Sausalito's JR Hildebrand has narrow miss at Indy

Will Graves, Associated Press

Monday, May 30, 2011






INDIANAPOLIS - His first shot at winning the Indianapolis 500 gone with a last-lap miscue for the ages, Sausalito native JR Hildebrand sat at the podium and calmly explained how he threw away the biggest race of his young life.

There were no tears. No sullen, mumbled answers. No angry fists slamming the table.

Instead the 23-year-old rookie's words were even. His tone tinged with disappointment but not devastation. When asked how he could be so composed, Hildebrand just shrugged.

"I'm pretending pretty well, I guess," he said.

Hildebrand drove beyond his years for nearly three hours Sunday. He avoided the kind of trouble that befell his more experienced competitors and put himself in position to become the ninth rookie winner in the race's history by deftly stretching his gas mileage over the final 30-plus laps.

One nudge of the steering wheel, however, changed everything. Just a few hundred yards from the finish, Hildebrand's No. 4 Panther Racing Honda slammed into the wall after attempting to lap another rookie, Charlie Kimball, providing one of the most stunning finishes in a century of racing.

Rather than drinking milk in Victory Lane, Hildebrand stood in the garage examining his mangled car as winner Dan Wheldon donned the champion's wreath.







"I felt like I just made a mistake, and it (hurt) our boys," Hildebrand said. "I guess that's why rookies don't win the Indianapolis 500 a whole lot."

Wheldon, who won Indy in 2005 and finished second the past two years, said, "It's obviously unfortunate, but that's Indianapolis. That's why it's the 'Greatest Spectacle in Racing.' You never know what's going to happen."

This might have been the wackiest one ever.

In his first event of the year, Wheldon captured the ultimate IndyCar prize. But the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500 will be remembered for the guy who let it slip away.

Leading by almost four seconds and needing to make it around the 2 1/2-mile track just one more time, Hildebrand cruised through the first three turns with no problem.

The fourth one got him. Hildebrand went too high, lost control and slammed into the outside wall. Wheldon weaved past, while Hildebrand's battered machine skidded across the line 2.1 seconds behind, still hugging the concrete barrier.

The 200-lap race was dominated much of the day by Chip Ganassi's top two drivers, defending champ Dario Franchitti and 2008 winner Scott Dixon.

But after a series of late pit stops, things got interesting. Graham Rahal spent some time up front. Danica Patrick had the lead but had to stop for fuel with nine laps to go. Belgian driver Bertrand Baguette had already gotten past Patrick at that point, but he didn't have enough fuel, either.

It was another bitter disappointment for Patrick, who ended up 10th. "It's more and more depressing when I don't win the race," said Indy's leading lady, who might be heading to NASCAR next year.

Hildebrand promises he'll be back at the Indy 500. He's been a full-time IndyCar driver for all of two months, driving the same No. 4 that Wheldon left last year when his Panther contract expired.

"On the stats, it will show that I finished second in my rookie year and all this kind of stuff, but we had better than that today," Hildebrand said. "It's just tough."

This race showed Hildebrand has the chops. He's got the intelligence too.

This is the same guy, after all, who put off a chance to go to Massachusetts Institute of Technology after graduating from Redwood High School in Larkspur so he could give this racing thing a shot.

Don't expect him to enroll anytime soon.

Panther Racing co-owner John Barnes doesn't want his young driver going anywhere.

"I'm sure he's down," Barnes said. "He (doesn't) need to be down. He has nothing to be ashamed about or upset about. Stuff happens here. We're proud of him."