After 'brain fart' led to mountain bike crash, David Malukas eyes Long Beach for return
David Malukas’ debut in McLaren papaya was delayed well over a month because of a “brain fart.”
The 22-year-old driver was out west mountain biking on what he would call, in skiing terms, a “green circle-rated” trail. It should’ve been as easy ride, but still a valuable day for someone who enjoys mountain biking for fitness and sharpening his reaction time.
“And then I was looking at the view, and I’m like, ‘Oh I need to slow down a little bit,’ and I had a brain fart moment,” Malukas told IndyStar last month. “And instead of hitting the rear brake, I hit the front brake, and that’s all it took.”
The unexpected jolt sent Malukas over his handlebars, dislocating his left wrist and tearing multiple ligaments. He'd undergo surgery days later, leaving him in a brace that kept his wrist immobile for well over a month. Now, after weeks of doing tiny, intricate exercises to keep his fingers and arm muscles active – including squeezing and massaging rice – Malukas told IndyStar at IndyCar’s $1 Million Challenge that he was just days from getting the pins out of his wrist.
And he seems to know when he will make his Arrow McLaren racing debut.
“The team is pretty adamant on me doing Long Beach, so we’re doing it,” Malukas told IndyStar of the April 19-21 race weekend, the next points-paying event on the IndyCar calendar.
At The Thermal Club, Malukas told NBC’s broadcast team that a Long Beach debut would be “tight” and “tough, but I have a lot of good people and support around me.”
With his stand-in Callum Ilott unavailable for the Long Beach weekend − having landed a full-season World Endurance Championship role with Hertz Team Jota’s Porsche Hypercar program that will race the 6 Hours of Imola that weekend – Long Beach seemed a reasonable target for Malukas. Following his Feb. 13 surgery, Arrow McLaren’s release noted that doctors expected the third-year IndyCar driver’s recovery to take approximately six weeks – a timeline that would be complete this week.
Whether Malukas will suit up for the Indy 500 Open Test on April 10-11 is unclear. Given the smaller strain of making four sweeping left turns per lap on the 2.5-mile oval, compared to the 11-turn, 1.968-mile street course at Long Beach, the two-day test would seem to be a logical dry-run.
“Right now, we’re trying to (work on) everything around the wrist, so when I can start moving it, all my other muscles are still ready to go,” he told IndyStar in St. Pete. “I’m going to stick my hand in a bucket of rice to massage it. I guess it adds a lot of resistance for all those little muscles in the hand."
How it happened: Malukas to miss start of season after surgery for dislocated wrist
Malukas: Mental challenges toughest part of injury
Malukas has found himself tackling a crash-course in mental and emotional fortitude, because this wasn’t how this opportunity was supposed to go. IndyCar’s ball of childhood energy and one of its most promising talents found himself suddenly courted by a team similarly looking to take its next steps.
The marriage, as unexpected as it might’ve been last July, seemed fitting.
But over the last month, Malukas has been left to shoulder the brunt of the team’s sponsor appearances while having to watch Ilott (one of the drivers the team pursued before landing on Malukas) man the No. 6 Chevy and work with engineers, crew and mechanics who had spent the offseason getting to know Malukas.
The pain he’s felt the last month has had very little – if anything – to do with his wrist.
“Mentally? That’s been the challenge of being out of the car. It was kinda manageable at first, but then, being at the track, I’ve been needing my coffee to keep me distracted a little bit,” he said at St. Pete. “It’s just tough being here, seeing everything happen and being with the engineers while everyone talks, but not really being involved."
And in the down time, it’s been impossible to avoid that question: “Why would you go mountain biking a month before your debut with a top-level team?”
His answer is simple: Malukas believes it helps train him to be his ‘best self’ and he believes riding an easy trail while skipping the jumps was no less risky than any other form of training.
Accidents can always happen.
“I think it’s very similar to what racing is, with the same type of quick reaction time and a similar physicality aspect to it,” he said. “I hear people say, ‘Why would you do that?’ but accidents happen. You can fall down the stairs. And we also race in a car going 240 mph (at the Indy 500), so something can happen no matter what you do. I know mountain biking sounds scary, but I promise you, it was a nice little trail.”
'Gonna stay away from bikes for a bit': Malukas in good spirits as recovery begins
Lucky for Malukas, his boss, team principal Gavin Ward, sees the unfortunate accident in a similar vein.
“(Expletive) happens. At the end of the day, we could all get hit by a car," Ward told IndyStar last month. “What matters now is how you react to it. I’ve been really impressed with David’s character right from the first time I met him, and I think that comes contrary to some of the perception of his silliness, or perhaps lack of grit, you might take from his social media presence. I can be a silly guy, but I’m still hugely competitive, and I told him, ‘This is a huge opportunity to show some grit, prove some people wrong and really show what you’re made of.’”
'Another bump in the road'
Speculation as to the length of Malukas’s stay with the team continues to grow, despite the team announcing him on a multi-year deal in September. Multiple sources have pointed to a likely clause in the driver’s contract, common among IndyCar deals, that lists a number of on-track days a driver can miss before a team could boot him.
Including the pair of preseason tests he missed, the No. 6 Chevy driver has lost nine total days in the car since his accident. Though there appear no plans to sideline him permanently, the discourse around Malukas’s time away clearly shows the pressure he faces when he returns.
Though Ward told IndyStar he’s urged Malukas to be painfully honest during his recovery process – even if it could mean missing more time than expected – there’s always the unspoken pressure of producing immediately, as a young driver stepping into a title-contending team. Just four years ago, Indy Lights champ Oliver Askew fought through concussion-like symptoms missed by IndyCar's medical team after a heavy crash in the Indy 500, during an up-and-down rookie campaign with this team. It was only after four consecutive finishes of 14th or worse following the crash that Askew sought help, and he spent more than a month out of the car.
He lost his ride anyway, and Askew has never gotten another full-season IndyCar opportunity since.
It’s no secret Malukas wasn’t Arrow McLaren’s first choice for this ride, originally meant for two-time champion Alex Palou before the Spaniard breached his deal and re-upped with Chip Ganassi Racing on a three-year deal. After reaching out to young drivers in and out of the series – including Ilott, who at the time was locked down by Juncos Hollinger Racing’s team option through early-December – Arrow McLaren team leadership landed on Malukas.
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Malukas's performances upon his return, including the 500, may well seal his fate with McLaren. Take time getting up to speed, or make a costly on-track mistake, and he could be fighting an uphill battle against free agents that include Ilott, Rinus VeeKay, Christian Lundgaard and Josef Newgarden.
“There was already pressure going into this, because it’s a new team, and you have to show you belong here, and now with this all happening, there will be added pressure on top of it," Malukas said last month. “I’ve just got to wait a little bit longer, but once I’m back, it’ll make (what I achieve) that much sweeter.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: David Malukas eyeing Long Beach for Arrow McLaren IndyCar race debut
