Hailie Deeganโs next turn in motor racing will take place in the NTT IndyCar Seriesโ top development category with HMD Motorsports, where the young veteran of off-road and stock car racing will tackle a full season of Indy NXT.
The 23-year-old daughter of action sports legend Brian Deegan will make her open-wheel debut later this week on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course during the annual Chris Griffis Test.
โI am excited about the opportunity and look forward to working with a proven program in HMD Motorsports,โ Deegan said. โI have much to learn, but I am ready to go. The team brings a wealth of knowledge for me to pull from, and I look forward to soaking up as much of that as possible before my race debut next March in St. Petersburg.โ
Deegan joins championship front-runner Caio Collet, HMD newcomer Bryce Aron, Josh Pierson, and Tommy Smith among the confirmed HMD drivers for 2025.
โHailie, and especially the Deegan name, are huge in motorsports, and we welcome them to the HMD Motorsports family,โ said team president Mike Maurini. โHailie has already been out to the shop and is taking the move to open-wheel racing seriously. She is looking for a place in the Indianapolis area to be emersed with the team and is already working with her engineer. We want to make sure she and all the other HMD Motorsports drivers are as ready as possible for every on-track session.โ
Deegan’s surprise Indy NXT move comes after she recently returned to her off-road roots in Nitrocross. Qnigan/Nitrocross
Deegan’s move to open-wheel racing comes after she recently appeared in the Side-by-Side class of Nitrocross at Utah Motorsports Campus, where she hinted at today’s announcement, saying, โWeโre working on stuff, just canโt say a whole lot right now.โ
In Utah she competed against her father’s rival Travis Pastrana, as well as Kira and Mika Block, children of the late Ken Block.
โItโs definitely cool,โ Deegan told RACER of her brief return to off-road racing. โThe Block kids are racing and theyโre all great kids. Weโre all here having fun, having a blast, and itโs a great time.
โItโs been really cool because I like racing UTVs. Can-Ams are great fun to drive, I drive them all the time at my house, so I havenโt really got away from dirt, but Iโd say (I have) the racing side, so it was good to be back.โ
Deegan finished the first day of racing in Utah in fourth, but didn’t advance to the eight-car final on the second day, highlighting the highly-competitive nature of the SxS class which as well as the Blocks and Pastrana also includes the likes of rising off-road talents Kainan Baker, Gray Leadbetter, Cash LeCroy, and Mia Chapman.
โThe cream always rises to the top. Thereโs always a fast couple of guys and I think itโs like that in all series,โ Deegan said. โThereโs always so many different series that Iโve raced and thereโs always the really fast guys.ย
โThis oneโs pretty competitive too, especially since everyoneโs been racing all year and I havenโt been here at all, so everyoneโs got it all figured out.โ
While Deegan’s next move is now set, a future move to Nitrocrossโ premier Group E class, where her father raced four times last season, is almost definitely not on the cards.
โI donโt think so, Iโm not into electric stuff so I donโt know if Iโd want to do that,โ she said of the potential of racing in Nitrocrossโ main game. โPlus Iโve never been into rallycross cars, that was always my Dadโs thing. Iโve never taken an interest in it, itโs just not my forte.โ
