Cusick Motorsports Boss Sees Bigger IndyCar, Indy NXT Footprint After Latest Indy 500 Run

After four years of Indianapolis 500 entries, Thermal Club resident Don Cusick wants a bigger piece of the IndyCar action.

By Mike Pryson

Published: Jun 05, 2025 2:13 PM EDT Don Cusick is living a race fan's retirement dream.

A wannabe racer at heart, Cusick has found a second act in retirement. He sold his business and moved to Thermal Club in California, where he drives his track cars on a beautiful IndyCar-sanctioned road circuit. He's also the owner of Cusick Motorsports—a team that has fielded single-car entries in each of the past four Indianapolis 500s.

Now, Cusick would like to take his post-retirement IndyCar involvement to another level.

"I wanted to be an IndyCar driver, but the lack of money and talent ran out in like 1980, so this was the next best thing, and it's really been quite the ride," Cusick told Autoweek.

Ryan Hunter-Reay led 48 laps at this year’s Indianapolis 500 driving a car fielded by the Cusick Motorsports/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team.

Last month's Indianapolis 500 effort, in partnership with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and driver Ryan Hunter-Reay, was on one hand one of the more successful, but on the other hand, the most frustrating for the team owner.

Hunter-Reay started 25th after a car fire in pit lane on Carb Day sent the team scrambling to its backup car for the race. Hunter-Reay went on to lead 48 laps of the 500 (second only to Takuma Sato's 51 laps led that day) before the car stalled after a fuel miscalculation on lap 169, and he faded out of contention to finish 21st.

"I don't know if I should be happy or pissed or sad," Cusick said. "Talk about mixed emotions. I just hope it's not our last best opportunity to win the thing. The stars were pretty well aligned, and [it was] our race to win. And then they miscalculated the fuel by seven-tenths of a gallon. That's a little hard to take.

"At least I wasn't the engineer that made the wrong decision."

The Road to Indianapolis

Cusick, who after retirement moved into one of the 140 homes at the Thermal Club near Palm Springs, California, took a road to fielding teams in the 500 that is anything but typical. He had not even been to the 500 or had any connections in IndyCar before bringing Cusick Motorsports to Indianapolis in 2022.

In 2020, Cusick sold the company he founded, Infab—a radiation protection products business (think those lead aprons the dental hygienists put on you when they take your X-rays). He stayed on for another year before retiring in 2021.

"I got into racing because I joined the Thermal Club when I sold my company," Cusick said. "I wanted to have something different than the Porsches and Ferraris and everything. I got deep on the internet, and I found these Gen-6 Track Attack NASCAR cars."

The Gen-6 Track Attack is a car produced by Hendrick Motorsports. Hendrick purchased some of the Gen-6 cars when NASCAR made the switch to Gen-7 before the 2022 Cup season. Hendrick then modified those cars to produce and make available what it promoted as "the ultimate track car."

"Real NASCAR with pedigree," is how Cusick describes the car being brought out to Thermal Club. "I bought the third one Hendrick ever sold. Everybody at Thermal loved it, and everybody wanted to drive it."

Then fate intervened.

Cusick Motorsports brought driver Stefen Wilson to the 2022 Indianapolis 500.

Cusick said, "One of the driving instructors said, 'Hey, I've got a buddy. He's an IndyCar driver, and he's thinking about getting into NASCAR. Would it be okay if he came out and did a few laps?'"

Cusick obliged. The driver was IndyCar veteran Stefan Wilson.

"When I met Stefan, I made the huge mistake of saying to him that I've never been to the 500, and that I'd really like to go someday," Cusick said, laughing. "I asked him what was the best way to see it. He said, 'sponsor me.'"

"About a month later, he had the sixth seat with Andretti for the 500. We went, and we loved it, and we were hooked on it. Fortunately, my wife loved it too."

For that initial 500 effort in 2022, Cusick Motorsports—with Don and wife Carolyn listed as owners—came to the 500 with Dragon Speed and an alliance with Larry Foyt and A.J. Foyt Racing to field Wilson. A blown engine in qualifying meant a 33rd starting spot and a 26th-place finish.

"The car was horrible. The experience wasn't great, but it motivated us to try again," Cusick said. "That's when we connected with Dreyer and Reinbold, and we've been with them the last three years, which has been really good, obviously. They build great cars right out of the hauler."

Those last years with the DRR partnership have produced finishes of 22nd with driver Graham Rahal in 2023, 10th with Conor Daly in 2024, and the 21st-place finish this year with Hunter-Reay.

Taking Cusick Motorsports to the Next Level

Cusick, while he has enjoyed the Indy 500-only experience, says now he's kicking the tires on expanding the operation beyond the month of May.

"Initially, we wanted to run a full IndyCar season," Cusick said. "Financially, that is a huge commitment, and it's really not as easy to find sponsors as I kind of anticipated it would be. It's a big difference between $1.2 million and $1.3 million (for the 500) and $8 million to $10 million for a full season.

"I think Dennis [Reinbold] and Brett [team principal DeBord] at DRR are talking about maybe running three or four races—but it gets a little more complicated with the charters and that kind of stuff.

"I think the plan was to go full time or major part time in 2027 with the new IndyCar chassis, but now that chassis change is not going to happen until 2028, if then. It kind of just keeps getting kicked down the road.

Indy NXT might just be the next frontier for Cusick Motorsports.

Indy NXT Might Just Be Next

Cusick, who wants to help the sport he's fallen in love with, says the Indy NXT series has his attention for a way to expand Cusick Motorsports and help the owner continue to make those all-important business connections.

"Our thought now is to maybe run the Indy NXT Series full time with a couple of cars next year and just the 500 for IndyCar," Cusick said. "Just kind of build our clientele and our experiences that way until we find an opportunity to go full time."

The Indy NXT schedule of 14 race weekends would afford the team more chances to get its name out there and, at the same time, fulfill another of Cusick's goals of helping the next generation of racers.

"We're already in the process of forming a mentorship and development program out at Thermal for young drivers and mechanics," Cusick said. "Maybe get some USF-type [Road to Indy open-wheel] cars for that. I think it makes sense for us to increase our involvement at the support level and just run the 500 for the next couple of years, unless something happens dramatic and dynamic to change that."

Don Cusick says Indy NXT fits his vision of giving a leg up to young racers.

Cusick said an Indy NXT effort and expansion of Cusick Motorsports may mean a partnership with another established IndyCar team.

"We're just looking for the right fit," Cusick said about yet another return to the 500. "Preferably DRR. We like them, we get along with them, they build great cars. Now, I really feel we have unfinished business. If DRR wants us back and everything lines up and the financial aspect of it all makes sense, I think that would be our first choice.

"For the NXT program, we're talking to everybody. One opportunity is to field two branded Cusick Motorsports cars, but running with an existing team. For all intents and purposes, the cars would appear to be Cusick Motorsports–only entries, but we're not race craft, we're B-to-B and commercial. So, a partner would run the cars and the race team, and we would provide the activation and the sponsorship dollars."

Cuscick said it's going to be exciting hopefully one day to see the Cusick Motorsports name on the hauler and on the cars around an IndyCar circuit.

"Hopefully, it makes the right statement and helps us get more connections built," he said.

Cusick said it's too early to talk about drivers for any possible Indy NXT project for his team.

"Indy NXT is really starting to become the Road to Indy again," Cusick said of what he's seen in the growth of the NXT series during his time in the sport." There's a huge influx of F2 and F3 drivers coming out of Europe that are very capable IndyCar drivers.

"A lot those F1 and F3 drivers have funding, so that makes the landscape tough for Ladder Series drivers. But there's a few of them—Jacob Abel is one of them, Louie Foster is another—who were successful at the 500 this year, and they were successful in Indy NXT.

"I do think Indy NXT has got good leadership in place now, and the program is gaining momentum. We're kind of excited about that."

The Thermal Club in California hosted an IndyCar Series points race this season.

Future of IndyCar at Thermal?

While discussions are reportedly ongoing between the NTT IndyCar Series and Thermal Club about a possible IndyCar return for 2026 and a chance for Alex Palou to defend his race win there, Thermal resident Cusick said he's not involved in that end of the business at his home track.

Thermal Club owners Tim and Twanna Rogers handle deals with racing series looking to race at the 3.1-mile, 17-turn circuit that IndyCar used last season and exhibition and this year for a points race. The private club can only hold "about 5000" fans for an IndyCar race, Cusick said.

But you can't beat the backdrop. Just ask Cusick.

"My role is kind of a cheerleader, sort of like the Walmart greeter," he said. "They joke about me being the mayor of Thermal.

"That's me. An old guy having fun in retirement,"