Ryan is in his first season with Andretti Autosport, and scored the team’s first victory since 2008 when he won at Long Beach on April 18th. Ryan, you’re third in points, and we’re entering the first oval portion of the schedule this weekend at Kansas Speedway.
Q. Have you been looking forward to getting on an oval after the momentum you have from the road courses?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that’s what I always say about IndyCar. That’s what I love about it, is you’re always changing up disciplines of racing and how you go from—like what we just did, going from a permanent road course to a temporary street circuit to a mile-and-a-half super speedway. That’s what makes this series what it is.
It’s the only racing series in the world that does that. It’s really cool. I’m looking forward to it. I think it’ll be my best opportunity in oval equipment that I’ve ever had. I’m definitely looking forward to having some fun turning left.
Q. Earlier today, the Indy Racing League did announce that it will crown champions for the oval portion of the schedule and the road and street portions of the schedule in addition to the overall Izod IndyCar Championship.
Have you heard that, and what are your thoughts on the new format?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: I think it’s great to highlight the fact that we do have two completely different disciplines of racing within one series. Like I said, it’s the only racing series in the world that does that with the street courses, road courses, mile-and-a-half super speedways, and short ovals.
So it’s great to highlight that and give it some recognition, but really what matters is winning is the Indy 500 and winning the series championship. I don’t think anybody has heard that and is like, ‘OK, my primary goal is to win the road course championship or win the oval.’
I think it’s kind of a side note. ‘Congratulations, you were the best in that category.’ But what real matters is the series championship and Indy 500.
Q. How important is it to have an oval as a lead-in to the month of May, especially given the shortening of the month of May schedule?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: It’s absolutely critical. Kansas is a warmup to Indy. It’s not like Indy in any way, but at the same time it is an oval race. You have to get your package sorted, get yourself comfortable back on a big super speedway like that back in packs, you know pack racing.
Yeah, it’s definitely crucial heading into the next stretch of the season, which is 4 oval races. But really, everybody has their eye on Indy. That’s the big picture here. We’re heading into the month of May coming up, and we all have—that’s on our minds ten times a day.
Q. Got a couple for you. We talked to Tomas a minute ago. What do you think of the new Indy qualifying format? Do you think that the less time on the track ahead of qualifying will impact you?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Well, you know, the new Indy format is a qualifying format that is only going to make it hairier, like Tomas was saying. I feel the same way. I mean, qualifying at Indy, I don’t care where you’ve qualified or how much pressure has been on you, there’s nothing like qualifying for the Indy 500.
If you’re in a position where you can be safe with a fast car then it’s not overly complicated. But if you need to lower that wing down to minus six, minus seven or whatever and you’re hanging it out - which we’re gonna be for the top nine - awarding points and prize money for the starting spots, it’s definitely—there’s a highlight on that.
It’s important for your championship run, so you have to going out and give it everything you have. It’s gonna be good TV. I can guarantee you that.
Q. I would like to ask you also about Kansas. Some people criticize Kansas and other 1.5s as cookie cutter tracks. What do you see as unique about Kansas? What are some of the things you have to be good at to do well there?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: I don’t think I really see anything as being unique with Kansas. I do see that we have a good amount of mile-and-a-half ovals that we need to get that package sports. So this is the first test of that, and we need to go out and have a good race weekend.
So there’s a lot importance riding on this weekend for us as a team, and on my program. Obviously IZOD has been great as a sponsor of the No. 37, the Andretti Autosport car. We’re heading into the month of May very uncertain about where it leads us. Indy could very well be our last race. It’s just a big question right now.
Q. Ryan, you mentioned IZOD. I wonder from a driver’s point of view, the corporate sponsorship with IZOD, the new relationship it’s got with the series, what have you seen as a driver? What impact has it had as far as what they’re doing for the sport? I know we made a big deal here when NASCAR went from Winston to Sprint and Nextel. How do you see IZOD’s impact on your sport?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Well, IZOD as a title sponsor already has done an amazing job. Everybody is so happy with it. They’re gonna take this sport to an area it’s never been. And we really needed it at this point.
The product we have on the racetrack is amazing. If you’ve never been to a race and you go to a race, you’re gonna come back. It’s just really good racing.
When it comes down to it, we need to get outside of the bubble we’re in. Just IndyCar fans, die-hard IndyCar fans and the automotive industry and that bubble. That’s what they’re doing.
First and foremost, the parent company is a marketing company. That’s what they’re doing. They’re gonna market this series. Their whole agenda is to market the cars and stars of IndyCar. They’re taking us out into pop culture rather than just leaving it inside, like I said, inside the automotive industry and the bubble we’ve been in.
You already saw it with Hollywood where they shut down Hollywood Boulevard there and had, you know, Mark Wahlberg and all the stars. It’s only the beginning. It’s only getting started.
The first round commercials haven’t even been released yet. But they’re gonna take it above and beyond where it’s ever been, and that’s what the sport really needs right now.
Q. Have you shot some commercials or photos? What’s been some of your hands-on experience with the new sponsor?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Well, as you maybe know, I’ve been working with them for two and a half years now as a personal sponsor, now as a primary sponsor on the Andretti Autosport car. But we shot commercials down in Panama in November, which is what you’re seeing now, bits and pieces of the Race to the Party commercial where you see IndyCar drivers, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, myself, outside of the racetrack and kind of in that lifestyle fit for IZOD, which it’s American, it’s active, it’s young.
We’re all taking different modes of transportation to this party. There’s more segments coming out of before the Indy 500. During the telecast they’ll have the full two-minute commercial, which is a hefty, hefty price. They’re gonna continue playing that at other times and in other major sporting events.
I don’t know if you saw in the NFC and AFC championship games for the NFL, they played IZOD IndyCar commercials. During the Masters they played Izod IndyCar commercials. This is activation marketing we’ve never seen before.
Like I said, I think it’s just being rammed up, and we’ll see a lot more soon.
Q. What did you call it?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: It’s called Race to the Party. So racetotheparty.com. You can kind of get out where it’s going. But that’s that spot’s kind of name. It’s a segment of commercial spots.
Q. Shot in Panama, huh?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah. We shot the first bit in Panama, and just did another bit in Malibu, California right after Long Beach kind of wrapping it up.
Yeah, we shot on these very small islands in Panama. Looked like a Corona commercial. It was pretty cool.
Q. From your win in Long Beach, talk about what that meant to the Andretti Autosport team after being shut out last year? After a few days of thinking, what were some of the reactions, or what did it mean to the team?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: It meant a lot to the team for so many reasons. Obviously Michael is a full owner of the team now, sole owner of the team. It meant a lot to him to rebound and get right back on the top step of the podium.
It meant a lot to me because he gave me this opportunity, and Izod made it happen to get us up there. Right now it’s a part-time deal. It kind of felt like we were the underdogs and we really pulled it out. It was just is great weekend.
And that team, those guys, there’s so much talent there. They just want to win races. They’re so determined. It’s great to surround yourself with people like that. Actually, we’re having a great time. There’s great chemistry on the team and a lot of fun to be at the racetrack with those guys.
When everything kind of goes right like that, to get a win out of it, to be the fastest car on the track, it was a very cool weekend. Long Beach was great.
But there’s no sense of fulfillment on the team. Come Tuesday we were done with it. We need to go on and win some more races, that’s for sure.
Q. Another one of the things new to the league this year is we’re now two months into the current reign of Randy Bernard. How much interaction do you have as driver with the head of the organization?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: I’ve met Randy a couple times. Had some good conversations with him here and there. Had a good conversation with him in Sao Paulo on the way back home in the airport.
You know, he’s done it right where he comes in, and he is—he is actively in control, but he hasn’t come in and just started taking the situation by the neck.
He’s really just finding his place, finding where everything is and what the temperature is, and he’ll go from there. It’s in the transition phase, and he’s doing a great job. Like the IZOD situation, it’s only getting started.
Certainly has said all the right things. If you see what he did for professional bull riders, it’s unreal when you look at it. Hopefully that same story can happen for IndyCar.
Q. Ryan, if you could address the significance of being kind of the banner holder for the American race winners in the IndyCar series, what that means to you. Does it mean anything special to you as a driver?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, absolutely it does. I mean, because I can relate. Growing up as a kid racing karts, I really looked up to Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser, Robby Gordon and those guys when I was a kid wanting to be an IndyCar driver.
There was that feeling of wanting to root for the American guys. You know, I think everybody, especially in America, is very patriotic. But the way IndyCar is with the diversity and talent, the best talent from the around the world is the right formula.
But I’m extremely honored to be the top of the points right now for the American drivers. But we’ve got some great talented guys in there right now. If I can take that next step and carrying that American flag at the same time, it’s all that much better.
And IZOD is super—you know, they’re really that America feel. It’s a good match that way, too.
Q. Did you think IndyCar might benefit from having some sort of a nation’s cup type deal with the oval and road course awards that were recently announced to bring that diversity more to the forefront? Do you think that might be valuable?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: I think so. You could get a little lopsided because there are so many Brazilians in the series compared to Americans. Maybe if you take the highest finishing nationality from each event and count the highest finishing, you know, that would be pretty cool. I would enjoy that. I think that would be really neat.
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