“Can’t thank you enough”: Santino Ferrucci shares his thoughts after revealing Chili Bowl account ‘AJ (Foyt) would respect’

Promising IndyCar racer Santino Ferrucci, who drives full-time for AJ Foyt Racing, took part in the 2025 Chilli Bown Nationals at Tulsa between January 13 and January 18 with Abacus Racing. However, while doing hot laps for the Friday Preliminary Night, he touched the rear right tire of the midget car in front and took a nasty tumble.

Ferrucci took to X to thank Flea Ruzic for his monumental effort to get his car back on the track in response to a tweet by Ruzic.

"We can’t thank you enough for getting us out there. This will be one of those Chili Bowls that I will never forget 🙌🏻 and one of the wildest rebuilds to get racing, with a 45-minute clock. Can’t put into words how insane it was to watch!" Santino Ferrucci wrote.

Ruzic, who is a brilliant midget car chassis builder and regularly posts Chilli Bowl content on his X account, explained via a tweet what went down after Ferrucci's crash. He shared that he went to see if the Abacus Racing crew needed help rebuilding the car only to find them confused about what to do.

Ruzic mentioned in his tweet that despite the disappointment, the whole Abacus crew came to thank him and later, Santino Ferrucci himself came to appreciate his efforts personally and said:

"That's some sh*t AJ would respect."

Ruzic and his friend helped the team rebuild the chassis to a raceable condition, allowing Ferrucci to re-hit the dirt track. However, during the main event on Saturday, the 26-year-old Connecticut-born driver could only manage to make it to the H Mains, where he suffered a DNF in Feature 2.

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Santino Ferrucci says dirt track racing has helped him with IndyCar

Santino Ferrucci was finally able to crack the top 10 in driver's standings in the 2024 IndyCar season, showing that, as a driver, he has come a long way. Speaking with Motorsport ahead of the Chilli Bowl Nationals, the 26-year-old attributes his improved IndyCar performances to skills acquired during his five years competing in the Chilli Bowl. He highlighted how dirt track racing influenced his approach to asphalt circuits.

"We were able to throw a slider, which is nice. Honestly, the racing here really helped me in Milwaukee. We executed the most passes in IndyCar for the year," Ferrucci said.

This new approach led to some notable finishes in the 2024 season, including two fourth-place results at Milwaukee after starting from 19th and 12th positions. Reflecting on his growth, Ferrucci added:

"As a driver, I get better every time I come. I have goals that I want to hit here and I haven’t hit any of them yet, so just keep on pushing."

The Connecticut-born driver will surely push for more improvements in the 2025 IndyCar season and perhaps a better result in the 2026 Chilli Bowl Nationals.