Ryan Hunter Reay Is A Go For Iowa

It's a match made in heaven. A beautiful little slice of heaven, where a top American driver finds support from the American ethanol industry to race at the track where the corn is grown. It's the intersection of Americana and Rightness, a mid-season kismet for the Indycar world.

Andretti Autosport has announced that Ryan Hunter Reay, winner of the Long Beach Grand Prix, will drive the Ethanol-sponsored car in the Iowa Corn 250.

Had the ethanol industry not stepped up to the plate, Hunter Reay was in danger of sitting out his first race of the season despite being 6th in the championship points.

(Photo credit Andretti Autosport.)

Vision Gets Hunter-Reay's Car Right

Well, the paint job anyway...


Now *this* is nice livery. Vision went from having one of the poorest examples of sponsor placement to perhaps having the easiest sponsor logo to read at speed.

From Ryan Hunter-Reay's Mailbag

Dear Ryan Hunter-Reay,

It's not you. It's me.

Sincerely,
Your Car

The Have and Have-Not at Vision

I agree with some twitterers that have interpreted Ryan Hunter-Reay's comments as suggesting that Ed Carpenter's car is getting a speed treatment that his isn't. But it's borne out by the evidence: Hunter-Reay, a solid oval driver last year with mid-quality Rahal equipment, was embarrassingly slow at Kansas and hasn't looked any better at Indy.

And it seems like it's got to be more than lower-quality oil. Both Foyt cars made it into the field today while Hunter-Reay simply had to wave-off his attempt. What does Foyt have that Vision doesn't?

One year ago, I thought Vision was a team on the rise. But today when their cars have such a vast performance disparity, I'd say they've taken a huge step backward.

Jottings

• Tony Kanaan showed good team support by hanging out in the garage with his team while they thrashed his new car. Crew wrenches will tell you that they roll their eyes when drivers do this, but secretly nothing is more aloof than for a driver to disappear to his coach while the team stays up working of his car. The team sent him off to bed around 11:25pm.

• I have big concerns about Ryan Hunter-Reay even making the field unless they change something.

• Paul Tracy is driving that car on the knife's edge. He has a shot at the first 11, and I hope he makes it just to shake things up a little.

Penske Taps Power, Fans Want Hunter-Reay

In the wake of Roger Penske's hiring of Will Power as an insurance policy to cover trouble-laiden Helio Castroneves' driving responsibilities, fans of other available drivers are disappointed -- and in some cases, scratching their head.

Certainly the Aussie-born Will Power is talented, as his wins in ChampCar demonstrate. It's not that. It's just that you got a couple of proven Indycar winners on the sidelines.

Guys like 2008 Wakins Glen champion Ryan Hunter-Reay. He ran near the front all season in so-so Rahal equipment. Guys like 2004 Indy 500 Champion Buddy Rice.

So I put the question to the TrackForum.com community: Who *Should* Roger Penske have hired? After two weeks of voting, Hunter-Reay is the top choice with 40% of the vote. Will Power, Penske's choice, trailed behind at 26%.

The fans wanted Hunter-Reay.

With indications that Buddy Rice may end up at Rubicon/Pacific Coast Motorsports, all eyes now turn to Hunter-Reay. The team that signs him may find themselves finishing races higher on the pylon than they thought.

Or the Indycar Series might let this talent get away.