Comments on: The Contenders, Part I: Ryan Hunter-Reay

By: Bent Wickerbill

Bent Wickerbill — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 23:26:50 +0000

A great column George…

By: manik56

manik56 — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:30:24 +0000

You can’t say no to Penske unless your Ganassi contract is already signed.

-Steve K

By: billytheskink

billytheskink — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:43:13 +0000

Great read George. I’m quite happy to see Hunter-Reay with a shot at the Indycar championship, not just because he’s a new face at the top of standings, but also because it’s great to see his hard work and resilience pay off.

- He revived his career after spending 2005-2007 running either a partial schedule or not at all.
- His career has survived sponsorship fallouts at ASTJ, HVM, Rocketsports, Rahal, Vision, and nearly Andretti,
- He has also survived awful rides at ASTJ, Rocketsports, Vision, Foyt, and Andretti’s Indy 500 program.
- In 2009 and 2010, he was the series’ only full-time American male without a family pedigree in Indycar racing.
- He’s won races for 4 different teams, and recorded the most recent win for 3 of those 4 teams.

This is a career that should give any downtrodden race car driver hope. It is the definition of “paying his dues”.

By: Carburetor

Carburetor — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:41:53 +0000

I suspect the wild card in the decision making might be with Marco Andretti and what, if any, his being on the AA team impacts the other AA drivers. For some reason, I don’t think he seems like a very good teammate to me, but I may be mistaken. I would always be leary of a father-son relationship as a teammate. If RHR does leave for Penske, I would think there would be a long line of drivers wanting that seat at AA (any hope for Simona?). With RHR and Hinchcliffe’s competitiveness this year, AA seems to be back among the “power” teams in the series.

By: Ron Ford

Ron Ford — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:41:33 +0000

Excellent choice of subject matter for this week George. Well done.

By: Arthur Alford (@chezcliff)

Arthur Alford (@chezcliff) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:16:08 +0000

Tony Kaanan chose loyalty to Andretti over a seat in one of the Big Two’s cars, and was dumped a year later. Something for RH-R to ponder?

By: JohnMc

JohnMc — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:55:23 +0000

George, that is a well written column on a very deserving Ryan Hunter-Reay. As you know, I have been a fan of RHR since the beginning and it is a lot of fun to see his career unfold like I expected. As for the team he drives for next year, Penske isn’t the be all, end all. Andretti is proving that as a team owner he has what it takes to win and shows that this series is dominated once again by “The Big Three.” RHR can win right where he is and Michael has the desire to get it done as well. By the way, RHR has a terrific teammate in Hinch. He is going to be a winner, too.