Strangers 'argue' with Hailie Deegan as her new 1966 Mustang turns heads at local gas station

Indy NXT driver Hailie Deegan recently got possession of a vintage 1966 Ford Mustang she bought in December last year, after it underwent a thorough restoration. In a series of Snapchat stories, the 23-year-old driver expressed her excitement about the new car and how it's attracting strangers.

Deegan shared how she has never been a fan of owning supercars, but it's old, vintage cars that tickle her fancy. However, her first trip after hitting the road with the 1966 Mustang had a weird surprise waiting for her during a stop for gas.

Hailie Deegan's car became the center of attention at a gas station. Random strangers approached her and struck up conversations about the restored classic. One person even argued with her about the motor that the car housed. In a video shared via Snapchat, Deegan said:

"I was just at the gas station, and this is my first time filling up my new car. I did not realize how much of a hot commodity I was gonna be at the gas station. I had four separate conversations of like older people coming up to my car, ask questions about it. I know quite a bit of info about it, but not everything."

"And they want to know everything, 'Here's this, here's that..." It was like a lot - 'How many motors in it?' They almost started to argue with me over what motor," Deegan added with a laugh. "I'm like, 'It's this motor', and they're like, 'Are you sure it's not this one? Let me check on the side.' The side sometimes has the logo of the motors... I need a whole production to go to the gas station in this thing," she light-heartedly said, concluding the anecdote.

A screenshot of Hailie Deegan's Snapchat story (@hailiedeegan)

Hailie Deegan ushered in a new phase of her career this year. After many years racing stock cars in the NASCAR Truck Series, Xfinity Series, and ARCA Menards, she made the jump to open-wheel racing. She drives for HMD Motorsports in IndyCar's junior series, Indy NXT.

Hailie Deegan bought her vintage 1966 Ford Mustang "for a steal"

In March, Hailie Deegan was at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a photoshoot and interview with People Magazine along with brother Haiden Deegan and father, Brian. She shared behind-the-scenes footage of the same in a VLOG uploaded on her YouTube channel on March 14.

In the same video, the IndyCar junior also documented the day after the shoot, when she headed to the house of a fellow Formula Regionals driver's dad she met in 2024, who did car restorations, and who was working on a 1966 Ford Mustang.

Deegan revealed that she got the Mustang for much cheaper than she'd anticipated.

"I got it for a steal. I felt like I was stealing it from the people, with the price that they took. It was great for me. But for them, I felt like, this doesn't feel right, how much I'm buying this car for," she said. [5:48 onwards]

Hailie Deegan is having a trying first season in Indy NXT. The challenges of mastering the open-wheel car have been tougher than expected. She has been consistently qualifying and finishing dead last, except for when her opponents have mechanical issues or crashes. However, her focus remains on embracing the steep learning curve rather than making costly blunders chasing quick results.