Birmingham, Alabama - The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama Green Flag waved 2 hours, 30 minutes late, but for Ryan Hunter-Reay it was well worth

the wait.

 

Hunter-Reay, driving the No. 28 DHL car, led Andretti Autosport teammate Marco Andretti across the finish line under caution to win at Barber Motorsports Park for the second-straight season. A severe thunderstorm forced the race into a delayed start with a 100-minute time limit.

 

"I've been anxious (to compete) since we left Long Beach," said Hunter-Reay, who started from the pole in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 13 but was involved in a multi-car incident on Lap 56 of 80 that dropped him to the rear of the field. "With the rain and the wet conditions on how we started out there, it was tough. Then we went to the Firestone reds, and man - on a wet surface that was just really tough to keep the car on track. Once we got out front though, we started checking out and it was a dream to drive the DHL car.

 

"(Long Beach) should have been a great result, but we got it today."

 

It was the 12th IndyCar victory for Hunter-Reay, who moved 18 points behind championship leader Will Power heading into the inaugural May 10 Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the reconfigured road course. Hunter-Reay capitalized on a Lap 16 mistake by Power, the pole sitter, whose No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car slid off the wet road course in Turn 5. Power, also a two-time winner at Barber, quickly recovered but was 4.0830 seconds behind at the completion of the lap.

 

Marco Andretti, who started ninth in the No. 25 Snapple car, went almost the entire distance without radio communication with his pit lane crew. He overtook Power for second on the Lap 34 restart and held off repeated challenges by reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon.

Dixon, the runner-up in each of the previous four races finished third ahead of Simon Pagenaud and Will Power. Power and Pagenaud are the only two drivers with top five finishes in every race.

 

DAY 3 NOTEBOOK

 

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INDYCAR has penalized Honda 10 manufacturer's points for an unapproved engine change in violation of Rule 16.5.1 (engine change under mileage) for #18 Huertas.

 

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HONDA INDY GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA RACE SPECIFICS:

•The race is 90 laps, 214.2 miles on the 17-turn, 2.38 -mile road course course.
•The race will become a timed race of two hours if there are wet conditions.
•The pit road speed limit is 50 mph.
•Pole sitter Will Power will grid drivers' right.
•The green flag to start the race will be show the second time by the start-finish line.
•Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford will drive the Honda Civic SI Safety Car.
•The race leader will accelerate exiting Turn 17 on restarts.
•There will be no tow-ins or returns from the garage within 15 minutes of the checkered flag

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Though he hails from Beaver Falls, Pa., Alabama claims Joe Namath as one of its own.

 

The former Crimson Tide quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Famer served as the grand marshal of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.

 

Namath toured the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum and the Verizon IndyCar Series paddock, pausing every few steps to pose for photos with fans wearing Alabama crimson and white shirts (and even a few in Auburn gear) and drivers.

 

He joined Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing driver Josef Newgarden and a chef from Taste of the South Magazine for a brief beef-and-veggie kabob cooking demonstration on the Namath Rapid Cooker before INDYCAR CEO Mark Miles presented him with a spare rear wing endfence from the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car of Will Power (Namath's jersey number in college and in the pros, which was retired by the New York Jets).

 

A.J. Foyt and Joe NamathNamath chatted racing with Roger Penske and feigned being starstruck when introduced to A.J. Foyt, who signed a circa 1960s racing helmet "It's hell getting old" and presented it to the 1969 Super Bowl-winning QB.

 

"To meet people that I was a fan of growing up, starting with A.J., is something else," said Namath, 70. "To see the young guys such as Josef Newgarden out there doing their thing surrounded by the teams ... it's amazing what they do in these super race cars."

 

Namath said he was "honored and excited" to take it all in while being "at home," and humbled to represent the Arthritis Foundation of Alabama, which received a $25,000 check from ZOOM Motorsports President and CEO Gene Hallman.

 

"Health may be our most taken for granted luxury, and I'm here to say don't take it for granted and take care of yourself," Namath said. "Life is a team game, and in most sports it's teams that are putting things together. So all of us (have to) continue to work together to help support those whose health might not be as good as ours."

 

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The Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation will present four-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti with the Legendary Driver Award during the 15th Racing to Recovery Gala on May 24.

A highlight of the event will be a live and silent auction, with proceeds directed to the support spinal cord injury research and the foundation's mission to find a cure for paralysis. For more information, call 317-236-9999 or visit www.samschmidt.org.

 

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A.J. Foyt will miss the April 30 Verizon IndyCar Series Open Test on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course to attend the Kentucky Derby.

Foyt's best shot at the Derby was his horse "Rare Brick," who passed away in December at age 30. Unbeaten in eight races, the stallion, who had been favored to win the 1986 Arkansas Derby (the prelim for the Kentucky Derby), had to be pulled from the competition 10 days earlier because of an ankle injury. He was ridden by Mike Smith and Pat Day. Rare Brick sired 27 stakes winners.

 

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Takuma Sato and a Japanese photographer chuckled about the menu at an upscale Japanese restaurant in Birmingham last year. The item was supposed to be "Specialty Rolls" but what was written in Japanese was "Rolling Specialist" or "Rolling Professor."

 

"It was just a 'Lost in Translation' item on the menu. We had a laugh about it because I translated back to English so we could share what it says in Japanese. We always find a Japanese restaurant, whether it is a proper one or not, as we usually go for Japanese food at least once on a race weekend," Sato said.

HONDA INDY GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA PRE-RACE:

 

Rain began falling during the Indy Lights race and a severe thunderstorm hit the facility at approximately 1 p.m., the start of today's race is on a weather hold due to the lightning in the area.

 

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Race has been declared a wet start by INDYCAR officials. All teams must use rain tires to start the race and there is no alternate tire rule in use for today's race.

 

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At 4:15 p.m., the ambient temperature was 63 degrees with a relative humidity of 100 percent and winds from the northeast at 1 mph. Skies were cloudy. The track temperature was 69 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.

 

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Updated race specifics: Race will go green the third time by the flag stand for a 100-minute timed race. Estimated fuel window is approximately 30 laps under wet conditions.

 

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4:30 p.m. - Pro football Hall of Famer Joe Namath, the race's grand marshall, gave the command "Gentlemen, start your engines." All cars have started and are rolling on the grid.

 

Lap 1: GREEN. After a delay of 2 hours, 26 minutes, #12 Power leads the field into Turn 1. #14 Sato is stalled off course in Turn 11. FULL COURSE YELLOW. #14 Sato is restarted by the Holmatro Safety Team and has rejoined the race.

 

Honda Indy Grand Prix Of Alabama Post-Race Quotes:

 

MICHAEL ANDRETTI (Owner, Andretti Autosport): "I'm really proud of this whole team. Marco (Andretti) did a hell of a job. He drove his way to the front there and Ryan (Hunter-Reay drove a perfect race. Feels good after the last one for sure." (On Hunter-Reay strategy): "It just played out that way. We were lucky that Will (Power) made that mistake, and that gave up the top position. That was really important. Just the way everything fell with the rain and how it dried out. It came to us. It was a great day."

 

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): "I've been anxious (to compete) since we left Long Beach. What a dream to have a car like that at that distance. Great to get the No. 28 DHL car with a Honda at a Honda (sponsored) race into Victory Circle. (Long Beach) should have been a great result, but we got it today."

 

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 Snapple Honda): "I just put my head down and looked forward; awesome job by Andretti Autosport. The Snapple car didn't have much for the DHL car so we definitely need to hit the drawing board and see how he (Ryan Hunter-Reay) kicked my butt today... heck of a team effort. I was driving blind today - didn't have a radio, so the only way I knew when to pit, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Ryan stop and thought 'I guess I'm coming in the next lap'. It was definitely a blind race, but I just had my head down and tried to hit my marks."

 

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chevrolet): "It was definitely an interesting race with the weather mixed in there. Hopefully we put on a good show for everybody. We were trying. We seemed to burn up the front tires quickly. The same thing happened on the wets after Helio (Castroneves) jumped the start and passed a couple of cars which is typical, I guess. We had to fight back and had a good pit stop exchange. (Will) Power pitted early and we were able to put down some good lap and gain some spots. We just didn't have enough for Marco. He did a hell of a job, so congrats to Andretti for a 1-2 finish. The race was really fun. In the wet conditions, there was a little puddling and standing water which made it pretty tough... especially in the fast sections around the back. It was one of those races where at the start you kept it clean and stay out of trouble. I think Helio (Castroneves) got a bit greedy on the restart and jumped us which was frustrating because he backed us up some. It was fun to race with Montoya; he was making some pretty good turns onto the frontstraight. We tried to pull as much as could out of it and kinda burnt the front tires off the thing trying to push so hard. Congratulations to (race-winner Ryan) Hunter-Reay and good job by Marco (Andretti). More importantly, a big thanks to the fans who stuck it out through all this weather."

 

CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 34 Cinsay AndrettiTV.com HVM Honda): "We had just put on the slick Firestone tires on and I don't know. Everything happened so fast, but I just stepped on the throttle, and I don't know... I spun around and couldn't do anything. I don't think we went to slick tires too soon - everyone was on them at that point. Maybe I made a mistake and was too aggressive, I don't know. Thank you to my Cinsay Andretti Autosport crew for working hard to get me back out to run a few more laps."

 

Unfortunately, there were no post race quotes from James Hinchcliffe provided.