Memorial Day Weekends during his teenage years found Ryan Hunter-Reay buzzing his Boca neighborhood in a go-kart or fishing on the ocean with some pals. And, of course, watching his beloved Indianapolis 500 on TV.
The Fort Lauderdale resident still gets out on the boat with the same friends every chance he gets. The big difference now: On Sunday, he will be in the No. 28 car starting on the front row of the Indy 500.
"It's been a lifelong dream of mine," Hunter-Reay, 31, said this week during a break in preparation. "Every time I sat in the go-kart, I always pretended I was an IndyCar driver, like that's what I would be one day. It was a long road getting here, a lot of work, a lot of sacrifice. I feel like the luckiest guy because I've got the best job that I could ever dream of."
The dream of winning the most famous auto race has never been more within reach for the Cardinal Gibbons graduate with the third-fastest qualifying speed of 226.240 mph, a tick behind pole-sitter Ryan Brisco. Hunter-Reay, with three career wins in IndyCar events, is off to his best season start ? currently fourth in the points standings and coming off a second-place finish in Brazil.
Impressive enough that former neighbors at the Timbers of Boca, who banned his go-kart from their streets, might forgive his youthful transgressions?
"I'm sure some of them won't forgive me, but, yeah, most will," he said with a laugh.
It is a 180-degree turnabout from last year when he was bumped from the race on the last day of qualifying, and Andretti Autosport owner Michael Andretti had to buy a qualified car from another team to get him in the race. He refers to the humbling experience as "a real kick in the pants for all of us."
Sucking turbulent air from a full field of IndyCars is like looking ahead on I-95 and seeing nothing but red tail lights. Roaring down the home straight at the famed Brickyard with nothing but pavement ahead is every racer's dream.
Yet, Hunter-Reay is only too aware of the fine line between the flip sides of racing fortune. The reminder is on the side of the helmet he will wear Sunday bearing the photo of last year's Indy winner Dan Wheldon celebrating his achievement. Wheldon, a close friend who was to be a teammate this year, was killed in the final race of the 2011 season at Las Vegas.
In addition to honoring Wheldon's memory, the helmet was auctioned Thursday with the proceeds going to Racing For Cancer, the charity Hunter-Reay co-founded after his mother died of colon cancer in 2009.
"Every driver out here knows IndyCar racing is extremely dangerous. Our heads are exposed in these cars and we're doing 230 miles an hour," he said. "Things can go very bad very fast here."
Since finishing sixth and being named the race's Rookie of the Year in 2008, things have mostly gone bad for Hunter-Reay at Indy until this year's qualifying. Most harrowing was the crash near the end of the 2010 race when his car ran out of fuel and Mike Conway's car hit him from behind, striking a glancing blow to the back of his helmet as it vaulted over and into the wall.
None of that has dampened his enthusiasm for Indy, which he refers to as "our Super Bowl." The atmosphere is unique, from the more than 400,000 spectators to the challenge of the track's long straightaways and tight, narrow turns.
"Indianapolis is just so challenging because we're entering the corners at 233 miles an hour and there's very little banking, and the car is sliding all the way to the corner and you're almost doing a controlled slide at 230 miles an hour through the corner," Hunter-Reay said.
"In these cars, with the G forces we have we hold our breath a lot because you can't breathe normally with 4 ? G's pressing on your body."
To prepare for that, Hunter-Reay calls on his background in South Florida. No, not by driving in rush-hour traffic, but rather by free-diving on the offshore reefs from his 36-foot boat.
"Free-diving has put me in better cardiovascular shape for sure," he said, explaining that he strives for duration rather than depth. "It really comes down to bottom time: not using much energy and getting to the bottom and staying down there and sitting on the reef and staking the fish. I find that to be really enjoyable."
It is all part of why Hunter-Reay hasn't strayed from his roots despite his job taking him all over the world. He and wife Beccy live with their two dogs next to the Intracoastal Waterway.
They are featured in an episode of "Fish Tank Kings," which debuts today at 10 p.m. on the Nat Geo Wild channel. It will show the construction of a custom 150-gallon saltwater aquarium in their home by Living Color, the Fort Lauderdale company that built the fish tanks at Marlins Park.
"Getting back home and getting out on the boat and doing some fishing and diving that's my perfect getaway," he said.
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