Notes & Quotes: Bommarito Automotive Group 500

Hunter Ahrendt joined our team in February, 2024 as a rookie in Indy car racing, having no prior experience at this level. However, he grew up around racing as both his father and grandfather raced in different categories. He started out as pre-med major earning a B.S. in Kinesiology from Indiana University, became a tattoo artist and is now a vinyl specialist and wing builder for our Indy car team. We asked him a few questions...

Where were you born and where did you grow up? 

HA: "Born in Lafayette, Indiana but raised in Northwest Indiana: DeMotte and Fair Oaks to be exact." 

Education?

HA: "Earned a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from Indiana University. I went to college on a premedical path.  My original plan was to become a surgeon." (Note: Kinesiology is the scientific study of movement; it explores human motion and how that affects aspects of health, athletic performance and well-being.)

Family?

HA: "Big family. I have my mother and two sisters but then I have my father and two brothers. Technically they are all "half siblings" but that has never been the case. I am very close with all of my family. I am a cat dad of two: Bagheera, named after the black panther in The Jungle Book, and Frankie, named after Frank Sinatra." 

When did you get the nickname “Scribbles”?

HA: "Shortly after May of last year. I was called 'Young Hunter' up until my crew chief started calling me 'Scribbles' referring to all of the tattoos that he saw me do as well as the tattoos I have on me that look like doodles or scribbles."

Tell us about becoming a tattoo artist?

HA: "Truthfully, I think I was just with the right people at the right time. I took a gap year since I graduated college at the peak of COVID. Then I started moving up the management side of things in the warehouse I was working at in the Inventory Department. Eventually, I decided that I wanted a change and wanted to have a different pace in my work/life. Luckily for me, I had become friends with a family that owned a tattoo shop in Broad Ripple called The Mandala Effect. They were gracious enough to take a chance and let me start learning from them. After a few months, and truthfully a little earlier than I maybe should have, I put in my two weeks at the warehouse and started tattooing full-time." 

Do you do your own?

HA: "I did a few practice tattoos on my thighs. Even today when I practice new things I will do it on myself if I cannot find a friend or client to let me practice on. I get asked a lot about where all of my tattoos came from and most of them are from my friends at the tattoo shop." 

How many have you done?

HA: "No idea exactly but I would say over 500 of varying sizes." 

How did you become interested in motorsports?   

HA: "My entire life I have been around a car or behind a wheel of sorts. My grandfather was a drag racer, my father competed in demolition derbies, asphalt oval track and then dirt oval track racing. I was always in the garage working on cars with them and occasionally driving anything that they would let me drive. At age 12, I started racing at the local dirt track in a four-cylinder class."

Hunter in the winner's circle as a 13-year-old.

Where/when was the first Indy car race you attended?

HA: "My first Indy car race was the Indy 500 with my childhood best friend and his family/group that goes annually! I was immediately hooked and luckily still get to see them at the races and on the weekend of the 500 but in a different circumstance."

When and where did you start your professional career in racing? When did you realize you could make a career out of it? 

HA: "It is all because of C.J., my friend and our Performance Engineer. During some tattoo appointments and hang outs I mentioned in passing that him and the other friends with us, also in IndyCar, were living some sort of dream of mine. I asked him to keep an ear out for ANY opportunity that I might be able to take to get into the IndyCar world and a few months later he called me saying that there was a spot I could apply for. He put my name on his reputation and this team took a chance on me. 

"Scribbles" inks a tattoo on teammate C.J. Nielsen, the performance engineer on the No. 14. Nielsen recommended that Ahrendt apply for a job with the team.

"I started exactly one week before the first race last year. Quickly, I came to love the job, but I was not sure that I could make a career out of this until we got closer to the end of the season last year. Looking at the progress I had made in just a few months and the people/connections I made in that time is what gives me the confidence that this is the career for me." 

What is your most significant achievement to date?

HA: "Being a part of this year's team. Getting second and fifth at the 500 this year

Finishing second and getting my first podium at Detroit this year."  

Ahrendt and teammate Ryan Marzec celebrate Santino Ferrucci's second place finish in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on June 1.

What is your job on the team? 

HA: "There are a lot of things that I do to help the team. I help make sure that all of the wings are built for both cars and do the vinyl wrapping of the wings. There is some bodywork and carbon repairs that I do. I help facilitate all of the vinyl/decals/liveries for the team to make sure the cars are wrapped and race ready. The last big thing that I do is on pit stops for the #14 car, I am the air jack man."  

What is the most challenging part of your job?

HA: "The schedule is the hardest part. IndyCar is dynamic in the fact that we have six months of a fairly easy offseason and then six months of full throttle chaos."

What do you love most about working in the INDYCAR Series? 

HA: "I absolutely love traveling, that will always be my favorite part. That and the fact that I get to travel, work and spend most of my time with some people that have become great friends." 

What would you change, if you could?

HA: "I would change the locations of the races. Go back to how it was back in the day with more international races." 

What is your favorite track and why?  

HA: "IMS is hard to beat just because of my personal experience being a fan previously, but other than that probably Long Beach. We got the biggest mover there this year and the whole weekend in Long Beach is always great!"

What interests/hobbies do you have outside of racing?  

HA: "My interests include playing video games, cooking, thrifting and making art. I watch some sports and play even more; most surprisingly to some I am a very good bowler."

What are the top 3 things on your bucket list?   

HA: "Going to watch El Clásico in Barcelona. I have the coordinates of the stadium tattooed in the piece on my forearm. 

Kiss the bricks at IMS, but I have told myself that I will only ever do that when I am on a winning team of the Indy 500.

Guest spot internationally as a tattoo artist, preferably in Europe, potentially Asia."

Mike Armbrester was promoted to Technical Director of the team to oversee the engineering department. Adam Kolesar will become the race engineer on the No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet. Kolesar was the performance engineer on Ferrucci's car last year and has been working with C.J. Nielsen who was promoted to performance engineer in the off season.

Adam Kolesar (left) and C.J. Nielsen (far right) listen as Mike Armbrester talks after a session.

Bommarito Automotive Group returns as the primary sponsor of the No. 14 Chevrolet this weekend. Local businessman John Bommarito has been the title sponsor of the race at WWT Raceway since 2017. He has been the primary sponsor of the 14 Chevrolet for this event since 2022.

SANTINO FERRUCCI is coming into this weekend after scoring his career-best finish of second at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Known for his prowess on the oval tracks despite a junior formula career centered entirely on street and road courses, Ferrucci's best start and finish at the 1.25-mile track came as a rookie in 2019 when he started sixth and finished fourth. Last year he was up to fifth when he got a drive-through penalty after a pit stop for a pit speed violation due to a software malfunction. He placed 12th.

Santino douses winner Kyle Kirkwood on the podium at Detroit.

Why do you like racing at WWT Raceway?

SF: "I think it's a challenging track and I've come close to winning there a few times. I think it provides a solid challenge because [turns] one and two and three and four are completely different, so setting up a car is not easy.  Also, there's the way that you have to drive; you have to change your driving style back and forth [between the two ends of the track]. You definitely use the weight jacker a lot more there than you would almost any other oval and the same with the front and rear bar. You're tuning the car consistently every lap."

Do you have any favorite restaurants in the area that you like to frequent?

SF: "One of my favorite restaurants is Cafe Napoli or 801 Chop House."

How does the hybrid affect running a short oval like WWT Raceway?

SF: "I don't think it does. The hybrid does makes it a little bit more difficult to drive the car because it's heavy, and the weight in the back just makes the car move a lot more. At the end of the day, it's part of the series."

FOX is running this race in prime time on a Sunday night. What do you think of the partnership Penske Entertainment has forged with FOX?

SF: "I think the partnership been really good for the series. Having all of our races on the FOX network has really increased INDYCAR's visibility and I believe has contributed to its rise in popularity. Running in prime time on Sunday night is like doubling down on a good thing. I think it's great."

With Mike Armbrester's elevation to technical director, Adam Kolesar becomes your race engineer. Your thoughts?

SF: "I'm very happy for the decisions they're making with the team. I think it's the right decision for the moment.  Adam ran the car for me at the October test at the speedway, and he's been very helpful to me over the last two years. I believe he's ready to move up. With Mike as the technical director, he'll have a little bit more oversight, will be pulling the team together, and making sure things are done right inside the team. He'll be helping with direction and organization, which he is very good at."

How did your relationship with John Bommarito come about?

SF: "My relationship with John started when I was first in the series driving for another team and then eventually driving the car that was sponsored by them. I've known John and his family for quite a few years. I was there when they first started sponsoring the team at this race in 2022 and was actually with Larry helping to get it done. They sponsored me at Indy in 2022 and they wanted to have a car and a driver for their race at WWT Raceway. I helped with the introduction, and I think it turned out to be a very solid relationship throughout the years and I benefitted from it as well.

"John really loves doing this race. It's going to be the ninth one that they've been the title sponsor of, and he's done a great job promoting it all throughout St Louis. And I think he's the one that helps really draw a crowd there. We do commercials for the race some for years now so it's been pretty awesome. So, very thankful that as a sponsor, he goes above and beyond to help with the race's promotion."

Larry Foyt poses with John Bommarito last year.

What are your expectations for this weekend?

SF: “Having a clean weekend will be very important. Assuming we have everything kind of set the way we did last year, we should be a contender to win. So that'd be the expectation this year.”

FERRUCCI FAST FACTS: Age 27...Born in Woodbury, CT...Lives in Dallas, Texas...Married Renay Moore in January, 2024...Began racing karts at age 5, moved to cars in 2013...Competed in Formula 2000, British Formula 3, GP3 finishing third at Spa Francorchamps as a rookie, was development driver for Haas F1 team for three years (2016-2018), moved to Formula 2 in 2018...made his INDYCAR debut in Detroit in 2018...moved to NTT INDYCAR Series fulltime in 2019 finishing 13th in standings for Dale Coyne and won Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year after finishingseventh...13th in standings again with fourth place finish in the 500...drove part-time in 2021-22 but maintained top-10 streak in Indy 500 with finishes of sixth (RLL Racing) and 10th (Dreyer Reinbold Racing)...Scored career-best finish at Indy with his 3rd place finish in the 2023 Indianapolis 500; with his fifth place finish at Indy this year, he continued his string of consecutive top-10 finishes in the 500 which now stands at seven..Competed part-time in NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2021-22. Earned 2025 NTT P1 Award at Portland, Ore....posted 11 Top-10 finishes for career-best to finish 9th in the NTT INDYCAR Series driver standings, his highest ranking to date. The Foyt team finished in the top-10 in the points standings for the first time since 2002. Scored career best finish of second in the 2025 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

DAVID MALUKAS comes to World Wide Technology Raceway with momentum from recent races, notably his second place finish in the Indianapolis 500 and his outside pole qualifying run in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. His top-five finish was ruined when he incurred a stop and go penalty for avoidable contact with Alex Palou in which Palou hit the barrier and was not able to continue. Malukas came back from last in the running order to finish 14th. Clarience Technologies will continue as the primary sponsor of the No. 4 Chevrolet this weekend and at Road America the following weekend.

Malukas qualified second at Detroit for his best qualifying run on a street course.

At WWT Raceway, if you finished, you were in the top three -- both in Indy NXT Series (including two wins) and the NTT INDYCAR Series. Last year you qualified outside pole. What is it about this track that suits you?

DM: "I don't really know. I think it's something that I've managed to understand pretty early in my IndyCar career. It also just goes back to the INDY NXT days and running through the Road to Indy ladder series which helped me learn a lot. I knew there was something special about WWT Raceway, and maybe I could take that and apply it to all the tracks throughout the year. But, yeah, I don't really know what it is, but I'm gonna be taking it either way."

Without giving anything away, what is the key to getting around there?

DM: "Well, I think what makes WWT Raceway special is the differences of [corners] one and two to

three and four. They're very different when it comes to speed, and I think setting up the car for both ends of the tracks is the goal to getting around this circuit as fast as possible."

Did the hybrid make it easier or harder to set up the car?

DM: "For short ovals, it hasn't been as big of an effect as it was in the 500. I think the 500 this year definitely had some big effects with the setup of the car and changing things around. But from what I can remember at the end of last year, the few races that we did, I don't think it really affected it too much. We were able to go out and qualify well and still fight for the lead. To me, everything still felt very similar to what it was before the hybrid."

Do you feel you are finding your groove with AJ Foyt Racing, given the recent success?

DM: "Of course. I think there was a lot of talk in the beginning of the season of what's going on? Why are we not there? But we had a lot of changes with the team and new teammates coming in. I was brand new to the team, a lot of new guys came onto the team. So it takes time for these things to gel and start connecting and moving forward with the setup that we needed. I said from the start of the season, to the team and to everybody, that we were waiting for that month of May, when we're with the guys every single day. We wake up, it's racing. You go to bed, it's racing. It's racing non-stop and I think it's showed.  We figured out the setup for the 500, and in return, we ended up building that confidence and found a setup towards street courses. I think the road courses are still something to look forward to, and obviously the short ovals are also unknown. It's gonna be my first weekend here on a short oval with the team, so we'll see how that goes. But yes, I do think that the recent success is coming in and giving us confidence, and I think the second half of the season is going to be a really good turnaround for the AJ Foyt Racing guys."

What are your expectations for WWT Raceway this year?

DM: "We've had really good results every single time with the unfortunate exception of last season, we've always been there. I think with every race, you always want to try to go and get the best result and go for that win. But for me especially, I think WWT Raceway, I feel like I've been really close and I just want to get it done that one more step. Obviously it's going to be very hard and we're going to have to get everything perfect. As long as we can get consistent results, I just want consistency for the second half of the season and start securing some good points for the team."

MALUKAS FAST FACTS:  Age 23...Born in Chicago...Lives in Indianapolis...Single...First generation Lithuanian American...Father gave him his first go kart launching his multi-time championship karting career including the 2015 IAME International Final World Championship (Junior division) in LeMans, France...Scored poles and victories in the USF2000 and Pro Mazda series before becoming Vice-Champion in the 2021 INDY NXT by Firestone series ...Joined Dale Coyne Racing with HMD to advance to the 2022 NTT INDYCAR Series scoring a 2nd place finish at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR)...Came back with Coyne in 2023 and scored another podium at WWTR finishing 3rd...In 2024, a wrist injury in a dirt-biking accident in the off-season led to a partial 10-race season with Meyer-Shank Racing where he posted two Top-10s and qualified in the Firestone Fast 6 five times. Finished 2nd in 2025 Indy 500 after starting seventh. Qualified second in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix for best start to date in 2025.

The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 will be featured in Primetime Sunday night on FOX starting at 8 p.m. ET. The first practice and qualifying on Saturday will be broadcast on FS1 with the final warmup being carried on FS2.