Santino, Myles & Momentum: Downtown Detroit Gears Up for the Detroit Grand Prix

The fences are going up. The pavement is being prepped. And downtown Detroit? It’s about to transform into one of the most electrifying racing backdrops in the country.

From May 30th through June 1st, the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix returns to the streets of the Motor City—bringing thunder to Jefferson Avenue and turning the Detroit riverfront into a high-speed showcase of engineering, grit, and insane driver talent. As one of the track announcers, I get a front-row view of the action and the chance to connect with some of the biggest (and rising) stars of open-wheel racing.

We kicked things off this week with a preview event, and I caught up with two guys who couldn’t be more different in tone—but are equally hungry to make noise in Detroit: IndyCar driver Santino Ferrucci, and Indy NXT contender Myles Rowe.

First things first—I had to ask Santino the important stuff.

“So did you get asked about pizza?” I said.

“Oh yeah,” he laughed. “I heard you talking about it on TV this morning too!”

He’s referring to the age-old battle between Detroit deep dish and New Haven thin crust, and he’s not backing down.

“People keep asking me to compare it to New Haven,” he said. “But I still—man—New Haven’s the pizza. It’s hard. Hard to beat.”

I told him I’m bringing more Detroit pies for his team this year. “We’re gonna win you over—one slice at a time.”

He laughed. “We feed everybody. I’ll make sure I got enough for the team this year.”

But once we shifted to the track, Ferrucci’s tone sharpened. He’s been close to that 100% performance level all season, but fine-tuning and small setbacks—like a fueling issue in Birmingham and a wall in Long Beach—have held him back.

“You are all in from the start,” he said. “There are some races that you do need to reset yourself when things happen… but at the end of the day, you just keep your head down. You don’t come up for air until the race is over.”

Detroit is brutal for drivers. It's fast, narrow, unforgiving—and Ferrucci thrives in that chaos. Last year, he muscled back to a ninth-place finish after getting caught in a first-lap wreck and receiving a stop-and-go penalty.

“This track, it’s insane,” he said. “You gotta be eyes wide open from lap one.”

We also talked about this year’s big change: the introduction of IndyCar’s new hybrid power units at the Indianapolis 500.

“Man, it’s difficult. You’ve gotta be on your game,” he said. “The car is looser than it’s ever been. When you turn the boost up and take the downforce out, it’s getting a little sketchy now.”

He thinks it’ll separate the elite from the pack.

“It’s going to bring out the best of us. People that are up on the tools, smart with the setup—there’s going to be a lot of variables. And I actually think the racing is going to be better… because the hybrid is going to add a different way to pass people.”

Inside the cockpit? Absolute chaos.

“It’s so busy inside the car now… you’re messing with the hybrid, weight jackers, bars—there’s really not enough time to do everything at once. You need another set of hands, to be honest.”

And while fans are wondering if drivers will need to “charge up” mid-race like an EV?

“No, no, it’s very minimal,” Santino assured. “But it would be cool if we left the boost turned up the entire thing—that’s just the inner race car driver of me wanting more horsepower at all times.”

Then there’s Myles Rowe, a standout in the Indy NXT series who blends humility, intellect, and raw driving skill.

Coming off a solid fourth-place finish, I asked him what that felt like.

“It’s like getting a table at the good restaurant,” he said. “But at 5:15. It’s good—but not great. You want definitely a little bit more.”

We talked about the mental grind of chasing someone down when you know the car doesn’t quite have it.

“You definitely know the speed’s out there, but maybe the car doesn’t have it,” Myles said. “Trying to push for that extra bit of limit you think could be out there is something tough. It takes some self-control.”

I told him I remembered walking the course with him last year and watching him study manhole covers and line changes on Jefferson. The attention to detail was next level.

“It’s homework,” he nodded. “You’ve gotta be serious about it. You don’t absorb this stuff in 30 minutes. You sit at home, study, wake up, go to the track, study again. Especially on a street course—you gotta take it seriously.”

And for Myles, the line through the corners isn’t something you see—it’s something you feel.

“My senses take me to that line everywhere through it,” he said. “My eyes are just making sure I’m maximizing the radius around the corner—just making sure I don’t over-maximize and hit a wall.”

He also lit up when we started talking about racing legends. I mentioned Ayrton Senna and how I visited the old Detroit start/finish line on May 1st.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “Fernando was a big one for me—Alonso. I met him in London at the Aston Martin shop. It was just so fluid. That’s when I came out of it like, ‘Wow. I really can do this.’ His energy—it resonated.”

And yeah, Myles is a film guy. His recs?

“Have you seen The Substance? So good. Killers of the Flower Moon—I just watched that. Weird movie, weird story, but it really takes you in.”

I asked for his comfort food movie—the one he throws on when he needs to reset.

“It’s kind of corny,” he said, “but I like Speed Racer for inspiration. And The Breakfast Club—I love a good movie that runs off just dialogue. So good.”

The countdown is officially on. Downtown Detroit is coming alive—track walls, pit boxes, grandstands—and it’s not just the engines you’ll hear.

The city is ready to race.

The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix runs May 30–June 1. Tickets and info at DetroitGP.com. Come feel the horsepower. Come feel the city.