Interview With Ryan Hunter Reay
May 26, 2008
Ron McQueeney/IMs
Q: Ryan, you were aware I guess of all the stuff going on out there, especially involving rookies. Was your team talking to you in the race, keep cool, and how was your approach today and how would you rate your effort?
RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Man, I’m so relieved. This is a great finish for us. I drove so hard today. This year I think means a lot more to the rookie, Indianapolis 500 rookie of the year battle than in a bunch of years, maybe 12 years. There has been some great drivers come through the rookies, but it’s been very slim in the past year. This is 11 drivers, very talented field. Man, this is a great field to be on top of. I drove my heart out all day, and the team, we made the car better and better. Hideki kept blocking me there at the end, and I had the fire in my eyes to get bring him. I wasn’t going to let the race finish with that kid in front of me, that’s for sure. (Laughter)
Q: Ryan, a year ago you were a Champ Car castoff, you were looking for a ride in NASCAR. You were hoping Robby Gordon was going to put something together for you. How much does that mean to you?
HUNTER-REAY: It’s huge. One year ago I was walking around the NASCAR paddock, now I’m sitting here at the Indy 500 press room talking about being rookie of the year. It’s huge. I mean, that’s how racing is, but you’ve got to be ready when the opportunity comes, and I was, and I’ve been working well with this team, they’ve been working well with me. It’s a great bunch of guys, and I think there’s going to be much better things to come this year. With that said, we were punching above our weight. I’m not under any disillusions that we’re going to be fighting Penske, AGR and Ganassi every weekend. They’re in a league of their own at the moment. Another thing is congratulations to Scott Dixon. It’s nice to see the fastest car win the race.
Q: Ryan, how much did it kind of help that you were able to have seven races with this team and in this car last year. How much redemption do you feel the way things didn’t turn out as planned on Pole Day and you had the second week where the car seemed like it was getting slower rather than faster?
HUNTER-REAY: I’ve learned a lot of lessons this month. One thing, for sure, at the Indianapolis 500 qualifying doesn’t make all that much a difference unless you’re on the front row. We fought our way through it, passed cars the whole day. It was pretty cool, cool to be a part of. I learned a lot about the track. I can’t tell you how different it is when the car has a bunch of push on it on cold tires in traffic. It’s difficult. We’re definitely earning our money at that point.
Q: What about having seven races last year, how much did that help you prepare for top rookie?
HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, for sure. I mean, running with these guys, you know, I mean they know what they’re doing on these ovals and know how to keep the momentum up. It’s tight, tight competition out there, and that was great to get that under my belt last year. That was the whole point of it was for me to get in the car to be ready to go for 2008. We’ve run a lot better than our results in 2008, also. So it’s nice to have a good result in there. Sixth place is a good result for Team Ethanol, the best Indy 500 for ethanol.
Q: Ryan, you moved up very well some through passes, some through good pit work. What was the key to getting, to moving up those 14 places?
HUNTER-REAY: Like you just said, hit it on the head. The pass on the track, pass in the pit lane. Some cars that were in front of us but slower than us, we got around in the pit lane, which was very nice. Each time I came in, one of those nuisance cars in front of us we’d seem to get around, and then I’d pick off two in a stint. So it was pretty cool. We did it all as planned, you know. I left a margin. That’s about it, you know. (Laughter)
Q: That’s what I was going to ask you about the marbles. Ryan, what did you learn about that today? I mean, obviously some other rookies had problems with that.
HUNTER-REAY: My car was working low, so thankfully, and my spotters were on top of their game telling me, ‘Hey, don’t go high, cars keep crashing high, don’t even get near the marbles.’ So I kept the car on the bottom, almost apexed on the curbs, I was so low. You have to be careful of that. Scheckter wadded up a pretty good race car here a couple years ago doing that. So I watched all my tape like a quarterback for a Super Bowl. I watched years and years of Indianapolis 500s and prepared and watched other guys’ mistakes, and I learned from it.
