Five Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs set for three days of testing ahead of Rolex 24 DETROIT (January 15, 2025) – The second season of the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R kicks off in a big way this weekend with the annual Roar Before the 24 – the stage-setting event for the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona. Five Corvette GT3s from four teams dot the 61-car entry across two of the four classes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The quintet of Corvettes each will test Friday through Sunday on the 3.56-mile Daytona Road Course ahead of next weekend’s season-opening round:

· Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports – GTD PRO: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims, Daniel Juncadella (No. 3 Corvette); Nicky Catsburg, Tommy Milner, Nico Varrone (No. 4 Corvette)· AWA – GTD: Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern, Mavtin Kirchhoeffer (No. 13 Corvette)· DXDT Racing – GTD: Charlie Eastwood, Alec Udell, Salih Yoluc, Pipo Derani (No. 36 Corvette)· Trackhouse by TF Sport – GTD PRO: Ben Keating, Scott McLaughlin, Shane van Gisbergen, Connor Zilisch (No. 91 Corvette)(Factory drivers in bold)

CORVETTE RACING MEDIA INFO Corvette Racing media information for 2025 is updated and available ahead of this weekend’s Roar Before the 24.  Materials include Corvette Racing event advance and quotes, Corvette Racing stats and figures, Corvette Z06 GT3.R racecar comparisons, Corvette Racing Fast Facts, factory driver biographies and Corvette Racing photography, among other items.

This year’s group marks the largest number of production-based racing Corvettes in the race since 2007. The Corvette Racing brand has a deep history at the Rolex 24 and includes four GT class victories – one of those an overall win in 2001. In addition, Corvette’s successes at Daytona have bolstered Chevrolet’s impressive record of 122 wins at the circuit across IMSA and NASCAR’s national series. Corvette Racing performance and powertrain engineers made significant improvements to the Z06 GT3.R throughout its first season of competition. Much of the work focused on optimizing performance and enhancing the Corvette’s reliability. The outright pace of the Corvette GT3 is evident with 12 pole positions across three series in 2024, and the reliability took huge steps forward in the second half of the year. The Roar Before the 24 is set for January 17-19 with seven sessions scheduled across the three days. The Rolex 24 goes green at 1:40 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 25 with qualifying on Thursday, January 23. JESSICA DANE, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: “Everyone at Corvette Racing and our Corvette Z06 GT3.R teams is excited and optimistic heading to Daytona. After our initial season of racing and development, we feel confident going into this year’s Roar with a group of Corvettes that are both quick and reliable. The engineering teams across the whole Corvette Racing program have spent a considerable amount of time and effort making sure our teams are set up for success this year at Daytona and the rest of our 2025 schedule. With five Z06 GT3.Rs across two classes in this year’s Rolex 24, Corvette fans aren’t going to want to miss it.” SELECT CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTESALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 OSHKOSH / MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “We have a whole season under our belt now with the Corvette. Quite a few of the issues that we had last season are ones we’ve ironed out along with understanding the platform and understanding the car better so we can extract more performance from it more often. We understand the strengths and weaknesses of the package, of which there aren’t many weaknesses thankfully.”“For Daytona, it’s always a huge challenge to complete the first race of the year. I would hope that this year it will be a step better than last year. Already last year we had good speed during the race, but with it being the first race of the ZZ06 GT3.R it was understandable that we were still finding out some areas that needed to be improved. Firstly the priority would be to finish the race with both cars on the Pratt Miller side on the lead lap without any reliability issues. If we are able do that then we’ll be able to fight for the places toward the front.” NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 OSHKOSH / MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “For me going into my second season in IMSA, it will make things a little bit easier. There will be track where I have now been to once instead of not having been there at all. One other very positive thing is that my 2023 teammate Nico is joining us as a third driver, which is something we are very happy about. He clearly was very good and a good teammate to have when we won the World Championship. I’m glad he is in our car instead of being in another and racing against him! He’s incredibly fast so I’m looking forward to working with him again. It’s a very positive outlook for the season.” OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 SABELT / SONIC / PROJEKT CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I have been with this team since 2019, and I have grown so much with them as a driver over the years. I’m looking forward to another season in the GTD class with the Corvette. This year has been so important for us and we’ve learned a lot about the car throughout each round, with the help of GM and Chevrolet. We’re getting more and more competitive as we continue to progress, and I’m confident that 2025 will be even better.” ALEC UDELL, NO. 36 MOBIL 1 / SuCo CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m excited to get back to action with DXDT Racing at Daytona. We’ve got a very talented group of drivers, first-class engineers, crew and team leadership. It’s all an exciting combination. I can’t say enough about how appreciative I am of the efforts across the board to put the team in the best position to compete at the top here in GTD. The Corvette Z06 GT3.R treated us superbly last season and I’m pumped to tackle the IMSA challenges behind the wheel of the Chevy this year.” BEN KEATING, NO. 91 WEATHERTECH CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m really excited for this. I’ve won Le Mans in a Corvette and won a World Championship in a Corvette. I’m thrilled to be back with TF Sport, a team that I know very well and one where we won a lot of races and a championship together. I’m teaming with some phenomenal Chevrolet drivers in Shane, Scott and Connor, which should be a lot of fun. This will be a big challenge but one that I know we are all up looking forward to and are up for.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT JANUARY 15, 2025 JOSEF NEWGARDEN, driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet, met with the media at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Days in Indianapolis, Indiana. Press Conference Transcript: THE MODERATOR: Josef Newgarden is the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet. Why don’t you start things off with the off-season, what you’ve been doing, mindset in 2025. What are you looking forward to? JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Thank you so much for having me. It’s great to be here. Mindset is a good question. Great place to start. I’m glad you asked that. My mindset is really good right now. I feel positive. I feel excited about the year. I think our team is in a good spot. I think we have all the potential in the world, as always, and that gives me a lot to look forward to. Certainly the Indy 500 is going to be a highlight, as always. We’re all looking forward to that. But really FOX is probably the most pivotal ingredient. I think they’re going to be transformative for this series and what they’ve done so far has been tremendous and we haven’t even hit the ground running yet. Very excited for what we have to come and can’t wait to really hit the ground, like I said, in St. Pete and see how far we can go. It is good to be back. It’s been a busy day. Tough day. For me, this is always the hardest day for me. I know no one has any sympathy for that, but you’ve got to get through this grind today, and I feel like when we get through this day, then we can start the season. That’s kind of the carrot at the end of the rope. Q. How does it feel to be told you’re better looking than Tom Brady?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think Tom disagreed with that. Q. Alex doesn’t like your book, too.JOSEF NEWGARDEN: That was the best part was Alex’s bit. They’ve done a good job. More than a good job. They’ve done a tremendous job. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a partner like FOX that has fully bought in and understands the significance of INDYCAR. I think it can’t be overstated how appreciative we are of Eric, his entire team. The FOX team is a big group. They’re very innovative. They’re capital intensive when it comes to entertainment and as far as production quality and innovation. They’re not scared to try things. I think we have needed that for quite a while, and they’re going to help push the sport where it deserves to be. I don’t think we’re — I’ve told this to people a lot, but we’re not hoping and dreaming for INDYCAR to be this thing that it’s never been before. INDYCAR used to be a household name, and it deserves to be. It’s been this hidden gem for so long now, so I think FOX will take it to new heights and really excited about what they’re doing. Q. I know as a driver you’ve said in the past that winning an INDYCAR Series championship is a great reward because it’s what you’ve done for an entire season. Probably in some ways more of a complete package of your work, your body of work. But now that you’re also a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, do you find you get mentioned a heck of a more than a two-time INDYCAR Series champion?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: You do. I think it’s kind of the nature of our championship. The Indianapolis 500 really transcends anything else. There’s nothing like the Indianapolis 500. You certainly realize that after you win it, to your point. And I felt the magnitude of it, not from the recognition afterwards or how much notoriety there was, but more so like the personal impact. You really feel the weight of the 500 in the moment, when you’re there and winning it. It’s crazy what it feels like than just being in the race. It already feels like a huge deal when you’re in the race, but when you win it, it just hits differently and you really feel the impact. To answer the question, winning the championship is certainly a different task than winning Indy. It’s so hard to compare the two. One is a single event that’s a big buildup, it’s a lot of time commitment throughout the month of May. There’s more pressure to win the Indianapolis 500 than anything else, so that’s the key difference there. Then for the championship you have to be good for so long across so many different types of courses. They’re both gratifying. I think they both deserve extreme recognition. They’re just different. You can’t put them in the same category. Q. We asked Alex and Pato about this yesterday, but curious to get your take on what that experience was like going out to LA and filming the spots for that commercial that we saw on Sunday.JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It was great. I mean, I had an awesome time. I was there for — this is a 45-second spot. I think we filmed for eight hours, and they probably needed more. But we’ve been — my message has been we’ll give you whatever you guys need. If you’re willing to give us everything, we’re going to give you everything. We’re really trying to work as a team. It felt like the real deal. When you were out there it was like, okay, someone is giving INDYCAR the platform and recognition that it’s probably deserved for a long time. I don’t say that arrogantly. I believe that for everybody. Everybody in this room, everybody that makes up the INDYCAR Series, they deserve to have a big platform, and it felt like FOX was delivering that. I certainly felt the magnitude when you were in LA. You saw the spot; it was better than I thought it would be. I remember looking at the script when it was first presented to me and seeing the vision. I thought, oh, that’s funny. Like that’s really well written. It’s a great idea. Like that should be pretty good. Then I saw the actual spot, and I thought, that’s even better than I could have imagined. Yeah, just feels like the platform that we’ve been missing in a lot of ways. Q. I know you had a very notorious previous INDYCAR commercial that we sometimes joke about that you filmed a while back. Did you have any nerves going into this knowing that you were probably going to be the first one that was going to come out knowing that maybe that didn’t quite come out the way you were expecting it to before and maybe just seeing a script that you thought was cool, but again, until it comes out you probably don’t quite know what you should expect?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, not really, no. I’ve got to tell you, I felt pretty trustworthy. When we first started interacting, I’ve really liked everybody on the team. It has not been difficult to get used to everyone and start moving forward. I felt very trustworthy in what they were going to put together, even if it wasn’t — even if it’s not a home run, I felt like they were going to put a good piece together and they cared about what they had in front of them, the asset that they had acquired, that they were now needing to protect and grow. I think they understand it. So trust is probably the number one word there. It’s pretty easy to trust and feel like they’re going to do the right thing. And I don’t think that means we’re going to be perfect. We might make some missteps. That’s normal. I think we should have a little bit of grace if we make some missteps and we probably will. But I think they’ll try to do the right thing, but if we make a misstep we’ll correct it and moving forward. Q. Do you get any speaking time in Alex’s spot?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t, no. It was supposed to be something different originally, and when it turned into Alex doing it, it just became more perfect. It made a lot of sense, too. It’s the reigning champ, so he brought the humor to it. It’s going to bring that visibility to Alex. They’re going to connect, create dots that people can start connecting, which is really good for everybody. Q. The question is going to be awkward, but for as good as you’ve been in Indy here the last couple years, you’ve just not led a whole lot of laps in this event. You’re actually tied with Conor. 10 guys have led more laps at Indy than you have in this race. Have you thought about how you’d change your approach to the race, or is it still I want to lead every lap and I just haven’t?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: You know, it’s a good question. Q. Just a dumb statistical question.JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No, it’s a great question. I’d have a simple answer for it. We have figured out how to win the race twice so far. I like our process. I really do. We’ll see if it keeps working. If it doesn’t, we’ll change the formula. But I think we’ve got a good process. Q. I just wanted to get you to reflect a little bit how 2024 went because obviously there were big highs but also some lows there, as well. What do you feel was maybe behind some of the peaks and troughs, and like you spoke about last year, has there been any recalibration this off-season?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I do think it was a dynamic year is maybe the way to put it. It was a year of great highs, as you said. There was multiple strong points to it. But then there were some tremendous lows. Very volatile and rocky. But I would say transformative, if anything. For me, it was a really good year to go through. It makes me excited about 2025. It ended up being a really positive year for the way everything transpired, even the waviness of the year. It just put us in a good spot to come out firing in 2025, and I think we can do that. I don’t have many more adjectives for it. It was just very up and down. So many good things to take from it. Certainly Indy was the biggest highlight, but a lot of positives all around. Even within the negatives, they all turned into positives I thought. Q. Following on from that, what do you feel like you’ve learned about yourself or learned about the team? Anything in particular?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, lots. We definitely — we’re always growing. I think that’s the goal, is you’ve got to get better every year. Certainly I think even as humans we’re trying to constantly evolve and be better prepared or be in a better spot year after year, and I think that’s true for us, and certainly after a season like 2024, resilience is a word that comes to my mind. I think we have tons of it, so everybody is rallied together and ready to go. Q. There’s been a lot of talk about a possible new car for 2027. I’d just like to get your take on what you feel a new formula would ideally consist of?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Less weight is critical. For me that’s the number one point. I’ve expressed that. I think most everyone has expressed that. But certainly the engineering team led by Rich is very strong. They’re doing a great job already. We certainly know the direction that they’re headed. They’ve given us a lot of time for feedback and opinion. I think as you look at the car now, it’s developed into a pretty heavy race car. I’d like us to get the weight down. That’s ideal. Then producing a high-horsepower car, more than we have now, with a stable aero platform, it’s always kind of the ingredients you look to have in this type of series. Our racing product has been quite good over the last four or five years, so I don’t think we want to disturb that or completely overhaul it, and they’re working on some new ideas how to even improve that. Indianapolis is probably one of the places that could be mixed up the most where we have a great racing product there but maybe it’s not completely what we want. Having more competition throughout the field and ease of passing throughout the field is something we’re lacking at the moment. You can pass up front between two cars but not five deep.So improving those type of things is top of mind for the development group and what they’re going to put in front of us for ’27. Q. You’ve always been known as the king of ovals, but how much work has gone in over the winter to try to become a consistent challenger at the front on road and street courses? Can you take any learnings from Power and McLaughlin?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, ’24 was kind of unfortunate in a lot of ways when you look at the numbers and you study average position, all of these sort of metrics. We’re in just as good of a spot as we’ve always been. There were some outlier events as everybody is aware of in 2024, but when I look at the numbers I go, this is really not different to what it was in years prior. When we were spreading wins across the board on ovals, road courses and street courses and kind of getting the trifecta, I think that’s still very intact. I’m not dwelling on that too much. I think we’ve just got to right the ship in some ways from what we saw last year. We just had choppy water, and I think once we find a little clearer water, we’re going to be in a good spot. I guess that’s what I took from last year, when I really dove into the numbers, that nothing was that far off. Q. You’ve been working at Penske a couple years back, the team really struggled at Indy to qualify well. Then front row last year all of a sudden. I don’t know how much could be attributed to the joint engineering with Foyt now that Michael Cannon was at Foyt, but now he’s gone to PREMA, and they have such a history of being so competitive. What do you expect to see from them, and do you think it’s going to make a difference from cannon being there?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: You know, it’s hard to predict. I think PREMA should be a powerhouse much like a Carlin. I had experience a very short time in Carlin and seeing their transition over to the States and to be a part of INDYCAR, I would expect PREMA to have just as good if not better of a trajectory. I think they’re both very reputable strong teams. That’s the first thing that comes to mind. Indy is its own thing. It’s hard to assess the Cannon deal. Some of this stuff you would say, well, crossover and they should know this and they should know that and they should just apply. Sometimes it doesn’t work like that. Every case is a little different. So we’ll see how they perform at Indianapolis. It’s its own beast. But they’ll definitely have a great opportunity to show up and be competitive right away. If that doesn’t happen, then that’s just the nature of motorsports. I’m sure they’ll find their way at some point. They’re a strong enough team. They’ll have strong drivers, strong engineers. They will get there at some point, and I think they’ll be a great addition. But Indy, we could talk about that forever. It’s its own thing. So we’ll see how they hit the ground running. But I think more than anything they’re going to add a great dynamic to the mix. It’s another strong team. It’s international, which I think is great. It’s one of the things I love with INDYCAR. I don’t really think of INDYCAR just as domestic product. I think of it as the collection of the best people from around the world, whether that’s engineers or the team talent or the drivers. I love seeing an influx of more global talent, and PREMA adds to that in a great way, so I think it’s only positive across the board for the INDYCAR Series.

BATAVIA, Ohio (January 15, 2025) – The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, presented by FloRacing, will kick off the 2025 season with the Super Bowl of Racing at Golden Isles Speedway in Waynesville, GA. The event is scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, January 17-19, with an open practice on Thursday, January 16. On Thursday, January 16, the pit gate will open at 2:00 PM, followed by an Open Practice from 5:00 – 8:00 PM.  A complete program is on the docket each night for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, with Friday’s 50-lap A-Main event paying $12,000-to-win, Saturday’s 60-lap feature boasting $25,000 to the winner, and Sunday’s 40-lap A-Main paying $10,000-to-win. The 602 and 604 Late Models, Mini Late Models, Crown Vic, and Enduros will also be part of the racing card. The remainder of the weekend, the pit gates will open at 2:00 PM each day, followed by general admission gates at 3:00 PM. The on-track excitement is slated for 5:30 PM each day with Hot Laps. All times are Eastern Time. Golden Isles Speedway is a 4/10-mile red clay oval located off U.S. Hwy. 82 in Waynesville, Ga. just 14 miles west of I-95. To purchase tickets or find more information about Golden Isles Speedway, please visit www.gisdirt.com. The Super Bowl of Racing kicks off the Big River Steel Chase for the Championship presented by ARP. The nation’s top dirt late model drivers will compete throughout the season for a share of the over $1.3 million point fund. The champion of the 2025 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series presented by FloRacing will earn a record-breaking $250,000 in the industry. For the latest news, results, championship standings, and more about the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, please visit www.lucasdirt.com. Super Bowl of Racing Purses:Friday, January 17: 1. $12,000, 2. $6,000, 3. $3,500, 4. $2,800, 5. $2,500, 6. $2,300, 7. $2,200, 8. $2,100, 9. $2,050, 10. $2,000, 11. $1,600, 12. $1,400, 13. $1,200, 14. $1,100, 15. $1,050, 16. $1,000, 17. $1,000,18. $1,000, 19. $1,000, 20. $1,000, 21. $1,000, 22. $1,000, 23. $1,000, 24. $1,000 = $52,800 Saturday, January 18: 1. $25,000, 2. $10,000, 3. $6,000, 4. $4,000, 5. $3,500, 6. $2,700, 7. $2,500, 8. $2,300, 9. $2,200, 10. $2,100, 11. $2,000, 12. $1,900, 13. $1,800, 14. $1,700, 15. $1,600, 16. $1,500, 17. $1,500, 18. $1,500, 19. $1,500, 20. $1,500, 21. $1,500, 22. $1,500, 23. $1,500, 24. $1,500 = $82,800 Sunday, January 19: 1. $10,000, 2. $5,500, 3. $3,500, 4. $2,700, 5. $2,500, 6. $2,300, 7. $2,200, 8. $2,100, 9. $2,050, 10. $2,000, 11. $1,600, 12. $1,400, 13. $1,200, 14. $1,000, 15. $950, 16. $925, 17. $900, 18. $875, 19. $850, 20. $825, 21. $800, 22. $800, 23. $800, 24. $800 = $48,575 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Tire Rule:Fronts/Left Rear – Hoosier (90) NLMT2Right Rear – Hoosier (92) NLMT2, (92) NLMT3

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

JANUARY 15, 2025

CALLUM ILOTT, driver of the NO. 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet, met with the media at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Days in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

Press Conference Transcript:

MODERATOR: As mentioned, Callum Ilott joins us now, driver of the No. 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet, beginning his fifth year associated with the NTT INDYCAR Series, clearly his first with a brand new PREMA race team in 2025 as you can see right there, fresh off the huge launch, a successful launch Friday down in Concord, North Carolina —

CALLUM ILOTT: Thank you for coming.

Q. It was great. You guys knocked it out of the park for sure. Obviously there’s some momentum with the team. How do you keep this going with the first race coming up in a couple months?

CALLUM ILOTT: We’ve obviously got some testing coming up. Still a bit fluid with the plan. But it’s a lot of work. It’s not easy for the whole crew. Yeah, it’s definitely a lot more work starting from scratch than all the other teams have from the end of last season.

But it’s part of it. It’s what we’ve committed to. Yeah, I’m really happy with how it’s going. The launch was amazing. Cars look great.

Hopefully they’re as fast as they look, but we’ll find out soon.

Q. There’s a lot of drivers in the paddock that know all about PREMA or have been with Prema. If not, they’ve seen them on TV. They know the championships over four decades. The numbers go on and on and on. Do you feel there’s a buzz with the team and the drivers in the paddock, curious about how this is going to work out?

CALLUM ILOTT: I think there’s a lot of people curious. A lot of people know PREMA’S history, and if you don’t, they are the most successful junior formula team that there is, and they’ve won in almost everything they’ve competed in. So to bring them to INDYCAR and have them here is amazing.

But INDYCAR is another ballgame. We’re going to have to work hard. It’s not going to be easy, and especially not with everyone else having the same car for 10 plus years. We’re going to have a steep learning curve.

But we’ve done all the right things so far and pushing like crazy to have everything we need and more for the first races.

Q. You’ve talked a little bit about just the struggle that you guys will have to get up to speed with this team that’s got a lot of folks that have INDYCAR experience, yourself included, but still joining a field that includes tons of teams that have been in the sport for lots of years if not decades. How different is this compared to what you joined at the end of the 2021 season at JHR (Juncos Hollinger Racing), a team that had been in INDYCAR before but still was joining late in the year and hadn’t been in the sport for a couple years?

CALLUM ILOTT: Yeah, it’s a completely different situation because even with JHR we were very fortunate with the Carlin merger but a lot of what we’d had had been from previous Indy 500s and had been built up. So there was quite a good storage facility of stuff.

With us, it is kind of everything we need we have to find or build and start from scratch. It’s quite an odd thing, especially for some of the people within the team that have been in other INDYCAR teams to kind of go, um, where do we get this? We’re going to have to order it; going to have to wait a little bit.

But for anyone who’s seen PREMA in Europe and then what we’ve created in Fishers — I say “we” like I built it. No, they did an amazing job, and in such a short amount of time. It is an incredible facility, and at the moment for two cars, it’s really impressive.

But that is one thing. On track is another. We’re just keeping our heads down. Where we start is where we start, and then we’ve got to build from there.

There’s not really any pressure. It’s more work with what we’ve got, and yeah, like I said, it’s very different. It’s very new. It’s been a long time since anyone has joined INDYCAR this way, and especially from Europe, and I think, not to put words in people’s mouths, but we’ve almost had to help create a starting point for bringing new teams into INDYCAR because it’s a bit of a — normally you do it with a partnership or something like that where someone has done it, where this is a bit more hands-on from the beginning.

Q. I know you are talking with the mindset of being patient, knowing that you’ve got to start somewhere and see where you guys are in St. Pete and work from there. But how much are you champing at the bit to get in a race car and know what the car is like and what you guys have, having launched this team and been signed to the team for several months and still not yet been in a race car?

CALLUM ILOTT: I’m not frustrated because there’s an element of you want to jump in the car and get going, but also you want to have everything ready and options to test and try. I think for me it’s very important for the team to be ready and then we go from there, so that’s been the focus on the team side.

I’m sure for Robert, who’s driven the INDYCAR once before but a long time since then, I’m sure he’ll be really wanting to get the experience of it and the oval side of things.

But yeah, I’ve got the Daytona 24 Hours and then afterwards full on with INDYCAR. So I’ll be ready to go no matter what. But it’s a team effort. I’m sure the engineers are as wanting if not more than I am to get going.

But yeah, we don’t have a lot of time. We don’t have a lot of days and we have to hit the road.

Q. Is it too early to even say what a successful season is like for this team? As you’re going into it, what kind of benchmarks, if any, are you setting for you or the team itself?

CALLUM ILOTT: I think that’s a question I’d like to answer probably after the first two, three races, see where we start and then where we go from there, because the street courses could be one way, road courses another way, and then the ovals is a another question.

Until I’ve done one of each, I think then I’ll be able to kind of set the tone for that. But end of the season, yeah, I don’t see a reason why we can’t be pretty competitive.

But at the beginning, I mean, we could be great, could be not. Whatever it is, it is. But we’ve got some amazing people, good partners, and yeah, pretty excited.

Q. Speaking of amazing people, what’s it like working with Michael Cannon? He’s a little bit of a mad scientist when it comes to INDYCAR engineering.

CALLUM ILOTT: INDYCAR’s own Einstein, right? Yeah, he’s great. Obviously it’s limited so far. We’ve only done some simulator stuff, and that was establishing the foundations of the team and just getting things going. Haven’t seen the full creation as of yet.

But yeah, he’s been working hard with the team. Let’s see where it goes, and I’ll answer that again later on. But right now it’s a good start, but everyone’s head is down at the moment.

Q. You’ve driven INDYCARs a lot but your teammate hasn’t. What’s going to be the biggest eye-opener for him?

CALLUM ILOTT: I think aside from the obvious part, the ovals, it’s going to be the length of the races, kind of the strategy, the fuel saving.

He’s probably had experience of all those things but not in the same way. With World Endurance Championship, which we both just came from, there is fuel saving, the races are long, but it’s less intense. The fuel saving is less important a bit more automated.

So coming here, it’s just full attack

.

And then beyond that, I think the fast-paced nature of the weekend, the season. Once it starts, it doesn’t stop. I think you kind of realize those things by mid-season.

But he’s ready. He doesn’t know what he’s ready for yet, but he’s one of those guys you just take, put in and drive and he’ll be fine.

Q. You’re working with Steve Barker again. Is that a nice transition, going to a new team but a bit of a familiar face who you’ve worked with on the engineering side before?

CALLUM ILOTT: Yeah, it was a bit of a shock. I arrived back January 6 on the Monday, and I was like, oh, hello, welcome back. Okay, fine, good to have you.

He was awesome to work with, and yeah, to have him in PREMA, another familiar face who’s been in INDYCAR. The team, a lot of them I’ve worked with in Europe.

There is people I’ve seen around the INDYCAR paddock, there’s people I’ve seen around the WEC paddock, and one or two been around the Formula 1 paddock.

So it’s a mix of people I have either worked with, seen, and yeah, Steve is just the cherry on top for that. It’s perfect. I love the atmosphere right now.

Again, the season is going to be intense, but to start it off like I have, I’m very happy.

Q. The melding of all the different European racing, U.S. racing, when Carlin came over here, which Steve was obviously a part of, they basically brought a European team over here; whereas you guys are doing it kind of a meld of American and U.S. Is it interesting to watch the culture of the two different ways of racing meld together?

CALLUM ILOTT: It’s definitely very interesting because there’s a certain way of doing things in INDYCAR, which is hard to explain but it’s just done that way. A lot of the Europeans, especially clever young engineers coming over are like, what about this? What about that? You’re like, it doesn’t quite work like that. It’s a bit different.

But they’re great. They have a really amazing analytical side of things, which is not to say you haven’t had in INDYCAR, but it’s refreshing to see the intensity of it. Then the experience that Mike Cannon or Steve has in INDYCAR of doing it in that way.

I think there’s going to be a good blend, but I don’t know in which way it’s going to settle, if you know what I mean. But it is refreshing.

Also on the mechanic side, it’s nice to see a lot of young Italian, French people coming over and enjoying the lifestyle. The cold is a bit of a shock to them, but they’ve got their coffee and they’re happy. But their own coffee, not your coffee. No offense.

Q. They know where the best Italian restaurant is in Fishers?

CALLUM ILOTT: They’ve found a really great Indian and a good Mexican, as well. So they’re experiencing culture.

Q. I just want to know, your very first thoughts when they asked you to drive for PREMA seeing as they were going to be a brand new team in INDYCAR.

CALLUM ILOTT: I was in touch with René, who was my contact for all the years I was in Europe, big boss, and I’d been asking him, so are you going to be doing INDYCAR?

I knew end of 2023 that they were going to be doing this, and he’s like, shh, not yet. I’m like, okay, we should be in contact. He’s like, definitely, definitely. Nothing, nothing, nothing, and then I was very close to continuing in European WEC, and then suddenly for no reason, he’s like, yeah, let’s do it. I’m like, if you could have told me a couple of weeks in advance that would have been great.

But yeah, once — it was a project that I was very interested in and wanted to be a part of because I knew the way that they were going to do it and are going to do it is hopefully going to be another level.

But it will take time. I’m super excited to be a part of it. So as soon as we got the ball rolling it was pretty easy. Just had to wait a bit. Had to wait for the factory to be ready because we were running out of a small shop the end of last season. That’s where I did the C fit. And we’ll be ready to go hopefully.

Q. Looking at the schedule, is there a certain track you look forward to going to this year that you think fits your driving style?

CALLUM ILOTT: I’ve always been a road course guy. I think Prema is also naturally a road course team. It’s going to be interesting how the INDY 500 is just because of so many unknowns with PREMA going in there. But I’ve felt like every year I’ve been to the 500 I’ve improved and improved.

Beyond that, I’m looking forward to Long Beach. That’s one that I’ve always thought I could have been better at. So there’s room for improvement for me.

Q. Can you just expand a little bit on your mindset through last year? Obviously you said that Prema was kind of in the background and you were maybe waiting for a call. But was the priority always to be back in INDYCAR, back in single seaters, or were you having offers for some top teams in WEC, for instance, for your services?

CALLUM ILOTT: It was a bit of a mix. I wanted to leave it open. I was enjoying my time in WEC, and that was leading to a couple of things and I was very happy in the situation I was in.

But with INDYCAR, it’s a very tough championship, as you can see with a couple of drivers, to maintain and stay in. I felt like this was the perfect way to get back in with a team that I think shows so much promise in the future.

And yeah, as soon as our sit-down meeting came it was like, okay, I think this is what I have to do, and let’s make it work from here.

Q. What sort of weight do you feel is on you as kind of the experienced driver in the lineup in helping to build this team up? Are there any skills you feel you’ve learned during your time at JHR that you maybe could transfer to this opportunity?

CALLUM ILOTT: I think the thing I’ve learnt from my previous endeavors was to be patient. With Prema we’re going to have to be patient. You never know at which point it kind of clicks and the results start coming.

That’s one of the kind of founding points that I want to take through the season, is just to not push anyone too far, work and work and work, but what we have is what we’ve got.

And beyond that, obviously being the kind of veteran driver in the team, although I’m still young and not many seasons in INDYCAR, but with two different teams, is to take that and to expand within the team, keep everyone positive, and yeah, move forward.

It’s not simple but just keeping it simple is important.

Q. Will Buxton is going to be joining FOX Sports. How much does it mean for you to have someone from obviously the same country to be a part of the full-time INDYCAR season with you?

CALLUM ILOTT: For me obviously being from the same country, it’s nice and helpful. But no, I’ve known Will for a while. I’ve seen a lot of his stuff, even before the Formula 1 times. He is amazing, very enthusiastic. Amazing vocabulary, as well, so he’s like an amazing encyclopedia of words that I learn every time I chat to him. I think he’s great for the booth. James (Hinchcliffe) and Townsend (Bell) also do an amazing job, so I think he fits that group very well.

I’m hoping that he builds and takes the series forward. He’s been through a lot of championships which have grown and engages with a very young audience. I really enjoy hearing him talk, and I think he can only add a lot of positivity to everything that is INDYCAR.

Q. Of course Michael Cannon coming to the team, you’ve had pretty decent runs at the Indy 500. With Prema being a new team, how much optimism and what’s the thoughts going into the Indy 500, even though it’s a couple months away?

CALLUM ILOTT: Yeah, it could be good. Again, it’s still a bit unknown. We don’t know what we’re going to rock up with. There’s a lot of preparation which is Indy specific which a lot of other teams have started on.

Of course Michael has great experience and is very helpful on that side, but you just never know, and we need to be able to prepare and take time for it.

Who knows at this point. Could be good. I think a lot of people are expecting us to be very good. But remember, that’s with teams that have all the foundation, all the equipment to kind of select and choose from. We’re starting from scratch and building everything from the beginning.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

JANUARY 15, 2025

STING RAY ROBB, driver of the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, met with the media at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Days in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Press Conference Transcript:

THE MODERATOR: Good morning. Thanks for joining us here Day 2 of the NTT INDYCAR Series content days at the Indiana convention center. Sting Ray Robb leads things off, driver of the No. 7 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy this year, beginning his third season in the series, had a ninth place finish at Worldwide Technology Raceway last year before the transition to JHR.

Congratulations on the transition to the new team. How are things going? Easing into it, I’m sure.

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, it’s a little bit of a return back home. I spent three years with those guys in the same shop. We won a championship together back in the USF Pro 2000 days, and hopefully we can get back on some of that winning form again.

It’s a good program. I think they’ve done a good job to kind of contain the group that they have and have some continuity going next season, which I think is a big part of it. Not relearning over the off-season is a good thing.

Q. A little bit of a homecoming, too, some familiar faces, certainly Ricardo.

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah.

Q. You guys go back a while right?

STING RAY ROBB: I began driving for Ricardo 2019 was my first year with them. The green is not foreign to me. It’s been a minute.

Q. First of all, how do you reflect back on your second year in INDYCAR? What sort of improvements maybe do you feel you made compared to your rookie year with Coyne?

STING RAY ROBB: I think that there was a lot that was improved on last year. I may not have showed it all the different times, but there was a lot of little mistakes that real are I cost us some good results last year.

I think the most obvious ones were in St. Pete, the brake failure there, Barber Motorsports Park, the steering wheel failure there, and then engine failure at Toronto — not engine but actually another mechanical failure.

It was just all those little details that kept catching us out, and I think that is where I am looking forward to improve most this year, is be consistent. Obviously have some better speed; qualifying is a big part of that. Hopefully we can do that.

Q. Can you talk maybe a little bit about how the move to Juncos came about and how long it may have been in the works and how things moved after you started discussions?

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, our plan was to stay where I was going into the middle of the kind of crazy season, if you will, the summer break a little bit. But obviously with the news coming out about David’s signing I could see the writing on the wall that I needed to look elsewhere, and so we began talking to other teams.

When the Juncos opportunity came about, we got the deal done with them pretty quickly to try to solidify a seat, and also because Ricardo was very excited. I’ve been in that garage before, for three years. I think that Ricardo is a success because of where he came from and his winning passion is a big part of who he is, and it bleeds down to the team. It starts from the top.

I’m excited to be back in green. I think the deal was something that we had been trying to get together sooner, but when the announcement finally came out, it was nice to get that solidified.

Q. I just want to ask you about how you see the difference in the shop, in the team, since the last time you came with Juncos? What you can explain us a little bit about the growth of the team?

STING RAY ROBB: I mean, yeah. The last time I was there was back in the INDY NXT Series, and so the shop was much more focused around that program, I think, than what it is now. I think that INDYCAR has taken over the whole shop, which is good. I think that puts me in a good spot now.

I think that the group there has grown significantly. I remember when it was just a small group of us that were running USF Pro 2000. It’s nice to see them kind of grow into their footprint there in the garage and also just seeing the program grow.

I think Ricardo has done a good job to put people in place, along with Brad Hollinger, to put good, smart, intelligent engineers, mechanics, and having that be consistent throughout the seasons has allowed them to improve every year.

I think that that’s the big thing in INDYCAR racing, is you can’t expect to make huge leaps and bounds forward in the series. It’s the little things over time that make a big difference.

Q. About all these new charter systems, a lot of people are saying that now the budget, it’s changed a little, it’s growing; you need to have more funding. But also it’s some opportunities to try to work with the companies. You have been very good in finding these sponsors and move your brand. Can you explain how do you see it’s changed, all this, looking from the back up?

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, it’s a great question. I think that everyone is kind of in the same situation right now. I think that we’re all fighting to gather dollars as quickly as we can. But the new FOX program is a big encouragement for that. I think the charter system is a big encouragement for that. We’ve seen some new companies on board on very recently as well as for other teams, as well.

I think for us we’re really excited to see this program grow as far as our team as well as INDYCAR as a whole. I think they’re headed in the right direction. They’re giving us more tools to work with.

Then for ourselves, I think what we’re looking forward to most is just having the ability to grow our footprint in the worldwide motorsports realm, and I think that’s going to be coming very quickly.

Q. Third team in three years, probably not ideal, but what kind of positives can you take from that? Can you sort of take the best from each team and bring it to this year? Is that kind of your goal? I know it’s not ideal to be at three different teams in three years.

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, I think this is a good spot for me to be in. There is a lot to learn from each place for sure, and I think that each program has been very different from the other and so I can kind of see the patterns that I like, the trends that I like, and also who those people are. Who are the key people that I really lead to lean on.

Each team has their core, and so being able to identify that core because I’ve been with three different teams, it is challenging going into a new season with a new team, but at the same time I’ve been able to see that kind of grow throughout other seasons.

I’m hoping this is going to be a good spot for me to stay for a while and have some continuity going into future seasons. But yeah, I’m excited for this year to be with the team I’m with.

Q. How about teaming up with Conor (Daly)? He’s a guy that generates attention that can only really help benefit you and the team.

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, absolutely. Conor is a great personality to have him in the paddock. It’s great to see him back in a race car. Obviously the team is very excited to have him on board with his podium finish at Milwaukee.

I think he’s been with a lot of teams, as well, so we’re both in a similar situation as far as a lot of knowledge from a lot of different places that we can hopefully put together and get some good results from.

Q. Has he got you lined up yet for Speed Street?

STING RAY ROBB: That is to come. You guys will probably see me on there in the near future.

Q. Third team in three years, but I’m sure all of those experiences are a little bit different. Do you feel any more confident or comfortable with the history that you have at JHR coming into this experience compared to coming in each of the last two seasons to a brand new team, brand new family around you?

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, I do feel a lot more comfortable because there are familiar faces. It’s not just Ricardo. His brother Ale was my mechanic back in 2020 when we won the championship there. He’ll be on my car again this year.

So it’s nice to be able to have that familiarity, having that culture already known ahead of time. It allows me to be on form a little bit earlier than I would have been, and understanding the communication that’s necessary.

Now, I don’t know the rest of the crew as well. My engineers, the mechanics that are on the car, those are still all new to me, so I’ll be facing some of the same challenges I did in the past. And again, it’s not ideal, but being with the team, I think that’s a good spot for me.

Q. What is a good 2025 INDYCAR season for Sting Ray Robb?

STING RAY ROBB: Great question. Recently married, so hopefully that stays. Happily married, I’ll add. Keep the first things first.

But I think that enjoying racing is going to be a big part of it. I think that a lot of times this sport, especially for myself, I know why I’m here. I know what I’m doing. I’ve been a winning driver in the past, and I’ve enjoyed that. Winning championships. I think that’s easy to forget sometimes when you’re challenged like this going into a top-tier series like INDYCAR racing.

So kind of returning to that form would be nice. I know I’m not going to come out and win St. Pete probably, but at least enjoy it on the same level that I used to.

I think a winning season if you were to put a number to it, I’m not sure I could. I’m not sure I could tell you that.

Q. Sting Ray, you’re going from a Chevy team to a Chevy team, so that should be pretty easy for you to adapt. But in terms of testing, now you’re with a new team. There’s a couple open tests. Would you think that there needs to be more opportunity, or are you able to, with the time that you do have, get acclimated to everything so that you’re ready to go when the racing starts?

STING RAY ROBB: There’s never enough time. I think you ask any driver in the paddock they’re going to say give us more days, especially for me. I think that being with a new team, I would like to spend 10, 12, 14 days in the car, but that’s just not how it is.

We’ll be a little rusty I think even still going into St. Pete, but that’s the beauty of INDYCAR racing. You’re getting to see the raw talents go out and compete at a high level even without the seat time. We do have a few days, I think. I don’t know what the number is currently, but it’s never enough.

Q. When you were at Foyt, Michael Cannon was there as the technical director. Now he’s gone to Prema. I don’t know how much you learned from him because I don’t think you worked directly with him; you had a different engineer, but what do you think is going to happen at Prema? Do you see them as being a real threat based on what you know of him? Do you think he can convey all the knowledge, because he’s been from Ganassi, a lot of different teams even before that? What do you expect to see from Prema?

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, Michael is, first off, a great guy. I think that he is a talent in the paddock that is definitely someone that I would like to work with again in the future. I think that he is one of those guys that he makes things happen, and to have him join Prema is a threat for sure. That team has some good results in their history, as well.

I think coming to a new series will be a challenge, having a new team put together will be a challenge. I think that they’re going to be hard-pressed to work well and form fit, I guess you could say, to start the year. When you get different personalities like that all working together as new people in the room, it can be a challenge.

I’m sure Michael has got some tricks up his sleeve. He’s a brilliant guy, and I’m sure they’ll have a good run at some point during the season.

Q. You didn’t steal his notepad before you left?

STING RAY ROBB: I may have taken some pictures. No, I’m just kidding. I wish. He knew better than to let me have access to those.

Q. Sting Ray, the last time you were at Juncos in 2021 your rookie year in Indy Lights back then was quite a struggle, I think. It ended with you leaving, ended with Juncos pulling out of the series altogether. Now that you’re back as a team, can you reflect on how it has changed compared to what you saw back then?

STING RAY ROBB: Yeah, I mean, that was a big part of our conversation when we began talking with them again. At the end of 2021, I was fairly disappointed with the results that we’d had after winning the 2020 championship in the category right below.

We were hopeful that we could come into the series and be strong right from the start, and it was a struggle. We didn’t get it figured out by the end of the year. The last race of the year was at Mid-Ohio and I remember being one of the front runners in that dry race.

We had the pace by the end of the season, but it was a struggle to figure out why we were struggling so much throughout the year. I think a lot of it was because the focus was on the INDYCAR program. A lot of the focus was kind of diverted to that and making that the best program it could be.

INDY NXT didn’t get to see the best of Ricardo Juncos. Ricardo and I have talked since then and I’ve seen him at his best. We won a championship together the year prior. It was quite the contrast for us. So being able to come back in a much better situation, I think the culture is much healthier now, the priorities are very, very good. The passion is still there.

I think that’s the big thing that’s important is this sport is very challenging, and INDYCAR racing is very, very competitive. It’s full of great drivers, great teams.

Having that passion can go a long ways just because it creates obsession, and that obsession can lead to good results. So I’ve seen that from Ricardo in the past, and I think that it will continue in the future.

Q. How has Sting Ray Robb developed since your 2021 rookie year in INDY NXT?

STING RAY ROBB: I think I’ve grown quite a bit. Obviously I’m a little bit older now, a little bit wrinklier maybe, but at the end of the day I think I’m in a much more mature spot. I’m in a much more confident spot.

2021 Sting Ray Robb was just a kid from Idaho trying to figure out what he was going to do with his INDYCAR dreams. I achieved those dreams now of being in INDYCAR now, so it’s on to the next step. We’re still dreaming big trying to do some good things.

Q. I wanted to ask you, you’ve had experienced in a Honda and a Chevy powered car, one season with Dale Coyne and one season with Foyt. What are the main differences from the past years, and how is your driving style going to adapt to the different challenges?

STING RAY ROBB: Great question. I think that the transition for me was a bit easier than I was expecting. Both programs are very, very good, and it’s great to have them both in INDYCAR racing.

I think the biggest difference for me and that driving style was sort of the focus on where they gather the speed from. A lot of times you’ll see a difference in the torque curve of each engine, and one can be better than the other depending on what circuit you’re at.

I think that’s the biggest difference is how the power is applied oftentimes leads to certain speeds on certain parts of the racetrack than others. The Chevy and Honda, they’re both very competitive, very well matched, and I think the Chevy this last year especially had a little bit more torque or horsepower at the top end so we saw them be so quick on the ovals.

So we’ll see what it’s like this year. I think it’s always a give and take and they’re always moving the needle forward, so we’ll see who comes out on top.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT JANUARY 14, 2025 NOLAN SIEGEL, driver of the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, met with the media at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Days in Indianapolis, Indiana. Press Conference Transcript: MODERATOR: Looking ahead to next year, full-time ride obviously, full season with a great team. How much are you looking forward to this?NOLAN SIEGEL: I’m really looking forward to it. We’ve done a lot of work this off-season, and I think I’m really happy with the people that I have on my car. I’m excited about the group that we have on the 6. I can’t wait for St. Pete. It’s been too long. Q. If I’m not mistaken, I believe you have been on the oval at IMS in both a Honda and a Chevy in the last year. What’s been the differences? What have you learned? The hybrid test obviously probably different than what you had back in May, but it gives you more of a baseline of comfortability heading into your quasi-rookie season.NOLAN SIEGEL: Yeah, as far as the differences on the oval, it was hard to tell at IMS. I did my ROP again in the Arrow McLaren car, in the Chevy, but hard to tell ROP kind of in the off-season, you’re going slow, the track is not there. It was the hybrid test. There was a lot going on. I wouldn’t say that I really felt any major differences. I’m sure that they will come into play when we get running in May. But I think you need real running for that. Q. My second question would be your relationship with Tony Kanaan. Obviously we saw him during the month of May kind of giving you some advice, as well. Now you’re officially alongside of TK. You’ve got Pato who’s been great at the 500; Lundgaard brings a new set of skills. What’s that process been like towards the end of last season and turning the corner toward 2025 and building that relationship with Arrow McLaren and Tony Kanaan?NOLAN SIEGEL: Yeah, it’s just been good to have time with everyone in the off-season because I started in the busy part of the season and we just didn’t have a lot of time away from the racetrack to get to know each other and to talk. My relationship with Tony and with Pato, those relationships have grown a lot, and they’re both very, very valuable assets for me. Obviously both have a ton of experience at the speedway. Both been very fast at the speedway. I’m looking forward to going back in May. I think that’s the month that I am most looking forward to, and I think it’s going to be a different experience this time around. Q. Will things come more natural now that you’re settled in, you know which race car you’re going to be running in, your dad is not running out of the paddock at Road America to go get your suit? Talk about only having to focus on being in the race car.NOLAN SIEGEL: Yeah, last year, I mean, really all year, I’d go to the racetrack, and whether it was I didn’t know if I was racing the next weekend or didn’t know what I was driving or something new came up, there was so much to think about apart from driving the race car. That brought a lot of challenges that I won’t have this year. So I think it’s going to be really nice to know what I have and know what I’m doing and be able to focus on driving the race car instead of focusing on finding a ride for the next weekend or finding a ride in INDYCAR or WEC or IMSA, INDY NXT. There’s so much less going on in a way, which sounds weird to say given that it’s my first full season in INDYCAR and first full season at Arrow McLaren, but it’s actually much more simple than it was last year. Q. You’re going to have a new engineer this year, Kate. How cool is it to be working with someone that’s as fresh as you are and that probably will look at things a little bit differently like you might at your age?NOLAN SIEGEL: I’ve really enjoyed working with Kate (Gundlach). She is new to the race engineer role. She is by no means new to INDYCAR. She has a lot of experience and has been doing a phenomenal job so far. Really excited about working with her, and I’ve spent quite a bit of time with her now, and we get along really well. I think that makes a big difference .Looking forward to it. Yes, I think while on the surface you look at new driver, new engineer, how is that going to go, I think in a lot of ways a new perspective can be a good thing, and there are a lot of engineers that have been around for a long time and have a lot of experience and knowledge. Sometimes it’s nice to have someone that’s open to experimenting and open to trying to do things a little bit differently.I think we’re going to find quite a bit of speed and have a good time doing it. Q. What is a good season for Nolan Siegel when you look back in September?NOLAN SIEGEL: The goal is to be on the podium and win races. It’s super competitive. It’s an incredibly competitive race series, and it’s by no means easy and every weekend isn’t going to be smooth, but I think if we capitalize on the weekends where we have a strong race car and we’re in the positions that we want to be in, we’re going to have chances to be up front and be celebrating on Sundays. Q. Nolan, something that I asked Christian, obviously he’s the new addition to the team, but you came in at a very hectic time. McLaren is an internationally famous brand. It’s the brand that seems to sell the most merch, even at INDYCAR races. What is it like? Is there any more pressure driving for a team that not only has such a large and demanding fan base, but really you have a lot of demands with the media, with sponsors? This is a team that’s very, very involved. Describe that process and what it’s like to adapt when you join a team of this caliber.NOLAN SIEGEL: It is difficult at times from that perspective. I think the expectations are very high from a team like McLaren. There are a lot of people watching. There are a lot of eyes on it.At the end of the day, the people whose opinions I care about are still the people that I work closely with, and from that perspective, it’s no different than any other race team. So yes, there are a lot of people watching, but at the same time, it’s the same size as any other race team, and I’m working closely with good people. There are the media obligations and there’s a big fan base, but I think you have to kind of separate that from the on-track running, which is — at the end of the day, it’s a very good INDYCAR team. It’s an INDYCAR team. I think just separating those aspects of it is important. But it’s an honor to be representing a brand like McLaren, and to be able to go to the Formula 1 races and see what those guys are doing and be a part of that organization, as well, it’s an honor for me, and it’s very cool and not something that I expected to be doing right now. Grateful to be here, and I’m — I’m grateful to be here and grateful for all aspects of being a McLaren driver. Q. I ran into you in Las Vegas; tell the people how fast you got the road track going on the backstretch there in Vegas.NOLAN SIEGEL: Yeah, we were doing 200 miles an hour in road cars in Vegas with passengers, which was — I remember it was me, Pato, Mika Häkkinen and Christian, and we all did our first session and came out and we’re like, we’re not doing it the next day. We’re done; no more.Then we all came back the next morning and we were all excited to do it again. But no, it was interesting. Q. You said in the summer kind of ahead of the closing of the 2024 season that your goal was to just learn and be in as good a shape as possible getting to St. Pete this year. How do you feel that learning process went as you went through those early races with Arrow McLaren, and do you feel that you are in a position where you can fight near the front this season?NOLAN SIEGEL: Yeah, I was thrown into the deep end for sure, but I think that those challenging weekends and moments are when you learn the most. I feel like I am in a much better position going into 2025 than I would have been having not done those races, and I feel like myself and the whole team has used this off-season very productively, and I feel like we’re in a really good spot going into 2025. The goal is to go into St. Pete feeling like there was nothing more we could have done to prepare, and I feel like we’ve been doing that so far. Q. You kind of mentioned the work that you’ve put in as a team over the off-season. Can you go into any of the specifics that you wanted to improve on yourself?NOLAN SIEGEL: Yeah. Going into my first full season in INDYCAR, there was a big focus on physical preparation. I’ve gained like 15 pounds, which was a — I don’t think it was an issue last year, but I feel like I’m in a better spot physically now to drive the INDYCAR than I was last year.We’ve reviewed at this point almost every race of the season from a strategy standpoint, just to help me better understand INDYCAR strategy and the INDYCAR rules. I think it was a challenge last year for me to be thinking about strategy in the car just because I didn’t have the experience and didn’t know what different scenarios really meant for our race. So I think I’ll have a much better understanding of that and be able to be more involved in the strategy while I’m driving a race car. It’s hard, right; we don’t have very much testing so it’s hard to really work on driving-specific things, but there’s so much more to it than that. Q. As the youngest driver on the grid, with McLaren that’s a big expectation, but they do have an extensive junior program and resources for young drivers. Do you think that’s helped you, and do you think the team themselves have been prepared for a younger driver coming in because of that?NOLAN SIEGEL: No, I would not say that I’ve been in any way part of the McLaren junior program. The INDYCAR team functionally is kind of its own thing. But having my teammates and having Tony Kanaan with me has been very helpful. There have been people that have been very willing to help and have a lot of experience on the INDYCAR side, but there’s no real connection to any McLaren junior program in any other aspect. I’m not a part of the McLaren junior program. I’m a part of the McLaren INDYCAR team and the goal is to win INDYCAR races, not develop a junior driver. Q. Since you’re with McLaren, is there any interest or has there been any discussions about you moving up into Formula 1 someday?NOLAN SIEGEL: I would love to race in Formula 1. The goal right now is, again, to be a championship contender in INDYCAR. That is the main focus at the moment.If I had the opportunity to do a Formula 1 test or have reserve position or something like that, I would absolutely be open to it, but my focus and goal is not to move to Formula 1.Yes, I would love to do it, but there’s no focus being put on that. It’s all on INDYCAR at the moment.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT JANUARY 14, 2025 CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, met with members of the media at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Days in Indianapolis, Indiana. Press Conference Transcript: THE MODERATOR: Joined now by Christian Lundgaard, who will be in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet this coming season, beginning his fourth full year in the NTT INDYCAR Series, a podium at the Indy GP for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing last season before making the jump to the new team this year. Papaya is looking okay on you. Are you getting used to it? CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I feel seen now, visually. It’s a very bright color, papaya. It’s exciting. I think the moment that I knew, it was pretty difficult to not really say anything because you want it to get out because you’re excited. But obviously it’s happening now, so I’m very, very excited for the season. Q. How would you describe this transition to the new team?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: It’s been very smooth, to be honest. Obviously we did the test in October. It was exciting for me to try to feel the car on an oval, obviously, going into the Sebring test, as well, I’m just excited to feel it in different circumstances. But the transition with everybody has been very, very smooth. A lot of familiar faces, a lot of new faces, as well, and I think really that’s the challenge. It’s the first time in my career that I drive for a different team in the same series. That’s the only thing that really takes some getting used to. Q. What’s it been like switching from Honda to Chevy?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: It’s been very smooth, as well. Obviously I received a lot of questions from Chevy at the test at Indy, and I was kind of surprised in some of the differences. There’s obviously a few differences, but there was also some that was not really because of any manufacturer, just because of the car, and a lot of it turns out to kind of translate to just being the philosophy of the cars that were actually different. But no, I think looking at where Chevy was in May, it’s something that I’m very excited for, and it’s a challenge that I’m prepared for at other tracks. But I think it’s going to be a positive for me there. They’ve given me a lot of information and just resources for me to get up to speed from the get-go, which I appreciated a lot. Q. I think you’ve had probably two of the most underrated runs in the 500 coming from the back. You’ve been very consistent in that race. Now being with a team that has consistently been at the front at the Indianapolis 500, I know you don’t want to look ahead of the first couple of races, but obviously the big elephant in the room is always the Indianapolis 500. How important was that test, getting some experience, and do you feel like you’re going to have to get a lot of data information during the April test to set yourself up for a run in May?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I mean, yes. I mean, at the end of the day, having done this for three years, having been in the race, fortunately/unfortunately I’ve had the pleasure of coming from the back. In a way, I take that as a positive now because I’ve learned to race from the back with the most turbulent air. Obviously I don’t necessarily have the benefit of the more clean air, but I think from a race craft standpoint, I feel very confident in that. The one thing I do believe is at the end of the day, the cars feel very similar but yet very different, but I think for me, it’s more the car has a lot more pure pace than what I’ve had previously. I think it’s going to come easier in that sense, but I think the drivers that you race against are going to be battling harder for each position, which is going to be the challenge. Q. Is there a track in particular that you say, I need to work a little bit more at or I need to get better at? Obviously there was a couple tracks last year we went to for the first time. We think of you, think of the Indy GP, you think of Toronto, you think of those places. Is it maybe the short ovals? Where do you feel you need to improve in 2025?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Honestly, all of them. I think being in a new car with new people, not having the information from the prior year, any data, it’s going to be tough in that sense. Obviously I know my way around, but there’s a lot of tricks and small little fine tunings that I think we all need to nail at the time, and we achieved that prior in some races and some we didn’t. But I think from my own perspective, yes, the ovals are something that I need to improve. Having been in a position where it’s fighting for dear life just to a certain regard just getting the car home, and it’s tough enough to fight other cars out there, I’m excited for that challenge. I’m excited to kind of feel more competitive. I did that at the 500 in 2024 when we came from the back. We were leading at some point — yes, we were on a different strategy, but at least you didn’t really feel hopeless or helpless for that matter, and it’s a lot more fun that way. But I think all types of circuits, there’s going to be some fine tuning, because at the end of the day I was strong in one street circuit but not so much the other for whatever reason that might have been. I think our main goal for 2025 specifically is to make sure that we’re as competitive as we can be on every single racetrack. Q. Obviously with changing teams comes a lot of change. Change of culture; change of learning Honda to Chevy. Do you embrace change? Is it difficult? How do you handle change? Is that something that you tackle or is it just kind of uncomfortable to?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: It’s how life goes, man. There’s always changes. I mean, it’s been a smooth transition so far. I enjoy it. I think change is good at times. When things are working, never change them, obviously, but it was time for a change, and we were all up for the challenge. Race engineer, the entire team, me, everybody behind me. I think we’ll make the most of it for sure. Q. Obviously you want to improve from year to year. Do you try to improve from the 45 car or do you look at what the 7 car, what Alexander did in that ride last year? How do you balance that as far as looking at a short-term goal for next season?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Well, ultimately I can always use Alex as a reference in that sense, and I can use myself in a different car. Obviously I can use the experience that I have from one car, but bringing it into another, it’s a different philosophy depending on the track, even all tracks might be a different driving style than what I’m used to, and obviously that’s the adaptation that I need to be able to handle. I guess we’ll see, but I’ve taken all the information that I’ve been provided to me, and obviously what I don’t necessarily need, I can always throw away. But it’s about learning as much and having the information and then taking use of it. Q. It’s not just a driving thing or a difference in the race car at McLaren; this is a team that is internationally famous. You see it with all of the drivers who drive for McLaren. You kind of gain international fame. You look around the racetracks, you see the jerseys and the merch that’s sold, that seems to out-sell every other team. What is it like to have that additional side to this deal, not just you have to learn a new team, a new car, but you also have a lot more maybe social pressure to perform?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Everybody loves papaya. You know, all my friends, they are like, wow, what is all this papaya running around? Who are these guys? Yes, it’s in a way a lot of pressure, but I think it’s fantastic. I think what I saw the McLaren F1 team do from where they were a couple of years ago to where they are now, from a performance side, and just seeing the impact from a spectator and a fan side, it’s what we’re seeing here now, as well. It was a no-brainer for me to make this transition when the offer occurred because seeing where they’re headed is something that I wanted to be a part of. I’ve been a part of another Formula 1 team in the past, so I understand the importance of all the media that we have to do. And that was the big question that I was asked at first, and I’m like, well, I’m used to it, I don’t mind. It’s a part of the world. Q. Some of the other drivers who have been a part of this program have gotten an opportunity. Is there any desire or a clause in a contract about a Formula 1 test incentive at some point?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: No. I’ve been a part of that, and in my opinion it’s passed. INDYCAR is where I want to be. Obviously I’ll never say no in the sense that it’s not a possibility, but it’s certainly not where my intentions are. It’s here in INDYCAR. Q. You spent the better part of a decade trying to get to F1. You’re going into your fourth INDYCAR season. Does INDYCAR feel like home now?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Absolutely. It did from day one. I don’t really think this has really come out, even though I know I’ve said it multiple times before. INDYCAR reminds me of go-karts, which is what I fell in love with in the sport. It’s the atmosphere, the way everything works around. It’s more — it’s about the racing rather than everything else. Yes, everything else comes with it, but it’s ultimately whoever finishes — crosses the start-finish line first is who wins. It’s just pure racing. Q. Is that maybe why we’ve seen Callum, Marcus, now Robert Shwartzman all finding a home here, guys that were really successful on the road to Formula 1 but just not quite there? Is it nice to have a place that you can come and find and make a career?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Absolutely. I mean, I think Callum and I, in my opinion, I think Felix was a little ahead of time before people really realized from the European side what INDYCAR really was. I don’t think there was enough attention back then. It’s obviously growing a lot more now, but I think me and Callum sort of opened the doors for Europeans to okay, this is an actual option, and because we were followed from Europe, I think it opened a lot of eyes of how amazing INDYCAR actually is. I think all the Europeans are kind of stuck in the Formula 1 world and don’t really realize what we are doing, and I hope we’re here to help change that. Obviously even Will coming on board is a big factor for us, as well. Q. Obviously with RLL they’ve sort of made clear that their oval package wasn’t as strong as it should be or where they wanted it to be, but McLaren on the know hand have a good oval package and the team have won races. From a personal standpoint we maybe haven’t seen what you can do in ovals, so from your perspective do you believe you’re at the standard where you can compete at the front on ovals?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Of course it is a question, but I think it’s now a time where I can prove that. I think ultimately it’s we’ll see whenever we get to May, but I’m very optimistic. I have high hopes myself. Q. Joining McLaren, you’ve now obviously got the support of Tony Kanaan. Have you learned much from him yet, and is there anything you’re looking to get out of him?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I’ve spoken a lot to Tony about a lot of different topics. Obviously ovals being one of them. He’s been a mentor from an outside standpoint of view, as well, to other people, kind of covering, as well, because he’s been in the position where he’s won a 500, been in a not-so-good car and knows what it’s like driving a car that doesn’t necessarily handle the way we want or is purely fast enough. It’s just tough. He’s been a big part of, one, giving me this opportunity, as well, but also understanding and kind of telling people, hey, wait and see until he’s in this car. Q. I was just wondering, your road course results in 2024 were strong compared to your new teammate Pato O’Ward’s. How do you intend to carry that momentum while adapting to McLaren’s different car philosophy?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: That’s interesting. I didn’t even know that. I’ll have to tell him.I mean, I’m going to try to improve those stats on the other two types of circuits but sort of keep my road course then, I guess. At the end of the day, my previous position has always been — well, for the past three years, have been we know what we had on certain types of tracks and we knew that we were struggling an ovals. Obviously we were trying to improve. We didn’t improve as much as we would have liked in the time frame, but we also didn’t improve enough on road and street circuits where I think the potential that Arrow McLaren has is massive. I’m not even in doubt that we will have all of those nailed. Q. You’ve mentioned before in this press conference that change is part of life. Considering the previous test that you had in October with the McLaren car, have you changed something from your preparation for this season?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I think — yes, the preparation has changed, but it’s minor. I don’t really believe that there’s a big reason to turn things upside down because at the end of the day, I was chosen for what I was able to do, so I don’t think there’s any reason to change that. I think there’s just been things added on. Obviously a change of team takes time. It takes a lot of effort to get up to speed on certain things. We’ve spent a lot of time preparing for that and getting up to speed as fast as we can, but I would say from my specific off-season standpoint, I think it’s been nice to be home with family spending the holidays, and we’re now back, and it’s business time. Q. Another thing you’ve mentioned before is that your goal this season is to be as competitive as possible. To be that competitive, for example, is Pato O’Ward, who is the veteran driver of the team, is he a reference to be equally as competitive as him during the season in terms of results, or will a victory or podium be good for you?CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, considering — this is my own standpoint of view, considering I already have podiums, I have a win, funnily enough it’s a P1, P2 and P3. I don’t have multiple of any of them yet. But I think what Arrow McLaren and Pato did through the 2024 season, especially in Mid-Ohio with the hybrid being introduced, being the first winner also showed me that they’re up for the challenge and they’re ahead of everybody else. For me going into this season, it’s not to take the first couple of races getting up to speed. We want to be ready to fight for podiums and wins from the get-go. At the end of the day, I want to win all races. We all do. But I think by doing that, you have to be competitive in every single event and put yourself in the best position to have a good result. Again, by doing that, you need to be competitive from the get-go.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

JANUARY 14, 2025

SANTINO FERRUCCI, driver of the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, met with the media at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Days in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

Press Conference Transcript: 

 MODERATOR: Continuing on, joined now by Santino Ferrucci, back with the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, beginning his eighth year in the NTT INDYCAR Series, an NTT P1 award winner in Portland and two top 5s last season, looking to build on that a little bit more. I know you’re anxious to get back in the car.

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I’m anxious to get back in the Chili Bowl car, too, in like three days

.

Q. You’re busy this week, huh?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, as well as a lot of drivers from INDYCAR go to do Daytona 24 and I’m out, ripping it, slinging mud, man.

Q. What do you like most about that?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: It’s old school racing, super grass-roots. A lot of fun. It’s probably one of the most competitive events for racing, 390 entries, boils down to 24 at the end on Saturday.

It’s a good challenge. It’s a different discipline. I feel like a lot of people can go and drive a prototype or GT car with all the aids and assists, and this is tough.

Q. I assume it doesn’t take a while to convince you to do something like this. AJ is not that one.

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, and Larry (Foyt) is coming out for Friday, for Freedom Night, so it’ll be exciting to have the boss there.

Q. Santino, in some ways you and David are a little bit similar. You’re kind of like birds of a feather. You both have a sense of humor, always look at the fun side of life. How cool is it going to be to have him as a teammate?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I think it will be really nice. It’s nice to spend some time with him here on content days. Definitely change of pace for me to learn a new teammate. Everything that’s been going on has been a good time. I haven’t hung out with him outside of work yet, so we’ll fix that, I’m sure, throughout the year. But yeah, it’ll be a good year together.

Q. Also FOX is knocking it out of the ballpark in terms of promotion and marketing and getting the word out about INDYCAR and they’re the home of INDYCAR and making you guys recognizable athletes. How cool is it to be part of that?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Man, the fact that Tom Brady is in our commercial is pretty stout. I’m not gonna lie.

The fact that FOX has taken this on and is doing what they’re — even their set here today with all the tracks and the time, money and effort they’re putting into this is incredible for the series, for the sport, for us as drivers.

It’s going to build our brands. It’s going to make us known and hopefully back to that level to where we can compete with Formula 1 and NASCAR on a weekend basis for viewership and audience.

Q. Obviously you had a really strong year last year. What can you do to build on that for this season?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, so towards the end of the year we definitely picked up the pole, the two top 5s, really strong run in Nashville with another — I think we qualified in the top 5 if it wasn’t for the engine penalty.

But all of that is just building on the success that we had throughout the year, building setups, building books. Our engineering staff last year was almost completely brand new, so it took a while for us to learn, and the Penske alliance, as well, for us to learn that, and we started to figure out towards the end of the year. Not having an off-season, a lot of sim time with Chevrolet and continuing to work all under one roof now since our shop is now in Indy. My shop is not based in Houston. It’s going to be game changing, and I think we can just expect more success, just more time 5s, hopefully some more poles, and that maiden win.

Q. It’s been a couple of years since you’ve had a teammate to push you a little bit and that you might be able to learn from. How much are you looking forward to that?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Trust me, the last two teammates that I had were pretty awesome in that regard. My first year Sebastien Bourdais was awesome to say the least, and then working with Palou who I had known from Europe was also really, really good, and it was a challenge for us both to push each other in the right way.

Having someone like David, it should be no different. Just keep pushing each other, trying to make each other better, the same with every teammate that we’ve had. Just keep trying to push each other in the right direction.

Q. Big change in the off-season, the departure of Michael Cannon, someone you’ve had a great working relationship with. Obviously he’s a big part of the secret sauce of why the Foyt team has risen up, but I’m sure he’s not the entire part of it. What is the expectation for this year with that relationship going away?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Trust me, I’ve known Cannon since I came into the sport. In 2018 I got and still have a fantastic relationship with him. He’s someone that I call to chat and BS with from time to time.

Yeah, obviously it’s a bummer. Sometimes the stars just don’t always align. I drive the car, and I’m very, very confident in our engineering staff this year. We have Mike Armbrester who’s going to lead my car; James Schnabel who’s going to move over to Malukas’s car; and with Adam Kolesar and CJ Nielsen and Collin Hendershot, we have a very, very solid engineering program going right now.

A lot of that I do believe is thanks to Mike, and I wish him very much the best of luck at PREMA. They’ll be a force at Indy, I’m sure. A little concerned racing against them. It’s always tough.

Q. We’ve heard a lot of drivers talk about getting in the sim and not having a lot of time in this off-season to get behind the wheel of something. You’re doing that this weekend with the Chili Bowl. When I spoke with you at Milwaukee or Iowa, you said you learned a lot of things in that Chili Bowl that you used on the ovals as far as sliding around and how to work a car. How much is this week doing the Chili Bowl prep for some of these ovals we’re going to see this year?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: A lot. You look at Milwaukee, all the slider passes that we made, all the positions gained, and the two cars that were doing it the most were Daly and myself, both of which have NASCAR experience, dirt experience.

So understanding those lines where the track can move, it was a big advantage, especially for people that hadn’t raced there. It definitely showed, he got himself a podium and we had two top 5s.

The Chili Bowl for me, it’s probably the only time I get out of a car after an event and I’m kind of shaking because it’s just so unnatural and it’s such a challenge for me that my nerves and my body is just very much like it is at the speedway here when you’re qualifying. Everything is just dialed up to 10.

So it’s nice to kind of be practicing that and working on stuff like that mentally before I get back in the INDYCAR because everything slows right back down once I get behind the wheel of the 14.

Q. Last season we were talking a little bit and you said you felt like 2025, you have a legitimate shot at a championship. Now we’re in 2025. Still feel like a championship potential season?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Oh, yeah. I think when I said that, I think a lot of people kind of laughed at me. You look at where we would have finished in oval points, and then you look at how we did at the end of the year for the last leg of the season. I wasn’t messing around when I said I think we can run for a championship.

Yeah, there’s a lot that goes into it, but the biggest part is consistency, and that’s one thing that I know we have, and that’s something that you can’t teach.

Finishing almost all but two races last year, just one mechanical and one I’m not sure from Toronto, I think that shows. I think if we put that to this year and what we had going at the end of last year plus the development all winter long being under one roof, we’re going to be a force.

Q. How do you temper those expectations and also championship is a culture, and how has that evolved in maybe even the off-season with AJ Foyt Racing and holding people accountable and being sure that you don’t lose anything from last season but take that next step?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I think one of the biggest things in motorsports is, one, I’m very thankful I’m in this position. Very lucky to be here. Very lucky to be driving the 14. You’ve got to have fun. The most fun I’ve had in this car were at races in Milwaukee. We’re joking on the road. We’re having a good time, we’re passing cars. Pull up Portland, I mean, going down the backstretch, just remembering those types of emotions is why we do it.

Racing is 99 percent disappointment. Just the nature of the game, unfortunately.

I think having that very positive, happy, we-love-what-we-do mentality and that small-team mentality is what’s going to propel us to keep those expectations at bay and to keep pushing every weekend to want to make ourselves better.

Q. Back to the Chili Bowl. How mindblowing is that event? Talking about unnatural, you’re racing indoors at an exposition center. By the time you go through all those elimination rounds, it really is the best of the best of the best of the best racers in the world competing for that. When you look at that as an event, how mindblowing is it?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: It’s incredible. I mean, it’s kind of strange to me that I’m still the only INDYCAR driver other than — well, Katherine now this year — that really competes in it. I think part of the reason is because it’s humbling, man. It’s tough to go into a building and just get rocked by some of these kids because they’ve been — they’re also kids, too.

You have like 15 and 16 year olds out there that they race every weekend, are very, very good at the midget stuff. For someone that comes in gets six laps of practice and runs it once a year, it’s a hard transition to manage.

But I love it. It’s the best of the best. The A feature on Saturday night is always one of the coolest races to watch. You have Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, all these big NASCAR names, Kyle Busch going this year.

I think that goes to show what that race means in the oval world, in the grass-roots, NASCAR world in general. And yeah, I hope to make A Main on Friday night. That’s my goal. If I can do that, I would be incredibly happy. It would be like a win.

Q. Speaking of kids, do you expect to see Brexton in that race someday soon?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I’m not sure how old he is –

Q. He’s got a few years to go.

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I mean, even with the micro stuff, yeah, that’s primarily why I don’t run the micros is just the age range is a little bit different. Just the maturity in the Chili Bowl and the midgets, you’ve got to have a lot of respect for those guys because they’re not — it’s not like you’re getting in the 24-hour cars with the full body cage and fenders and everything. These things, when they go — trust me, I know, I’ve hit the fence. It’s not fun.

The respect level and maturity level of the Chili Bowl is also part of the reason why I keep going back, too. You get a lot of respect going there, and I try to show it, too, but I also try to stay out of my own way sometimes because that happens.

Q. Santino, just kind of curious, what is the next step that you’d like to see AJ Foyt Racing make in development to take that next step, and then how do you get that development when you have this technical partnership with Penske?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Honestly, our next step is just going to be finding that rhythm like we did last year. That’s the biggest key. We have our setups in our books. It’ll just be really breaking into that top 5 rhythm. You’ve got the top 10 rhythm down pretty good; I’m sure of that. So it’s just taking that next chink of armor off, and to do that, everything has to go right.

Every weekend you can’t be missing time on tests, you can’t be missing practice time. Every second out there will count for us, especially when you want to make a championship run. Last year we weren’t exactly the cleanest in the pits and in the garage with trying to get changes done, and same at testing, we lost a lot of time and we lost a lot of time at the speedway. That’s going to be a big change for this year is that type of seat time and track time and being precise and correct on all those behind the pit lane changes that are going to be the biggest challenge.

Q. You kind of touched on it about your NASCAR experience. Been a lot of rumors floating around about you possibly doing the double or possibly running Daytona. Is that true? And if it is an opportunity, what type of ride would it take to get you to do Daytona or the Charlotte 600?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I think the double is something I looked into, and I talked to Larry about this. It’s one thing for the NASCAR drivers to come to INDYCAR. You look at Larson, he can jump from a top ride in the Coke 600 in NASCAR into a top ride at the speedway and have a really good fighting chance.

It’s another to go the reverse route to find a top NASCAR ride that’s open because the equipment over there really, really matters.

Running something like Daytona would be a bit more appealing. I’ve never thought about it just because of the new car and all that stuff. I do like my time in Xfinity, though. I love those cars. They’re old school. They race well on the mile-and-a-half tracks. I very much enjoyed my time driving those and would not mind getting back into — getting behind the wheel of one of those cars again in my future, probably after the INDYCAR season because it’s tight this year.

But yeah, I don’t know, never looked at Daytona. The Coke 600 I think is just too difficult of a race to jump into a Cup car and do from the reverse side of things. But maybe one of those days, you never know.

Q. Your personality, we talked about this last season. Your confidence level is through the roof. Does the personality come out of the confidence, or does the confidence come out of the personality?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Oh, man, trick question there. A little bit of everything. I’ve always been very true to who I am, especially being in INDYCAR. I’ve been very fortunate that the fans and the people of INDYCAR and everyone here has accepted me for me, which is awesome, and it gives me that confidence to push myself to be better and to continue being true to who I am as a human being.

Yeah, so it goes hand in hand.

Q. Over the off-season, I believe I’m right in saying that the team moved all their operations into Indianapolis instead of splitting it between Indianapolis and Texas. Is the centralization something you can see benefiting the team?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Oh, that was the next step. That was one of the things from the ’24 season to the ’25 season that will help us — like I was saying, getting that track time, minimizing mistakes. Now you have the engineers overlooking the car here in Indy, making sure that the mechanics are doing everything correct and as guided.

It’s just all the meetings are now in house. There’s no one playing telephone tag or if there’s a quick question you don’t have to try and get a hold of somebody and wait and delay. You just walk and switch rooms. Having that is going to be huge.

The Texas shop in Houston, I loved it because it was a three-hour drive from my house, so I was at that shop all the time and I loved going down there. I loved the Waller shop. AJ is always down there, so I got to spend a lot of time with him.

So I’m going to miss that side of things now that everything is in Indy, but as far as performance goes, this was a very much needed thing.

Q. Have you been able to see the new car yet?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: The new INDYCAR?

Q. Yeah, 2027.

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I saw one render for it back in the drivers’ meetings about a month ago.

Q. You got any thoughts on it?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Not in particular. I trust that the series is going the right direction. I trust that Penske Entertainment, they’ve done so many things right since they’ve taken ownership. I believe in what they’re doing and believe in the product that they’re trying to create. I believe in them pushing Dallara correctly to build a good-looking, very fast and competitive race car because the product that we currently have right now, it’s going to be hard to beat. It’s good.

Q. Relating a little bit to Chili Bowl, obviously AJ comes from a midget background, very well-known down here in New Zealand along with Mel Kenyon when they used to come down here together. How does AJ feel about you being in Chili Bowl? Does it make him kind of get back to those roots of how his original racing took place?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I feel like that’s one of the big things or the big draws that AJ had towards me as a driver when I started was that I’ve done dirt racing, done NASCAR. I want to continue to pursue it.

Trust me, if I could channel my inner AJ this week, that would be awesome. I’d like to have 1/1,000 of his dirt knowledge. It would be better than what I’ve got. Yeah, I’ve been in his office and he’s pulled earnings back from the ’50s when they paid out like a dollar for winning races in like this little Manila envelope. It’s so cool. He has so much history with the dirt racing and him being able to share those experiences and stories with me is something that I’ll forever cherish.

I cannot take for granted spending time with him. He is the GOAT. He is the greatest of all time of any driver in my opinion, one of the smartest people I’ve ever met in racing.

Yeah, I hope that he appreciates it. I do it partly because of him. Yeah, it’s a great sport, and I think it’s a great discipline to have.

Q. You just touched on it briefly before, but the tension at Chili Bowl is one thing, but you talk about that and the comparison to the Indy 500. First of all, this is making you mentally fit for the season. I was amused by the comparison of maybe the whole day at Indy versus Chili Bowl. This is mentally a very tough event, both of those, but you go into it that much smarter come St. Pete because you’ve had these racing miles under you?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, for sure. You guys also definitely have some good Kiwis in the race there, without a doubt, so I got to meet Pickens who’s one of them. He’s a good dude.

Yeah, it’s weird, you get out of the car after going 240 miles an hour around qualifying and you’re on the ragged edge and the hair is up on the back of your neck, your legs are shaking, everything is kind of dough. It’s not my favorite time to be in the car, and it puts you out of your comfort zone, and that’s where you learn the most about yourself.

The Chili Bowl car is no different from that. I get out of the car, I wish my friends had a video of me getting out of the car after the first practice on Sunday. I literally, my feet almost couldn’t touch the ground, they were just vibrating from the adrenaline.

Like I said, you learn the most about yourself when you push yourself to your own limits, and that’s what really the Chili Bowl is doing for me.

Q. You may have some karma going into the Chili Bowl seeing as how it’s AJ’s 90th birthday on Thursday.

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I may need him to send me a prayer. Oh, my gosh.

The Californian pieced together potentially the best rookie year in Series history and is set for another season with The Greatest Show on dirt

CONCORD, NC (January 14, 2025) – Michael “Buddy” Kofoid grew up watching Sprint Car drivers shape legacies with California’s Roth Motorsports.

Now, Kofoid is making his own history in Dennis and Teresa Roth’s famed ride, and he’ll continue to do so as he’s officially set for his sophomore season with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars.

“I feel like racing last year with the Outlaws is the most I’ve learned and the most I’ve progressed in my career as far as becoming a better race car driver,” Kofoid said. “And that’s, I think, all because of racing with the Outlaws.”

A major step in Kofoid’s career was taken with he linked with Roth midway through 2023. The pairing ran a pick-and-choose schedule to close out the year before committing to the World of Outlaws in 2024, setting up Kofoid’s first full season with The Greatest Show on Dirt.

Kofoid’s résumé set expectations high. West coasters watched the Penngrove, CA native win 410 Sprint Car races as early as 15 years old. He sat on the pole of the Gold Cup Race of Champions with the World of Outlaws at only 16. Eventually he broadened his horizons eastward and impressed on the ovals of Ohio. He proved his versatility by becoming a two-time USAC National Midget Champion in 2021 and 2022. Fans across the country were ready to see what Kofoid could do during a full season on Sprint Car racing’s biggest stage, and he didn’t let them down.

The result was arguably the best Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year campaign in Series history. Kofoid bagged seven wins, 27 podiums, and 53 top 10s in his Toyota-powered No. 83 car. Those stats led to a fourth-place finish in points, equaling Jeff Swindell, Brad Doty, and Giovanni Scelzi for the highest finishing World of Outlaws rookie.

Highlights included redemption at the BillionAuto.com Huset’s High Bank Nationals. After mechanical troubles led to heartbreak in 2023, Kofoid banked the six-figure payday at the South Dakota oval in 2024. He later won three times in a four-race stretch in front of his home state fans of California. Kofoid also conquered the tricky Williams Grove Speedway for the first time.

“It went better than what I expected and not even just the last few months,” Kofoid admitted. “Some say we started out kind of rough, but some of that was stuff that happened out of our control like blowing a tire leading at Volusia or we hurt a motor the first race. Then we kind of struggled a little bit in Texas, but there’s growing pains with developing a motor. I feel like it’s come a long way, and I’ve been with Roth since June of last year. I think that’s helped us do what we’ve been able to do.”

It’s as storybook as it gets for Kofoid as he continues to carve out his path in the sport. He’s not only made it where he’s always wanted to be, but he’s also arrived there with a team that means so much to any Californian with a connection to Sprint Car racing.

“To do this with Roth, which coming from California is an iconic team and a team I looked up to growing up,” Kofoid said. “I also raced against them a lot locally before I moved to the Midwest. So, to do this with them and Toyota and Mobil 1, people I’ve been with before I went back to full-time Sprint Car racing, and continue that relationship with them is so cool. I talk about enjoying where you’re at, and that’s something I’ve learned is extremely important.”

Kofoid is also rising up Roth’s history charts fast. A record 16 different drivers have steered one of the team’s cars to World of Outlaws Victory Lane – Danny Lasoski tops the list with 41. Kofoid’s eight checkered flags have already equaled James McFadden for the third most. And while Kofoid said he enjoys seeing how far he’s come in a short time, he’s already thinking about the next win and many more to follow.

“To have a decent amount of wins and be third on the list is really cool,” Kofoid said. “But at the end of the day, there’s still work to be done, and the job is not over yet. I feel like after Charlotte, Dylan (Buswell) and I looked at each other and were wishing we could just go straight into Florida because of how good we’d been and how enjoyable it’s been and how much we’ve learned and progressed. Hopefully we can keep moving up that list. I’d love to be with Roth as long as I can and with Dylan and the people I’m with and someday hopefully get close to that 41.”

A World of Outlaws title is one piece missing from the Roth Motorsports résumé, and it’s something Kofoid is ready to go after for both he, Dennis and Teresa, and the entire Roth crew.

“I think to be in the conversation of having a chance to win an Outlaws championship is really cool and special after just our first year,” Kofoid said. “I feel like the last half or so of our year was mostly a championship caliber consistency. There are still some things that we could’ve done better, and I could’ve done better. But I feel like our last half is more or less what you need to do to win a championship.”

Kofoid and Roth Motorsports begin the 2025 World of Outlaws season at Volusia Speedway Park’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals on Feb. 5-8. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

For the full 2025 schedule, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT JANUARY 14, 2025 DAVID MALUKAS, No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, met with members of the media at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Days in Indianapolis, Indiana. Press Conference Transcript: THE MODERATOR: We continue this afternoon’s session, joined now by David Malukas, driving the No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, beginning his fourth season in the NTT INDYCAR Series, his first with AJ Foyt Racing after a couple of top 10s in the races you were in last year, 2024, brand new year. We all follow you on social media. We know you kind of enjoy that arena. What’s been going on? DAVID MALUKAS: Well, I just finished up all the FOX stuff, which was so cool. They have a drone, and I even watched the guy, and he’s got these goggles on and he’s just flying around. He’s doing his own Indy 500. It’s just crazy. He’s doing like 10 donuts per person. I can’t believe it. But it was so cool. We’re doing some cool poses, cool shots. They had the smoke machine, good music. I honestly was having a good time. I was so tired because I only slept five hours because of the early day, but that like my — that was a natural coffee boost over there. I was having a good time. That was awesome. Q. New team, new year. I’m sure you can’t wait to get back on track.DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, I can’t wait. Last year was chaos, definitely a year of learning and maturing, and at the end of the season I had actually another surgery on my hand to clean up all the scar tissue because the movement was very limited, so I had to still do some PT for a few months until Christmas time. Now the hand is doing really well. We did the seat fit, got the grip strength back up, and I’m excited to go out there and perform and forget this injury ever — well, it’s not perfectly back, but it’s a lot better, so I’m really excited. Q. David, this is a chance to have a complete season with the same team after last year’s saga. How important is that going to be for you to really get a chance to get off the ground running? I imagine you’re probably going to be pretty careful in the next couple of weeks.DAVID MALUKAS: Oh, 100 percent. I’ve been so careful. I think the craziest thing I’ve done this off-season is go zip lining with my nephews and the drop was only like two feet. I had to lift my knees up the just do the zip lining. That was the most chaotic thing I’ve done. But no, like I said, I’ve matured a lot, and not just from individuality and outside of the car, but also in the car I’ve matured a lot. I’m excited to take that maturity, be consistent, have a full season, and actually build with the team that I have and the crew is incredible and I’m very excited to get some very good results. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Q. Also, FOX is gearing a lot of their telecast to the Generation Z, the younger generation audience, a lot of good young talent in the INDYCAR Series. Do you see INDYCAR at a tipping point here where there’s a lot of young faces, a lot of exciting drivers, and it may be a chance to really excite some of the younger crowd that may not be INDYCAR fans?DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, I think you hit it spot on. I think the next generation definitely is starting to come in, and I think those fans are starting to come. I’ve had a lot of experiences last season where fans would come up to me and tell me that they’re watching INDYCAR and they’re there because of me, and that made me feel incredible. It’s an incredible feeling. I’m just really excited to actually be able to connect with my generation into racing and get them in. And I think with everything that FOX is doing, it’s incredible, because I am also Gen-Z, so it’s my generation, so it’s good. Q. You’re one of the youngest drivers in the series dealing with one of the oldest people in racing, AJ Foyt. That’s got to be a little bit of a — are there times when the two of you kind of look at each other and try to figure out what the other is thinking?DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, actually it was a pretty good — I met him at the Indy test a few months back, and he was telling me all of his stories. He’s got so many cool stories. It was a really cool experience. It was a good time. But I think with what we’re doing at AJ Foyt, being with AJ and being the new generation, I think it’s a perfect setup going into this season. We have a lot of cool ideas and content with how we’re going to mix all that together and mixing the new generation with history. It’s going to be awesome. Q. Obviously you’re going into a team who have a lot of momentum behind them coming off a really strong season last year. Do you have any expectations going into the new year?DAVID MALUKAS: I think just from all the chaos, for sure 100 percent just having that consistency being up there. I think with the way the team’s success has been, especially this last season, I think it’s very, very strong. Expectations are definitely very high. I think with the team that we have, we definitely want results. I think with my teammate as well, Santino, on the ovals we’re going to be a pretty strong suit. Expectations are high going into it. But at the end of the day, it just feels good to do a full season and have a consistent season. Q. We saw you’re going to have car No. 4.DAVID MALUKAS: That is correct. Q. How cool is that for you?DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, it was a little bit last minute. I mean, I knew for a while. I wanted to say it really badly, and then I decided to just sneakily just do a post, just DM 4. I think that has a good ring to it and I’m really excited. I am just excited from constant side of things because I can just replace the “a” in Dave and just No. 4. I think it will be really cool. It’s good merch. I’m just really excited because then I can wear it. Imagine little Dave but then the A is a 4. It’s pretty cool. I’m not gonna lie. Q. Last year you didn’t really have a chance to get the season started like you wanted. You just kind of had to watch from the sidelines and everything. How important is that to have a defined start point and just do it as you planned from the beginning?DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, sitting on the sidelines watching, that was really tough. That was hard. I definitely had to keep some emotions in watching everybody go around. It was good. I learned a lot, especially being on the sidelines, just seeing what the engineers have to deal with, all the screens, the strategy. There’s a lot that I learned that as a driver you don’t really know much of what’s going on, so I think it was good by the time I got in the car I didn’t get angry at the engineers or the strategy on what’s going on because they can see a lot more than the driver can see. So I think that was the No. 1 thing that I learned and that I will take going into this next season. Q. The transition going from a Honda to a Chevy, I know you don’t have experience inside the cockpit yet, but what’s that transition in a simulator been like and how excited are you to join the Chevy family?DAVID MALUKAS: Well, I did a lot of off-season testing just when the hybrid system was coming out with Arrow McLaren, so I did have a lot of Chevy testing done. I think that was their previous version before the hybrid came in, so it definitely was different. So I have some familiarity with some of the Chevy engineers, as well. So going it, it’s not completely going fresh. I think we have something to already start going off of. But as of what I remember and going into it, I think it’ll be fine. I know there’s some talks about the engines being a bit different, but from when I went into the car they felt very similar. I couldn’t tell major drastic changes. Q. I don’t think the results, especially at Gateway last year, showed what you’re capable of doing with obviously running up front. I know you’re going to take it a race at a time and talk about the race that’s coming up, but you’ve got to be champing at the bits with Santino, with how fast the Foyt cars have been at Indy to get back to IMS, and that starts in April at the test.DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, anytime I start thinking about it, the nerves and the excitement starts building up. I’m really excited, man. The car is going to good. Good teammates, good engineers, good crew. Everything is lining up, so a little bit of luck, who knows, it’s going to be really exciting. Q. I’m excited to see what Santino and you can do at AJ Foyt Racing. You may not have been in the car with the team yet to figure out if both of you are similar in setups or different; how do you anticipate getting along with Santino?DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, I’m very excited and interested to see how the setups and things are going to be. We did do some simulator work together, but as of now the driving doesn’t seem too far off. Of course it’s not going to be until the Sebring test we’ll know the driving styles and how to compare. But talking with the engineers, it seems that we are in some form similar in some ways, especially on the ovals. I think it’ll be pretty good. I think we’ll be good teammates and definitely be able to pick on each other and be able to do two different setups. I think that’s the main goal is having two drivers with the same driving style so we can use two different setups with the limited practice sessions that we have so we can clear two birds with one stone. I like to put it that way. Q. I’m just curious on how much time you’ve spent with AJ Foyt and can you talk about what that experience has been like?DAVID MALUKAS: I mean, it hasn’t been too much. It’s been short. I’ve probably had two conversations with him so far. But each conversation has been amazing. Obviously for me it was a little bit hard because I’m going into it as, like, it’s AJ and you’re trying to have a normal conversation, but the entire time it’s like I’m talking with AJ, so I’m kind of trying to act normal, act normal, you’re not acting normal, and I think he could sense like what is wrong with this kid, what is he doing. I think he could sense it a little bit. But he was very chill. It almost felt like we were good friends and he started talking about the stories and the past and the history. To say that he’s had me on the team, that meant a lot, too. Both conversations we’ve had have been great, so I just hope to give him some results in return. Q. What did you get AJ for his birthday?DAVID MALUKAS: I don’t know, can we say what we did? Unfortunately we can’t. Q. An Indy 500 win would be the perfect gift.DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, a little bit delayed but I don’t think he would mind. I think he would take it. That would be very cool.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT JANUARY 14, 2025 ALEXANDER ROSSI, driver of the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, met with the media at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Days in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Press Conference Transcript:  MODERATOR: Switching to the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet in 2025, Alexander Rossi, beginning his 10th season in the NTT INDYCAR Series. Of course eight-time winner in the series with a bit of a new look team, a lot of changes for Ed Carpenter Racing heading into 2025.I know you’re ready to get back on the track. You’ve got to wait a couple weeks before you do that, but are you looking forward to getting started? ALEXANDER ROSSI: For sure. I think the team is changing at a rapid rate, which is pretty exciting to witness and be a part of, and I think that there’s a lot of excitement internally about the things that are going on. It’s certainly a busy time for everyone involved, and I think we’re all still trying to find our place a little bit in somewhat of a totally new organization. But it’s going really well, and experience that I’ve had so far has been nothing short of awesome. Looking forward to getting on track in February at Sebring and then seeing where that takes us for the first week of March. Q. You did have an opportunity to hop on the Indianapolis oval with the team. Did that help break the ice a little bit as you look into this off-season?ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, for sure. That was a good one to get under our belt kind of right before the super long break kicked off. The car and team operated at a level that you would expect based on their previous results and past performances at Indianapolis, so that was a pretty seamless day and an exciting day for everyone, to have our new partners in Splenda and Java House on board and represented. As I said, it’s growing and changing every day, so what you saw in October, it’s going to be a very different look come February and March. Q. What is a successful season for Alexander Rossi this year? What does it look like at the end of the year?ALEXANDER ROSSI: You know, it’s being in the conversation and having an opportunity to win at Indy, which I think is to be expected of ECR and myself. I don’t really have an expectation quite yet because I haven’t driven the car, so I don’t really know what I don’t know at this point. I’ll be able to answer that question a little bit better after the test in February. Q. Kind of a related question, this is a very different challenge, a different team dynamic than what you’ve been a part of, I imagine, since you joined INDYCAR, an Andretti team that was used to being at the top of the sport, an Arrow McLaren team that wasn’t quite there but had high aspirations, and now you join ECR where this team has won races, been towards the top of the championship a time or two but maybe haven’t quite been, from a consistent performance standpoint, at a level that you’ve competed at the last couple years. Is this an intriguing, exciting new chapter for you, joining a team that’s a little bit different and trying to maybe take it to a different place than what you’ve been doing the last couple years?ALEXANDER ROSSI: That’s a good question. I don’t really look at it that way so much as I think if you ask everyone at the organization where they’ve been the past couple years is not where they want to be, where they expect to be, so there was the effort and the search, I guess is the right term maybe, for how do they and we now as an organization change what the past couple of years have been. This series is so competitive, and there is every year more cars and drivers that are capable of winning. Like what do we need to do from a staffing, investment, procedure, mindset standpoint to bridge the gap and make the step that everyone else is making. That’s a work in progress. That doesn’t happen overnight. But I certainly think that steps are being made in the right direction, steps that are very cool to see. I think there’s the potential to surprise a lot of people at points in 2025. Obviously, as I said, nothing happens overnight. We’re not going to go from the results that have existed the past couple of years to all of a sudden winning every race sort of thing, but I do think that everything in this sport is very small margins. We’ve often talked about this car has been around for so long. It’s not that there’s some magic thing out there. It’s about putting puzzle pieces together correctly and executing efficiently, and that can add up to results pretty quickly. We have the tools and resources and are gathering the tools and resources that didn’t necessarily exist in the past, and that’s opening doors and opportunities for what should be a step forward for the organization in ’25. And then obviously to answer the first part of your question, yeah, this is a long-term thing that I’m a part of and something that’s very exciting to be a part of, to contribute to, and to do it alongside someone that I have a very good working and personal relationship with Ed, something that I feel like we as a group, Ed (Carpenter), myself, Christian (Rasmussen), Ted Gelov from Heartland Food Products Group, we can all do as this kind of foursome and push things forward and get the results that we want. Q. This may be a tough question to answer because you were onboarded at ECR as Ted was coming on, as well. With the influx of support from him and Heartland, as best you know, how much — how big of an improvement can funding and new ideas and a partnership like that bring to this team and what you guys can do in ’25 in the future versus where they have been the last couple years?ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, it’s a little bit of a hard question. I think that what we’ve seen in this sport and we’ve seen in other championships, funding and money isn’t the solution to everyone’s problems. It certainly gives you the capability to have a better rate of development. It gives you the opportunity to maybe entice people into your organization and that sort of thing. But it’s still about the people, and I do think that a lot of the main people that have been at ECR — sorry, that are at ECR currently have been there for a very long time. There’s a lot of loyalty in that organization, and there’s a very close-knit group of individuals that, in their own right and together, are very, very good at what they do. They’ve maybe just not had all of the tools, resources and people to help them deliver the results that they are capable of. I think number one is people; number two is growing the good people and creating that environment; then number three is having the available funds to go do the projects and build the things that you need to do. Q. I imagine you may have seen the commercial that FOX put out on Sunday with Josef. A lot has been said and celebrated on that type of marketing and the angle they took in trying to promote Josef and lift the sport up as this new relationship gets going. What were your thoughts on what you saw on Sunday and what you’ve seen over the last couple of months as this momentum has built toward FOX airing INDYCAR for the full season in ’25 and beyond?ALEXANDER ROSSI: I didn’t know Josef was — I just thought it was a Tom Brady commercial. (Laughter). My guy. No, I thought it was great. I think is a commercial with Josef or a commercial with Pato or Alex going to change the perception of INDYCAR racing? No. Is it a huge step in a direction that we’ve all been looking for in terms of out-of-the-box thinking and cool, trendy marketing and all of the buzz word stuff that you want to be a part of and be doing? Yeah, 100 percent.So I think this partnership with FOX has been talked about at length in terms of the positivities that it’s going to bring from a TV viewership standpoint, but I think the thing that’s possibly the most impressive/most important in my mind and I think a lot of the drivers’ minds is the kind of push that they’re putting behind it with their other properties, bringing in people like Tom Brady who are FOX employees, pushing it during the biggest sporting weeks of the year in the NFL playoffs and really using their other avenues of promotion to elevate the NTT INDYCAR Series is what we’ve needed and wanted. Obviously it’s going to take more than a couple commercials, but this is a huge step in the right direction and something that is very, very awesome to be a part of. I don’t think any of us could be more excited and thankful for what they’ve done, and can’t wait to see what they do in the future. Q. You touched on this, I think when you got here in 2016 you probably didn’t know a lot of people and had to learn three or four different teams when you went to McLaren as far as all those employees. Do you feel you’re maybe a little bit ahead of schedule? You have that test from October, you and Ed are close friends, live down the road, the close-knit community that ECR has. Do you feel like you’re closer to having those results earlier? Sometimes for drivers they go to a new team and it takes a half season or full season to start seeing results. Do you feel like that camaraderie is there because it is such a small group?ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, I think we have a couple things going for us. Number one, it’s as you mentioned, I’ve known Matt Barnes for a really long time, as well, so having the relationship on the engineering side right out of the box is huge. We already kind of speak the same language in a lot of different ways. But also I think the other big thing is, yes, in 2023 going to Arrow McLaren was a big transition, but the bigger transition was really Honda to Chevy. So being able to stay in the Team Chevy family and not have to go through that driving style transition that I kind of had to do from ’22 to ’23 I think is really the thing that’ll put us on the front foot more than anything else.Q. Have you set yourself any targets for the upcoming season?ALEXANDER ROSSI: Probably should. But no. Let me work on that. Q. 10th season, hard to believe. Now that you evaluate your previous nine, have you accomplished what you’d like to accomplish? I know you’ve won the Indy 500, but I’m sure a championship would be on the line, too. How would you evaluate the first nine years? Just your thoughts on nine years in the series and now you’ve got No. 10 coming this season.ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, it goes fast. I think that it’s very easy to look back on — I think, any athlete looks back on the missed opportunities more than the success. That’s just the nature of the business. But, you also have to remind yourself that you’re entering 10 years, a decade of driving race cars, and being able to have a pretty good understanding of what my future is going to be for quite some time, it gives you the foundation to really have an unlimited view of what is possible.I think that there’s certainly challenges ahead. I’ve certainly dealt with my share of challenges the past couple of years. But to be able to do it with ultimately friends is a pretty unique opportunity and one where I think it’s going to be able to push each other forward to go do the things we want to do.I think there’s a lot of lessons learned. I think there’s some good times. I still lose sleep over the bad times. But it’s all motivation for what we have coming up in the future. Q. Speaking of lessons learned, it could be nothing, but I noticed you went to a lot of IU football games this year. You’ve got a horse. Is that kind of the underrated story and coming to ECR could be the underrated story. Any lessons learned from watching IU football, seeing that culture, owning a horse?ALEXANDER ROSSI: Interesting. That’s a very good question. Owning a horse, probably not. I don’t think so.Motorsports and horse racing are very similar, though. There’s so many variables that exist, right. In racing we all know about you add into that racing plus an animal, there’s obviously a lot you can’t control, but it still takes a team and a common goal and a common culture, which ties in very well to the next part of your question with IU football.I didn’t really go to traditional college, so my knowledge of college sports was none, and then my friend group got very excited about IU football this year for obvious reasons, so I went to my first two college games this year, and not knowing anything about really IU’s college football past but seeing and understanding what the power of one person can do — we often talk about culture.We often talk about it’s the people that are the most important element, and all of those things are true, but it really only takes one person to offer a new approach, a new way of thinking, and getting people to buy into that, and you can see the results that come from that.That’s an inspiration, I think, for anyone that is either an athlete or looking to do something in business or in life, that it just takes one to make a difference.I’m now a Hoosier fan for, I guess, life because that’s how college football fandom works, and look forward to next year. Q. Season tickets?ALEXANDER ROSSI: My buddy already has them, so I think we’re locked in there. Q. Do you have a sweatshirt?ALEXANDER ROSSI: I do have a sweatshirt, yeah. Q. Do you tailgate? What’s the experience?ALEXANDER ROSSI: So we were supposed to tailgate — the one time I went down to Bloomington, we were going to tailgate and it was the hurricane that ran through Nashville when we were there, had Helene, so we didn’t tailgate, but we still went to the game. Then I went to IU playing Ohio State, and that was really underwhelming because I was sold that that was this amazing magical place, and it’s just fine. Q. I think a few people have asked this today to various drivers, but I’d like to get your take on the discussion of maybe a new car in 2027 –ALEXANDER ROSSI: It’s not a maybe, man. It’s happening. Q. What do you believe are kind of the keys that they kind of need from this new car compared to what there has been for the last however many years?ALEXANDER ROSSI: I have to weigh my answer to not get in trouble.Here’s the thing. I’ve actually talked to quite a few people at length about this. There’s some people that have the belief that it needs to be this super futuristic crazy looking ultra modern car. There’s other people that are like, okay, it needs to be this super light, high-horsepower thing that does track records everywhere. Ultimately what I think needs to be done is we already have, and I don’t think it’s a debate, we already have the best product on track that exists globally, so to reinvent the wheel I don’t think is something that in my mind that needs to be done. I think it needs to be an evolution of the car we’ve had. Obviously technology has developed, materials has developed. We have added a lot on to the DW12. So integrating all of that is going to have benefits from a cost standpoint, from a safety standpoint, from a workability standpoint for the mechanics to have things that fit and flow and work a bit better together. But ultimately I don’t think we need to do anything that’s beyond what we already do because I think what we already do is pretty good. It just needs to be an updated version of what we have. So that’s my opinion. Q. Have you seen the initial plans –ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yes. Q. Are you allowed to share any thoughts on that?ALEXANDER ROSSI: Probably not. You’ve got another 20-odd drivers to ask that question to, so I’m not going to be that guy.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDYCAR CONTENT DAYS INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT JANUARY 14, 2025 PATO O’WARD, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, met with members of the media at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Days in Indianapolis, Indiana. Press Conference Transcript: THE MODERATOR: No better way to kick things off in the NTT INDYCAR Series content days than with Pato O’Ward, back driving the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, beginning his sixth full season in the NTT INDYCAR Series, seven-time race winner winning three times this past season. Off-season, or non-racing season, because there is no off-season in INDYCAR because we’re always doing something — PATO O’WARD: Are we, though? I’ve missed INDYCAR. I’ve been craving getting back here. Q. What’s it been like the last couple months for you?PATO O’WARD: Happy new year, everybody. Happy to be here. To me, it’s been a lot of traveling. I’ve done a lot of hours from Nashville all the way to like December 20th, I think, was kind of my first day off. I haven’t had a lot of chance to chill out, but I have some time at the end of the month, which the team has been very courteous and generous in giving me a couple weeks off.But yeah, I did a lot of traveling with the Formula 1 team, obviously. It was really cool to be part of their Constructors’ Championship and seeing that. But FP1 in México, it feels like a whole year’s worth happened in three months. But it’s been great. But definitely happy to be back. Q. (Indiscernible) it seems like they have a partnership with FOX Sports that’s knocking it out of the ballpark. What do you think so far of the marketing effort?PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I want to publicly state that I think what FOX and INDYCAR are doing is freaking phenomenal. Like the commercial that just came out with Josef I think was so well done. It’s fun. It’s edgy. It’s flirting with that line where people do get engaged and you’re like, hey, this is different. I have filmed mine. I have not seen it. I don’t know when it’s coming out. But it was — I would say it felt like I was doing a movie shoot. It really felt like the first time I was ever shooting a movie with all these different scenes. I think it’s going to be a really, really cool commercial. I think you guys are going to enjoy it when you see it. Can’t wait for that. I’m just excited to see what they come up with during the year. They really seem to be, first of all, on it, and secondly, they know what works, and I think that’s going to be probably one of the best decisions INDYCAR has ever done. Ever since this news came out, I was really quick to text Bud Denker, and I said, man, this is freaking phenomenal. Congratulations. I think all of Penske Entertainment leadership is super excited to be working with them. I think their imagination is kind of coming into truth, I would say. Q. Down the road, a new car is being developed. What can you share with us from what you’ve seen of what that car will look like and what it’ll do?PATO O’WARD: So I know you love me giving you headlines, but I have not seen anything. I have not talked to anybody about it because I’ve been, well, pretty much overseas a lot of this time. But I know there’s a dinner somewhat soon or a couple drivers are going to get together with some of the leadership that hasn’t really had a chance to share with them, one of them being me, and I’m assuming I’ll hear more about it. But I have no idea what it looks like, how heavy it is, how much power it’s going to have. I haven’t seen anything. But I hope that it’s just as good as Jay and everybody tells us.We want to be low, fat, loud.  Q. I know you’ve had a busy off-season, but I imagine there’s been some reflection that you’ve done on this past INDYCAR season. There’s been a lot of changes at your team, as well. Now that you have some space from it, what do you make of the season that you put together in 2024 at Arrow McLaren?PATO O’WARD: Inconsistent. I would say performance-wise, good days were great, bad days were horrible. It just seems to be the name of the game for us the last few years because I just don’t think we’re at the level where we need to be yet in terms of reliability. I’ve still made my fair share of mistakes. There hasn’t been one thing that it’s like, hey, let’s just fix that, and it’s not simple because you go to these places and you’re so on the edge because if you’re not on the edge you’re 20th. Those joker cards, you will have to use them once or twice during the year, but you try and minimize that. But I just think for us, we’ve had too many of those instances where we’re just throwing away points really. Cleaning that up and making our bad days better will have a significant impact in how we’re looking at the end of the season really. Q. I know easier said than done, but as you look at it, is there anything that has led to that inconsistency, or is there something that you feel like you or the team is targeting to try and minimize that that is actionable in 2025?PATO O’WARD: I mean, first off, development in the performance of the race car. I do think now that there wasn’t a lot of hybrid testing we’ve actually had a chance to hopefully find some good things to improve in the areas where we’re lacking the most in terms of circuits or whatever. You can’t always — a season will always have its challenges. It’s never going to be perfect. It’s not going to be how you always want it to be. But you have to be as close to perfect as you can if you want to be a champion. You have to be close to perfect in an Indy 500 in order to win that race. All it takes is just make sure that you’re well-prepared for the challenges that are coming ahead, because if you go into it being, I just want a chill season, that’s probably going to be a boring and slow season for you. When you’re fighting at the top, there’s always going to be drama. There’s always going to be different highs and lows of emotions because that’s ultimately what makes it so special and entertaining for other people, as well. I just think we need to be ready for that, and taking a page out of Andrea’s book, when you think about it, I think it’s such a privilege to be in such a high-pressure situation because that means you’re doing something well, and that’s what we’re going to try and do. Q. Big changes within the team; Gavin Ward leaving as the leader of the INDYCAR program and Tony Kanaan stepping up to take on that role. You’ve worked with Tony for a couple years. What are your thoughts on Gavin’s exit and Tony stepping up to take over the team principal role for 2025?PATO O’WARD: My job is to drive a race car and try and kind of help lead the team in terms of where we need to go. Engineering-wise and what we need. But I think Tony is as qualified as anybody to be leading this group of people that — yes, he was a racing driver and he still says he’s a racing driver, but I’d call him retired. He is and has knowledge, experience of everything. He can dip his toes into marketing and communications. He can dip his toes with all the partners. He can dip his toes with his opinions with the drivers, especially with Nolan, that he’s coming into the team. I know he did a couple races last year, but I think he will be a very good mentor for him, as I’m trying to be. It seems kind of weird, I’ve always been the baby of the team but now I’m the old guy. I want them to succeed, as well, because them succeeding means that — I know that’s just going to drive me forward and make me better, and when we’ve got two or three cars fighting, it’s very different to having one car fighting at the front, and ultimately that’s what you need in order to keep up with three strong cars. But easier said than done. But I trust the decisions that have been made, and I told Zak I’m completely behind everything that has been done, and I’m always up to take on something else if there is an area that needs a little bit of attention and help. Q. What’s that been like through the off-season? We saw a lot of cool social videos with you and Christian and Nolan and that camaraderie through the off-season; how important is that now that you are the senior driver on this team?PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I definitely don’t feel like the — I would say I don’t feel like the senior of the team, but it’s a different role, I would say, because I’ve always had guys with quite a lot more experience than me. But it’s called moving with time. That happens. I’m 25. I’m going to turn 26 this year. That’s just something that I’m going to have to accept as time goes on. But that just means you’ve got more knowledge in your memory bank that you can go back on and use to your advantage whenever you need it during the championship and during the season. But yeah, I think we’re going to have a good thing going, and it’s all about just working well because I’ve worked really well with all my past teammates, so my focus is just making sure that we can all kind of find what each of us likes in a way but also find where we can all kind of come together and create a package that is going to be strong, especially at these big events like the 500 and stuff like that. We need that. Q. Obviously you’ve got Christian Lundgaard joining the team this year. What do you think he’ll bring to the team in terms of his experience?PATO O’WARD: I mean, he’ll bring knowledge that he learned over at Rahal. I haven’t been so attentive, I would say, with the off-season because there really hasn’t been a lot of testing. I think there’s only been like one oval test that he did, which obviously very different car for him and stuff. But I haven’t really kind of dug into it too much until we kind of really start going and start working together.But I’m an open book. He will be able to see what I do and Nolan does. We’ll be able to see what he does. I think it’s important that — different to, for example, to Formula 1, in INDYCAR you can cater to your liking a little bit more in terms of car setup and stuff. I’ve always been on my own island. Everybody whines about how I like my car. I’ve always kind of been a loner in terms of where I like my things. I’m curious to see if he likes it, if he doesn’t like it. But yeah, just seeing how everything kind of usually falls in INDYCAR, he’ll probably have his own kind of direction, and what’s most important is just making sure that all three cars are fast because a lot of times we’re each in kind of our own island and we all have the same issue, and you know there’s a fundamental thing there rather than actual setup. Q. Obviously sounds like we’re moving towards a race in México at some point. How huge would that be for you, and what kind of response will the Mexican fans have?PATO O’WARD: Ooh, man, people are going to be pumped. I’m going to be pumped. I hope all of you are going to be pumped. It’s going to be a great event. It’s going to be the best event on the calendar outside of the Indy 500. I know there’s talks going on. I know it’s quite more advanced than what it’s ever been. Yeah, I really hope we see it on the calendar in ’26. Q. Have you been pretty involved in it?PATO O’WARD: I will be very involved, and I want to be very involved. I want to make sure it’s a success. I want to finish that weekend and be like, wow. I wanted to say something else, but not this early in the morning. It’s the perfect market for INDYCAR to go and just really experience what that aficionado, that fan can bring to the table because it’s such a special group of people, such a special community that really embraces not just INDYCAR back in the day but Formula 1. Anybody that’s there they always make them feel so welcomed and special, and I know they’re going to do just that for us. Q. Speaking of México, last year at this content days, you had mentioned you took three weeks or a month to decompress and download. Did you get a chance to do that this off-season?PATO O’WARD: No, I haven’t had the chance to do that. I will at the end of this month. Last week of January and first week of February is kind of my — going to have my off-season, which is less than maybe some other years than I’ve had in the past. But I had a lot of time, or at least it feels like it because I had nothing in the off-season before December. So in the new year, I really enjoyed that, and I came to Indy a little bit earlier than what I have in the past and just have really enjoyed being here. I love being here. I really, really missed it. It’s been very recharging, I would say, but there’s still some to go. But I’ve got enough to give all of you this amazing energy that I’ve brought this morning (laughter), and yeah, ready for a full week’s worth of media for us.

INDIANAPOLIS (January 13, 2025) — The Professional Racers and Owners Organization (PRO) today announced that Boninfante Friction will join the growing list of industry leaders who are sponsoring the SCAG Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout, February 6-8, 2025, at Bradenton Motorsports Park. The family-owned business, Boninfante Friction, started in 1988, produces superior quality parts as the world leader in friction clutch manufacturing for the motorsports market. Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock competitors will be using Boninfante clutch discs and components to chase win lights and records during the three-day specialty race. 

“Our sport has been built on manufacturers and suppliers like Boninfante Friction,” said Scott Woodruff, PRO Board Member. “When you look at the teams competing at the SCAG PRO Superstar Shootout, you’ll see a Boninfante decal on their race car. That kind of universal support is critical to our growth and having them involved with this event is a perfect match.”
 

Qualifying Sessions will begin on Thursday and continue into Friday. On Saturday all the Top Fuel, Funny Cars and Pro Stock teams will hit the track. The power created by the crew chiefs tuning Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock cars is managed by Boninfante Friction parts to set record elapsed times. Boninfante creates custom clutches for a vast array of applications, from street cars to full race clutches for NHRA Top Fuel dragsters and nitro Funny Cars. 

Boninfante Friction has taken every opportunity to support racers and grow the sport at every level. Having them as part of this specialty race is a big deal for the teams they work with and the sport overall. 

Announcements including additional sponsors and entertainment options are available at www.prosuperstarshootout.com. Tickets can be purchased here.

ABOUT THE PRO SUPERSTAR SHOOTOUT

On February 6-8, 2025, the Professional Racers Owners Organization (PRO) in collaboration with Bradenton Motorsports Park, will host the 2nd annual SCAG Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout. The 2024 inaugural event took the motorsports world by storm with incredible side-by-side racing, a unique chip draw elimination format, record-setting speeds and a fan-friendly atmosphere.

Cadillac Racing expands to two-car Hypercar program for 2025 FIA WEC season

PARIS (Jan. 13, 2025) – Cadillac Racing, in conjunction with Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, revealed the livery of its two Hypercar racecars that will contest the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season. Highlighting the event at Cadillac City Paris, the iconic brand’s flagship EV store and experience center, was the unveiling of the Nos. 12 and 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R racecars. Guests included principals from General Motors, Cadillac Racing, JOTA Sport, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, organizer of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“The unveiling of the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R livery here at our iconic flagship in Paris reflects Cadillac’s unwavering commitment to innovation and performance on the global stage,” said Pere Brugal, Managing Director and President, GM Europe.

“As we expand our footprint in Europe, this partnership represents a powerful opportunity to showcase Cadillac’s pioneering spirit in one of the most prestigious racing championships in the world.  “We are proud to work alongside JOTA Sport and Hertz to bring our V-Series.R to life and look forward to an exciting season ahead.” Cadillac Racing has doubled its WEC factory program entries for its third season of global Hypercar competition, with championship-winning JOTA Sport campaigning the cars in its first WEC season as a works team. Media resources: Photo gallery | Driver CVs | Driver photos | Cadillac Racing all-time statistics JOTA Sport is one of the most experienced and successful sports car racing teams in recent history, having finished on the podium in LMP2 at Le Mans 10 times, including second and third overall in 2017. Owned in part by affiliates of Knighthead Capital Management, LLC and sponsored by global car rental company Hertz and seven-time champion and entrepreneur Tom Brady, the England-based team entered the Hypercar class as a privateer in 2023. ”The unveiling of the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R livery today is the culmination of an enormous amount of hard work and commitment on all sides of this new motorsport family. It’s a very proud moment for the entire group as we unveil this stunning race machine,” said David Clark, Co-Founder and Director, Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA. “This moment represents more than our aesthetic for the year ahead, it represents the next step for both race-winning, record-setting brands within the FIA World Endurance Championship. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Hertz for being incredible partners to us on this journey and to show our gratitude to GM/Cadillac for having the belief in us, not just in our ability to perform but also for their trust in the level that we are going to represent one of their most prestigious brands on a global stage. We can’t wait to see what we can do together this year.” Drivers Will Stevens, 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button and Norman Nato return to the team that earned a historic victory at Spa-Francorchamps for a privateer and second successive FIA Hypercar Team World Cup Championship this past season. They will be joined by Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn, who return as Cadillac Racing teammates for the third consecutive WEC season and fourth overall, and Sebastien Bourdais. Driver pairings will be announced at a later date. The eight-race global calendar begins February 20-21 with the annual WEC Prologue leading into the Qatar Airways Qatar 1812Km on February 28 at the Lusail International Circuit. The race will mark the second consecutive year of the season opener on the 5.419-kilometer (3.367-mile), 16-turn circuit north of Doha, Qatar. For more than a century, racing has provided a testbed for Cadillac to transfer knowledge and technology between racecars and production vehicles, as well as a way to build a fanbase for the brand around the world. The Cadillac V-Series.R, powered by the purpose-built 5.5-liter DPOHC V8 engine, marks the third-generation Cadillac prototype racecar and the brand’s first hybrid electrified race car. Codeveloped by Cadillac Design, Cadillac Racing and chassis constructor Dallara, the racecar represents the fifth generation of the V-Series, incorporating key Cadillac V-Series production car design elements such as vertical lighting and floating blades.

Fairbury Speedway is 2024 Track of the Year, Josh Carroll honored as Promoter of the Year

SPRINGFIELD, IL (Jan. 11, 2025) — DIRTcar Racing celebrated its 41st season of weekly competition Saturday night at the annual awards banquet in Springfield, IL, recognizing each of the national and regional points champions along with the many special award winners.

Headlining the special award winners was longtime DIRTcar tech inspector and points coordinator Jim Magill, who was honored with one of DIRTcar’s most prestigious accolades — the Bob Memmer Award. Stock Car driver Kyle Anderson was presented with the Lee J. Hall Memorial Sportsmanship Award, Fairbury Speedway accepted Track of the Year honors and Brownstown Bullring promoter Josh Carroll was recognized as Promoter of the Year.

Bob Memmer Award — Jim Magill

Magill, a lifelong dirt track racing fan and supporter originally from Indiana, has been an employee of DIRTcar Midwest since 2006. He has worked in various roles under DIRTcar Director Sam Driggers including line scorer, tech inspector and, most notably, the present-day national and regional points coordinator.

“It’s the biggest honor I’ve ever had in my life, bar none,” Magill said. “I’m still shocked and awed about it, and happy. I’ve always wanted this, because Bob was my hero.

“To me, this is my Oscar, and I’ll never give it away.”

The Bob Memmer Award is bestowed upon an individual each year who shows outstanding dedication and contribution to the sport in the spirit of Memmer, who founded UMP/DIRTcar in 1984.

Each week during the regular season, Magill is hard at work, electronically tallying up all nine of DIRTcar’s weekly division points standings — updated every Thursday at DIRTcar.com/points. Memmer was also a points tally man and was widely known for his weekly newsletters — put together entirely by pen, paper and typewriter — sent by mail throughout the 1980s and 1990s that kept DIRTcar competitors informed of the national points standings each season.

“This is my dream job,” Magill said. “When I got hired, it was to help the lower divisions; they were just starting out with the points. I love numbers, so I get to work with my numbers all week, and I get to go racing on the weekends. I get paid for it, and I love working for WRG. There’s not a better company that I’ve ever been involved with.

“It’s a family, just like the racers are, and we all care about each other. I have the greatest bosses. And I will never retire, so they might as well just get ready for me to be here when I’m 90.”

To this day, Magill helps keep Memmer and his core values alive with the utmost dedication to his duties at DIRTcar. And he does it all for one reason — the love of the sport.

“Back when Bob started UMP, we were almost done; we were not going to have racing,” Magill said. “It was dying, and he had this idea to do this. He was just a poor coal miner, but he did it. And that’s why we are where we are today.

“Bob got all this going, and Sam and I still do this in his memory.”

Lee J. Hall Sportsmanship Award — Kyle Anderson

Anderson, 30, of Crown Point, IN, was presented the Hall Award for his outstanding gentlemanly conduct and respect for his competition at the track. The award was spawned two years ago in memory of the late Stock Car driver who was killed by a drunk driver in October 2022.

The Hall Award is presented to a Stock Car driver who best exemplifies the same sportsmanship that Hall showed on and off the racetrack throughout his career. Anderson joins Hall’s son and veteran Illinois Stock Car racer Don Hilleary as the award’s first three winners and is coming off a fourth-place finish in the national points standings with two Feature wins recorded in 2024.

Track of the Year Award — Fairbury Speedway

Each year, the DIRTcar Track of the Year Award is presented to a weekly DIRTcar-sanctioned track that demonstrates outstanding abilities to provide top-quality racing entertainment, elevates competitor participation and hosts special events that bring out the best in fan attendance. The 2024 honor went to one of DIRTcar’s most iconic Illinois bullrings — Fairbury Speedway.

Located in the small town of Fairbury, IL, the 1/4-mile, black-dirt bullring is one of the finest dirt track racing facilities in the country, having undergone numerous renovations and upgrades under owner/promoter Matt Curl, who purchased the track before the start of the 2019 season.

Known for its standout track surface, strong payouts and weekly “FALS Cup” racing program, Fairbury is also home to the World of Outlaws Late Model Series crown jewel event, the Prairie Dirt Classic, set to be contested for the 35th time in 2025, Friday–Saturday, July 25–26.

Promoter of the Year — Josh Carroll

DIRTcar’s Promoter of the Year Award is annually presented to a DIRTcar-sanctioned track or series promoter that demonstrates exceptional commitment to the growth and improvement of the sport. For the 2024 season, that individual was Josh Carroll — promoter of longtime DIRTcar weekly venue Brownstown Bullring.

Carroll took over as promoter of the 1/4-mile oval, located on the Fayette County Fairgrounds, for the 2023 season and made several upgrades to the facility, breathing new life into one of DIRTcar’s most historic Illinois dirt tracks. He has continued to host the DIRTcar Summer Nationals and has become a staple on the MARS Championship Series.

In 2025, Carroll will take over as owner and promoter of another iconic weekly DIRTcar venue — Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55. The announcement of the sale to Carroll from longtime owners Ray and Sue Marler, and Ken Schrader, was made in December, and Carroll pledged his commitment to keeping the track’s weekly program alive in the new year with a host of special events.

National Points Champions

Late Model – Jason Feger

UMP Modified – Michael Long

Pro Late Model – Dakota Ewing

Pro Modified – Deece Schwartz

UMP Sportsman – Tucker Chastain

Stock Car – Braiden Keller

Factory Stock – Trevor Isaak

Sport Compact – Danny White Jr.

Mod Lite – Jimmy Smith

Other Special Awards

Late Model Engine Champion – Clements Racing Engines

Modified Engine Champion – Xtreme Pro Race Engines

Late Model Chassis Champion – Longhorn Chassis

Modified Chassis Champion – Pierce Platinum Race Cars

Expanded GTP program brings together experienced, championship-winning driver lineup

DETROIT (Jan. 9, 2025) – Cadillac Racing started the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season with a track record in earning the pole and runner-up finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and closed the campaign with a track record in earning the pole and overall victory in the Motul Petit Le Mans. Three Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) entries will aim to improve on the season-opening result January 25-26 in the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona by giving Cadillac Racing its fifth victory in the twice-around-the-clock race on the 3.56-mile, 12-turn Daytona International Speedway course.

Cadillac Racing has totaled 12 podium finishes, including the overall victories in 2017-2020 and 1-2 sweeps in 2017, ’18 and ‘19, since joining IMSA prototype competition in 2017. With experienced, championship-winning teams and drivers buoyed by the strong 5.5-liter DPHC V8 engine package, prospects are bright for all three entries being in the mix for the pole and overall victory. The heralded return of Wayne Taylor Racing to the Cadillac sports car racing program along with Action Express Racing, which will mark its 14th consecutive year with GM, and all-star driver rosters complement the on-track storylines. Four current drivers have won the Rolex 24 At Daytona with Cadillac Racing in DPi competition: Kamui Kobayashi (2018, 2019), Ricky Taylor (2017), Filipe Albuquerque (2018) and Jordan Taylor (2017, 2019).

Media assets* Resource guide (notes, driver CVs, background)* Rolex 24 storylines, story ideas* Cadillac DPi/GTP results* Cadillac 2024 IMSA statistics* By the numbers* IMSA Jan. 8 teleconference transcript

Additionally, the 12-driver lineup represents seven FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar/LM1 titles, 11 24 Hours of Le Mans overall/class victories, six Twelve Hours of Sebring victories and three IMSA/Grand-Am prototype championships. On-track activity begins January 17 with the three-day Roar Before the 24, with teams returning for practice and qualifications January 23. Cadillac Racing led all GTP manufacturers with six poles in the nine races in 2024 and swept the front row three times, including at Daytona with the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R setting the pace with a Grand Touring Prototype track-record lap time. The team went on to record the second-place finish.

Peacock (U.S.) and IMSA’s YouTube channel will stream qualifications at 2:05 p.m. ET Thursday, Jan. 23. Coverage of the Rolex 24 At Daytona starts at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday, Jan. 25, on NBC, with continuing network coverage on USA from 2:30-6:30 p.m. NBC will pick up the broadcast at noon Sunday, Jan. 26, for the finish. Peacock (U.S.) and IMSA’s YouTube channel will stream the entirety of the race along with the IMSA Radio broadcast at IMSA.com, Sirius 211/XM 207, locally at 93.5 FM/1150 AM and 107.9 FM at the track.What they’re saying Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing (No. 10)Ricky Taylor, full season driver: “Usually, the Roar is a qualifying weekend so the focus is a bit more distracted, whereas this year we can focus on what is important for the race and learn our new car over the entire test. The car was very nice to drive in November. I still feel like we know very little about it and have a lot to learn. The main surprise was how differently two manufacturers approached the same problem of adapting to hybrid racing. Both strong approaches, but very different.” Filipe Albuquerque, full season driver: “The first impression with the Cadillac V-Series.R and the people was great, but it also means there is a lot to do on the car and fine-tuning, getting to know everybody, to learn the car, to find new ways to adapt to the car — especially for the WTR drivers since we are almost all new to the car. So, we will need to take every minute on the track to learn and to be ready for the race, and even during the race we will be learning about the car. But that’s part of the game, so we are just excited to go on and get to the job.” Will Stevens, IMEC driver: “I can’t wait to get the season going to be honest. Our first test back in November seems a long time ago now and I feel we are ready to get this season underway. It’s always nice to have a break over Christmas and the New Year to recharge the batteries ahead of a new season but I am raring to go now. At the Roar, you can just focus on making sure we are covering everything we need to as a team before we start the race week. Previously, you always have an eye on qualifying and that ultimately takes some focus away from just getting through everything so it will make the Roar a nice build up for sure.” Brendon Hartley, Rolex 24 At Daytona driver: “Kicking 2025 off with the Roar is hard to beat. It feels like heading back to a family gathering with WTR but with excitement of a new toy in the garage. I am yet to drive the Cadillac so the Roar will be important for me to get a few laps to learn all the systems and get up to speed. I’m looking forward to it.” Cadillac Whelen (No. 31)

Jack Aitken, full season driver: “It’s going to be bittersweet to come back after last year. I think Daytona is a great way to start the season because you come straight into one of the most important races of the year and you have to be on your A game from the get go. I hope that we can be in the mix again and go one better.” Earl Bamber, full season driver: “I love this race and I’m hunting my first win there. I’m looking forward to joining Whelen for the whole year because I really love the IMSA paddock and the IMSA racing style. When you look at the category, it’s so competitive. With what Cadillac is doing behind the scenes, the amount of development, I think we have a really good chance to win.” Frederik Vesti, IMEC driver: “I’ve been looking forward for a few months to get going with Cadillac and the whole Action Express Racing team after the November test. Coming back will be very exciting. Having done a test at Daytona is really crucial as a team and as a driver, especially for me who is a rookie at every race this year. The test was really positive and I’m looking forward to learning more during the first weekend at the track.” Felipe Drugovich, Rolex 24 At Daytona driver: “The test in November was good for me as I was never on any type of banking like that and getting used to the car again, which is different from anything I drive. Last year I did Le Mans with Cadillac and this team and it was something I really enjoyed doing and I’ll enjoy the Daytona 24 with this group. It will be a good experience for me to drive in my second 24-hour race and I’m looking forward to the challenge.” Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing (No. 40)Jordan Taylor, full season driver: “The Roar is always a fun weekend in Daytona. You get to catch up with all the guys after the off-season and see a lot of familiar faces in the paddock. I think for us, it will mainly be about getting mileage in our new Cadillac V-Series.R and understanding which knobs we need to twist and turn to get the performance out of it. We have some new drivers coming back into the team as well, so it’ll be good to get everyone together for the first time and start gelling together. I think the approach for us is the same as always. The level of competition has always been high and our job has always been to maximize what we have and what we have control of. Having said that, as the competition gets stronger, the success is always sweeter.” Louis Deletraz, full season driver: “The GTP class keeps increasing in terms of level. You definitely cannot rest; you have to keep working hard. I think that’s something Cadillac Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing do very well; always working hard and trying to stay ahead of the game and be the best possible on track because the competitors won’t give any presents. I think that is even more exciting and rewarding for drivers. At the test in November, the first time I jumped in the Cadillac V-Series.R, I think the sound of the car — as many fans know is incredible — is even better from inside the car. Working with Cadillac Racing has been great and a very smooth integration. We are all trying to help each other and learn and move forward as fast as we can to be fast as possible on track which is all that matters. That’s actually very exciting. The car has been really fun to drive. It has been fast and has potential to do more.” Alex Lynn, IMEC driver: “Really looking forward to Daytona 2025. It’s always a great race to start the season. I think joining Wayne Taylor Racing again, it’s a team that has a lot of success and a team that turns up to every race fighting to try to win and that’s what I am about as a driver. I’m looking forward to getting out there and helping the No. 40 car fight for a Daytona victory.” Kamui Kobayashi, Rolex 24 At Daytona driver: “I am looking forward to this year at Daytona. We will push hard. The Rolex 24 is never easy, but WTR always has the best car and we have a great opportunity to win if we make no mistakes. This team knows how to win this race. It is my first time in the LMDh car and the hybrid is very different. Daytona’s schedule gives us time to understand the car. If we understand the car, we will be alright. I have big confidence in Wayne Taylor and his organization. His driver lineup is very strong and the Cadillac knows performance.”

TULSA, OK (Jan. 8, 2025) — The stars of the 2024 Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota roster are ready to race on the biggest stage in Midget racing Monday–Saturday, Jan. 13–18, in the 39th annual Chili Bowl Nationals presented by NOS Energy Drink.

Since 1987, the SageNet Center in Tulsa, OK, has played host to the world’s biggest indoor Midget racing event, producing a library of iconic moments and immortalizing some of motorsports’ biggest stars with the presentation of the Golden Driller trophy.

Each of the full-time racers on the 2024 Xtreme Outlaw Series roster are scheduled to compete in the event, which is set to have over 350 cars in the pits, all chasing a spot in the 24-car A-Main and the $20,000 grand prize on Saturday night.

Follow along on all Xtreme Outlaw Series social media accounts throughout the week for updates on Series regulars, and make plans to watch the 2025 Xtreme season opener at Farmer City Raceway — Friday–Saturday, April 11–12 — in person or live on DIRTVision.

DIRTVision will also be hosting a live pre-race show from inside the SageNet Center — free of charge, streamed on DIRTVision’s Facebook page, X account, YouTube channel and DIRTVision.com — Monday–Friday, starting at 4pm ET, featuring in-depth storyline analysis with hosts Dave Rieff and Conner Wade.

Here are the Xtreme Outlaw Series drivers to watch for in the 39th annual Chili Bowl Nationals:

#71 Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, OK)

• Team: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports (KKM)

• A-Main Starts: 4

• Best Finish: A-Main 3rd (2020, 2023)

The reigning Xtreme Outlaw Series champion returns to Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports (KKM) for his sixth appearance at the Chili Bowl, looking for a better outcome after taking a DNF in last year’s A-Main.

McIntosh, 22, of Bixby, OK, started on the pole of the Monday night Preliminary Feature last year but faded to finish sixth. He was able to transfer into Saturday’s A-Main through a B-Main but brought out the caution flag after spinning late in the race, leaving him with a DNF.

Historically, McIntosh has been strong inside the SageNet Center, scoring three Prelim Feature wins in four years (2020, 2021, 2023), and two third-place finishes in the A-Main. He’ll try for a fourth Prelim Feature win next week with some new colors adorned across the side of the Toyota-powered LynK Chassis No. 71 with new backing from Mobil 1.

#67 Ryan Timms (Oklahoma City, OK)

• Team: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports

• A-Main Starts: 2

• Best Finish: A-Main 12th (2024)

Timms is set to suit up for KKM one final time as part of the team’s full-time driver roster at the controls of the JBL Audio, Toyota-powered LynK Chassis No. 67. The 18-year-old from Oklahoma City, OK, is making a transition back into full-time Sprint Car racing in 2025, and the Chili Bowl will be his grand finale for KKM, trying for his third-consecutive A-Main start.

One year ago, Timms put in a career-best effort throughout the week, finishing runner-up to two-time event champion Logan Seavey in the Friday Prelim Feature before fading back to a 12th-place finish in the A-Main on Saturday.

#40M Chase McDermand (Springfield, IL)

• Team: Chase McDermand Racing

• A-Main Starts: 1

• Best Finish: A-Main 16th (2023)

McDermand returns to the seat of his own car for the 2025 Chili Bowl — the same car he piloted to his first career A-Main start in 2023.

The 24-year-old from Springfield, IL, has made four past appearances in the event but had his best showing in 2023, when he drove from 15th-to-third in his Prelim Feature, then transferred out of the B-Main on Saturday and finished 16th in the biggest Midget main event of the year.

Last January, McDermand joined the Trifecta Motorsports team to pilot the flagship No. 7U car and had a strong showing in his Prelim Feature on Tuesday, finishing third to Hank Davis and winner Buddy Kofoid. However, struggles in his B-Main on Saturday left him one spot shy of a transfer position into the main event.

He’ll be back behind the wheel of his own McDermand Plumbing, Spike/Stanton No. 40M next week, also fielding a car for Micro Sprint standout Steven Snyder Jr.

#67K Ashton Torgerson (Glendale, AZ)

• Team: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports

• A-Main Starts: 0

• Best Finish: C-Main 11th (2024)

Torgerson suits up for his third Chili Bowl appearance and first as part of the 16-car team that is KKM.

The 18-year-old from Glendale, AZ, is coming off a strong rookie national Midget season with the Xtreme Outlaw Series that included three Feature wins and a fourth-place finish in the final points standings. Next week, he’ll take on his first Chili Bowl with KKM after two previous attempts with different teams.

Torgerson made his Chili Bowl debut with Meyer-Rossi Racing in 2023 and put in his best performance with Mounce/Stout Motorsports in 2024, finishing 11th in his Prelim Feature and ending up 11th in the C-Main on Saturday.

#7U Zach Daum (Pocahontas, IL)

• Team: Trifecta Motorsports

• A-Main Starts: 8

• Best Finish: A-Main 3rd (2016)

The inaugural Series champion enters his first Chili Bowl as part of Trifecta Motorsports in 2025, piloting the team’s signature JTX Forged, Spike/Stanton No. 7U, trying for his first A-Main start since 2020.

Daum, 33, of Pocahontas, IL, has piloted Andy Bondio’s famed No. 47 Midgets in the event for the past three years. Last January, Daum finished ninth in his Prelim Feature and ended up 15th in a B-Main on Saturday. Next week, he’ll link back up with Trifecta — the team he won two Xtreme Outlaw Series races with in 2024 — to chase the golden driller trophy.

Historically, Daum has been solid in Tulsa, tallying eight A-Main appearances since his event debut in 2006. He’s nearly always been a factor in the days leading up to the main event, having started his Prelim Feature every year since 2009 in addition to a Prelim win in 2010. His brightest moment came in 2016, when he ran third in the A-Main to Bryan Clauson and winner Rico Abreu.

#19A Hayden Reinbold (Chandler, AZ)

• Team: Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports
• A-Main Starts: 0

• Best Finish: D-Main 6th (2023)

Reinbold returns to the seat of the Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports No. 19A for his fifth career Chili Bowl appearance on the heels of a sixth-place finish in the Xtreme Outlaw Series championship standings.

Last year, the 20-year-old from Chandler, AZ, fell short of a transfer position into his Prelim Feature after getting collected in a Heat Race incident, and later ended his week in an F-Main on Saturday.

He’ll be back in the building to try again next week as a teammate to Ricky Thornton Jr. and Mitchel Moles.

#55T Trevor Cline (Mooresville, NC)

• Team: Troy Cline Racing
• A-Main Starts: 0

• Best Finish: D-Main 13th (2024)

Cline made his Chili Bowl debut last January and shined, qualifying for his Prelim Feature in his first attempt and banking a 19th-place finish. This set him up for a D-Main finish on Saturday — a solid result for the national Midget rookie and recent Micro Sprint graduate.

Next week, the 17-year-old from Mooresville, NC, returns to the SageNet Center in his family-owned No. 55T as a teammate to fellow North Carolinian Nick Drake.

#97 Gavin Miller (Allentown, PA)
• Team: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports

• A-Main Starts: 0
• Best Finish: B-Main 16th (2024)

Miller is set to return to the seat of the KKM No. 97 for his third career appearance in the Chili Bowl, aiming for his first A-Main start.

The 18-year-old from Allentown, PA, is coming off an up-and-down season with the Xtreme Outlaw Series that was hindered by injury. Now fully recovered, he was able to get to Victory Lane by season’s end and is ready to get back in the car for another shot in Tulsa.

Miller’s best effort in the SageNet Center came one year ago, when he qualified for his first Prelim Feature and finished ninth, which set him up for a 16th-place result a B-Main on Saturday.

#56E Tyler Edwards (Salina, OK)

• Team: Mounce/Stout Motorsports
• A-Main Starts: 0

• Best Finish: B-Main 12th (2012)

Edwards is back behind the wheel of the No. 56E for Mounce/Stout Motorsports for his 13th career appearance at the Chili Bowl, still seeking his first A-Main start.

The 31-year-old Oklahoman is coming off his rookie national Midget season with the Xtreme Outlaw Series, where he placed ninth in the championship points standings. He’s looking to better his best result in the SageNet Center — a fourth-place finish in his Prelim Feature and a 13th-place finish in a Saturday B-Main, which came in 2012.

#5 Karter Sarff (Mason City, IL)

• Team: Chase Briscoe Racing
• A-Main Starts: 1

• Best Finish: A-Main 18th (2024)

For the second-straight year, Sarff will strap into the Chase Briscoe Racing No. 5 Midget for Chili Bowl, looking to make it back-to-back A-Main starts driving for the NASCAR Cup Series regular.

Sarff, 21, of Mason City, IL, had previously contested the Chili Bowl using his own equipment since his debut in 2020 and improved each year, notching a best Prelim Feature finish of sixth in 2023 to compliment a 17th-place run in a B-Main that same year. But it wasn’t until he was hand-picked by Briscoe and his team to run a second entry for the 2024 Chili Bowl that he found breakout success.

An eighth-place finish in his Prelim Feature during the week set him up in another Saturday B-Main, where he drove from 15th on the starting grid up to seventh to transfer into his first career A-Main. He concluded the weekend with an 18th-place run in the main event — a strong showing for the young Illinoisan, who is set to return as Briscoe’s teammate next week.  

#66J Jayden Clay (Newcastle, OK)

• Team: Mounce/Stout Motorsports
• A-Main Starts: N/A

• Best Finish: N/A

Clay will make his Chili Bowl debut next week at the controls of the Mounce/Stout Motorsports No. 66J on the heels of his rookie national Midget series season.

Though he’s not run any laps in the SageNet Center driving a Midget, he has made multiple starts in the sister event to the Chili Bowl — the Tulsa Shootout — which is held two weeks before the Chili Bowl and features over 1,700 entrants in six different divisions of Micro Sprints.

Cadillac Racing teleconference transcriptCadillac Wayne Taylor Racing drivers Albuquerque, Deletraz preview the Roar

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing drivers Filipe Albuquerque and Louis Deletraz were guests on an IMSA media teleconference to preview next week’s Roar Before the 24 and the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona. Transcript from select questions:

A big move for the team heading into 2025 as the is the shift back to Cadillac. How excited are you for that move and how has testing gone so far getting used to this new V-Series.R?Filipe Albuquerque: “Super excited about the new project that we are embracing as a group. Sometimes when you switch something, it’s like the drivers, the team or whatever. It’s never everything stays the same. The team, the drivers, the engineers, and you just swap the car. It’s almost like sell your old car and buy a new brand-new car. It’s a big switch for us because it’s a lot of people nowadays working directly on a car. We are excited, motivated, but as well overwhelming with the amount of things that we have to do. And, obviously, with the limited testing that is allowed, we have to use really well the Roar to check all the points. But, again, looking back when we were back in fighting against Cadillac, I think we were always looking at Cadillac as the ones that were the most consistent through all the tracks through all the season. So, they were always fighting for the championship, so very consistent in the last two years and hell of a performance in qualifying. So, it’s looking nice and I’m super excited to go to Daytona next week.”

Louis Deletraz has been on the podium for all three of his previous Rolex 24 Daytona starts. So, how do you how do you keep that podium streak alive and maybe take one more step on the podium?Louis Deletraz: “I’m very excited as Philipe said for the whole new program and joining Cadillac. I think they’ve been so strong competitors in the past that we’re very happy to be with them. And it’s a lot of work, obviously. I’ve been three times on the podium, never won Daytona. We all want that very much. The team has been working extremely hard. They have had very busy days because of the new project. They’re putting all the chances on our side to try and go and win. First, we have to go to the end of the race and have a fast car, and then the last cars will fight very hard on track.”Given your experience with Cadillac DPIs, does any of that knowledge transfer over to this LMDH car or is it kind of like a clean sheet of paper from your side of things?Filipe Albuquerque: “The feeling is actually like how the Cadillac puts the power down and how the response of the throttle is to the wheel. It resembles the 2017 DPI car when I first drove. I think that’s the biggest difference as well for this car and how we all had to adapt a little bit, but actually in a good way, how the power down is. And that’s nice. Very easy as well to deal with some of the functions. Obviously, I don’t want to get into details here, but it resembles a lot to the DPi.” What were your first impressions of the Cadillac V-Series.R versus the Accura that you’ve been driving before?Louis Deletraz: “It may not be surprising, but the first time on the outlap opening full throttle on the banking at Daytona in November was a great moment to hear the sound so nice inside the car and that it feels fast even on an outlap. So, that was pretty cool. Overall, driving-wise, I would say you can very much use your feelings. It’s not so complicated. It just gives you good feedback and it brakes when you brake. It has very good traction. Obviously, we’re just had two days with the car. We tried to learn and change a lot of things on the cars, trying to understand and be as ready as possible for Daytona. But I think what is also very interesting is the fact that a lot of the drivers in the lineup have driven different GTPs and it’s very cool to exchange and talk together about it and see different feelings because you can see different mentalities and where you can actually improve. It seems like it’s very easy to set up. It’s easy to adapt in a number of conditions.” Do you already feel that sense with the Cadillac as well from your limited time behind the wheel?Louis Deletraz: “Maybe it’s a good to say it’s easy, but definitely the feedback you get from the car is very nice. When you feel something, it’s very straightforward. When you try something, gives you that feedback and it’s a real racecar. So, it feels nice to drive and usually that makes you go fast. So, I quite like the Cadillac.” There’s still going to be competition between the WTR cars and the Action Express car. But do you feel there’s of a synergy versus a pair of single-car Cadillac teams?Filipe Albuquerque: “Back in the time in the DPi, it was pretty obvious. Actually, when I did the switch between Action Express and WTR, the tension was there. But I think that’s in the past, and a lot of people have changed as well. And I think because WTR went to different manufacturer, it’s kind of cooled down those tensions maybe, at least for now, before we start. It’s like friendship, like it’s going on and they are being super helpful for us because we have a guideline from Cadillac that it’s one team, one goal. Besides, we are going to be racing against Louis in the 40 car, we need to as well to respect the 31 car. So, we’re going to be treating each other the same. And we have the group chat with all the drivers. I think when everyone is together and pushing for one direction, I think it just tends to be healthy. It looks fantastic to be honest so far.” Filipe, you drove for Cadillac from 2017 to 2020, but never obviously with Wayne Taylor Racing when they were Cadillac. And we’ve heard Wayne Taylor say Cadillac is like family to him and the team. What’s your perspective like on that?Filipe Albuquerque: “It’s interesting how a lot of people are still around associated with the brand. I do remember to be very comfortable with the car driving style that was in the past, which it seems to be tending to the same feeling, like nice power down on the rear axle. Once again, that strong engine from Cadillac resembles a lot. Working with Dallara as well coming back. Actually, a funny story is when I went back to the Dallara simulator in Indianapolis, I met the guys that they are still doing the seat fit and I had my box there. I could see the box with my name with some gloves that I left there from the past, five years ago. We just picked up where we left off and the good people are still around. Obviously, there are more people now because there is now the electric part of the car, which in the past there was not. But it’s not totally new.” Is it as much of a fire drill now versus your previous manufacturer switch?Filipe Albuquerque: “In the DPi, I remember to be completely lost with some of the settings and I had to figure it out because the really first time I drove the car was at the Roar and the first time I had like new tires was in qualifying, which I was completely lost with the Acura. I these two days testing in November. It was kind of helpful and I think now, as well with Ricky, Louis and Jordan, we know what we would like to have on the car that could help us with the settings. Obviously, because we have a different mentality, or we come with different ideas, and we try to bring the good ones to the car and to try to apply. That is interesting, but the car feeling and how it works it’s much easier. I must say I feel that it’s more simple and am not as lost compared to when it was in 2021.” The team’s history with Cadillac, does that make it easier for you?Louis Deletraz: “I can definitely see it because I’ve never been working with Cadillac before. But when this all came together, you could hear inside the team all the stories, all the success that has been happening and you can see a lot of people smiling when they talk about it, which always makes you feel better as a driver. I think there is a lot of excitement towards this project. And also, since I’ve driven the Cadillac, you can really feel from in terms of goals and management. I mean, everyone in Cadillac wants to win. There’s a three-car program with Action Express. There will be a close collaboration. We all want to win for sure. We’ll be hard racing, but we work together. And I think what’s super great is there will be two cars in in WEC, which in both ways WEC should help us go faster and we should help the WEC go faster as well. And hopefully win a lot of races. So, it’s great to be part of this and very exciting because I think there is all the good things coming together and if everyone does this job, we can be very successful.” There have been a lot of driver lineup changes. How important is it to come out of the box strong?Filipe Albuquerque: “I think when two drivers merge and they seem to be alike and they feel the same things, it’s just like pairing a couple. Things just work. A good example of that was like when I met with Ricky in 2021. We won the first race straight away without much knowledge from myself and the team about the car. And it works. We’ve seen great evolution from manufacturer to manufacturer. Everything is much more on a thin line of performance between all the manufacturers. Obviously, a little touch from IMSA to help around there, but it’s part of the game and it’s understandable. We know where we will want to be. The question is how close can we be to that limit already in Daytona? Obviously, the car is — just looking at the facts — they finished second last year in Cadillac and I think it was the strongest car last year. But Porshe won and then the previous year was Acura. So, it’s about time now for Cadillac to win and it’s double WTR with Cadillac. They have won a lot.” How do you make each other – your teammates — better?Louis Deletraz: “I think personalities of all four driver match well and that’s what’s quite fantastic in a way. I would say we like each other, spend time together and on track respect each other a lot, even though we have to fight each other. I think it’s very important to be able to spend time outside together and trust your teammates have no ego because as soon as there is ego and another driver who just wants to beat you or be the best to have the best be pilot average, then you can’t really win championships. I’m really glad we’ve got this relationship with Jordan, which we keep building because we’re quite new. And it’s cool that we get to a second year together and build up on last year, but also with the 10 car because it’s really a nice situation.” Filipe Albuquerque: “I think at the end of the day it comes again to this relationship that I think Wayne has been doing a great job on hearing me and Ricky and Louie and Jordan. I remember to be choosing Louie is like, is he a good fit? For sure on speed is fine, but we were concerned about the personality in a way. He’s going to be the young kid that he wants to come over here and just beat our (butts) and just have new tires for him and just go fast because. We don’t need that. We’re going to destroy the car for each other. But I knew him and he was a great pick. We spent time together and then there is no egos. If it’s your time today to qualify, go ahead, buddy, I’m going to be supporting you. And then when one succeeds and does a pole position or does well or does bad, there is not that judgment. So, leaning on each other, I think that’s what makes sports car racing great when you have a great environment. And that’s exactly what we have there.”

CONCORD, NC (January 8, 2025) – Competing at the highest level of dirt Late Model racing has always been the goal for Polk, MO’s Dustin Walker.

With his daughter and crew chief Lacey in tow, Walker is ready to continue battling against the best in his third full-time season with the World of Outlaws Late Models in 2025.

“We enjoy doing it,” Walker said. “That’s the biggest thing. If my daughter gets tired of traveling, I guess I won’t do it anymore. We enjoy doing it together.”

Both father and daughter have been through a trial by fire over the past two years with The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet, but Walker said he’s especially proud of Lacey’s growth as one of the youngest crew members on tour.

“It’s funny, when we pit next to people that don’t know us and she tries to jump in and help, people try to move her out of the way,” Walker said. “And then Ryan [Gustin]’s guys are like ‘Hey, she probably knows more than all these other people put together, just let her work.”

Traveling the country as a small family-run team is what makes racing enjoyable for Walker, but it’s also what makes it challenging. Increasing work obligations compared to the past two years will limit Walker’s ability to focus on racing between events, an issue he hopes to resolve by bringing on additional team members this season.

“Only reason we need more crew help is just because I’m busy with work,” Walker said. “We’re back to rock drilling for the power co-op down here. So, we’ll probably have to find somebody who can drive my hauler, because there’s going to be some of these weeks where I’m going to have to fly back and forth.”

If a lack of crew help didn’t present enough of a challenge, Walker also had to spend much of last season learning the ins and outs of his new Longhorn Chassis machines after switching manufacturers early in the year. With an up-to-date notebook in hand at many of the tracks on the schedule, he feels prepared to make his third season his best one yet.

“Since we switched chassis, we’ve felt better,” Walker said. “Some of the results aren’t there because we figured it out too late in the night. You need to unload and be better. We definitely feel better about it.”

A prime example of Walker’s newfound confidence is Volusia Speedway Park, where the season will commence at DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals (Jan. 22-25) and Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals (Feb. 13-15). As a product of bullring racing across the Midwest, the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” was unlike anything Walker had ever competed on when he made his first appearance there in 2023. Since then, he’s become a fan of the high speeds and looks forward to kicking the year off in strong form.

“This is going to be the first time I’m actually excited about going there,” Walker said. “The first year, we went there with all new stuff. Never been anywhere that big. Weren’t that great, updated that car and weren’t that great last year. But we got in a Longhorn and a different shock package and we’re just better at bigger places. We didn’t really have any great results at Charlotte, but we had a couple of things that were just wrong. Went to a different bird cage and had the wrong arrangement of stuff.

“Once we straightened that out for our [Last Chance Showdown] that night we were pretty good, started 16th and made it to fourth or fifth. So, for me that was pretty good. We’re just hoping to keep making the baby steps.”

The 2025 World of Outlaws Late Models season begins with six nights of racing at Volusia Speedway Park, beginning with DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals (Jan. 22-25) followed by Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals (Feb. 13-15). To find ticket information for both events, click here.

If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap of the 2025 World of Outlaws Late Models season live on DIRTVision.

BARBERVILLE, FL (Dec. 30, 2024) – The 12 days of Christmas may be over, but 15 days of Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals are still to come.

Attracting hundreds of the best dirt racing drivers in the country, displaying a fair-like atmosphere in the midway and presenting nightly edge-of-your-seat racing, the massive Volusia Speedway Park event is bigger than ever in 2025, spanning Jan. 30 to Feb. 15.

Now a three-week event, Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals will kick off with the debut of the American Sprint Car Series National Tour, Jan. 30-Feb. 1 ­– accompanied by the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds, which will be continuing their Florida Speedweek tour.

The following two weeks will see the return of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, USAC Non-Wing Sprint Cars, DIRTcar Late Models, Super DIRTcar Series, World of Outlaws Late Model Series and more DIRTcar UMP Modified action.

Seven Big Gator trophies – the most sought-after symbol of triumph for dirt racers in February – will await the weekly champions. Titles will be awarded to the drivers that earn the most points during their week with the ASCS National Tour, World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, UMP Modifieds, USAC Sprint Cars, Late Models, and Super DIRTcar Series. Two Big Gator trophies will be awarded to the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds on Saturday, Feb. 8 – one for Saturday’s Gator Championship Feature winner and one for the weeklong Big Gator champion (the Jan. 30-Feb. 1 races don’t count toward the Big Gator championship but do count toward the Florida Speedweek championship).

Tickets for all three weeks are on sale now at DIRTcarNationals.com/Tickets. If you can’t make it to the track, every night will be streamed live on DIRTVision.

Weekly Highlights:
WEEK 1 (Jan. 30-Feb. 1)
The best 360 Sprint Car drivers in the country will help the American Sprint Car Series National Tour make its debut at “The World’s Fastest Half Mile” with three straight days of racing. The first two nights will pay $3,000 to win, while Saturday’s finale will pay $12,000 to win.

The DIRTcar UMP Modifieds will also race all three nights to kick off a record nine-days of UMP Modified racing at Volusia Speedway Park.

WEEK 2 (Feb. 3-Feb. 8)
Year 48 for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will kick off with a stout field of Sprint Car drivers racing for four straight days. The first night on Wednesday, Feb. 5, will be a non-points event and then the next three nights, Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 6-8, will count toward the Series championship – all four nights will count toward the Big Gator championship.

Reigning World of Outlaws champion David Gravel earned his third Big Gator title in 2024, becoming the fourth driver to open the season with a Big Gator championship and end it with a Series championship. He joined Daryn Pittman (2013), Donny Schatz (2018) and Brad Sweet (2020).

The DIRTcar UMP Modifieds – bringing more than 100 cars – will run six Features a night Monday through Friday, building toward the 30-lap, $5,000-to-win, Gator Championship on Saturday. Among the 100-plus competitors will be Kenny Wallace, again driving a car for World of Outlaws Late Model competitor Nick Hoffman.

WEEK 3 (Feb. 10-Feb. 15)
The final week, which leads to the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 16, will showcase three racing divisions – Non-Wing Sprint Cars (USAC), Late Models (DIRTcar and World of Outlaws) and Big Block Modifieds (Super DIRTcar Series).

Non-Wing Sprint Cars will thrill fans for the first two nights (Feb. 10-11), running the wall from corner to corner, along with the DIRTcar Late Models, which will also run three Features on Wednesday. The Super DIRTcar Series will run four straight nights Wednesday through Saturday, where reigning Series champion Mat Williamson will try to go for his third-straight Big Gator crown. And the World of Outlaws Late Models will help wrap up the week with the Big Blocks, Thursday through Saturday.

PLAN AHEAD:
Dates: Jan. 30-Feb. 15
Location: Volusia Speedway Park (Barberville, FL)
Full Event Info & Schedule: CLICK HERE

Get Your Tickets: CLICK HERE
Stream Live: DIRTVision.com
World of Outlaws Merch: CLICK HERE
Volusia Speedway Park Merch: CLICK HERE

LAST YEAR’S STATS:
DIRTcar UMP Modified Winners:
Feb. 10 — Kyle Strickler (Gator Championship winner)
Feb. 9 — Michael Leach, Will Krup, Zeke McKenzie, Tyler Nicely, David Stremme, Jonathan Taylor
Feb. 8 — Dave Pinkerton, Greg Moore, Jonathan Taylor, Dustin Sorensen, Ken Schrader, Ryan Ayers
Feb. 7 — Dustin Sorensen, Trevor Neville, Raymond Kable, Kenny Wallace, Charlie Mefford, Tyler Nicely
Feb. 6 — Kyle Strickler, Tom Berry Jr., Charlie Mefford, Tyler Nicely, Ken Schrader, Lucas Lee
Feb. 5 — Brian Ruhlman, Mitch Thomas, Tyler Nicely, Tim Ward, David Stremme, Will Krup

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Winners:
Feb. 10 — Sheldon Haudenschild
Feb. 9 — Tyler Courtney
Feb. 8 — David Gravel
Feb. 7 — Brad Sweet

USAC Sprint Car Winners:
Feb. 13 — Logan Seavey (X2)

DIRTcar Late Model Winners:
Feb. 14 — Bobby Pierce, Mike Marlar, Brandon Sheppard (Split Features), Bobby Pierce (make up Feature from Monday)
Feb. 13 — Devin Moran

Super DIRTcar Series Winners:
Feb. 16 — Matt Sheppard
Feb. 15 — Mat Williamson
Feb. 14 — Matt Sheppard

World of Outlaws Late Model Winners:
Feb. 16 — Devin Moran
Feb. 15 — Nick Hoffman

EVENT STATS:
Track Size: 1/2-mile
Track Records:
410 Sprint Cars – 12.569 sec. by Paul McMahan on Feb. 10, 2011
360 Sprint Cars – 14.160 sec. by Brenham Crouch on Jan. 27, 2023
Big Block Modifieds – 16.754 sec. by Jamie Mills on Feb. 21, 2015
DIRTcar UMP Modifieds – 17.031 sec. by Ethan Dotson on Nov. 18, 2022
Non-Wing Sprint Cars – 16.151 sec. by CJ Leary on Feb. 13, 2024
Super Late Models – 15.100 sec. by Bobby Pierce on Jan. 19, 2024

Big Gator Champions:
410 Sprint Cars –
2024-David Gravel
2023-Logan Schuchart
2022-David Gravel
2021-Logan Schuchart
2020-Brad Sweet
2019-Daryn Pittman
2018-Donny Schatz
2017-David Gravel
2016-Brad Sweet
2015-Daryn Pittman
2014-Paul McMahan
2013-Daryn Pittman
2012-Sammy Swindell

Big Block Modifieds –
2024-Mat Williamson
2023-Mat Williamson
2022 – Jimmy Phelps
2021 – Max McLaughlin
2020 – Larry Wight
2019 – Larry Wight
2018 – Tim McCreadie
2017 – Brett Hearn
2016 – Matt Sheppard
2015 – Larry Wight
2014 – Stewart Friesen
2013 – Danny Johnson
2012 – Matt Sheppard

Non-Wing Sprint Cars –
2024 – Logan Seavey
2023 – Jake Swanson
2022 – CJ Leary

Super Late Models –
2024-Brandon Sheppard
2023-Tim McCreadie
2022-Devin Moran
2021-Devin Moran
2020-Brandon Sheppard
2019-Brandon Sheppard
2018-Chris Madden
2017-Shane Clanton
2016-Josh Richards
2015-Shane Clanton
2014-Scott Bloomquist
2013-Josh Richards
2012-Dennis Erb Jr

UMP Modifieds –
2024 – Tyler Nicely
2023 – Kyle Strickler
2022 – Nick Hoffman
2021 — Nick Hoffman
2020 — Nick Hoffman
2019 — Nick Hoffman
2018 — Nick Hoffman
2017 — Nick Hoffman
2016 — Nick Hoffman
2015 — Austin Dillon
2014 — Ty Dillon
2013 — Ken Schrader
2012 — Ty Dillon

ARTICLE: https://dirtcarnationals.com/news/1-month-alert-federated-auto-parts-dirtcar-nationals-returns-bigger-than-ever/

EVENT INFO: https://dirtcarnationals.com/info/faqs/
TRACK INFO: https://volusiaspeedwaypark.com

FAN 101: https://about.worldofoutlaws.com/