America’s premier open wheel series has rejected one team’s bid to run a bizarre joint Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Donald J. Trump livery for the biggest race on the calendar next month, according to reports from Racer. In case you’re living under a rock, 2024 is an election year, and the series has made the decision to distance itself from the contest altogether. The Indianapolis 500 is the series’ blue riband event, drawing some 300,000 fans every year, and if allowed might have been seen as tacit endorsement of the candidates in question.
“IndyCar does not approve sponsorships associated with elected officials, candidates for political office or political action committees,” an IndyCar spokesperson told Racer.
The series didn’t say which team or driver requested the RFK/Trump livery, though there’s really only one guy in the field that would fit the bill. Rich kid dipshit Santino Ferrucci has tried this kind of thing before, attempting to run a “Make America Great Again” livery in Formula 2 before he was kicked out of the series for intentionally wrecking his teammate. The 25-year-old races for the legendary A.J. Foyt Racing team, placing third at the 500 last year. He’s exactly the kind of guy who would support RFK, Jr. and the legally embroiled former president, Donald Trump.
The May 26 race is the 108th running of the event, and consistently the highest attended single-day event in sports. IndyCar is smart to keep itself out of politics, and particularly out of this 2024 race. No matter what, it’s going to be a losing battle for the series. If it wants to continue its fanbase growth, it should avoid doing anything that might alienate more than half of the citizens of the country in which it is based.