Alex Tagliani to drive for Bryan Herta Autosport IndyCar Series team

Alex Tagliani will drive for Bryan Herta Autosport's Izod IndyCar Series team in 2012, the team announced on Monday.
Tagliani is a veteran of the IndyCar, CART and Champ Car World Series. He won the pole for the Indianapolis 500 in 2010 and won one race and four poles in an eight-year career in the CART and Champ Car World Series.
Bryan Herta Autosport won the Indianapolis 500 last year with Dan Wheldon as the team's driver. Wheldon died in an on-track crash at the IndyCar Series season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Bryan Herta Autosport will be using the new Lotus cars in the IndyCar Series as a factory partner team. It is the team's first full season in the IndyCar Series.
Go to Hometownstation.com for comments from Tagliani and Herta.

Photo: Alex Tagliani will drive for Bryan Herta Autosport in the 2012 Izod IndyCar Series. (Courtesy of BHA)

Dan Wheldon, Bryan Herta made a good team

During the Long Beach Grand Prix in April, Bryan Herta announced that Dan Wheldon was going to drive one of his cars in the Indianapolis 500.

Bryan Herta Autosport was making its second trip to the Brickyard, but this time with an IndyCar Series champion and Indy 500 winner.

It was an amazing partnership. Herta was running a fledgling Firestone Indy Lights team and entered only one IndyCar Series race prior to the 2011 Indianapolis 500.

Wheldon, who won the Indy 500 and the IndyCar Series championship with Andretti Green Racing in 2005, did not have a full-time ride and was available.

Wheldon and Herta teamed up – they were teammates with Andretti Green for nearly four years – and pulled off one of the most dramatic wins in Indy 500 history.

Wheldon took the lead from J.R. Hildebrand on the last turn of the last lap of the race. Hildebrand, a rookie driver who had a comfortable lead as the Indy 500 winded down, slid into the turn 4 wall. His mangled car crossed the finish line in second place.

Wheldon had enough time to pass Hildebrand and win his second Indy 500.

Wheldon and Herta, a Hart High graduate who lives in Valencia, teamed up once again for the IndyCar Series season finale this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Wheldon was driving one of two entries from Bryan Herta Autosport in the race.

But the Las Vegas race did not have quite the fairy-tale ending that Indianapolis had. Wheldon died tragically in a fiery crash on lap 12 of the Las Vegas race. He was caught up in a 15-car crash that sent two cars into the track’s catch fence.

Three drivers were hospitalized in the wreck. Wheldon was taken by helicopter to University Medical Center in Las Vegas. Reports were that he was unconscious, but in stable condition, when he left the race track.

IndyCar Series officials announced that Wheldon had died almost two hours after the crash.

“Everyone at Bryan Herta Autosport is reeling from the loss of our friend and teammate Dan Wheldon," Herta said in a release. "Dan was the glue that bound our little team together. It was his spark and belief in us that carried us all to Victory Lane at Indianapolis this year, and his legacy within the sport as a tremendous champion and competitor is unquestioned. But more than that, Dan became my little brother from our time together as teammates at AGR. I watched with pride as he developed from the brash young hotshot on the circuit to a man who was a great husband and father, ambassador, friend, champion and hero."

The remaining 19 drivers in the race, those whose cars were not wrecked in the crash, paid tribute to Wheldon with a five-lap parade around the track.

The drivers, teams and IndyCar Series officials decided not to continue the race.

Wheldon had to start from the back of the 34-car field. He was the only driver taking the IndyCar Series challenge. Any driver who was not full time in the IndyCar Series could enter the race with a chance to win $5 million. The only stipulation was that those drivers had to start from the back.

Wheldon competed in only two IndyCar Series races prior to the Las Vegas race. He won the Indy 500 and was 14^th at Kentucky Speedway two weeks ago.

Much of the blame for the deadly crash is being put on the number of cars in the field, 34, one more than the starting grid for the Indy 500. The large entry field combined with the 1.5-mile track, compared to the 2.5 mile track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, made for a deadly combination, some are saying.

Wheldon moved up 10 places in the first 10 laps of the race. He was in the middle of a pack of drivers with little experience and little to lose. In the end though, it was Wheldon who paid the ultimate price for other drivers’ mistakes.

A driver hasn’t died in an IndyCar Series race since Paul Dana at Homestead-Miami Speedway crashed in practice in 2006. Even Hildebrand’s crash at this year Indy 500, as scary as it was, was not fatal. Safety at the tracks and in the race cars have improved so much is such a short time.

It will be some time before the cause of Wheldon’s death is determined. Hopefully, the impact of his life will be remembered for a long time to come.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with Susie and the boys, and all of Dan’s family and fans who are trying to make sense of this terrible loss," Herta said in a release. "We are all lucky and blessed to have had Dan Wheldon influence our lives, and his spirit lives on in each one of us. Godspeed my friend.”

Photo: The No. 77 of Dan Wheldon was the only one displayed on the scoring pylon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after the driver was killed in a crash at the track on Sunday. (Chris Jones)

How Bryan Herta, Sam Schmidt and Charlie Kimball helped Dan Wheldon win the Indy 500

Dan Wheldon won his second Indianapolis 500, but if not for a trio of Southern Californians, he might have never made it to the finish line at the Brickyard on Sunday.
The owner of the Wheldon’s car is Valencia’s Bryan Herta.
The team that provided the car for Wheldon to drive is owned by Sam Schmidt, who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, graduated from Pepperdine and went to Village Christian in Sun Valley.
The driver of the car who played a role in the last-lap crash that took out leader JR Hildebrand was Camarillo’s Charlie Kimball.
Without those three people, Wheldon probably doesn’t have a car to drive nor is he in position to win the Indy 500.
Wheldon, driving for Bryan Herta Autosport, took the lead for the first time in the race on the last lap when the rookie Hildebrand crashed into turn 4 wall.
Hildebrand was leading the race, but tried to pass Kimball on the outside. Hildebrand slid into the turn 4 wall allowing Wheldon a chance to take the lead and win the race. Hildebrand skidded across the finish line in second place.
It led to a surprising finish, with Wheldon leading only the last few hundred yards of the race. He became the first driver in the history of the Indy 500, which was celebrating its centennial anniversary, to win the race leading only the last lap of the race.
“When I saw him crash, I mean, I knew it wasn’t serious. As soon as I knew it was not serious, there was a little smile on my face, I will say,” Wheldon said. “From that point, it was just making sure that I didn’t do anything silly. Then I think I got on the radio and started crying.”
Bryan Herta Autosport is a part-time player in the Izod IndyCar Series. Herta has a team that runs the entire Firestone Indy Lights series, but only one IndyCar Series race. He entered the Indy 500 last year with Sebastian Saavedra as his driver and had the last car to qualify in the 33-car field.
In the second start for Bryan Herta Autosport at the Indy 500, Wheldon put Herta’s car on the second row, qualifying sixth, and in a much better position to contend for a win. Herta knew his chances of winning were slim, but with Wheldon as his driver, he had confidence.
“Dan has done such a great job. One of the things he did for us is bring an attitude and a belief we could win this race,” said Herta, who graduated from Hart High School in Newhall. “On paper, based on our previous effort, anything, on paper we really had no business believing we could win it. But Dan believed in us so strongly he made us believe it, too. I really think over the course of this last two weeks, he made the crew guys believe it, he made a lot of people on the outside believe it, because so many people were coming up to us the week of the race saying, ‘We think you’re going to win.’ It was so uplifting.”
Schmidt had his own two-car effort in the Indy 500. One of his drivers, Alex Tagliani, won the pole. Schmidt had good cars, but they were still considered inferior to the ones put together by Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi and Michael Andretti. Wheldon said he didn’t see a Penske car in front of him the entire race. Ganassi’s drivers, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti, led the Indy 500 at various points, but fell out of contention when their fuel strategies failed. Danica Patrick, driving for Andretti Autosport, led late in the race, but had to pit for fuel.
Schmidt’s cars meanwhile were strong and fast.
“They dug all month. The 77 (Tagliani) and 99 (Townsend Bell) worked really well together and had fast cars,” Schmidt said. “Unfortunately, they both got a little out of sequence. We probably should’ve finished at least second or third when all was said and done. You can’t second-guess what happens in the race, and that is what this place is all about. At least we got a little piece of that car rolling up on victory circle right there. It was Bryan’s, and that's cool.”
Kimball turned out to be the unfortunate X factor in Wheldon’s win. Hildebrand came up on Kimble, the last car on the lead lap, on the final turn of the race. Instead of letting up on the throttle and coasting to the finish line, Hildebrand tried to pass Kimball. Kimball did nothing wrong, but Hildebrand made the mistake of trying to pass Kimball on the outside. Hildebrand crashed and Wheldon was the surprise and teary-eyed winner of the Indy 500.
“I’m not normally that emotional,” Wheldon said. “But having been through what we’ve been through, being able to deliver this for everybody is certainly very gratifying. Proud of everybody. In terms of what it will do for the future, it will make me a happier person on the beach. In terms of more races, you'll have to ask these guys.”

Photo: Dan Wheldon won his second career Indianapolis 500 driving for Bryan Hertra Autosport. (Photo by LAT)

Dan Wheldon wins Indy 500 for Bryan Herta Autosport

Dan Wheldon took the lead in Sunday's Indianapolis 500 on the last turn of the last lap and won the race for the second time in his career.
It was an unlikely finish to the 100th anniversary of the first Indy 500. Wheldon, driving for Valencia's Bryan Herta, was making his first and probably only start of the Izod IndyCar Series season.
Herta, the owner of Bryan Herta Autosport, was entered in his only IndyCar Series race of the season and making only his second career start as a team owner.
The two teamed up to win the Indy 500 taking advantage of a last-lap crash by JR Hildebrand, who slid in to the turn 4 wall trying to pass a lapped car.
Go to Hometown Station.com for more on Bryan Herta Autosport winning the Indy 500.

Photo: Valencia's Bryan Herta, left, driver Dan Wheldon, and Steve Newey talk to the media at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after winning the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. (Dana Garrett)