The son of 1993 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires champion (and two-time Indianapolis 500-winning car owner) Bryan Herta, Colton Herta began racing soon after he learned to walk. Moving from dirt bikes to karts to open wheel, including the Pacific F1600 series (which he won in 2013), Herta first joined the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires in 2014. He missed the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda season opener due to age requirements but went on to capture six top-10 finishes in his rookie year. But at the end of the season, he made the decision to move to England to fulfill a dream of racing in Europe. Herta finished third in the British F4 championship in 2015 and third in the Euroformula Open F3 championship last year.
He returned to the U.S. in 2017 behind the wheel of a new Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires team, Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing, a joint effort between Andretti Autosport and George Michael Steinbrenner IV, grandson of longtime Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Herta finished third in the title chase in his rookie season, with seven pole positions and two victories. In 2018, he battled teammate Patricio O'Ward down to the wire, finishing second in the championship with three poles, four wins and 13 podium finishes in 17 races. The pair will graduate to INDYCAR with Harding Steinbrenner Racing, a merger of Mike Harding's Harding Racing and Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing.