Notes & Quotes: SUKUP INDYCAR Race Weekend

DERRICK MORRIS joined AJ Foyt Racing this year as a mechanic after working for Force Indy as a car chief in USF 2000 (2019-2020), USF Pro 2000 (2020-2021) and INDY NXT (2021-2024). He graduated from the University of Northwestern Ohio with degrees in business administration and high-performance motorsports.

How did you become interested in motorsports?

DM: "My dad took me to IMS when I was a kid and I had never seen anything go that fast before and I was hooked immediately."  

 Derrick with his parents Eric and Patty and his sister Erica.

Where/when was the first race you attended?

DM: "When I was 10 at IMS." 

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

DM: "I started racing at 11 in youth go kart racing for NXG and then I went on to race midgets and stock cars. I realized I could make this a career after being a driver and working on the car I was driving. I realized I was better at working on the cars than driving them. From there I went to UNOH and started my career."  

 What is your most significant achievement to date?  

DM: "Starting my way from the bottom as a lube tech at car dealerships to being in every series leading up to Indy car. Earning my position and the journey it took to get here." 

How did you come to work for AJ Foyt Racing?   

DM: "I was referred to A.J Foyt from my connections with Penske." 

Please describe your job on the team.

DM: "Front end mechanic and pit crew member." 

 Derrick works with Jonathan Ghormley on the No. 14 Chevrolet.

What is the most challenging part of your job?

DM: "Work - Life balance." 

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

DM: "I like the places we go to and the challenges and the rewards of the sport." 

What is your favorite track and why?  

DM: "IMS - the feeling of being in the Indy 500 is a feeling that you can’t explain." 

What interests/hobbies do you have outside of racing?  

DM: "I have a Harley Davidson motorcycle and i enjoy riding and working on that 

I also have an old school Camaro. I enjoy working on older vehicles and restoring vintage vehicles." 

What are the top 3 things on your bucket list?   

1. Owning my own race team 

2. Going to Tokyo, Japan 

3. Buying a C8 Corvette  

Derrick poses with Nadeem Ali, Roger Penske, Stu Kelly and Derrick's mentor Rodney Reid, co-owner of Force Indy.

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What is the best advice you've ever received (and from whom)?

DM: "Roger Penske always taught me that effort = results and I have taken that to heart and applied that in every aspect of life."  

 DAVID MALUKAS is currently 12th in the NTT INDYCAR Series standings with two top-10 finishes, including his second place in the Indianapolis 500. At Iowa Speedway, he has qualified in the top 15 in his previous six starts which include three top 10s. His best start of third came in Race 2 of 2024. He has finished in the top-15 five times with two of those results top-10s. His best finish of eighth came in Race 2 of both 2023 and 2024.

What do you like about Iowa Speedway and why does it suit your style?

"Well, Iowa, obviously, being another short oval is something that I feel like with my history on short ovals, we have a good history, and it seems that performance continues through Iowa. The racing and the strategies have always been fun to work around. It's something that I feel like I've managed to pick up and find good success with. Iowa changed the past two seasons with the repavement. So, we'll see how things shape up, especially with the new packages that IndyCar has coming out."

With Iowa's different passing lanes and an increase in downforce, will qualifying still be

important?

"Qualifying is always important. No matter what the situation is on an oval, you can always make passes, but passing becomes very difficult once that second line gets a lot of marbling. So, the better you can qualify, the easier the race is going to be, and the less passes you're going to have to make."

Will different fuel strategies come into play? If so, how do you decide on which one to use?

"Well, we'll have to see if the passing is still going to be limited with the new package because of that pavement up top, and not being able to use a second lane, then fuel is going to be really important. It's probably going to be a fuel code race and who's going to be able to save fuel and go longer. Obviously, that's going to be more on the strategist to call; from my side, I'm just going to focus and try to make sure that we can go as fast as possible, going left."

How difficult is it to use a tire at a track like Iowa that you haven't tested?

"It's difficult in the fact that you don't get any data from previous runs to figure out how it's going to handle. You're going in completely fresh, straight into a race weekend so there's going to be that difficulty there. We're going to have a lot of unknowns that we're going to have to try to figure out as quickly as possible, but everybody's going to be in the same boat. Whoever can figure it out quicker is going to be the one that could be on top so hopefully we can be on that end."

SANTINO FERRUCCI is currently 10th in the NTT INDYCAR Series standings with four top-five finishes including podium finishes at Detroit (2nd) and at Road America (3rd). In seven starts at Iowa Speedway, he has qualified in the top-15 four times  with his best start of eighth in Race 1 of 2024. He has four top-5 finishes with his best result of sixth coming in Race 1 of 2024.

What do you like about Iowa Speedway and why does it suit your style?

"Man, I like Iowa. It's a tough track to be honest. Yeah, Mike, I don't think, as far as ovals go, it's definitely one of the more difficult ones. I feel like we did a really good job last year. It's a fast Bowl ring, just enjoyable as a racer. And last year it came with the repave and made everything a little bit tricky. But we had a couple of good races."

Why? Didn't it eliminate the bumps?

"Yep, but you can't pass anymore because they repaved it, Do you remember there's only 20 passes in the entire race, and I had like half of them. It was really entertaining. Now it's just really boring because they repaved the track and got rid of all the bumps and there's no more tire deg."

Iowa's different passing lanes and an increase in downforce, will qualifying still be important? If

so, why?

"I think qualifying is definitely important at this track, or only this track, just because it's difficult to pass. But I also did come from a lap down last year, and I came back to finish sixth. So, at the end of the day, perhaps it's not really that important on an oval. I think it's just more important to take care of the car than it is to qualify really well."

Will the different fuel strategies come into play?

"I don't think there will be a fuel strategy in Iowa. I think the races are pretty straightforward. I just pit when you're out (of fuel). I think it's going to be a pretty standard three or four stop race for us, even with the yellows. I also don't remember Iowa being a big fuel save race in all of my years there either."

How difficult is it to use a tire at a track like Iowa that you haven't tested?

"Even though we didn't test there, it's a different tire again for everybody, so they'll still have a kind of level-ish playing field. Obviously not having laps around there this year is tricky, but it is an easy track to pick back up again, since it is only 7/8 mile and you can run 15 laps pretty quickly."

The Sukup INDYCAR Race Weekend will set the grids for both races in qualifying Saturday at noon (FS1). FOX will broadcast the Synk 275 powered by Sukup Saturday at 5 p.m. ET and the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.