getting into formula racing as a whole is really just "there's a race today." "oh shit, there's actually ten different ones. and i only have time for maybe two, and timezones prohibit me from watching like three of them anyways." "man, where do i watch these races again *goes through all of the 20 youtube channels, tv channels etc. where races are streamed*"
i don't think there is ANYONE on this site posting about usf juniors but... i must! i simply must!
feeder series are expensive and i'm wondering what's happened to my driver - he might have just been scammed out of his seat.
first, i'll say that usf juniors is the first series in the usf pro championships (formerly called the road to indy), followed by usf2000 and then usf pro 2000. the usf pro championships are sanctioned by the united states auto club, and after usf pro 2000 drivers go to indy nxt (sanctioned by indycar, obviously).
as of the end of the last round of usf juniors, which took place may 14 to 17 at canadian tire motorsports park (usf's first time in canada!), 24-year-old spanish driver iván machado pérez was 2nd in the standings, 19 points behind championship leader karol pasiewicz. iván had entered the weekend first in the standings, but suffered a crash in race 1 and scored no points. he finished 10th in race 2 and 3rd in race 3.
iván has proven throughout the 2026 season to be a super talented and promising driver, despite being the oldest in the field (and a rookie!). on his road to usf juniors, he started out karting before graduating to racing formula cars in europe - winning multiple championships along the way - until he ran out of funding and switched to sim racing. what's remained the most consistent is that he is fast.
in 2024, he won the virtual skip barber formula iracing series and got a scholarship to compete in the skip barber race series in 2025 (former contestants include checo perez, josef newgarden, and alex rossi). he then won the 2025 skip barber race series and a scholarship to help fund his 2026 usf juniors season.
then, iván claimed on twitter in october 2025 that skip barber wasn't providing him with the scholarship because he had already been given one in 2025.
however, he continued to test in usf machinery throughout the fall and winter, and in february 2026 it was announced that he was joining vrd racing (who also participate in gb3) for the 2026 usf juniors season.
like i said earlier, he's been a consistent and speedy driver this season. but when the entry list for this weekend's usf juniors round at mid-ohio sports car course came out, he was missing.
as soon as i noticed, i went to see if there was any info as to why. i couldn't find any immediately, which isn't unusual. drivers are often dropping in and out of the usf pro champs series based on funding, availability, and performances in previous races.
i checked his instagram, and in his last post from may 21st, he discussed the challenges he faced in canada, thanked his team for their help in bringing it back and enabling him to end the weekend with a podium finished, and mentioned returning stronger at mid-ohio. no info about why he's not there now.
BUT, there's a link to a gofundme in his bio that i had never noticed. here's what it says:
the author claims to be laura, iván's partner, and that she's posting this campaign without iván's knowledge. she claims that at the beginning of 2026, an unnamed manager/sponsor signed a contract with vrd which promised to cover all of iván's expenses for the season. then, last week, the manager/sponsor broke the contact and left iván to cover the cost of the damage from the crash in canada. vrd will not allow iván to race until these costs are covered. she offers a reduced cost to companies who are interested in sponsoring iván's #10 car, and says they have less than a month to save his seat.
my first reaction was, honestly, confusion. the last donation was 10 months ago, and the campaign was launched on the 18th of august 2025. then i saw the url: gofundme.com/f/become-part-of-my-road-to-indycar-ivan-machado-perez. iván put this gofundme up nearly a year ago when he was first trying to fund his jump to usf juniors and it seems laura has appropriated it for a new (but obviously similar) use.
if i noticed this, surely other people had.
i found this tweet from spanish journalist adri fernández. he notes that iván is not at mid-ohio, and mentions that rob howden, journalist and usf pro champs commentator says that iván's season is done due to a lack of money. adri speculates that this has something to do with the crash in canada, but someone responds with a link to the gofundme, which he tweeted about some hours later. as of the time i'm writing this, he has not independently verified the legitimacy of the gofundme, but he shared the link.
there aren't any posts yet from iván (that i have found). there are also no posts from vrd, or its owners. again, not surprising - teams don't often comment when drivers leave them.
what's also not surprising is that this has happened - that a junior driver loses their seat because of funding issues and broken promises. still, i'm majorly unhappy. iván, i think, more than deserves the chance to prove himself in the road to indy, and i'm horribly disappointed that this is likely how his season will end.
honestly, i don't know why i've written this post. i've just been super excited about following iván's career and it always sucks when something like this happens. i don't have friends who watch the road to indy, so i don't really have anyone to talk to about what's happened.
tl;dr - usf junior driver iván machado pérez's 2026 season might be ending early. the possible reason is that his manager/sponsor broke their contract with iván's team, vrd racing, and iván is now on the hook to pay for recent crash damage. he does not have the funding for this. there's an unverified (but i think probably real) gofundme, and it seems like most people haven't noticed it. i'm sad, so i wrote a post about it.
a 17 year old CHILD is walking around spreading pro israel propaganda while racing in motorsports
he's sponsored and supported by the idf. the exact people who are pretending they arent murdering men, women, and children because of their race.
he had a helmet with all the missing israelis, which is in no way inherintly wrong until you realize he's ignoring the thousands of dead and missing palestinians.
he's posing for photos and celebrating while wearing a hoodie that says "free our hostages" while ignoring the thousands of palestinians trapped in rafah and being held hostage in concentration camps.
he's posting videos and pictures having fun in israel while on that same land palestinians are being starved, abused, and murdered.
but it doesnt matter. because he's a white man. nothing matters to him.
they only want you to shut up when you dont believe what they want you to.
from the jordan to the mediterranean palestine will be free.
