Ryan Hunter-Reay

Infobox racing driver
name = Ryan Hunter-Reay
nationality = USA
date of birth = Birth date and age|1980|12|17
place of birth = Dallas, Texas
current series = IRL IndyCar Series
first year = 2007
current team = Rahal Letterman Racing
car number = 17
starts = 23
wins = 1
poles = 0
best finish = 8th
year = 2008
prev series = Champ Car World Series
Toyota Atlantic Championship
Barber Dodge Pro Series
prev series years = 2003-2005
2002
2000-2001
awards = Skip Barber Big Scholarship
WorldCom Rising Star Award
IndyCar Rookie of the Year
Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year
award years = 1999
2002
2007
2008

Ryan Hunter-Reay (born December 17, 1980 in Dallas, Texas) is an American auto racing driver, best known for spending three years (2003–2005) in the Champ Car World Series. He drove for three different teams and won two races, but did not compete in the series in 2006. He now drives in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series for Rahal Letterman Racing.

Career History

Early years

After winning six national karting championships, Hunter-Reay won a Skip Barber Karting Scholarship to race in Skip Barber Formula Dodge Series. He then won the Skip Barber Formula Dodge National Championship in 1999 and then a shoot-out against the top Formula Dodge drivers for the Skip Barber Big Scholarship prize and its $150,000 prize.

Racing in the Barber Dodge Pro Series from 2000 to 2001, Hunter-Reay won the Rookie of the Year award in 2000, and claimed two wins in 2001. He then proceeded up the Champ Car developmental "ladder" to the Toyota Atlantic Series in 2002, where he finished sixth overall in the points standings, won three races, and led the circuit in laps led, poles, and fast times. This secured him the Worldcom "Rising Star" Award and attention from several Champ Car teams.

Champ Car

In 2003 Hunter-Reay joined the Champ Car World Series, driving for the first-year low-budget American Spirit Team Johansson. Although handicapped with a slower Reynard chassis and three separate engineers, he impressed many with a front row start and third place finish at Mid-Ohio, as well as a win at Surfers Paradise where he qualified as the top Reynard and worked his way up to fifth on a diabolical wet/dry changing track. He opted for a high-risk strategy and pitted on the first lap of a mandatory three lap window to take on slick tires, managing to do what a lot of veterans could not and keep his car on the track and incident free. Through three restarts, he beat first ex-Champion and teammate Jimmy Vasser and then Briton Darren Manning for the win.

In 2004, Hunter-Reay moved to the Herdez Competition team, where he recorded the team's first ever pole and won in dominant fashion at Milwaukee, leading all 250 laps and setting a Champ Car series record for most laps led in a single race. He qualified on the front row at Road America; however, a first-lap back-of-the-track incident where his ex-teammate Vasser forced him off before "RHR" returned the favor at the next corner moved both drivers to dead last. Hunter-Reay fought his way back to a fourth place finish; however, other than at Toronto (where he was running third on the last lap until Patrick Carpentier ran into the back of him and cut down a tire forcing him to pit), the remainder of the season was inconsistent.

In 2005, Hunter-Reay moved again, this time to the uncompetitive second seat at the Rocketsports Racing team. He struggled through most of the season without an engineer and rarely ran near the front of the pack. His rookie teammate Timo Glock was somewhat more successful, almost winning at Montreal with a lucky pit strategy; however, other than that both drivers' best result was a sixth place finish. While Glock would go on to win Rookie of the Year honors, Rocketsports took on a pay driver for the last two races of the season and released Hunter-Reay from the team.

A1 Grand Prix

In 2006-2007, Hunter-Reay began working with A1 Team USA in the A1 Grand Prix series. He was due to make his debut in Beijing however problems occurring at the circuit meant that track time was curtailed and he never got to drive. His debut proper took place in the 6th round of the series held in Taupo, New Zealand.

2007

In January, Hunter-Reay co-drove with 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, Marc Goossens, and car owner Jim Matthews in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Early on the #91 Lowe's Pontiac Riley ran at the front of the field, but shortly after Hunter-Reay relinquished the driving duties to car owner Matthews, the car was damaged in a crash and although the team managed to work back up into 10th place with only a couple hours left in the race, the car suffered engine failure in the 22nd hour.

On July 19, Rahal Letterman Racing announced that Hunter-Reay would be replacing Jeff Simmons, who had been dismissed after a series of incidents, in the team's #17 ethanol sponsored car in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series for the rest of the season. Hunter-Reay began his IRL career with two top 10 finishes, placing 7th at the Honda 200 and 6th at the Firestone Indy 400.

On September 9, Hunter-Reay placed 7th at the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 - his 3rd Top 10 finish of the season. Despite only starting in six races, his performance was sufficient to win the 2007 Bombadier Rookie of the Year award.

2008

Hunter-Reay returned to Rahal Letterman for a full season in the IndyCar Series for 2008. Because Hunter-Reay did not attempt the Indianapolis 500, by rule, he was eligible for the race's rookie title in 2008, which he won by finishing in 6th place, one spot ahead of fellow rookie Hideki Mutoh. On July 6, Hunter-Reay scored his maiden IndyCar Series win in the Camping World Watkins Glen Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International. He led 9 of the race's 60 laps having passed Darren Manning on a late restart. He would go on to beat Manning by 2.4009 seconds. Following the triumph at "The Glen," Hunter-Reay would post top tens in five of the final seven rounds (Australia did not count toward the 2008 championship) to finish 8th in the final standings.

Career Results

Champ Car

() (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in "italics" indicate fastest race lap)

External links

* [http://www.ryanracing.com Official Website]