Just moments after perhaps the biggest win of his career, Scott McLaughlin showed success wasn't about to change the Kiwi larrakin, who proved he could truly 'handle the jandal' at St Petersburg.
Opening his second season on the US racecar circuit, the three-time Aussie Supercars champ simply built on his 2021 Rookie of the Year standing with a maiden victory that showed he was a quick study in the unfamiliar world of open-wheel racing.
Starting from pole and dodging backmarkers over the closing laps, McLaughlin, 28, displayed enough guile to hold off defending Indycar champion Alex Palou, who also won his season-opener 12 months ago, en route to his title.
In fact, the previous three championship winners - including fellow Kiwi Scott Dixon in 2019 - had scored first-up race wins those years, making McLaughlin an early favourite for this year's honours, whether he likes it or not.
But true to his Kiwi roots, his celebrations fell far short of dignified, as he stumbled out of his car and rolled around on the tarmac , then burnt his butt sitting on the exhaust during post-race interviews.
The scenes were reminiscent of an early Supercars interview, when the then-20-year-old explained how he "plucked it in first, gave it some jandal and f*** yeah!" From then on, he became known as 'jandal boy' around the pits, even though Aussies know that particular brand of footwear better as 'thongs'.
"I didn't even mean to fall over, but that's now become a thing for me over here," chuckles an eight-years-older McLaughlin. "I'm a little bit more mature now, but I was still pretty pumped, don't get me wrong."
His post-race misadventures have quickly spread across the internet, further enhancing his ontrack reputation as the new kid on the block.
"It's funny that everyone got a laugh out of it," he says. "I do stupid stuff when we win and I get very excited.
"It is what it is, I'm glad everyone got a laugh, like I did... it was just an amazing time."
But McLaughlin's antics don't fool anyone - he has suddenly become the man to beat, perhaps overshadowing compatriot Dixon, who finished eighth, as he chases his seventh Indycar crown.
"I think if we just keep doing our thing, we can be right there at the end, for sure, but it's going to take a lot," he insists. "I'm not kidding myself, I know if we have a bad qualifying, we could find ourselves 20th and completely on the opposite end of the spectrum - that's just what Indycar racing is all about.
"We've got some ovals coming up, we've got some road courses we need to be fast for, but it definitely instills some confidence in the whole squad that when we get a car that's raceable and good enough to win the race, we can do it. That's what makes me really proud."
Notably, McLaughlin's victory came on a street circuit, where he had struggled through his opening campaign, but worked on improving over the US winter.
"Street circuits were tough for me, but we found something towards the end of the year at Long Beach, just with the set-up, and was able to work on that during the off-season and come back with a really strong car at St Pete.
"I always like trying to better myself in tough situations, so I'm excited to see how we go."
Next up, though, is the scene of his IndyCar breakthrough last year, when he trailled Dixon to a Kiwi one-two at Texas Motor Speedway for his first podium finish.
"We know we've got a good car there and have been working really hard as a team for the ovals this year," he says. "I like the track, but it's so competitive out there and I need to make sure I nail my qualifying lap, so we can start up the front or thereabouts.
"Excited to go back to Texas, excited to have another crack there, especially with a test day before."
