Ganassi goes green with Ericsson for Mid-Ohio
The last time Marcus Ericsson drove a car with something other than the red and white colors of Huski Chocolate, the Swede landed in victory lane at the inaugural Nashville Grand Prix.
Dressed in the green and black of new Chip Ganassi Racing sponsor Ridgeline Lubricants for this weekend’s Mid-Ohio IndyCar race, Ericsson says he hopes for a repeat of good fortune when his minty No. 8 Honda hits the track.
“I only did one race in a different livery and that went pretty well in the black and red Bryant car,” he told RACER. “So I'm hoping that is a good sign because I really want to win this weekend.”
Owing to nearly a century of superstitions surrounding the use of green on IndyCars, not to mention a rough time in Formula 1 with an all-green car, the Indy 500 winner and championship leader wants nothing to do with the bad luck that’s said to come with the color.
“Talking about green cars, I did a whole year of running green cars… and that maybe wasn’t the best year of my life with Caterham in Formula 1,” he said. “But I'm told [CGR’s] Dario [Franchitti] won a race in a green car in back in 2009 with Chip, so I'm optimistic and the car, I think, looks good. We’ll stand out.”
Ericsson returns to Mid-Ohio after spending nearly a week back home in Sweden, where a surprise was waiting for him after landing.
“It was really nice actually, it was the only gap to the end of the season that I saw, and all my friends and family wanted to see me after the 500,” he said. “I got six days at home, but it was six good days. So I really enjoyed it and got a lot of energy from it. I felt like it was perfect.
“And my home city wanted to do a big thing to celebrate the 500, but it was such a short time, I told them we should do it later in the year because we were planning to bring the BorgWarner trophy to Sweden. But it was funny because my friends surprised me at the airport. My dad was going to come and pick me up and then 10 of my best friends showed up, they rented a minivan and were standing there and making a lot of noise when I walked out. So it was it was fun and it was a good surprise.”
Marshall Pruett
The 2026 season marks Marshall Pruett's 40th year working in the sport. In his role today for RACER, Pruett covers open-wheel and sports car racing as a writer, reporter, photographer, and filmmaker. In his previous career, he served as a mechanic, engineer, and team manager in a variety of series, including IndyCar, IMSA, and World Challenge.
Read Marshall Pruett's articles
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