David Malukas overcame some steep odds during the 2024 IndyCar Series season and is better because of it.
“It’s like they say, everything happens for a reason,” Malukas tells Autosport. “If I look back, I am probably 10 times the driver that I feel like before with everything that happened this year.”
A year that began with a deal to race for Arrow McLaren quickly went awry after he suffered a mountain biking crash less than a month before the season. An injured left wrist that required surgery forced him onto the sidelines and he was released less than three months later, with the team citing his unavailability and no return date confirmed.
The outgoing Chicago-born product then checked out of social media briefly and took a mental reset, of sorts, before landing an opportunity to return to the cockpit in early June with Meyer Shank Racing for the remaining nine races. Despite not having fully recovered, he pushed through his injury with impressive pace; especially in qualifying. He started in the top-six five times, including a best of second on two occasions.
Malukas was also left wondering what could have been as potential wins slipped away in St Louis - where he crashed after contact from Team Penske’s Will Power - and being on the wrong end of a strategy call in Nashville. The results table will only show two top 10s, with a best result of sixth at the bumpy and tough concrete playground that makes up the streets of Toronto. But that doesn’t do justice to the real pace Malukas was generating in his comeback.
“I’m still very young and I’m still learning every single time,” says the 23-year-old. “I made a lot of mistakes this year and had a wild ride of ups and downs, but in the end, I think everything worked out the way it should have been.”
Malukas also benefitted from reviewing data from several talented drivers across his time at Arrow McLaren, along with MSR and its technical alliance with Andretti Global.
“I was able to get driver information from Pato [O’Ward], from [Alexander] Rossi, and [Marcus] Ericsson, [Colton] Herta, Kyle [Kirkwood] and [Felix] Rosenqvist,” he reflects. “These are all top drivers and all special in their own ways. To get all that information to fill it up on me, I mean it was a big chunk.
“I’ve also matured a lot. With having that incident and coming back from it, I’m definitely going to be taking care of myself this whole off-season! But overall, I’m very happy.
“I don’t have a full left hand back, but I think that’s a good price to pay to reach my max potential. If this year didn’t happen and things turned out differently, I don’t think I would be at the potential I am right now.”
When asked more about the injury, Malukas holds both hands up and demonstrates the difference in available movement by bending back his right hand. He is unable to do the same with his left, with it barely moving from its vertical stance.
"This team, [MSR], they saved me. They saved my career"
David Malukas
“Maybe it can get a little bit better,” he explains. “I think that was part of the risk, too, is getting back into a car I kind of had to put my hand recovery a little bit on hold.
“There’s still an opportunity to get some of it back. It’ll never be 100%, but if we can get some of it back, then I think we’ll be out of the window of it being a bit of a pain in the car.
“But right now, it’s definitely still been an issue this year, getting to need it wrapped and giving it extra stability. Just with all that movement, it doesn’t have… I kind of need that little bit extra, like 10 more degrees. So, I hope that we can get it and if so, then going into next season it should be something that I don’t even remember.”
Malukas will want to be at his maximum as he prepares for next year with AJ Foyt Racing as part of a two-car line-up that also features Santino Ferrucci. While that venture looms in 2025, Malukas also can’t help but look back fondly on his brief but stout time with the team co-owned by Mike Shank and Jim Meyer. The team will continue to run Rosenqvist next year alongside former Chip Ganassi Racing driver Marcus Armstrong.
“Yeah, definitely it's bittersweet,” Malukas says. “The way things turned out with all the talking and all that stuff, things were a bit slower than we wanted it and we ended up going somewhere else.
“From my side, the team’s been incredible. I’m going to say it over and over again: I think this team, they saved me. They saved my career.
“When it comes to IndyCar, you can be known and unknown very quickly. You could be forgotten. And they took a chance on me. Without them, I probably would not have had an opportunity to get into a car this year and it wouldn’t be until next year.
“To get a seat, there’s so many good drivers available right now and it would have been a much harder situation if it wasn’t for them, so a big thank you to Mike, Jim and all the crew guys. They treated me like family. As soon as I came in there, it was smiles and having a good time.
“And no matter what the results were, I’m frustrated, pissed off, happy or whatever, they’re always just smiling and they’re like, ‘Dude, this has been awesome’ and having a good time. And the pitstops were insane, they were rockets! Such a good group of guys.
“It’s definitely a little bittersweet to leave them, but at least we made some good memories along the way.”
