AVONDALE, Louisiana – James Hinchcliffe has been in on a Verizon IndyCar Series race in the New Orleans area from the very start. The popular driver for Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports was here last June when the 13-turn, 2.74-mile NOLA Motorsports was announced to the 2015 schedule. He returned in February for Mardi Gras and this weekend he’s back for the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana.
“I’ve rarely seen a promoter and an event put on as much fanfare and put as much effort into promoting a race,” Hinchcliffe said. “Likewise, I’ve rarely seen so much positive feedback from the locals and the city. When we were here for Mardi Gras everyone was talking to us and how excited they were of us coming to town and they would be IndyCar fans if they were not already.
“This market is great.”
The “Mayor of Hinchtown” likes to have fun and New Orleans is fun city. This weekend alone features both the IndyCar Series race and the annual French Quarter Fest in New Orleans – not quite as big as Mardi Gras but a great way to usher in spring.
Hinchcliffe believes fans that come to IndyCar for the first time on Sunday will have an eye-opening experience. That’s exactly what Hinchcliffe had when he attended Mardi Gras in the “Krewe of Baccus Parade” – one of the biggest parades leading up to Fat Tuesday.
“Honestly, the wildest thing about that entire experience to me was the amount of people,” Hinchcliffe said. “You hear it’s a big party and everyone has heard of Mardi Gras in New Orleans but when you hear 2 million people that’s a lot of people, but to go down this five-mile parade route at 1 to 2 miles an hour and never pass an area that wasn’t 10 or 15 people deep was the most surreal experience I’ve ever had.
“Luckily for us the parade we were in was 30 or 40 floats long and we were float No. 2. The guys on float No. 30 probably saw some much stranger things than we saw. What’s so cool about it is everybody – the person you would expect to see shirtless and then people who started the night in black-tie coming from galas.”
Hinchcliffe is from a multi-cultural in Toronto and he is impressed with the culture and history of New Orleans – which has strong Canadian influence in its heritage.
“It’s super fascinating to learn about this town, how it started when it came from and what its roots are and the different cultures here,” Hinchcliffe said. “Coming from Toronto there is a lot of it that I love and appreciate but at the same time it does it in a very unique way. There is nothing quite like this place in North America and that is what endears it to people.”
Hinchcliffe is an endearing personality himself – always fan friendly and engaging. On the race track, however, he is determined and focused and ready to overcome the 16th-place finished in the March 29 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
It’s time to reset and refocus in Race No. 2 on the schedule.
“I think every weekend is a good opportunity for us to show what we are capable of,” Hinchcliffe said. “For sure St. Pete was a letdown but you are going to have those weekends. Scott Dixon finished one position ahead of me and that’s a guy that knows you don’t win a championship in Race One. So coming here is a new track, a fairly open book for a lot of guys and might gives us an opportunity to stamp our authority at the front.”
Because of its flat nature some have compared NOLA Motorsports Park to the old Burke Lakefront Airport course in Cleveland. Hinchcliffe doesn’t believe that is totally accurate, however.
“It’s flat and it’s fast but it’s a bit different,” Hinchcliffe said. “ Cleveland was very bumpy and you had to cover these massive widths of race track to get from entry to apex so I can kind of see where they are coming from but the driving experience was different in Cleveland than it is here.”
He also expects a different style of racing than the crashfest at St. Pete that left debris scattered on the course from the Honda and Chevrolet Aero Kits. It’s a learning experience for both rookies and veteran drivers.
“I think we will see a different type of race because it may be wet on Sunday,” Hinchcliffe said. “Even if it’s not the nature of road course racing compared to street course racing is tires. When we tested here before the season the tires held up phenomenally well for a really fast road course. At St. Pete we saw the Reds fall off with speed and grip but here the Blacks are holding up very well. So it may change the dynamic of how you move forward.
“It’s going to be very physical, very hot and super humid. On top of that it has some of the highest cornering speeds of any track we go to. Long, fast corners are tough on drivers. Guys are going to be tired, necks are going to be sore and fatigue is going to be part of it.
“It really is on us. These parts aren’t built for impact; they are built for performance. The impetus is on us to race hard but clean.”