Retired Race Car Driver Races Again
While numerous drivers in the Indianapolis 500 have given spot Tv set reports from behind the wheel during things such every bit race stoppages or under xanthous circumspection periods, James Hinchcliffe potentially may accept the best seat in the house at this year's 106th Running of the Greatest Spectacle In Racing.
Hinchcliffe, who has gone on hiatus as a race auto driver subsequently finishing 20th in the final 2022 IndyCar standings and joined NBC Sports this flavor as an analyst for IndyCar and IMSA events, is considering covering this year'south Greatest Spectacle In Racing by reporting from the cockpit of a race car.
"That conversation definitely happened and was a very big part of our discussions," Hinchcliffe told Autoweek. "Patently, Indy is pretty unique and pretty special and something every driver wants the power to compete in, and aye, that option is there.
"Then if the right ride does come along, that opportunity is at that place. (NBC has) even expressed how exciting it could exist to have essentially a member of the broadcast team be part of the race and nosotros call it the in-race reporter rather than a pit reporter.
"I don't need to run the Indy 500 just to say I'grand running it once again. It would accept to be a competitive ride, something I think gives us a genuine shot at winning. Just if that comes effectually, that's certainly an option."
Hinchcliffe, who has had prior on-air experience as a pit lane reporter for NBC in 2020, as well as appeared several times on CBS during last year'due south Superstar Racing Feel season, officially began his new NBC gig during this past weekend's Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona IMSA season-opening event.
In any other instance, at the very least the Toronto native might accept found himself in one of the IMSA prototypes this weekend instead of in the broadcast booth or in the pits. Only a combination of things prompted the and then-called "Mayor of Hinchtown" to step away—but he insists it'due south non retirement—only later on turning 35 terminal month.
"If you had asked me five years ago 'do you think you'll even so be driving in half-dozen years?' I probably would accept said yeah," Hinchcliffe said. "But the world doesn't e'er go to your exact plan. In that location'south some family issues or family reasons, some personal, some professional. So at the same time, with NBC renewing the bargain for IndyCar racing for the next three years, that the timing was sort of there.
"I'd always had this passion for the Television set side of the sport, and e'er had ambitions to get into it when the driving days were done. And when I kind of took the 30,000 human foot view of everything, information technology made a lot of sense, it made too much sense to turn down the opportunity."
When his ride with Andretti Autosport went away after concluding season, he had discussions with several teams, but they weren't plenty for Hinchcliffe to forego the opportunity presented him past NBC.
Don't Telephone call Information technology Retirement
"I'm very much Not retired from racing," Hinchcliffe said with emphasis. "This is just a conclusion to pace back from total-time IndyCar. And that does certainly leave opportunities for one-off IndyCar races or getting to explore some other options of things I've e'er wanted to practise.
"I'm a racer, I'thousand a race fan. In that location's a lot of different series and a lot of different cars that I'd dear the opportunity to get to effort. And this sort of frees upwards the time and the ability to practise that. So sports car racing, some stock car stuff, maybe some i-off IndyCar stuff, those are all however very much on the cards. … This was past no ways a retirement from racing. Information technology'south just a pace back from full-time competition."
Hinchcliffe will team primarily with Leigh Diffey and Townsend Bell in the berth, essentially replacing former IndyCar driver Paul Tracy, whose contract with the network was not renewed after terminal season.
"The opportunity from NBC was in that location, it was sort of too skilful to reject," Hinchcliffe said. "It was one of those things where you lot await at it, you attempt to look at it intelligently and say, 'All right, do I kick, scream and fight for peradventure one more twelvemonth or start setting yourself up for the next career and the next 15-twenty years?"
I'k Yet One Of You Guys
When asked if his now former competitors in IndyCar volition wait upon him in a dissimilar mode at present that he's a member of the media, Hinchcliffe chuckled.
"TBD, I guess," he said. "That's a question for them, not me. I certainly hope that in some in some capacity I'm still looked at the aforementioned, and I'grand certainly hoping that my relationship with a lot of these guys is going to help do good the broadcast and benefit the testify.
"My passion for a long time has always been educating people nearly IndyCar racing. There is but so much yous tin can necessarily pick upward from watching trackside or even watching on TV and getting the opportunity to talk to people and really become the insights of the ins and outs of the sport has always been really fun for me.
"And I think some of those relationships I've got certainly with some of the guys are things that we tin utilize over the course of the year to tell that story even better, and educate people even improve. Then nosotros'll see. I mean, (his fellow drivers) treated me pretty well in 2022 when I was moonlighting and in pit lane (when he was a function-time pit reporter for NBC), but at present that information technology's more than of a permanent situation, we'll see how that changes."
More than Goals Left in IndyCar
Hinchcliffe readily admits he still has goals he'd like to achieve driving an Indy automobile, if he gets the take a chance.
"What's of import to remember near this sport is equally a commuter, at that place's so much exterior of your control," he said. "Are there things in my career that I wish I had accomplished, or would yet like to reach? Admittedly. Do I sympathize that and do I believe that I am withal capable of doing those things? Absolutely.
"Only you have to you have to exist realistic to the situation and know that it's not just a part of my effort, my talent, my work ethic, to make these things happen. There are a lot of external factors that come into play. When I weighed all those things up and the opportunities available, and the landscape of the series right at present, they weren't there. That'southward why the opportunity to brand this transition now made and then much sense.
"I don't feel like there's unfinished business in that sense. I believe that every time I got in the car, I laid information technology all out in that location, I did everything in my power to bring home good results for my squad. And I do believe I could still do it if the opportunity was right. Simply the correct opportunity wasn't there, and that fabricated this (NBC) the right opportunity for me."
Bullish on IndyCar
While he'll be looking at IndyCar from a dissimilar perspective at present, from the booth rather than the cockpit, Hinchcliffe remains bullish that the series and its popularity volition continue to grow, particularly during the next iii years with NBC.
"For the last 5 plus years, a lot of people have felt—myself included—that IndyCar was really on the cusp of an expansion, a really large growth," he said. "And information technology hasn't happened in this sort of like, overnight instance, but information technology has been this steady growth over that time.
"… But if we proceed nurturing that and keep making these small gains, yes, somewhen, nosotros're going to see ourselves in an even better position. And then I don't think we need to blow upwards overnight. I think the foundation is at that place for this series to be healthy and go along to abound over the next five to x years and, and so who knows where we can go."
Don't You Know That You're My Hero
Hinchcliffe closed out the interview with Autoweek talking about his best friend, IndyCar driver Robert Wickens, who was paralyzed from the chest down in a horrific crash in Baronial 2022 at Pocono Raceway.
Wickens returned to race for the first time since his blow in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge equally an undercard to the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Wickens drove a race machine with hand controls and finished on the podium.
"Robby is my hero, there's no other way to put it really," Hinchcliffe said of his swain Canadian. "Having been in that location with him through the accident and the recovery and everything he's achieved, information technology's so incredible and so amazing then inspiring. But it'southward not ane flake surprising. He's just that kind of person, that kind of driver. He's approaching this season the same way as if he was racing in Formula 1 next year.
"The level of commitment and the work ethic that you lot go out of that guy is second to none to any driver on the planet. And it's so awesome to see him back behind the wheel. I can merely imagine how it feels for him. I know how thrilled he is to be back."
Follow Autoweek contributor Jerry Bonkowski on Twitter @JerryBonkowski
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Source: https://www.autoweek.com/racing/indycar/a38944732/james-hinchliffe-indycar-hiatus-retirement/
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