July of 2024 will be remembered as a costly month for A.J. Foyt Racing and Arrow McLaren.
The losses started on July 14 at the second race of the NTT IndyCar Series’ Iowa doubleheader when Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi ran out of fuel on the final lap in Turn 2 and had Foyt’s Sting Ray Robb launch skyward over the back of his car and come to a stop sitting upside down in Turn 3.
Piled into by the cars driven by Ed Carpenter and Kyle Kirkwood, Rossi’s No. 7 Chevy was in a thorough state of disrepair — as was Robb’s No. 41 Chevy — and both teams were forced to prepare different cars for the race at Toronto the following weekend.
There, the teams experienced a repeat of Iowa, but worse. Pato O’Ward’s solo spin in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevy late in the race made his car a launching pad for Robb’s teammate Santino Ferrucci, who drove over the front of O’Ward’s car with his No. 14 Chevy in Turn 1 and landed upside-down in Turn 2. Adding to the damage, O’Ward’s teammate Nolan Siegel was the last car to fire through the incident at a high rate of speed and smashed into the front of the No. 5 with his No. 6 entry.
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Across seven days of racing, the combined Nos. 5, 6, 7, 14, and 41 were battered as at least four of the five Dallara DW12 tubs were damaged beyond repair. All totaled, the costs to replace all of the destroyed equipment could be near $1 million.
“Pretty brutal. We think Nolan’s car [main image] is a write-off, and the No.5 may be repairable, but it’s not going to be back this year,” Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward told RACER. “We’re looking at ordering two new tubs. With the damage, it’s not ideal, and as I understand, there’s a lead time on a lot of what needs to be replaced.
“We actually had to change tubs on the No.7 after the Iowa crash that Alex had. So that’s three tubs out of circulation in two weekends. That’s meant quite a lot of work for everybody. And we’re lucky. We’re in a situation where we’ve had enough spare cars to keep going, but we could really be really done without that, and now we’re down three until new tubs get here.
“Thankfully, engines and gearboxes have been okay, but it’s going to be in the high six-figure range, I’m sure, and an awful lot of effort to recover, because these things don’t quite arrive ready to run. We’re also thankful how safe these cars are. Pato’s got a banged-up knee, which is the worst of it, which is not so bad. And again, the aeroscreen has really proven its worth.”
Ward and Larry Foyt have been busy placing orders with Dallara for the same reasons.
“I could see us definitely having to buy two brand-new cars to get ready for next year,” said A.J. Foyt Racing’s team principal. “Just so we have two new cars going into the Speedway, and then they’ll be part of your inventory. And because new cars are coming supposedly in a couple years, so you don’t want to get caught with a ton of new stuff on the shelf that that you don’t need. So that’s the hard part.
“Most importantly, everybody’s okay. So that’s the good part, and the safety of the cars is unbelievable. But those were definitely two very, very big and crashes and did a lot of damage. Unfortunately, Sting Ray’s car, that car was pretty darn new. It only had two or three races on it, so that was a shame. That Iowa crash damaged just about everything.
“But Santino’s… believe it or not, the back half of the car looks halfway decent. But obviously the front of the car and the tub isn’t. So, yeah, two tubbed cars there in two weekends. We’re building a new car for Santino for the next race.”