, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
It is working, and it's a way we can we
don't have to ask for something for nothing, which is
a lot of what sponsorship is unfortunately, so we can
offer a return on the money with the investor making
someone on top of that.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
So, like all of you guys, your parents are they're
and they're fully supportive and they're along for the ride.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah, my parents are amazing. They've always been supportive of
me since they won, both my mum and my dad. Yeah,
they work really hard to give me the opportunity. So
I'm really grateful for that.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
How close to Dixon McLaughlin those guys, I mean, do
you do you share the paddick? I mean are you
in there or is there you know, is there any
sort of contact there or not?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Yeah, definitely they're really great guys. All three of the
keywis over this are both Scott's and Marcus. I go
to the same gym as Scott Dixon actually, so I
see him every now and then occasionally occasionally get a
workout and together, which is really cool. And then Scott
McLoughlin is.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
A great guy.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
He offers a lot of guidance, a lot of advice
is always.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
There to Linda Linda Eyre whenever, whenever.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I need, so it's always cool when I catch up
with him as much as they can on the race weekends.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
No one seems to be a prick and motorsport do they.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
No? No, Yeah, everyone's great people and they're all there
to help, which is really cool.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Well, good on you. And so between now and the
next season, what do you do? You just hang in
New Zealand? Do you drive a lot?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I drive as much as I can, so we'll be
out in a go card at Cars Road hopefully twice
a week.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
And then I own one of the old model.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Tier Risk cars, so I'll drive that out at Roy Puna.
So yeah, trying to stay sharp.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Fantastic Go well mate, and I wish you all the
very best and we'll stay in touch. Jacob Douglas, who
was part of the USF Pro two thousand and yet
another QN we flying the flag internationally and we wish
them all the very best. For more from the Mic
Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks. It'd be from
six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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