"Big Daddy" a hit among IndyCar drivers as Nolan Siegel and more name their 2025 cars

All racing drivers, including the IndyCar drivers, put their trust into the machine when stepping into the car and hope it will protect them at all costs. The cars essentially become an extension of the body, and it's normal for drivers to name them to personify their bond with the machines.

The 2025 IndyCar grid was asked to name their cars for the current season, with many, including Nolan Seigel and Marcus Armstrong, answering the same. A couple of drivers took inspiration from how the boats and yachts are named, while others had their own story behind the name.

IndyCar’s Instagram account uploaded a video on March 10, 2025, where the host questioned the drivers about what they would name their car at the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg. Meyer Shank Racing driver Marcus Armstrong was up first as he detailed how he saw a boat in the Tampa Bay at the St. Pete and liked its name.

“I saw that there's a boat out there called Big Daddy, and I thought, you know what, I like that,” said Armstrong.

Arrow McLaren driver Nolan Siegel had a similar thought process to Marcus Armstrong, where he also saw the boat named Big Daddy and named his car after it. Nolan said:

“I saw a boat in the harbour called the Big Daddy yesterday, and we all loved that.”

Marcus Ericsson suggested that he doesn't name his car and would just call it the “Bryant car”. Callum Ilott, driving for the newest IndyCar team, PREMA Racing, took inspiration for the Cars movie franchise and named his Italian stable car after the Italian Formula racer in Cars 2. Illott said:

“My car is called Francesca because it looks like the sister of Francesco from Cars.”

Graham Rahal came out and delivered a diplomatic answer, suggesting he never thought about it but respects the people who do name their car as “everybody deserves a name”.

---

FOX breaks viewership record at 2025 IndyCar Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg

Scott McLaughlin (3) leads the field into turn one for the start of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 2, 2025 - Source: Getty

The 2025 Grand Prix of St Petersburg was the first IndyCar broadcast under the contract signed between FOX and Penske Entertainment. The race averaged 1.4 million viewers and reached a peak viewership of 1.8 million across all FOX broadcast and streaming services. This was a 45% increase over the 2024 St Petersburg GP, which averaged 975,000 viewers.

FOX’s PR account posted the numbers on X as the tweet read:

“OFF. AND. RACING! 🏁 FOX Sports opens the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES in a big way with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg scoring a 14-year high and peaking at more than 1.8 million viewers!”

FOX also beat the all-time viewership record for St. Pete set by NBC in 2022, which was 1,429,000 average viewers.