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IndyCar
HUNTER-REAY: Walls and Wedding Proposals in Long Beach
IndyCar star Ryan Hunter-Reay files his first column with SPEEDtv.com, and shares a number of memorable moments from last weekend's Long Beach race.
Ryan Hunter-Reay  | http://www.ryanracing.com/  |  Posted April 22, 2009   Indianapolis, IN
Despite rough seas and experiencing the full fury of an F18 at take-off, Hunter-Reay enjoyed his tour aboard the USS Ronald Reagan. (RyanRacing.com)
What a feeling to finally come back to Long Beach. I’ve been living part time in Dana Point, about an hour from the track, for the past few years. Needless to say, I’m a big fan of Southern California.

This track is where I made my debut in Atlantics where I sat on the front row and if it weren’t for a dive bomb move from Jon Fogarty in turn 1, it would have been a very memorable day. Long story short, I went a lap down and proceeded to un-lap myself passing the entire field including the leader. It was fun and I immediately fell in love with Long Beach, the event and the track itself.

2009 was my fifth trip to LB and fourth in top-level open-wheel racing. In 2003 I raced with the American Spirit team alongside Jimmy Vasser. What a teammate! In 2004 I raced with Herdez and met who would soon be my girlfriend, Beccy Gordon. In 2005 I raced in what would be politely be termed a “learning experience” with one of the ChampCar teams. And now I’m finally back to the LBGP with one series and all the talent the IndyCar Series has on display in Southern California. I’ve been looking forward to this race since it was announced last year!

The week started out in the most unusual of places -- nearly 100 miles off the coast of San Diego on our country’s most lethal weapon in warfare, the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. This ship costs $5 Billion to build and costs $1 Million to operate daily. I was invited on this once-in-a-lifetime two day trip by Matt Cortrell and Operation Homefront, which brings sports figures straight into our nation’s defense operations to support and boost morale amongst the troops, pilots and sailors.

Another objective of the operation is to get a positive word out on our experiences on-board the ship…and that won’t be too hard for me. Joining me on the trip were 10 other guests including my fellow IndyCar driver Graham Rahal and super-cross legend Jeremy McGrath.

I could write three pages about the trip, but I’ll just give you a brief idea of what we experienced. Seas were a huge -- 15-21 feet…the boat had a pretty good sway going. I was standing on the ship’s 1100 foot runway deck literally 15 feet away from F-18 Hornets at full throttle hooked up to the ship’s catapult system which takes them from 0-150 mph in about 1 ½ seconds. This is unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life. We stood just feet from where the F-18s land by dropping their hook to the catch cable on the flight deck… mind boggling to witness.

In the middle of the night we were perched in the “VSO deck”, which is a small area at the very tail of the ship where the aircraft is guided in to land. All the lights are off on the ship, except for runway lights and all you can see are the F-18’s lights approaching in the distance. It seems as if they are going to land right on top of your head! They even have a slide on this deck so the personnel can just jump onto the slide and shoot to the lower level of the ship should an aircraft come in too low. Crazy! The F-18’s apply full throttle once the hook catches and I was actually blown to the ground at one point until I figured out how to shield myself from the jet’s thrust.

I fell asleep in a room directly under the launch pad where the aircraft hold the throttle wide open. It’s a 130 decibel, “teeth rattling in your head, ship rocking back and forth” kind of experience, and I loved every second of it. We capped off the trip with a departure launch off the flight deck in a Navy transport plane. I have a new found respect for our armed forces!

I returned to San Diego Naval Air Force base Wednesday evening and drove the hour north to Dana Point where I spent the night at home, albeit still swaying with imbalance from spending two days in rough seas. Thursday morning I drove to Long Beach and met with the Vision team to go over the weekend’s plans and sorting out some driver fitment issues in the car.
The Long Beach race wasn't as magical as St. Pete for Ryan Hunter-Reay, but the off-track activities more than made up for things. (LAT)

Despite an IndyCar being small and customized inside the cockpit, we are still fine tuning the details; remember we’ve only been working together for two weeks. At 4pm it was off to my first of many IZOD / Macy’s appearances of the season. We are kicking off the IZOD Indy line of clothing with these huge event displays at each race market. This was my home mall, so it was pretty cool to see a few IndyCars sitting on the floor of the same Macy’s I have been in many times.

Now on to the more nerve-racking experience of the week: I finally proposed to Beccy! It was just after dinner at L’Opera Restaurant in Long Beach, on our five year anniversary. I still can’t believe she has put up with me for five years! This was a race weekend so unfortunately, there was no time for a long walk on the beach at sunset or anything romantic like that.

I actually popped the question on the way back to the hotel. Easy, laid back and simple... just as we met, and just as we are. We were both happy and she didn’t need or want a big production. It was a big transition -- my mind was fixated on the race weekend ahead, especially coming off our 2nd place finish at St. Pete.

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