Hinchcliffe goes wire-to-wire - Press-Telegram

Hinchcliffe goes wire-to-wire - Press-Telegram




LONG BEACH - James Hinchcliffe led all 45 laps and won the Firestone Indy Lights race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday.
He won the first Indy Lights race of his career rather easily, despite three caution periods in the second half of the race. Every restart, Hinchcliffe was able to hold off runner-up Charlie Kimball and maintain his lead in the race.
But Hinchcliffe did wonder aloud after the race if Kimball's AFS Racing teammate was getting a bonus for causing cautions and giving Kimball every opportunity to pass for the lead on a restart.
"It did get certainly frustrating by the end," Hinchcliffe said. "By the fourth one, I'm starting to think how much are these AFS guys paying these dudes to start causing yellows and give Charlie one more run at it."

Gamble pays off for Hinchcliffe - Press-Telegram

Gamble pays off for Hinchcliffe - Press-Telegram




LONG BEACH - Not everything is going J.K. Vernay's way in the Firestone Indy Lights series.
Vernay, the leader in the Indy Lights standings and winner of the first two races, had his top lap taken away when a caution flag came out during qualifying on Saturday for the Indy Lights race in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
James Hinchcliffe won the pole and will start alongside Vernay, who won the season opener in St. Petersburg, Fla., and the following race at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.
Hinchcliffe said luck was on his side during qualifying for the Long Beach race. His team also factored in untimely cautions and used a risky tire strategy during the one-hour qualifying session.
"It's definitely a little bit of luck on our side," said Hinchcliffe, a driver for Team Moore Racing. "Part of the reason why we went so early with that last set of tires was because of so many yellow flags in the session; we wanted to make sure we didn't get held up and caught up in a yellow." 
Charlie Kimball, a driver from Camarillo, qualified third. He said he felt like his car was good enough to put on the pole, but he ran out of time when the final caution flew.

James Hinchcliffe and his stop and go shoes

James Hinchcliffe was the second fastest Firestone Indy Lights driver in practice on Friday at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
While his speed got him a date with reporters after the practice session, it was his footwear that got him some unexpected attention.
Hinchcliffe, a driver for Team Moore Racing, had the word “stop” written on his left shoe and the word “go” written on his right shoe. A professional race car driver doesn’t need any reminders which foot goes on which pedal. Hinchcliffe said the verbage was a result of the rubber on the inside of his shoes wearing down while he was working the pedals in his car.
The pedals are so close together inside his car that his feet rub together. The rubber wears down on his shoes, “which is obviously sort of counterproductive,” he said. To prevent the wear, Hinchcliffe puts white tape on the front of his shoes.
After taping up his shoes, he found a Sharpie and started doodling on his shoes.
“I just played a little joke on some people and put stop and go on my feet there,” Hinchcliffe said. “I’ve been subsequently told to switch it so that they’re wrong to really scare people.”
The creative juices are flowing in Hinchcliffe’s head in regard to his shoes. He is considering having them embroidered with the words stop and go so he doesn’t have to write the words every time he tapes his shoes.
He is also considering using a green Sharpie for go and red for stop.