Latest news with #DavidMalukas


Fox News
10-07-2025
- Automotive
- Fox News
Who Is David Malukas? The Gen Z Driver, Master Meme-Maker & Video Game Lover
Meet the Meme King of INDYCAR. At 23 years old, David Malukas already has 53 starts in the series, and it could have been more if not for a broken wrist suffered while mountain biking that turned his 2024 year into turmoil — the injury resulting in him being released from Arrow McLaren before ever appearing in a race. The now-A.J. Foyt Racing driver (who is seen as a possible replacement for Will Power at Team Penske) is 12th in the standings after 10 races this season. He is also a self-proclaimed video game addict and master meme-maker, as he details in this interview with FOX Sports. Who is David Malukas? David Malukas is a Gen Z INDYCAR driver. I like memes. I like to go fast. How would your friends or your girlfriend describe you? That's how, I think, they would describe me. Just very, I'd say, real. I am who I am. No matter the situation, I like to just be myself, show my jokes, my memes — no matter how serious things can be. We're at Road America, a place where you saw your dad race. How cool is it to race at a place where you watched your dad? (Father Henry is a racer and owner of HMD Motorsports in INDY NXT) It's very cool. And it was really cool because he was in the Corvette, too. I grew up here as a kid, did some karting and watched my dad drive around here, so it's pretty fun. Me and him can always talk and converse about how much INDYCAR is going through the carousel and the kink. He's always blown away that we're actually flat [on the throttle] going through there. It's awesome. Does he give you advice on how to drive an INDYCAR? No, definitely not. No advice from his side. When he was still doing some driving here and there, he was actually asking me for some advice, how to go through it. He did DD2 [karting], ... and he actually made it to the kart masters finals. So he was pretty good at the time. He was on it. You're from the Chicago area, so are you a Bulls fan in Indiana country? For me, I was never too much into the whole basketball thing. So actually, I went to the Pacers games and kind of had a connection. The game I tried to go to was when they were going against the Bulls. For me, it was a win-win situation. No matter what happens here, I'm going to be happy. That was a strategic game to go watch. Cubs or White Sox? It was always just motorsports, motorsports as a kid. But you kind of always had to pick a side. And for me, when I was very, very young, it was the White Sox. But now, we've been Cubs. As a Gen Z driver, do you think they need better music at the track? What's the suggestion of a Gen Z driver for an INDYCAR race? It's always to make things just feel fun. I think there's always a balance between being professional and obviously having some jokes here and there. For me, a little bit looser walking around the paddock, making some more jokes, like you said some good music. Anything that has to do with memes and just making memes out of everything. That's kind of been my spiel. How many memes have gotten you in trouble, and how many memes do people really like? I have to go through a very extensive course. It takes me hours or sometimes days before I even post something to make sure that the meme I'm posting won't get taken wrong in any way. I ask so many different people of all different categories. I'm like, "What do you see out of this?" The majority of the people outside of Gen Z say, "I don't even know what that means." So I'm like, "OK, great." That's what I wanted to hear because then nobody even understands what's going on. So we do take extensive care to make sure that what I post is not going to be conflicting in any way. But also, some of the time, that is part of the Gen Z jokes is pushing the edge a little bit on a lot of stuff. It seems like that type of attitude has also probably helped you over the last 18 months. Of course — 100 percent. You go into it having full confidence, and I just do what I want to do. I don't let anything kind of change who I am or change what I want to do. I just go out there and do my thing. And you are a little bit of a gamer, too? Or a lot? Yeah, a lot. So what's the best game you're playing right now? Football Manager is what I'm playing right now. It's soccer. During my puberty years, I really got connected with soccer — football internationally — because I lived in England and the Premier League over there is just such a big deal. It's massive over there. So I got that connection over there. Shout out my team, Chelsea. I've just been in love with football. So I got on this Football Manager, super nerdy, really into detail. Anything that you could think of from a management standpoint, making sure that everybody's happy and then the players are in the right mood, and figuring out their skill sets. It goes super into detail. And I love it. Growing up as a kid, it was Call of Duty, the casual ones. And now it's more very nerdy stuff. The more brain intensive to cure my ADHD, the better. Are you somebody who can't start playing because you're going to play it for four hours so you just don't start? Yes. That's all the games that I play. By the time you actually get into the zone and start the game, it's like two hours have gone by. So, normally, in these times when it's like 30 minutes, an hour, I can't really get it done. So you don't even try? No, I don't even try. It's just not going to happen. Do you ever worry about getting addicted? Addicted? I'm already addicted. 100 percent, yes. It is what it is. My whole family, ADHD is a big thing. Anything that can help with our hyper-fixations, the better. So for me, gaming just lets me kind of switch everything off and be super hyper-fixated on this one thing that's going on. And I think that also correlates to my successes on track. You get so hyper-fixated on what's in front of you and hitting your lines, and you get into this rhythm, this other zone, and it just cures whatever's going on inside my brain. Do you have pseudonym name so nobody knows who you are on those games? Oh, yeah, 100 percent. So you've never had anybody come up to you at the track and be like, 'Hey, I was playing you'? No, but being a super-intense gamer, I'm on Reddit, by the way, you Redditors. Man, if I've had a bad race, I don't go on Reddit because people are aggressive, so stay away from Reddit. But I'm on Reddit. I'm on Discord. I'm actually part of the INDYCAR Discord channel, so I've connected with a lot of players on there, and so they actually know my name and see me play. And obviously, Discord tells them what I'm playing. So some people definitely do know from the INDYCAR paddock, but most don't. Finally, do you try to explain this stuff to your team boss Larry Foyt? I haven't even tried. I think it would go right over his head. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.


Fox Sports
10-07-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Who Is David Malukas? The Gen Z Driver, Master Meme-Maker & Video Game Lover
Meet the Meme King of INDYCAR. At 23 years old, David Malukas already has 53 starts in the series, and it could have been more if not for a broken wrist suffered while mountain biking that turned his 2024 year into turmoil — the injury resulting in him being released from Arrow McLaren before ever appearing in a race. The now-A.J. Foyt Racing driver (who is seen as a possible replacement for Will Power at Team Penske) is 12th in the standings after 10 races this season. He is also a self-proclaimed video game addict and master meme-maker, as he details in this interview with FOX Sports. Who is David Malukas? David Malukas is a Gen Z INDYCAR driver. I like memes. I like to go fast. How would your friends or your girlfriend describe you? That's how, I think, they would describe me. Just very, I'd say, real. I am who I am. No matter the situation, I like to just be myself, show my jokes, my memes — no matter how serious things can be. We're at Road America, a place where you saw your dad race. How cool is it to race at a place where you watched your dad? (Father Henry is a racer and owner of HMD Motorsports in INDY NXT) It's very cool. And it was really cool because he was in the Corvette, too. I grew up here as a kid, did some karting and watched my dad drive around here, so it's pretty fun. Me and him can always talk and converse about how much INDYCAR is going through the carousel and the kink. He's always blown away that we're actually flat [on the throttle] going through there. It's awesome. Does he give you advice on how to drive an INDYCAR? No, definitely not. No advice from his side. When he was still doing some driving here and there, he was actually asking me for some advice, how to go through it. He did DD2 [karting], ... and he actually made it to the kart masters finals. So he was pretty good at the time. He was on it. You're from the Chicago area, so are you a Bulls fan in Indiana country? For me, I was never too much into the whole basketball thing. So actually, I went to the Pacers games and kind of had a connection. The game I tried to go to was when they were going against the Bulls. For me, it was a win-win situation. No matter what happens here, I'm going to be happy. That was a strategic game to go watch. Cubs or White Sox? It was always just motorsports, motorsports as a kid. But you kind of always had to pick a side. And for me, when I was very, very young, it was the White Sox. But now, we've been Cubs. As a Gen Z driver, do you think they need better music at the track? What's the suggestion of a Gen Z driver for an INDYCAR race? It's always to make things just feel fun. I think there's always a balance between being professional and obviously having some jokes here and there. For me, a little bit looser walking around the paddock, making some more jokes, like you said some good music. Anything that has to do with memes and just making memes out of everything. That's kind of been my spiel. How many memes have gotten you in trouble, and how many memes do people really like? I have to go through a very extensive course. It takes me hours or sometimes days before I even post something to make sure that the meme I'm posting won't get taken wrong in any way. I ask so many different people of all different categories. I'm like, "What do you see out of this?" The majority of the people outside of Gen Z say, "I don't even know what that means." So I'm like, "OK, great." That's what I wanted to hear because then nobody even understands what's going on. So we do take extensive care to make sure that what I post is not going to be conflicting in any way. But also, some of the time, that is part of the Gen Z jokes is pushing the edge a little bit on a lot of stuff. It seems like that type of attitude has also probably helped you over the last 18 months. Of course — 100 percent. You go into it having full confidence, and I just do what I want to do. I don't let anything kind of change who I am or change what I want to do. I just go out there and do my thing. And you are a little bit of a gamer, too? Or a lot? Yeah, a lot. So what's the best game you're playing right now? Football Manager is what I'm playing right now. It's soccer. During my puberty years, I really got connected with soccer — football internationally — because I lived in England and the Premier League over there is just such a big deal. It's massive over there. So I got that connection over there. Shout out my team, Chelsea. I've just been in love with football. So I got on this Football Manager, super nerdy, really into detail. Anything that you could think of from a management standpoint, making sure that everybody's happy and then the players are in the right mood, and figuring out their skill sets. It goes super into detail. And I love it. Growing up as a kid, it was Call of Duty, the casual ones. And now it's more very nerdy stuff. The more brain intensive to cure my ADHD, the better. Are you somebody who can't start playing because you're going to play it for four hours so you just don't start? Yes. That's all the games that I play. By the time you actually get into the zone and start the game, it's like two hours have gone by. So, normally, in these times when it's like 30 minutes, an hour, I can't really get it done. So you don't even try? No, I don't even try. It's just not going to happen. Do you ever worry about getting addicted? Addicted? I'm already addicted. 100 percent, yes. It is what it is. My whole family, ADHD is a big thing. Anything that can help with our hyper-fixations, the better. So for me, gaming just lets me kind of switch everything off and be super hyper-fixated on this one thing that's going on. And I think that also correlates to my successes on track. You get so hyper-fixated on what's in front of you and hitting your lines, and you get into this rhythm, this other zone, and it just cures whatever's going on inside my brain. Do you have pseudonym name so nobody knows who you are on those games? Oh, yeah, 100 percent. So you've never had anybody come up to you at the track and be like, 'Hey, I was playing you'? No, but being a super-intense gamer, I'm on Reddit, by the way, you Redditors. Man, if I've had a bad race, I don't go on Reddit because people are aggressive, so stay away from Reddit. But I'm on Reddit. I'm on Discord. I'm actually part of the INDYCAR Discord channel, so I've connected with a lot of players on there, and so they actually know my name and see me play. And obviously, Discord tells them what I'm playing. So some people definitely do know from the INDYCAR paddock, but most don't. Finally, do you try to explain this stuff to your team boss Larry Foyt? I haven't even tried. I think it would go right over his head. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. recommended Item 1 of 1 Get more from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more in this topic


Fox News
23-06-2025
- Automotive
- Fox News
INDYCAR Power Rankings: Who Joins Alex Palou In Moving Up?
Alex Palou is back on top. No surprise after his sixth victory of the season Sunday at Road America. And the driver who finished second to him, Felix Rosenqvist, is back in these power rankings. He and David Malukas are now on the list. Off the list? All the Penske drivers. Hard to fathom but they just have not had the results in recent weeks. They've had speed. It would be no surprise to see any of them win a race. But their recent results have to be frustrating. They've got no top 10s in the last two races. Here are the power rankings after back-to-back race weekends. The series has an off-week coming up, before four consecutive weeks of racing at Mid-Ohio, Iowa, Toronto and Laguna Seca. Dropped out: Will Power (Last Week: 6), Scott McLaughlin (LW: 10) On the verge: Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Will Power 10. Colton Herta (LW: 8) Herta was 16th at Road America and just did not have a good weekend. Yes, Power was ahead of him on the list previously and finished a couple of spots ahead of him on Sunday, but Herta has earned more points than Power over the last month, keeping Herta on the list. 9. David Malukas (LW: NR) A seventh-place finish was his second top 10 in the last four races with the other finishes in the top 15. The A.J. Foyt Racing driver is grinding out good finishes, despite having some adversity in races. 8. Marcus Armstrong (LW: 9) Armstrong was a solid fifth at Road America, giving him three consecutive top-10 finishes. The Meyer Shank Racing driver has five top 10s in the nine races this year. 7. Christian Lundgaard (LW: 5) Lundgaard, at one point, was the fastest car on his tire strategy. But his day went south with a spin while racing Herta at Road America. The Arrow McLaren driver had to settle for 24th. 6. Felix Rosenqvist (LW: NR) After finishes of 21st and 16th in the previous two races, Rosenqvist earned his fourth top five of the year with a second-place finish at Road America. The Meyer Shank driver hopes that he will get back some of the momentum he had earlier in the year. 5. Santino Ferrucci (LW: 7) Ferrucci earned his fourth consecutive top-five finish with a third at Road America, giving the A.J. Foyt Racing driver a second, a third and two fifths in his last four starts. 4. Pato O'Ward (LW: 3) A forgettable weekend pretty much for O'Ward, as he finished 17th at Road America. Expect the Arrow McLaren driver to be better at Mid-Ohio. He won there last year. 3. Scott Dixon (LW: 4) Dixon had speed but not the strategy, as he had to pit from the lead with a couple laps remaining to finish ninth. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver could use some luck. 2. Kyle Kirkwood (LW: 1) Kirkwood didn't have the speed to keep pace with the leaders but made the most of his strategy and finished fourth. The Andretti driver was coming off back-to-back wins and has five top fives this year. 1. Alex Palou (LW: 2) Palou was fast all weekend and ended up having the victorious strategy at Road America. With six wins this year, it makes you wonder if this is a battle for second. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Alex Palou's dominant stretch undone by restart shunt in Detroit GP: video
Alex Palou, the two-time defending champion, was restarting seventh with 28 laps to go in Sunday's Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix when he was hit from behind the trailing David Malukas heading into the street circuit's opening corner, nudging Palou's No. 10 Honda into the tire barrier on the outside wall. Unable to get his car refired and out of the barrier, Palou's day came to a shocking, immediate end. He'd already had a comparatively human weekend, finding himself fourth on pace before the prior caution shifted up the running order. But the three-time IndyCar champion was still positioned to make the most of a challenging race. Advertisement Instead he was relegated to 25th at race's end, ending a stretch of unprecedented dominance in the modern era of the series. Malukas was issued a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact. 'I haven't seen it yet, but for sure somebody hit me from behind,' Palou said of the incident. 'Very unfortunate. We did an amazing recovery this weekend. Didn't really have much pace at the beginning and I felt we were running good to try and sneak into the podium at the end. 'Doesn't feel great. But nothing we could have done there, I think.' Palou had entered Detroit looking to continue what had been a year of sheer dominance. Through six races, the Spaniard had secured five wins and a runner-up finish, including his first victory in the Indianapolis 500. His 1.17 average finish had him set up with an untouchable championship lead and dreaming of the first victory for an Indy 500 winner in the ensuing race since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000. Advertisement Instead, Palou left the Motor City with the second-worst finish for an Indy 500 winner in the next race over the past decade, better only than 2024 winner Josef Newgarden's 26th-place result at the same track. The result marked Palou's first DNF since the first leg of the Iowa Speedway doubleheader in July 2024. It was just the third race the 28-year-old's failed to finish dating back to the start of the 2022 season. To read more articles visit our website.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Colton Herta Captures Pole in Detroit, Looks to Snap Podium Drought
For the second year in a row, Colton Herta will start on pole for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. In its third year downtown, the race takes place on the nine-turn temporary street course around the Renaissance Center, a Downtown Detroit staple. Last year, Herta struggled on a lap 46 restart and fell out of contention for a win, finishing a lap down in 19th. Fellow Honda driver Scott Dixon would go on to win the race. A few races later, Herta would convert his second pole of the season on a street course to a win in Toronto. Herta's 2024 and 2025 seasons have been marred by strictly horrible luck following him most weekends. This has led to his six-race podium drought to start 2025 following his win in last year's season finale at Nashville Superspeedway. Herta told IndyCar on Fox that he felt the car wasn't strong following Friday's practice, and the tweaks made to it overnight made it a lot more competitive on soft tires. "It was such an unknown, and we were not really strong yesterday with the softer tires," Herta said. "The guys did a great job overnight." It's a big relief. We've been close a few times this year. On making it, not only making it to the fast six but making it on a pole run. Happy to do that, happy to start P1 tomorrow, best seat in the house." David Malukas, who inherited a second-place finish in the Indy 500 last weekend, picks up where he left off, starting P2 in Detroit. Malukas is one of the drivers that have shown love for the new street circuit due to how overly technical it is to run. Malukas did not race it last year, where rain, constant crashes, and attrition led many drivers to form a less positive opinion. Behind Herta on the start will be his Andretti Global teammate, Kyle Kirkwood, the only driver to deny Alex Palou a win in 2025. Kirkwood was nearly four-tenths faster than Herta at the start of his final flying lap, but lost the momentum. "I've never been more disappointed in a third in my life," Kirkwood told IndyCar on Fox. You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data