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IndyCar
MILLER: Loyalty Or Royalty For RHR?
He’s fighting for a championship while wrestling with the biggest decision of his career.
Ryan Hunter-Reay has a lot to ponder and decide in the coming days. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
He’s fighting for a championship while wrestling with the biggest decision of his career.
So forgive Ryan Hunter-Reay if he seems a little preoccupied during the next few days.
After being a vagabond in open wheel racing and even finding himself homeless one season, the 31-year-old grad of the American ladder system has a different kind of problem: two of the best teams in the IZOD IndyCar series want him.
In almost any other scenario, this would be nirvana for a race driver.
Roger Penske is the gold standard of North American motorsports and it’s the dream of most racers who turn pro to drive for The Captain.
Michael Andretti snatched RHR from the unemployment line, kept him in a car despite not having it fully funded and they’ve teamed up to be the only challenger left between Will Power and his first title.
Penske wants to start a relationship and Andretti wants to keep a good one going.
For a lot of people, it would appear to be an easy call for RHR because nobody EVER turns down Penske.
“I know what I’d do,” says one veteran. “He’ll only get one chance at that ride.”
In a business as cut-throat as auto racing, the driver has to do what is best for that image he or she sees in the mirror every morning. It’s not being selfish as much as it is survival.
If you go with Team Penske, you’re automatically a favorite to win the Indianapolis 500 and, of course, the championship. You’ll always get the best equipment available, the maximum test time allowed and more R&D than anybody in the paddock, save Target/Ganassi.
The playing field was pretty level in this first year of the Dallara but will it still be in 2013? Or will Penske and Ganassi start to separate themselves?
If you can hang with Penske, chances are he’ll also help you make some smart investments with the money he pays you.
But this isn’t your typical Penske narrative, like when he plucked Rick Mears away from Teddy Yip or Paul Tracy from Dale Coyne. It was a no-brainer for those two in the infancy of their Indy-car days.
RHR is a different story – much different.
From 2003 (his rookie year in CART) to 2009, the ex-Formula Atlantic star was shuttled between six teams and also spent 2006 as a spectator, with nothing in Champ Car or the Indy Racing League.
When Andretti offered him a part-time deal in 2010, Ryan responded with a second in Brazil and a victory at Long Beach. Since then, he’s become the leader of 3-car pack for this Indy-based outfit and a favorite of sponsors DHL and Sun Drop with that all-American smile and his performance.
So forgive Ryan Hunter-Reay if he seems a little preoccupied during the next few days.
After being a vagabond in open wheel racing and even finding himself homeless one season, the 31-year-old grad of the American ladder system has a different kind of problem: two of the best teams in the IZOD IndyCar series want him.
In almost any other scenario, this would be nirvana for a race driver.
Roger Penske is the gold standard of North American motorsports and it’s the dream of most racers who turn pro to drive for The Captain.
Michael Andretti snatched RHR from the unemployment line, kept him in a car despite not having it fully funded and they’ve teamed up to be the only challenger left between Will Power and his first title.
Penske wants to start a relationship and Andretti wants to keep a good one going.
For a lot of people, it would appear to be an easy call for RHR because nobody EVER turns down Penske.
“I know what I’d do,” says one veteran. “He’ll only get one chance at that ride.”
In a business as cut-throat as auto racing, the driver has to do what is best for that image he or she sees in the mirror every morning. It’s not being selfish as much as it is survival.
If you go with Team Penske, you’re automatically a favorite to win the Indianapolis 500 and, of course, the championship. You’ll always get the best equipment available, the maximum test time allowed and more R&D than anybody in the paddock, save Target/Ganassi.
The playing field was pretty level in this first year of the Dallara but will it still be in 2013? Or will Penske and Ganassi start to separate themselves?
If you can hang with Penske, chances are he’ll also help you make some smart investments with the money he pays you.
But this isn’t your typical Penske narrative, like when he plucked Rick Mears away from Teddy Yip or Paul Tracy from Dale Coyne. It was a no-brainer for those two in the infancy of their Indy-car days.
RHR is a different story – much different.
From 2003 (his rookie year in CART) to 2009, the ex-Formula Atlantic star was shuttled between six teams and also spent 2006 as a spectator, with nothing in Champ Car or the Indy Racing League.
When Andretti offered him a part-time deal in 2010, Ryan responded with a second in Brazil and a victory at Long Beach. Since then, he’s become the leader of 3-car pack for this Indy-based outfit and a favorite of sponsors DHL and Sun Drop with that all-American smile and his performance.
INDYCAR BRAZIL
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