We caught up with James in Toronto before he takes off for the IndyCar season opener in St. Petersburg for some insight into the upcoming season, what he's doing off the track and what he thinks about the new double-header race format.
Jordan Lenssen: Thanks for meeting today James, what are you doing while you’re in Toronto?
James Hinchcliffe: It's my pleasure! We just did the Strombo Show with George Stromboulopolous, Off The Record with Michael Landsberg, we were on Global TV, and Brady and Lang on The Fan 590. We’re just hitting a bunch of things, just trying to get everybody pumped up for the season, which kicks off next week.
JL: Cool. What kind of preparations are you doing before St. Petes next week?
JH: Well we just finished two days of testing down in Alabama and the whole series was there. So that was a good sort of refresher, because the off season is so long and we don’t get that many test days anymore and for us, two days in the car with the whole field there is a good way to wake everybody up, brush the dust off and get the season going.
JL: So going into the season, has anything changed for you, in terms of your role and your input?
JH: Well the biggest thing, you know, is that you’ve got one more year of experience. And coming back with the same team for the second year in a row – it’s the first time I’ve had a chance to do that. So I’m working with all the same people, there’s no more of this ‘Get to know you’ phase.
I did switch engineers over the winter, but I got back together with an engineer that I worked with in 2011, so even though it is new to this situation, we’re not new to each other and new to racing. So it was a very productive test that we had down in Barber (Skip Barber) to get back into it.
For me, it’s just the extra year of experience; working with these guys hopefully I can be a better asset to the team on race weekends.
JL: What are the major differences with the Andretti team compared to your first year?
JH: Wow! There are a lot of differences between Newman/Haas and Andretti Autosport. They are two teams that have the same goal to win races, but they go about it very differently.
Andretti is very focused on the commercial side and having sponsors like GoDaddy.com and Dr. Pepper, Snapple and DHL. It proves that they get the business side of things as well as anybody. And that let’s us do our job better because then we’re backed by the right people. We’ve got good partners and we can focus on going out and making the car work for Sunday.
JL: You’re on SPEED TV this year too with the Wind Tunnel. What drove you in that direction? It seems pretty natural for you.
JH: It’s weird! It’s weird that me, at my age, has had as much experience in television as I have, for somebody with absolutely no training in television!
It all kind of started back when I was racing the Atlantic Series. There was a guy that did the international broadcast for the Champ Car races. Two guys did the domestic feed that you see in Canada and the United States, then one guy, by himself, did the feed that went out to 170 countries worldwide. It was very much like the red-headed step child, like ‘Oh ya, he’s here too.” Because it was just him, he’d invite people up into the booth, and I knew this guy, so he asked if I would join him after the Atlantic race one day to just talk for 10 to 15 minutes.
So I came up after my race and put on the headset and the producer’s talking right in my ear and he said, “Okay, we’re live to 170 countries right now, don’t swear.” So I was thinking, “Oh man, this is really real!” I was only supposed to stay for 10 or 15 minutes and they kept me there for the entire race. As soon as it was done they asked me what I was doing next week, so I just started doing it with them. So I got two years of colour commentary experience – completely undeservedly – but it was a great experience for me and it’s led to other cool opportunities.
JL: And you just had to talk on what you know…
JH: Exactly. They were like, “How do you do that?” It’s two guys talking about racing! I could do that all day long, that’s what I do! So ya, it was very natural. As long as you ignore that you’re on camera or you’re going live to 170 countries, don’t swear. If you don’t worry about that stuff, just have a conversation and talk about what you’re seeing – that’s it!
JL: So in terms of the Wind Tunnel, are you going to have your own segment on it?
JH: No, Wind Tunnel is more of a news program, so it’s more like recapping and being able to give the driver’s perspective on the weekend races. They wanted someone to come in and just add a different dynamic. They’re doing a similar thing with Sam Hornish on the stock car side.
But I watch all the NASCAR stuff, sports car, Formula One, MotoGP, so no matter what racing is happening that weekend we’ll be able to have a good talk about it.
JL: What do you think of the announcement with United SportsCar Racing?
JH: Interesting. I think it’s very interesting. It’s good that there will be one series and there will be a transitional period as it all eventually molds together. So next year it will be interesting to see how it all shapes out.
JL: You’ve raced in the 24 Hours of Daytona Grand-Am and the Gold Coast in the V8 Supercars series. Do you think you would ever get into sports car racing?
JH: Absolutely, ya! I’ll get into anything someone will strap me into – I just love driving new cars. Anytime I get a chance to drive something different, I just love doing that. So if opportunities came up to do anything like Sebring or Petit Le Mans or whatever it is, I will absolutely get into it.
JL: Would you race GT or prototype?
JH: I’ll get into anything! Again, you want to be racing for overall wins, so you want to be in the prototypes, but I’ve been doing the Daytona 24 in GT, so I’m perfectly happy with that too.
JL: With Ryan (Hunter Reay) winning last year, pressure does that put on you?
JH: In some ways it’s good to have the champion on your team, because you know the people around you are capable. He won four races and the championship last year. So the team can do it – and that’s a very comforting fact for me trying to get my first win, I know that I’m surrounded by the right people for that; it is definitely a confidence boost. I’d like to be more in the mix and challenging him a little closer at the end of the season for that championship, so there’s pressure, but I think it’s good pressure.
JL: Obviously a driver wants to win anywhere, but where would be a special place for you?
JH: That’s a tough question, because any win is going to be special and you want to win everywhere. But the number one for any driver in IndyCar is the 500. That race is just so far beyond anything else that we do. There’s so much history and tradition behind it, that it is its own deal.
But if you want to take that one out of it, because that’s the default answer – it almost isn’t fair, it would be Toronto, absolutely. I grew up watching the race here. The reason I fell in love with racing was because of this event; it’s my hometown. Winning in Toronto would almost be as good as winning the 500. It would be one heck of a party that’s for sure!
JL: And this year we get two days of you guys. What will be your preparation going into a double-header weekend like that?
JH: Well it’s going to be massively, physically draining on the drivers. After a full race distance, you’re usually pretty tired afterwards. To have to wake up and do it all over again the next day, that’s going to require extra work from us in the gym and training for the weekend.
From the actual competition side of things it’s a very different format; it’s a completely different way of going racing. The teams are going to have to take a lot of time looking at strategy and thinking about tire strategy and qualifying strategy; there are so many new elements, it’s kind of exciting – like having a new toy to play with, you want to figure it out before everybody else. But it’s going to be a lot more work.
JL: Most team owners don’t seem crazy about the new format. What’s your impression from the driver’s point of view?
JH: Personally, I wouldn’t have done it. I understand why they want to do it, but at the end of the day, the Leafs don’t play twice a night. And football teams don’t play twice on Sunday or once on Saturday and once on Sunday. At the top level, it’s one event; you want to draw people to the race, not to the races. They’re trying to help ticket sales and bring more people out on the Saturday. I think what you’re going to see is more people on Saturday than you normally would, but less people on Sunday and about the same number of people over the whole race weekend. I could be completely wrong, I usually am.
JL: And building the cars back up…
JH: That’s the thing. For the teams usually they have a week to completely tear the car apart and rebuild it to make sure everything is good – now these guys are going to have to do it overnight. The crews are going to be pulling all nighters.
JL: Ya, it’s almost going to be like an endurance race.
JH: Pretty much!
JL: So if you have to pick your favourite part of the Toronto circuit and a least favourite part, what would they be?
JH: My favourite part would probably be turn three at the end of Lakeshore. All the action is there, man it’s just fun. I mean you’re blasting down this road that – for me, I used to drive that road all the time! So it’s a bit different for me than the other guys.
The worst corner and my least favourite part is probably turn one. There’s something about it – I’ve never been totally happy with my car through turn one. In all the years I’ve raced there, that one corner, I’ve never been like “Ya, that’s it, we nailed the setup for turn one!” I’ve never done it!
It’s way uneven, it’s got bumps in the brake zone, it’s got a concrete patch right in the middle of it – you go from pavement to concrete to pavement – I mean it’s a nightmare. But that’s what makes it challenging, that’s what makes it fun, but it’s just one of those corners that I just haven’t nailed yet.
**Update: Congratulations James on your first IndyCar win at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix!
Photos: Jordan Lenssen, IndyCar
