Ryan Hunter-Reay “was not pursuing” an IndyCar Series return until Ed Carpenter called him last week, but the man they call ‘Captain America’ is ready to grasp this fresh opportunity. It’s the latest twist of a rollercoaster career that’s seen Hunter-Reay reach the peaks of a championship title in 2012 and win the Indianapolis 500 in 2014.
His career in Indy cars began in the Champ Car days of 2003, driving for Stefan Johansson, and the Texan made an almost immediate impact by winning a wild race at Surfers Paradise in Australia. Between then and now there’s been the dips, including losing his Rocketsports drive towards the end of the 2005 season, before a Lazarus-style IndyCar Series debut with Bobby Rahal’s squad in 2007.
His career threatened to drift again after losing his Vision Racing ride in 2009, although AJ Foyt Racing picked him up for the rest of the season. But it was a supposed part-time schedule with Andretti Autosport in 2010 that produced a win at Long Beach which changed everything after a near-miss in the Sao Paulo season opener. That led to an association with Andretti – primarily with sponsor DHL – that would stretch through to 2021.
“I had agreed to the end of my term at Andretti at the end of 2020, so 2021 was our last season,” he recalls. “I wanted to take a step back, try some new things.
“I wanted to go do the SRXs [Tony Stewart’s mid-week stock car series] of the world. I wanted to have the opportunity to drive for a team like Chip Ganassi Racing in IMSA. I really enjoyed taking a step back and kind of getting a renewed sense of kind of where I wanted to be.
“I've been non-stop since '03, and with the same organisation for 12 years, so it was a good time to just take a step back for a moment. I got to do a lot of things I wouldn't have [done otherwise].
“I got to coach my kids' teams. That means a lot. They're at an age where they're so impressionable, it's really nice for dad to be home for a change and not always be at an airport and sleeping at a hotel. That was something that was very enjoyable, and at the same time, it allowed me to come back very refreshed and focused, and here we are.”
Source: Autosport