Hertamania

March 27, 2019

Colton Herta

 

Hertamania

Two years ago I had the good fortune to meet young Colton Herta at event just prior to his first race in Indy Lights at St. Petersburg, He was 17 years old and already had garnered a ton of experience during a stint driving in Europe that started when he was 15. His father, Bryan Herta was an accomplished Indy Car driver and it looked from the start like he was going to be following in his footsteps. Not only that but at 17, he was mature, composed and friendly, if not a little shy.

Bryan and Colton Herta, 2017 

His first weekend in Indy Lights that year gave a glimpse into the bright future that was ahead for his as right out of the box in his very first race, he finished a strong second. The next day he won with a dominating performance and I was there in Victory Lane for the big celebration of his first win. It was pretty damn cool, he won again at the Indy Lights race at Barber which I saw that same year and his career has been on an upswing since.

Colton Herta's first Indy Lights win in 2017

 

Stephan Johannssen and Felix Rosenqvist

He joined the newly forged alliance of Harding-Steinbrenner racing this year to start his Indy Car career at the age of 18 and after a decent showing in St. Pete (8^th), was on point for the entire weekend at COTA. He was fast from the opening practice, actually from the pre-season test where the small underfunded team was the quickest in testing. Rumors floated around the paddock that they must have tested with the car underweight to achieve such speed, but his quickness in every session backed up that early result.

Brent 

The team lost an engine in the first session and though it through the team behind the eightball, they scrambled and actually got the car back together by the end of the second session and by qualifying in fourth place the team showed that it was back on pace. Still most would not have expected them to be an actual factor in the race itself.

Robby Gordon

 

Race day dawned overcast and cloudy and it remained that way most of the day, with the sun peeking through from time to time, but mostly just a beautiful overcast warm day. The early part of the day saw the second Indy Lights race of the weekend, which was not as exciting as the first one with talented Oliver Askew pretty much dominating the entire field leading flag to flag to complete a sweep of the Indy Lights weekend.

Oliver Askew

 

The Indy Car race was much better, I was able to stay down on starting grid until just before the command to start engines then hustle my way over to my seat high in stand 15. It was a beautiful start to the race with polesitter Will Power darting off to a lead, followed closely by Alexander Rossi and Herta. That trio led the way for the first 44 of the 60 lap race until the first and only full course yellow occurred when James Hinchcliffe and Felix Rosenqvist collided. 

Paul Tracy

Power and Rossi had not yet made pit stops and got caught out and relegated to the back of the pack. Power had a mechanical issue and never made it out of the pits and Rossi was mired in the rear of the field, so while we did not get a much anticipated potential shootout between the two strongest cars, what we did get is a rookie in the lead holding off the likes of defending series champion Joseph Newgarden and former champ. Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Power and Rossi 

Herta drove masterfully and was pulling away by the time the checkered flag fell, making him at age 18 (he turns 19 this week) the youngest driver in history to win an Indy Car race and giving Harding-Steinbrenner Racing and young Herta their first Indy Car win ever. It was a hugely popular victory, as throughout the paddock people celebrated a bright new star on the Indy Car scene and a massive underdog beating the high-powered teams and it not being a fluke of any kind.

Victory lane was a massive celebration, Herta not yet being 21 had to celebrate with a non-alcoholic champagne. Newgarden finished second and Hunter-Reay was third for an All-American podium. The first race at COTA was by any measure a big success. The crowd was not massive, but it was respectable and hopefully the excitement of the racing weekend will draw even more fans as time moves forward.