Published: May 27, 2014
Hunter-Reay tops field in Indianapolis 500
Driver is 1st American winner since 2006
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
INDIANAPOLIS — Ryan Hunter-Reay grew up admiring drivers who
were willing to take chances. He’s also married to the sister of one of those
drivers. In 2011, Hunter-Reay married Robby Gordon’s sister, Beccy Gordon. “I
am aggressive; I am the guy that will always go for it,” Hunter-Reay said.
“When I was growing up, I really loved the drivers that were like that. I was a
big fan of Robby because he was the guy I wanted to watch. He’s coming through
one way or another. He may not finish, but he’s coming through.”
Hunter-Reay has had a reputation of having a gun-fighter
approach behind the wheel, much like Gordon.
After receiving backlash over a late-race move earlier in
the season at Long Beach, Hunter-Reay proved in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 he’s
still not afraid.
Hunter-Reay edged Helio Castroneves by 0.06 seconds to win
the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500. In the process, he became the first
American to win the race, which has been run on Memorial Day weekend since the
inaugural race in 1911, since Sam Hornish Jr. in 2006.
“I’m a proud American boy, that’s for sure,” he said in
victory lane. “I’ve watched this race since I was sitting in diapers on the
floor in front of the TV. My son did it today. He watched me here. I’m
thrilled. This is American history, this race, is American tradition.”
Castroneves was trying to become just the fourth driver to
win the Indy 500 four times, joining three of the most illustrious drivers in
open-wheel racing history, — AJ Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears.
“It’s frustrating to be so close to something that only a
few guys did,” Castroneves said. “But I do not take for granted. I’m extremely
happy with the result.”
The finish was the second- closest in race history, second
only to Al Unser Jr.’s triumph over Scott Goodyear in 1992 (0.043 seconds).
Marco Andretti was third, Carlos Munoz was fourth and Juan
Pablo Montoya was fifth.
Kurt Busch, making his openwheel racing debut, finished
sixth in the first leg of his attempt at the “Indy 500/Coca-Cola 600 Double.”
Busch had engine failure in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Charlotte,
leaving him just short of the 1,100-mile goal for the day. He ran 906.5 miles.
“What an unbelievable experience,” Busch said before leaving
Indiana-polis Motor Speedway for Charlotte. “It is a dream come true to have an
Andretti Autosport car to drive at Indy. ... To be able to post a sixth-place
finish was beyond my wildest expectations.”
Busch was named the 2014 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the
Year.
With less than three laps to go, Castroneves took the lead
going into Turn 1 from Hunter-Reay. When the two got onto the backstraight,
Hunter-Reay saw the tiniest opening to squeeze his car into, dipping below the
white line near the grass at more than 220 mph. If there was room between Hunter-Reay’s
car and the grass, it wasn’t much.
Earlier this season, Hunter-Reay received criticism for a
similar pass attempt to take the lead at Long Beach that took himself and other
race-winning contenders out of the race.
“I’m not going to let up in way because once you start
letting up, you start changing your driving style, that’s when things start
happening the wrong way,” Hunter-Reay said.
On Monday, he reflected on what he called the race-winning
move at Indianapolis.
“It was very close, that’s for sure,” Hunter-Reay said. “I
thought there was no other way around Helio. I was surprised I was able to pull
it off.”
The IndyCar Series’ next race will be May 31 and June 1 for
the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit. The series will return to the Milwaukee
Mile for the fourthstraight year Aug. 17. Hunter-Reay is the two-time defending
champion of the race.
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