I’ve loved motor sports my whole life. From Paris-Dakar and the WRC to F1 and IndyCar, I can’t get enough (though I’ve never quite followed NASCAR - the left turn only circuit). When the 24 hours of Le Mans is on, I check in frequently. Recently, when Aston Martin announced they were sending their hypercar to Le Mans in 2025, I got pretty excited.
When it came time to pick an F1 team to follow and support as a kid, I was naturally attracted to McLaren. It’s had a pretty successful run over the years, and is making a strong challenge this year to be kings of the midfield. Seven drivers have won a total of twelve Drivers' Championships with McLaren:
But my fascination, or attraction to McLaren had less to do with these amazing drivers than the name itself - McLaren … the obviously Scottish name amongst F1 constructors.
The name McLaren (Cenél Loairn - "SEN-el LOH-urn" - which means "The Kindred of Loarn") originated in the ancient Kingdom of Dál Riata as one of the major Gaelic kindreds (tribes or clans). Not coincidently, my ancestry traces to the Kingdom, so you can see the connection. In modern times, the name has appeared in these related forms:
MacLaren (McLaren) - This Scottish surname is thought to derive from Clann Labhran, an alternate name for the Cenél Loairn. The MacLaren clan claims descent from ancient Cenél Loairn nobility.
O'Lorcan - An Irish surname found mainly in County Dublin. The O'Lorcans assert their ancestral origins lie with the Cenél Loairn migrants to Ireland from Scotland.
Lawrence - The English/Anglicized version of the name. Notable is the Anglo-Irish Laurence family of Iveragh, who descended from a Cenél Loairn chieftain.
MacLaurin - A Scottish surname affiliated with Clan Labhran and the Cenél Loairn. The MacLaurins were a sept (or separated family line) of the MacLarens.
Lowry - An Anglicized version of the first name Labhran, from which the Cenél Loairn derived their name. Also adopted as a surname.
Lalor - An Anglicized surname found in Ireland. The Lalors claim a connection to Lothair, allegedly an ancient Cenél Loairn chieftain.
So whilst the name Cenél Loairn itself does not survive verbatim today, various surnames and given names with roots in the Cenél Loairn have endured in Scotland and around the world, giving a glimpse into the legacy of this ancient Gaelic family.
This interest in my Scottish ancestry really kicked in as I discovered who I really was … unpacking the fiction about my life that was created by the LA Dept. of Children and Family Service (detailed i my book, No Place for Autism?). As I unpacked who I actually was, some blood tests revealed the obvious.
The father listed on my birth certificate and I share no biology. My ancestors were from the West Highlands and Islands area of what is now Scotland and the north east of Ireland - the old Dál Riata Kingdom (maternal) and Denmark via Yorkshire, UK (paternal). My Y-Chromosome Haplogroup is R1b. As such, there is no way a man who’s family lived for generations in Sonora, Mexico, could have contributed to my DNA.
That my adoptive mother was caucasian matters not a wit here. Y-Chromosome Haplogroup stuff is passed from the father. There are some obvious genetic and ancestral differences between someone from a typical R1b Western European background and someone from a Q, R1a Sonora, Mexico background:
Y-Chromosome Haplogroup:
R1b - Very common in Western Europe, this paternal haplogroup would be prevalent in someone with European R1b ancestry.
Q, R1a - These paternal lineages are more common in Native American populations. Someone from Sonora would likely possess one of these haplogroups indicating Amerindian patriarchal ancestry.
Autosomal DNA:
European - Someone from an R1b European background would have high amounts of Atlantic European hunter-gatherer and Early European farmer ancestry in their autosomal DNA makeup.
Native American - An individual from Sonora would likely have significant percentages of Native American DNA passed down from indigenous ancestral populations. This would confer unique genetic traits and disease predispositions.
African - Populations from coastal Mexico also tend to have varying degrees of African ancestry, which would be lacking in the European R1b individual.
Phenotype:
Physical appearance - Typical European phenotypic features like lighter skin, eyes and hair would contrast with Native American traits more prominent in coastal Mexicans (look at the picture below and tell me that there’s a relation there).
Adaptations - High altitude adaptations would be seen in the Sonoran Mexican versus sea-level adaptations in the European. Different disease resistances would also likely exist.
With this in mind, I think about the picture below, presented to me many years after the almost two decades of gaslighting … that the man in the picture was indeed my biological father.
The author, at 2 years of age, with their adoptive father.
The man in the picture, Pops, was 6 feet tall, which is tall for a Mexican from Sonora of his generation. I’m two years old and more than half his size.
Pops passed away during the pandemic when the virus caused him to go into ketoacidosis. He was 89 and had lived a full and amazing life. He was a veteran of the Korean war. Someone even made a movie about his unit and a famous battle they fought towards the end of the war (I got tickets and took him to the official premier where he reunited with other vets who attended).
S.Sgt. J. Garcia, US Army
He was amazingly strong (he’d have to be to hold me as he is in the above picture). He was a hard worker and a solid father figure, this isn’t a complaint about him at all. It’s more about what was missed because I was lead to believe something that wasn’t true … for whatever reason.
You see, being ignorant of my history has had significant health implications. When finally connecting with my family, especially my biological father and his family, I found that I have an autistic uncle, an autistic half-sister, and many autistic cousins. It’s also where my erythromelalgia comes from. On my mother’s side is where the bipolar is found, and some autistic relatives as well. Both sides contribute to my ADHD, huge stature, and light colouring.
Coming full circle, perhaps my love of motorsports comes from my biological father. He used to race motorcycles in his youth. Today, battling stage 4 lung cancer, he still takes every opportunity to get on his VRod and rocket along the Gulf Coast. He’s a teenager in an 80 year old body. Which brings another thing to mind, that autistic people are often accused of acting childish or below their age, or acting impulsively. My father never sought a diagnosis … but there are signs.
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Special interest update: Cenél Loairn
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I’ve loved motor sports my whole life. From Paris-Dakar and the WRC to F1 and IndyCar, I can’t get enough (though I’ve never quite followed NASCAR - the left turn only circuit). When the 24 hours of Le Mans is on, I check in frequently. Recently, when Aston Martin announced they were sending their hypercar to Le Mans in 2025, I got pretty excited.
When it came time to pick an F1 team to follow and support as a kid, I was naturally attracted to McLaren. It’s had a pretty successful run over the years, and is making a strong challenge this year to be kings of the midfield. Seven drivers have won a total of twelve Drivers' Championships with McLaren:
Emerson Fittipaldi (1974)
James Hunt (1976)
Niki Lauda (1984)
Alain Prost (1985, 1986, 1989)
Ayrton Senna (1988, 1990, 1991)
Mika Häkkinen (1998, 1999)
Lewis Hamilton (2008)
But my fascination, or attraction to McLaren had less to do with these amazing drivers than the name itself - McLaren … the obviously Scottish name amongst F1 constructors.
The name McLaren (Cenél Loairn - "SEN-el LOH-urn" - which means "The Kindred of Loarn") originated in the ancient Kingdom of Dál Riata as one of the major Gaelic kindreds (tribes or clans). Not coincidently, my ancestry traces to the Kingdom, so you can see the connection. In modern times, the name has appeared in these related forms:
MacLaren (McLaren) - This Scottish surname is thought to derive from Clann Labhran, an alternate name for the Cenél Loairn. The MacLaren clan claims descent from ancient Cenél Loairn nobility.
O'Lorcan - An Irish surname found mainly in County Dublin. The O'Lorcans assert their ancestral origins lie with the Cenél Loairn migrants to Ireland from Scotland.
Lawrence - The English/Anglicized version of the name. Notable is the Anglo-Irish Laurence family of Iveragh, who descended from a Cenél Loairn chieftain.
MacLaurin - A Scottish surname affiliated with Clan Labhran and the Cenél Loairn. The MacLaurins were a sept (or separated family line) of the MacLarens.
Lowry - An Anglicized version of the first name Labhran, from which the Cenél Loairn derived their name. Also adopted as a surname.
Lalor - An Anglicized surname found in Ireland. The Lalors claim a connection to Lothair, allegedly an ancient Cenél Loairn chieftain.
So whilst the name Cenél Loairn itself does not survive verbatim today, various surnames and given names with roots in the Cenél Loairn have endured in Scotland and around the world, giving a glimpse into the legacy of this ancient Gaelic family.
This interest in my Scottish ancestry really kicked in as I discovered who I really was … unpacking the fiction about my life that was created by the LA Dept. of Children and Family Service (detailed i my book, No Place for Autism?). As I unpacked who I actually was, some blood tests revealed the obvious.
The father listed on my birth certificate and I share no biology. My ancestors were from the West Highlands and Islands area of what is now Scotland and the north east of Ireland - the old Dál Riata Kingdom (maternal) and Denmark via Yorkshire, UK (paternal). My Y-Chromosome Haplogroup is R1b. As such, there is no way a man who’s family lived for generations in Sonora, Mexico, could have contributed to my DNA.
That my adoptive mother was caucasian matters not a wit here. Y-Chromosome Haplogroup stuff is passed from the father. There are some obvious genetic and ancestral differences between someone from a typical R1b Western European background and someone from a Q, R1a Sonora, Mexico background:
Y-Chromosome Haplogroup:
R1b - Very common in Western Europe, this paternal haplogroup would be prevalent in someone with European R1b ancestry.
Q, R1a - These paternal lineages are more common in Native American populations. Someone from Sonora would likely possess one of these haplogroups indicating Amerindian patriarchal ancestry.
Autosomal DNA:
European - Someone from an R1b European background would have high amounts of Atlantic European hunter-gatherer and Early European farmer ancestry in their autosomal DNA makeup.
Native American - An individual from Sonora would likely have significant percentages of Native American DNA passed down from indigenous ancestral populations. This would confer unique genetic traits and disease predispositions.
African - Populations from coastal Mexico also tend to have varying degrees of African ancestry, which would be lacking in the European R1b individual.
Phenotype:
Physical appearance - Typical European phenotypic features like lighter skin, eyes and hair would contrast with Native American traits more prominent in coastal Mexicans (look at the picture below and tell me that there’s a relation there).
Adaptations - High altitude adaptations would be seen in the Sonoran Mexican versus sea-level adaptations in the European. Different disease resistances would also likely exist.
With this in mind, I think about the picture below, presented to me many years after the almost two decades of gaslighting … that the man in the picture was indeed my biological father.
The man in the picture, Pops, was 6 feet tall, which is tall for a Mexican from Sonora of his generation. I’m two years old and more than half his size.
Pops passed away during the pandemic when the virus caused him to go into ketoacidosis. He was 89 and had lived a full and amazing life. He was a veteran of the Korean war. Someone even made a movie about his unit and a famous battle they fought towards the end of the war (I got tickets and took him to the official premier where he reunited with other vets who attended).
He was amazingly strong (he’d have to be to hold me as he is in the above picture). He was a hard worker and a solid father figure, this isn’t a complaint about him at all. It’s more about what was missed because I was lead to believe something that wasn’t true … for whatever reason.
You see, being ignorant of my history has had significant health implications. When finally connecting with my family, especially my biological father and his family, I found that I have an autistic uncle, an autistic half-sister, and many autistic cousins. It’s also where my erythromelalgia comes from. On my mother’s side is where the bipolar is found, and some autistic relatives as well. Both sides contribute to my ADHD, huge stature, and light colouring.
Coming full circle, perhaps my love of motorsports comes from my biological father. He used to race motorcycles in his youth. Today, battling stage 4 lung cancer, he still takes every opportunity to get on his VRod and rocket along the Gulf Coast. He’s a teenager in an 80 year old body. Which brings another thing to mind, that autistic people are often accused of acting childish or below their age, or acting impulsively. My father never sought a diagnosis … but there are signs.
The AutSide is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.