Got this for like $50 at the IMS memorabilia show. Got to think considering Alex’s passing this thing just shot up in value.
1 Indy 500, 5 Championships , 53 combined wins , 50 combined poles. A stacked lineup , I’m going to hang in my son’s room so he can wake up looking at the GOATs
Rank these forgotten IRL Kings
Buzz Calkins, Mike Groff, Robbie Buhl, Billy Boat , Jimmy Kite , Donnie Beechler
i’m going
Calkins- was my fav driver from the proto IRL era. Maybe because I was 8 and I thought had a cool name and I liked that he was from Colorado (big Colorado guy) . Champion.
Robbie Buhl- always thought Robbie Buhl was cool. I appreciated the Old money vibes even as a yute ( his fam has their name on a building in Detroit ) , had a decent career with 2 dubs. Had great 90s Norm-Core sty (big Patagonia guy, as was Calkins )
Jimmy Kite- fellow ATLien, short king , always fast and then threw in the wall. Very resilient career reminiscent of a cockroach: drove in the true crap wagon era of 1997-1999, then the ascendant IRL era of 2000-2002, and the “modern IRL “ era of 2003-2007 ish. Raced against Luyendyk, Saladbar, Guerrero and Scott Dixon and Marco Andretti LMAO- transcendent
Mike Groff- was incredibly mid in CART with Rahal- Hogan. The motorola Honda he wheeled in 1997 was pretty sick , despite it being slow AF. Always in good equipment in the IRL and never executed- you’ve got to respect that unreal potential
Billy Boat- the mere invocation of this name still gets a bunch of jort and white new balance “dad shoe “ wearing boomers on Trackforum horned up. A true patron saint of the IRL cause given his Foyt and USAC pedigree .
Beechler- Big Daddy BBQ Car h
Pato is the obvious answer and probably the correct one if we’re strictly talking maximum global exposure. But he’s already massive- I’d venture to say he’s more well known than 95% of Nascar drivers (he has more insta followers than almost all of them except for Chase)
But outside of him? Honestly… David Malukas.
I genuinely think a Malukas Indy 500 win would hit different than people expect.
He has an energy that doesn’t feel manufactured by PR . People naturally like the guy because he comes across as a relatable 20-something dude who also happens to be fearless in an Indycar. There’s a little bit of old-school American racer energy to him mixed with the chronically online Gen Z humor in a way the series honestly lacks right now.
And from a pure storytelling standpoint it would be massive.
Kid from Chicago. Son of Lithuanian immigrants. Worked his way up without arriving as some heavily polished “next big thing.” Nearly has his career go sideways after the injury and McLaren situation, then suddenly wins the biggest race in the world? Casual sports fans eat that stuff up.
Its a similar arc to the sports stars of our parents generations , where sons of immigrants became household Names
Plus he races with visible emotion. That matters more than people think. Fans remember guys who LOOK like winning means everything to them.
Indycar doesn’t need stars; It needs personalities people emotionally attach themselves to.
Fastest rookie today and 20th overall in Now Tow Time.
I think he deserves some props and hopefully feels a little momentum.
Normalize Germans in Indycar !
Not affiliated with this brand in any way but if you love the Dead , Grateful Dead Merch , Indycar , the 500 and IMS, then look no further
all of this designs are super well done too… way better than any IMS merch
One of us! One of us!
mentioned he has a few choice nugs he’s been jamming on the race broadcast
I’m betting since he’s more normie-coded than most heads these are on his rotation
- St Stephen
- Althea
- Touch of Grey
- Fire on the Mtn
- Brown Eyed Women
This is about to get some of yall riled up but there’s no clean way to say this without it sounding a little ridiculous, but that’s kind of why it works:
The 500 winner should recreate the old Emmo ’89 photo with the car covered in straight stacks, Borg-Warner sitting there like it’s part of a heist scene In a movie
Every year we hear the Largest payday in motorsports.” for the biggest race in the world; Then it disappears into the void 20 minutes later.
Take 2025 — The Chicken Man clears something like $4+ million ($3.8 to be exact but this year it should be over $4M) for winning the 500. On paper that sounds big, sure. But its hard to fathom - t’s just another number in a sport full of numbers.
picture that same payout physically stacked all over the car:
Stacks draped across the sidepods. Bundles sitting on the tires. Overflowing around the cockpit. Suddenly you feel it. You don’t need a infographic or a tweet explaining anything — the scale is right there in front of you.
it goes without saying that everyone knows he’s not walking out of IMS with duffel bags like it’s a movie. Team split, taxes, all that. That’s not the point. The visual is the message — this is what winning the 500 is worth.
It also just goes hard. No one else in motorsports really leans into that anymore. F1 would never touch it. Nascar would probably turn it into a sponsor activation. IndyCar actually has the history to pull it off without it feeling forced, because it’s already been done and it looked iconic.
And in today’s media cycle, that one shot will make waves on social and transcend racing circles. It becomes the image tied to that year’s race.
If you want people to understand what winning the 500 means, you don’t tell them the number.
Show them the bag.