The IndyCar Series championship will go down to the wire for the fourth year in a row, but the Firestone Indy Lights title has already been settled. And for the first time since 2002, the Lights champion is an American -- J.R. Hildebrand, a 21-year-old from Sausalito, Calif.
Hildebrand has been considered a top American open-wheel prospect since he won the Team USA Scholarship in 2005. His progression through the fractured American ladder system since that success has been rapid. Hildebrand cruised to the 2006 Formula Ford 2000 crown, raced in the Champ Car Atlantic Series and made his Indy Lights debut in 2007, and broke into the Lights winner's circle with Andersen/RLR Racing in 2008, finishing fifth in the standings.
For 2009, J.R. moved to AFS/Andretti Green Racing's Lights efforts, and he set the bar high for himself. With four wins and six poles, Hildebrand accomplished his goals with relative ease, and now he faces the challenge that has stumped almost every Lights champion since the Indy Racing League took over the developmental series in 2002: making the jump to the IndyCar Series. Of the seven Lights champions who preceded Hildebrand, only 2008 titlist Raphael Matos had a full-time IndyCar Series ride this year.
"I went into this year feeling like it was my turn to put the rubber to the road and really show I can make it happen," Hildebrand said. "After driving against Rafa last year, I knew the equipment was good and the team was quite good. Certainly the AGR Lights program is a well-oiled machine.
Mark J. Rebilas/US Presswire
J.R. Hildebrand, 21, has already locked up the Firestone Indy Lights title, but is an IndyCar Series seat in his future?
"Even with a little bad luck here and there with freak mechanical failures, I think we were the car to beat almost everywhere we went," he added. "We were certainly the team to beat. I'm extremely happy with how the year went and what I got back from the team. It couldn't have gone much better, really."
Hildebrand's signature victory came at Watkins Glen, where after qualifying fourth, he methodically picked off the cars in front of him to win going away. His other victories came at St. Petersburg, Edmonton and Infineon Raceway, the circuit he considers his home track.
He's delighted with the way his season with AGR has gone. With Andretti Green's IndyCar team suffering the worst season in the seven-year history of the organization, Hildebrand and Lights teammate Sebastian Saveedra (who is third in the championship, just five points behind James Davison of Vision Racing) have provided most if not all of AGR's 2009 highlights.
"I was made to feel like part of the AGR family since even before I signed up," Hildebrand said. "I've had a great relationship with everybody at the shop and the management of the team. Everybody is happy to talk to you if you have any questions … Michael [Andretti], Tony [Kanaan], Marco [Andretti], anybody … they're all willing to give you helpful advice and it's a very welcoming atmosphere for a guy like me trying to come into the scene."
While he was growing up, Hildebrand and his father often attended races at nearby tracks Infineon and Laguna Seca Raceway. Despite not racing competitively until he was 14, Hildebrand has made a smooth, rapid ascent and he has put himself in position to be the next American IndyCar star.
Of course, as former champions Alex Lloyd, Jay Howard, Wade Cunningham, Thiago Medeiros, Mark Taylor and even A.J. Foyt IV can attest, winning the Lights crown isn't an automatic entry into Indy cars. Hildebrand maintains a realistic outlook in that regard. He's already tested one of AGR's Indy cars on two occasions, and he remains in the mix as AGR reorganizes under the sole leadership of Michael Andretti.
"It's always hard to say what a championship will translate into," Hildebrand said. "More than anything, it means a lot to me because I knew at the beginning of this year that it had to be my end result. If I was going to have a shot at continuing as a professional race car driver and get into the IndyCar Series eventually, I really had to win the championship. I knew that I had the tools and the team to do it; the people were in place and all my cards were stacked up just right. It was my job to make sure that I took full advantage of that. So I prepared as best as I could and worked hard at it. I'm sort of relieved in a way, but happy that we were able to put it all together. To do that at this level, winning a championship and gaining that momentum, hopefully we'll turn it into something good for next year.
"I'm optimistic about things moving forward," he added. "This last year, with the economic climate changing as much as it did, I wouldn't say it helps my cause. I'm just trying to make sure I have as many options as possible when things do come around and trying to come up with some money on my own. There's no rhyme or reason to how guys get rides a lot of the time, they're just in the right place at the right time. While I'd certainly like to be a lot more in control of my own future than that, hopefully I can get something lined up so when the planets do align, I'll be able to take full advantage."
Hildebrand is one young driver potential sponsors would be wise to get behind. He's handsome, articulate and brainy -- his high school GPA was 4.12 -- and if the racing gig doesn't pan out, he earned a two-year deferment after being accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
And let's not forget, he's American -- which for many open-wheel drivers has been a double-edged sword. But again, Hildebrand has a healthy attitude about the road ahead.
"I think at this time in particular, being from the USA is something that could help my cause quite a bit," he said. "There are American companies that need a boost, and certainly American drivers and teams that are looking to make a bit of a splash and get things going again. Hopefully I can be one of the guys to help do that.
"I certainly know Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick as American drivers, but at the same time, they are also Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick. They are all extremely talented drivers that deserve what they have been given, but at the same time, there is a part of all three of them where their star power is in their name, and obviously Danica is a female. That's a big part of the draw to those individuals, and there is nothing they can do about it.
"I feel being just the American kid, maybe there is something more to that than originally meets the eye."
John Oreovicz
