BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – When David Malukas signed a multiyear deal with Arrow McLaren’s IndyCar team last Sept. 7, the young driver from Chicago had one of the most promising rides in IndyCar.
But Malukas never turned a wheel in an Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in IndyCar competition. He sustained a broken left wrist in a mountain bike crash ithat required extensive surgery on Feb. 13.
With pins and screws in his wrist and wearing a cast, Malukas has yet to return to the cockpit of an IndyCar.
By missing the fourth event of the NTT IndyCar Series season in Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, it triggered a clause in his contract that gave Arrow McLaren the option to terminate his services.
The team exercised that option and announced Monday morning that Malukas is no longer a member of the team.
In a statement, the team said: “Arrow McLaren today announced that the team has released David Malukas for the remainder of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season due to him being unavailable for the entirety of the season to date, with no confirmed return date, as a result of a left wrist injury, which occurred February 11, in a mountain biking incident.
“The team has raced at four events with two different drivers, both who were new to the team following David’s incident and currently race in other series: Callum Ilott and Théo Pourchaire.
“David joined the team in September 2023 and was set to race his third NTT IndyCar Series season with Arrow McLaren until this wrist injury sidelined him from races in St. Petersburg, The Thermal Club in Palm Springs, Long Beach, and Barber Motorsports Park.
“Arrow McLaren is finalizing its driver assignments for the remainder of the 2024 season and will announce confirmations for upcoming races in due course.”
Pourchaire has raced the No. 6 the past two weeks at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and Barber Motorsports Park.
Ilott, who has a full-time deal to race in the World Endurance Championship, was in the car for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and the exhibition race at the Thermal Club. He was unavailable for Long Beach because of a WEC schedule conflict and will be unavailable for the May 11 race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course because of a WEC race at Spa.
In the team release, Malukas said: "“The past three months have been challenging. I felt privileged to have had the opportunity to drive for Arrow McLaren and regret that it never materialized. I would have loved to have continued representing the team and its partners going forward. They have been good, and I appreciate all they have done for me.
“I’ve done everything possible to speed up the rehab process—treatments, physiotherapy, strength training—but my recovery has taken longer than anticipated. Every injury is different, and every body heals at a different pace. I’ll turn my full attention to getting back to 100 percent and then prove that I am ready and able to compete to win.”
Malukas had attended all NTT IndyCar Series races this season as a member of Arrow McLaren, working with the team’s drivers including veterans Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi. That included this past weekend at Barber Motorsports Park.
On Saturday, as he was walking through the paddock wearing his Arrow McLaren papaya and black team apparel, a fan asked him for a photo. Malukas happily obliged.
The fan thanked him and said, “Can’t wait to see you back in the car again this season.”
Unfortunately for Malukas, that car will be for a team other than Arrow McLaren.
As of now, Malukas is out of a ride.
On Saturday, April 20, NBCSports.com was part of a small group of reporters that also included The Associated Press, the Indianapolis Star and Motorsport.com and met with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown and Arrow McLaren Team Principal Gavin Ward.
When specifically asked whether Malukas would remain with the team, Ward said: “Yeah, we’re having to make difficult decisions and there’s too much uncertainty to speculate. We’re doing our best to try and take care of him. We’ve got all the rehab physio and medical support we can but end of the day we also have to look after the performance of the team. It’s so hard to know where we’re going to be. Not really going to get into, we don’t know.
“The truth is the uncertainty, right? Unfortunately, it’s a significant injury with an unclear recovery right now so can’t really say yay or nay.”
Both Ward and Brown showed frustration over the situation and seemed interested in the surprising debut by Pourchaire and how quickly he adapted to IndyCar. The former F2 champion finished 11th at Long Beach after starting 22nd and was 22nd at Barber.
“The team has been very, very supportive of David in what has been certainly an unfortunate situation.,” Ward said April 20. “What’s more unfortunate is his injury is much more serious than we thought initially. A big part of our focus has been trying to help him on every way in his recovery but also, we’ve been spending an awful lot of time to make sure we have competitive drivers in that 6 car.
“So unfortunately, it’s just a lot of uncertainty right now.”
One week later, the decision became clear, and Arrow McLaren released Malukas at the earliest opportunity.