USA TODAY International Edition
Hinchcliffe wins pole for 100th Indy 500
Hinchcliffe goes from brink of death to front of field
Ryan HunterINDIANAPOLIS Reay leaned against the barrier with his young son as James Hinchcliffe completed his final qualifying lap. The pole position for the 100th Indianapolis 500 was going to come down to this. HunterReay wasn’t going to win it. But this was compelling enough to demand a good vantage point.
Hinchcliffe’s team co- owner, Sam Schmidt, a former racer paralyzed in a 2000 crash, looked on as his crew nervously stared down the frontstretch. Gusts of wind stretched flags taut atop the Pagoda.
Honda Performance Development President Art St. Cyr stood at the entrance to Gasoline Alley, arms crossed, wincing at a large video board that winked out a live feed and the results of Hinchcliffe’s previous three laps.
There was a hush as Hinchcliffe’s Honda penetrated the shadows and tore under the flag stand and past the checkered flag. Then a pause. Then a roar. Then a story got better.
“That’s a pretty good day,” St. Cyr told USA TODAY Sports after unashamedly thrusting his fists skyward. In many ways, for many people. A year after he nearly died in a crash in the Indianapolis 500 preliminaries, requiring the routine heroics of the IndyCar safety crew and 22 pints of blood and fluids, the 29- year- old Canadian claimed the pole for the Indy 500.
Hinchcliffe, a jovial sort who has become the relatable face and plug- and- play spokesman for IndyCar, has attempted to respectfully divert his story line from a personal comeback to the efforts of Schmidt- Peterson Motorsports. He has succeeded in varying degrees and to varying levels of frustration. But he had to surrender to it, somewhat, Sunday.
“I get it. It was a big deal. It was a big deal to me, too,” he said of the accident, using an inflection to infuse humor. “And I understand that. And I really appreciated that people wanted to hear the story,
wanted to tell the story for me. There was a lot of really, really nice pieces done, a lot of nice tributes done in that sense. But no, then you’re coming back to this place and you want to focus on the here and now and not remember or focus on hitting the wall at 125 Gs.
“Hopefully this is the topic of conversation for the next week, and a week from now we’ve got an even better story to tell.”
Hinchcliffe considered his return to a race car last fall, the successful rehabilitation from being pierced through the cockpit of his car by a broken suspension piece, as more of a milestone than returning to the backdrop of where everything nearly ended. His peers don’t necessarily share the same view.
“For him to come here and drive a race car into a corner at 240 miles an hour ... ,” Hunter- Reay said. “I look up to him.”
Schmidt knows from personal experience from where Hinchcliffe came. He knows the consequences of this game. He’s seen it all too close.
“James is kind of downplaying this thing,” said Schmidt, whose own comeback has included driving automated cars on race circuits. “I was there a year ago, and he wasn’t nearly as pretty as he is now.”
Now it’s on to a race, where this story can really develop. For Hinchcliffe and his Honda counterparts.
A season after languishing to compete with Chevrolet and being granted extra offseason relief by IndyCar to improve aerodynamic performance, Honda has found hope for victory through computer hours and internal pressure and the occasional shouting match. Watching Hinchcliffe win the pole and HunterReay qualify third was especially profound because Honda was not allowed to alter the aerodynamic body kits used on superspeedways such as Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
St. Cyr and his teams had been wary that their perceived gains were aided by Chevy sand- bagging. Sunday, they haughtily proclaimed their improved chances for a historic win.
Schmidt said Hondas were 10 times more likely to compete for an Indianapolis 500 win this year than last. Hunter- Reay deemed the increased opportunity not even comparable, saying, “Last year I felt like I was in a different class. This year I have a chance.”
“We weren’t even close last year,” Schmidt said. “Graham ( Rahal) did a hell of a job finishing fifth last year, but this year we can go toe- to- toe for sure. I’m sure the ( Chevrolet- driving) Penskes will be strong on race day, as will the Ganassis and Josef ( Newgarden) — they’ll all be strong on race day. But I think the fans are going to see a hell of a race.”
And if this keeps going, a hell of a story.