Ricardo Juncos and Speedway, Indiana town officials braved a cold Indiana morning to break the frozen ground for the new Juncos Technical Center. It’s fitting that a boy who grew up with a grandfather and father who were racers and dreamed of a career for his entire life would be surrounded by his father, wife, brother and other family (actual and racing) while planting new roots in the Hoosier State at the corner of Allison Way and Gilman Street in Speedway.
“The creation of the Juncos Technical Center (JTC) marks a historical turning point for the team,” said Juncos, team principal and founder of Juncos Racing. “Less than 10 years ago, we were a small karting team in Florida, and I continue to be amazed by the amount of growth and success we have seen in such a short period of time.”
The new $3 million, 41,000 square foot headquarters also includes plans that will make the building easily expandable to 70,000 square feet. Juncos Racing and their 25 employees are currently housed in a cramped 10,000 square foot shop in Brownsburg, Indiana.
Initially, the team’s plans are to occupy 30,000 square feet and lease 10,000 square feet to another company. Juncos joins Carpenter Fisher Hartman Racing, A.J. Foyt Racing, Dallara, USAC and of course the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (and INDYCAR) as major racing entities with facilities located in the town of 12,000.
There is definitely some symmetry that the 19-year-old race team has made the 104-year-old enclave of Indianapolis its new home, as both the race team and the town have been shaped by month of May events that occurred 91 years apart. The first Indianapolis 500 was held in during the month of May in 1911, and Juncos moved from his home in Argentina to the United States in May 2002.
The 40-year-old Juncos made the transition from successful race car driver to successful team owner during the mid-1990s, butentered the 21st century finding it difficult to survive a collapsing Argentinian economy. The Buenos Aires native made a difficult decision to move away from home and try to start over. His first plan was to move to Australia where he had friends he could live with, but he could not afford the the cost of the flight. Juncos could afford a flight to Miami, where he started life anew with no plans to continue with racing.
Juncos Racing began as a successful karting operation that won a total of 19 championships before making the move to the Mazda Road To Indy and Pro Mazda in 2009. In the past six years, the team has won two Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire championships (2010 – Conor Daly / 2014 – Spencer Pigot) and one Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire championship (2015 – Spencer Pigot).
The team which plans to move into their new headquarters in late summer or early fall, and has a full slate of drivers already signed. The Juncos Pro Mazda lineup will continue with four drivers, with two returning drivers and two rookies (Garett Grist, Will Owen, Jake Parsons & Nicolas Dapero), and a similar balance in Indy Lights with one sophomore and one rookie (Kyle Kaiser & Zachary Claman DeMelo).
“The team has grown larger and stronger each year, which created the need for a facility like the JTC,” Juncos explained. “This new facility will allow Juncos to continue to expand into new series. It wouldn’t be possible without the incredible passion and desire of every member of Juncos Racing, and I am truly grateful for all of the hard work they put in to make this dream a reality.”
Juncos did share that the team is planning on expanding to four Indy Lights entries in 2017 and does have aspirations to compete in the Verizon IndyCar Series, but would not commit to a definite time-frame for that big move.