MAN WITH A PLAN
Canada’s James Hinchcliffe has the Indy 500 pole — and a strategy — ahead of Sunday’s green flag,
INDIANAPOLIS— Two of the most famous races on the calendar go to the post Sunday, the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600.
To date, only four drivers have attempted to race in both of them.
Some day, there will be a fifth. It might very well be the pole sitter for this year’s 100th Indy 500, Canadian James Hinchcliffe of Oakville.
For the first time in its history, the 500 is sold out. There are about 220,000 permanent seats at the Speedway, room for about 5,000 people in luxury suites and room for 50,000 to 75,000 in the infield which translates into a potential audience of about 300,000.
Hinchcliffe, fellow Canadian Alex Tagliani of Montreal and the 31other drivers who are geared up for the start at Indianapolis a little after noon EDT Sunday (TV: ABC) had a day off Saturday to prepare for the 500 miles, which at speeds averaging close to 230 miles an hour can be what some say is a two-to-threehour mental and physical wringing out.
Although they weren’t in their race cars Saturday, they did have public appearances to make, most notably riding in the annual 500 Parade through the streets of downtown Indianapolis. And then there was an autograph session and the public drivers’ meeting, in which Verizon IndyCar Series officials cautioned the racers to take it easy the first few laps until the field got strung out a bit and reminded Hinchcliffe of his responsibilities as pole-sitter, advising him to bring the field to the starting line at a steady, strong pace.
The NASCAR race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina will start later in the day, at or around 6 p.m. EDT (TSN), and is the longest race on the Sprint Cup schedule, which makes is even more difficult for drivers who try to complete both of them.
To do what is commonly called “the Double,“a racer has to go 500 miles at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, leave the track by helicopter, fly in a chartered jet to Charlotte, land at the speedway there in a helicopter, climb into a completely different car and race for another 600 miles. Oh, and the driver has to change uniforms and to remember which sponsors to plug at which race.
Of the four NASCAR stars to make the effort so far — John Andretti, Robbie Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch — only Stewart, in 2001, completed all 1,100 miles, finishing 6th at Indy and 3rd at Charlotte.
No IndyCar driver has ever tried “the Double“but Hinchcliffe told the Star in an interview that he thinks about doing it all the time. He‘s just not sure about the timing.
“For sure, it’s definitely something that you think about,” he said. “It’s tough, though. I don’t want to say that the 600 is just another race on the schedule but it’s not Daytona. For us, this is the top of the mountain. To split your focus and split your attention for this particular weekend in this particular month is a big ask for the IndyCar guys.”
After thinking about it for a moment, however, Hinchcliffe added:
“Maybe later in the career, maybe. I’ll never say never. I would love to do it.“
While Hinchcliffe is going to start the 500 diametrically opposite from his fellow Canadian Tagliani — “Hinch” is on the left side of the front row and “Tag” is on the right side of the last row — he said he’s planning to be a little more conservative than his countryman. While Tagliani told the Star Friday that he plans to head straight for the front as soon as the field gets the green flag, Hinchcliffe suggested he‘s planning to go more with the flow, that leading the first lap isn‘t a priority.
“The two times I started second (the middle of the front row, in 2012 and 2014), I led the first lap,” he said. “So that’s not a guarantee for the pole sitter. We’re going to take it easy, feel out the track, feel out the car but try to stay in the first couple of spots because once you get back to fourth, fifth, sixth in a line, it gets really tough to hang onto the car.”
“We’ve seen in practice that the guy out front is the most vulnerable. He’s the slowest guy on the track (because he’s “towing” the cars behind him). You’re going to see a lot of back-andforth, you’re going to see a lot of ebb and flow. Understanding that, as a driver, is important.”
Both drivers have additional Canadian content on their teams. Although Tagliani is driving for the legendary American hero A.J. Foyt’s racing team, he’s imported Alex Nagy to be his spotter (an extra set of eyes stationed atop the tallest grandstand connected by radio to the driver).
Nagy, of Brantford, is director of the NASCAR Pinty’s Series. He and Tagliani have been friends since the driver formed a NASCAR Canada stock car racing team in 2010. “I don’t have any other role (with A.J. Foyt Racing) than spotting for Tag,” said Nagy. “He leans on me a lot.”
Hinchcliffe drives for the SchmidtPeterson Racing Team, which is coowned by Ric Peterson of Calgary.