Image courtesy of Andretti Autosport
More races possible for Hinchcliffe but not Toronto, Andretti says
The Canadian fans of James Hinchcliffe are no doubt ecstatic their favorite IndyCar driver will have a great ride for the 104th Indianapolis 500 but as of today he's got nothing for the July race in Toronto.
"As you can imagine, I've spoken to every Honda team in the paddock, going through all these things, before I got my deal with Michael and Toronto is an issue," said Hinchcliffe, who was officially confirmed today in a sixth Andretti Autosport car for May's two races and Texas. "Whether they've got a Lights team or sports car programs, different logistical issues is why Toronto is really a tough race to pull off this year.
"Michael's team has Indy Lights that weekend so he can't run a sixth car and other teams have sports car races on both sides of the Toronto weekend, so they're not able to run an extra car either. It's tough to think about not running there but nothing I can do right now."
It's hard to imagine what effect the absence of the Mayor of Hinchtown from the line-up could have on IndyCar's second-longest playing street race. Canadian rookie Dalton Kellet will be entered in A.J. Foyt's car but obviously doesn't have the appeal of the 33-year-old Toronto native and 10-year IndyCar veteran.
"We might be able to run Hinch in a few other races," said Andretti. "But unfortunately Toronto won't be one of them."
Robin Miller
Robin Miller flunked out of Ball State after two quarters, but got a job stooging for Jim Hurtubise at the 1968 Indianapolis 500 when Herk's was the last roadster to ever make the race. He got hired at The Indianapolis Star a month later and talked his way into the sports department, where he began covering USAC and IndyCar racing. He got fired at The Star for being anti-Tony George, but ESPN hired him to write and do RPM2Nite. Then he went to SPEED and worked on WIND TUNNEL and SPEED REPORT. He started at RACER when SPEED folded, and went on to write for RACER.com and RACER magazine while also working for NBCSN on IndyCar telecasts.
Read Robin Miller's articles
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