Scott McLaughlin’s exploits this season in Indycar competition are putting Supercars on the map – a development series champ who then claimed multiple outright championships before being handpicked by the most storied team in the history of Indycar competition.

Other homegrown V8 tin-top talent has made it to Indycar previously, although not with the same level of success.

Marcus Marshall had two enduro campaigns to his credit before joining the Team Australia Champ Car squad in 2005.

Meanwhile, Jason Bright and David Besnard had much more V8 Supercars experience onboard before their lone Indy-style starts on the Gold Coast in 2000 and 2004 respectively.

And while we are stoked to see McLaughlin strut his stuff on the world stage, the Supercars community can be proud that we’ve seen many of the top drivers sample out series over time, with a third of the competitors in the 2021 Indianapolis 500 having previous Aussie tin-top experience.

Some have been one-offs in the days of the international Gold Coast 600 format, others have more interesting stories, with some success thrown into the mix.

Here we examine the 11 of the field of 33 that have Supercars experience under their belt.

Scott Dixon

The six-time Indycar champ lines up from the pole position this Memorial Day weekend and starts the event as a firm favourite. His career stats are staggering, but it is easy to forget that fresh from success in New Zealand Formula Ford, he first came on the Australian motorsport radar in 1997 as a 17-year-old rookie in Formula Holden. Third in that opening campaign was backed up by victory in 1998, and with V8 teams knocking on his door, he headed to the USA, winning the Indy Lights title at his second attempt in 2000. He eventually made a V8 appearance in 2010, pairing with Todd Kelly at the Gold Coast 600, with a best finish of 20th. Did anyone ever mention he was born in Brisbane?

Helio Castroneves

Three-time Indy 500 Champion Castroneves has been there, won that. A total of 24 Indycar race wins, six Champ Car wins, and more recently, an IMSA championship driving for Roger Penske. In 2010 and ’11, Castroneves travelled Downunder to join up with Tim Slade in the James Rosenberg/ Stone Brothers Racing Falcon on the Gold Coast, with his four starts netting a best finish of 10th. He will face the Indy 500 green flag from the middle of the third row.

More than Indycar experience, Hinchcliffe and Rossi brought beards back to Bathurst.

Alexander Rossi

The 2016 Indy 500 winner has been a regular front runner in his six seasons of Indycar, not forgetting that he had a brief Formula 1 career with Manor Marussia in 2015. Also, he won this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. The American has a lone Supercars start to his credit – the Walkinshaw Andretti United wildcard from Bathurst 2019, from which he finished 18th.

James Hinchcliffe

Starting six positions behind Rossi is his 2019 Bathurst co-driver, the Mayor of Hinchtown, James Hinchcliffe. The affable Canadian also has one other Supercars event to his credit – Gold Coast 2012, where he partnered with Michael Caruso at Garry Rogers Motorsport. Entangled in one of the start line stacks on Saturday, the duo was also a DNF on Sunday. The entry carried co-branding from Go Daddy, Hinchcliffe’s regular Indycar sponsor at the time.

This bloke. Now educating North America about what we knew some time ago…

Scott McLaughlin

Have you heard of him? 56 Supercars wins, 106 podiums, 76 pole positions, three straight championships, and left us for a better place. He comes into this weekend eighth in the Indycar points with three consecutive top-ten finishes to his credit, including second in his first-ever oval race on the fearsome high banks at Texas. The top qualifying of the four Penske entries in the race.

Graham Rahal

Son of Indy 500 winner Bobby, Graham Rahal was a Gold Coast 600 visitor in the last year of the international format for the event, 2012. Paired with Rick Kelly in one of the team’s last Commodore outings, he registered finishes of eighth and 11th.

Marco Andretti

Grandson of Indy 500 winner Mario, Marco Andretti similarly visited these shores in 2012 and lined up on the Gold Coast alongside Todd Kelly. However, the now part-time Indycar star failed to finish either of the races.

Simon Pagenaud

Twice the Frenchman received the call up to visit the Gold Coast in 2011 and ’12, and he left with three top-ten results to his credit, including a third-place finish alongside Lee Holdsworth at GRM. Holdsworth retained his services the following year at Stone Brothers Racing, and after being wiped out in the Saturday start line fracas, bounced back to finish eight on Sunday.

An overlooked Enduro campaign by Bourdais with Team Charlie.

Sebastien Bourdais

Who knew the French were so dammed proficient at Supercars? In the 17 year history of Indycar/Champ Car on the Gold Coast, Bourdais was the only driver who ever claimed two wins, with that form carrying over into V8 Supercars. In 2010 he teamed up with Jonathon Webb in the DJR-run Tekno machine before being scooped up by Triple Eight for the next two campaigns. Paired with Jamie Whincup, the duo scored a first and a second-place finish each year. He returned for an entire enduro assault three years later, partnering Lee Holdsworth in Charlie Scherkolt’s Walkinshaw run entry, with a best result of seventh in the 2015 Sandown 500.

While he never drove for DJR Team Penske, he did drop by for a visit.

Will Power

Another Australian driver who raced in V8 Supercars before taking on the world, Power lined up for the 2002 enduro campaign alongside Mark Larkham, with a best result of 11th in the Queensland 500. In 2010 he returned for the Gold Coast event, pairing up with Steven Richards, he missed 2011 after suffering injuries in the horror Las Vegas crash the previous week, before returning in 2012 to pick up a pair of surfboards alongside Mark Winterbottom.

Simona De Silvestro

An Indy 500 Rookie of the Year and an Indycar podium finisher, De Silvestro made two Bathurst wildcard starts in 2015 and ’16 as a part of the Harvey Norman Supergirls program. She then stayed on these shores for three full seasons, finishing the Supercars portion of her career with 89 race starts, with a best finish of seventh, earned towards the end of 2019 at Pukekohe. Lines up in the Indy 500 in the Penske affiliated Paretta Autosport entry.