Tag: Dreyer & Reinbold

DRR Sets 500 Lineup of Hunter-Reay and Harvey

thepitwindow

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing with Cusick Motorsports announced this morning that Ryan Hunter-Reay, winner of the 2014 Indianapolis 500 and 2012 series champion, will return in one of their two entries for the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500. Jack Harvey will drive the second car.

Harvey is a veteran of seven Indianapolis 500s, with a best finish of ninth in 2020. His last 500, in 2023, is known for Harvey’s bumping teammate Graham Rahal out of the field on the day’s final run.

Harvey ran a partial season for Dale Coyne Racing in 2024. In 2023 he began the year with Rahal Letterman racing, but was let go midseason.

Hunter-Reay will drive for DRR for the third consecutive year. He started the race 12th last year and dropped out after 107 laps due to contact, finishing 26th.

500 News: Livery, Sponsor, and Driver Announcements

thepitwindow

Karherine Legge r4turns for4 the 108th running of the indianqapolis 500 with Dale Coyne Racing. Legge will drive car 51 with sponsorship from e.l.f.., a cosmetics company. Legge drive for Coyne in 2007.

The livery for Conor Daly’s car was revealed yesterday. Sponsored by Polkadot, a blockchain company.

According to the press release, “Polkadot is positioned to serve as the powerful, secure core of Web3. (Its) decentralized governance places the community at the center of decision-making processes; every holder of the Polkadot token (DOT) has a voice towards shaping the platform’s future direction.”

My technological illiteracy is such that I’ll just say I’m happy that they are sponsoring Conor and leave it at thtat.

Marco Andretti’s livery also occurred yesterday. The 98 car has sponsorship from Mapei.

Coming up- a practice update at the end of the veterans session and a story on PREMA joining Indycar.

DRR/Cusick Sign Hunter-Reay and Daly for 500

thepitwindow

Dreyer and Reinbold will again team with Don Cusick for the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500. Conor Daly will team with 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay in the two car effort.

In 2023 Stefan Wilson qualified one of the cars which was entered by Cusick. In the Monday practice after qualifying, Wilson broke his back in a crash. Many were expecting Wilson to return for 2024.

Cusick decided to distribute his money to both DRR cars, which I believe led to Wilson not having enough funding. \About Wilson, Cusick said in a video call yesterday:

“As far as Stefan goes, unfortunately he had the injury, I
think it set him back a little bit. I’m not sure that he’s done
trying to be a part of the Indy 500. Look, we’ll always
support him. He’s a good guy and a good friend. He is the
reason that we ended up in the Indy 500.
That said, he’s given us his full support and blessing.
Depending on what happens this year, hopefully he’s
around in May and able to say hi to everybody.”

Hunter=Reay and Daly are both eager to work together, and they appear to be on the same page about race strategy. Hunter_r reay talked about the craziness which occurred near the end of last year’s race, which ended in a red flag fiasco.

“There needs to be a higher level of respect amongst the
drivers in superspeedway racing. We are out there doing
230, 240, whatever you want to call it,” Hunter-Reay said.
“There was a lot of moves last year that were very road
course like, street course like. Especially on restarts,
things like that.
I think as a group, it needs to be brought up and we need
to be conscious of it. Yeah, then you have the unknowns,
some new drivers coming in again. We’ve always had that.
We’ve always had an influx of some new drivers to the
Speedway, the 500. You kind of deal with that as it goes.
Definitely there were some questionable points in the race
that we need to address that as a group.”

Daly believes that there will be changes coming based on a drivers’ meeting in December.

“After attending the drivers meeting in
December, there’s definitely going to be some, I think,
adjustments to how things are called, right? Josef
Newgarden snaking down the straight below the pit lane
entry, I think that’s probably going to go away. I think the
drivers are always pretty unified in what we want to see on
how many moves you can make down the back straight if
you’re trying to snake down the back straight, stuff like that.”

I have heard that the dreaded dragon move will be pretty much banned.

The DRR/Cusick situation reflects the best and the worst of the racing business. Three capable drivers, all good guys, and only two seats available. I feel for Stefan Wilson. On the other hand, DRR has its strongest driver lineup in several years, and the team always has competitive cars at the 500.

INDYCAR To Hold Special Session Thursday for Two Indy 500 Entries 

thepitwindow

From Inycar:

I think this a fair decision.

 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing To Participate

INDIANAPOLIS (Wednesday, May 24, 2023) – INDYCAR has announced a special session Thursday, May 25 for the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet and the No. 44 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda after an Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge practice incident Monday involving both teams.

The 15-minute session will take place from 4:30-4:45 p.m. ET in preparation for final practice from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday on Miller Lite Carb Day. Graham Rahal is driving the No. 24 DRR Cusick Carekeepers Chevrolet, while Katherine Legge is behind the wheel of the No. 44 Hendrickson Honda fielded by RLL.

Each team will be allowed unlimited install laps (out and in) within the time frame. They will not be allowed to stay on the track to cross the start-finish line and the Yard of Bricks.

The 107th Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 28 (11 a.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, Universo, INDYCAR Radio Network).

Rahal to Replace Wilson

thepitwindow

Graham Rahal is back in the Indianapolis 500. Rahal, bumped out of the field on Sunday by teammate Jack Harvey, will drive the number 24 Chevy on Sunday in place of Stefan Wilson

Wilson was imjured in a crash during practice yesterday. He fractured the 12th thoracic vertebra and will not be able to drive.

Stefan Wilson

“I don’t feel good filling in for an injured driver…Unfortunately in racing, things happen. But (given his relationship with the Wilsons) I felt like it was my calling to come help,” Rahal said.

Wilson (right) was injured Monday in this crash

Rahal has been a long time family friend of the Wilson family. he owes his Indycar career to Stefan’s late other Justin, who advised him to not pursue a Formula 1 career.

Wilson qualified 25th, but the driver change means the car will start 33rd, ironically next to Harvey.

Rahal said had it been another team and driver, he is not sure he would have taken advantage of the opportunity.

On driving a Chevy powered car instead of a Honda, Rahal said, “There’s a lot to learn.”

Car owner Dennis Reinbold said that he is grateful that Honda, Chevy, and all the sponsors involved were able to work things out.

Rahal drove for Reinbold at Iowa in 2010

The 24 car will have a different look when it rolls ono the track for Carb Day Friday.

The Indycar community always comes together to hep each other out when a team or driveris in a difficult situation.The 500 is bigger than any one individual, and once again we see the community come together to for the good orf the race and the series.

Stefan Wilson Focused on 500, Future Can Wait

thepitwindow

Stefan Wilson enters this year’s 500 with a new association and a new teammate. He is thrilled with his situation. The Cusick Motorsports team has paired with Dreyer & Reibold fror 2023, He also has 2014 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay as a teammate.

“Ryan’san amazing teammate. He has just so much experience, I can rely on it. You know, it’s reassuring, you know, you make a change. And you have read on it. And you’re like, Okay, this is my read. And then you like, wait with bated breath. Like, what’s Ryan gonna say about the same change. And then when he comes in and has the same feedback, it’s like, it’s encouraging. It’s encouraging. It’s reassuring that your feedback is pretty, pretty accurate. Yeah, so it’s like a it’s a nice way to check yourself. Because he knows what’s up. He’s one here. So if my feedback matches, and that’s a good thing,” Wilson said.

Wilson was happy with yesterday’s practice.

“We’re close. I think we’re really close. If we can find a little bit more than will be fine,” he said. Wilson was 15th Wednesday, and Hunter-Reay was eighth.

Today the team will work on qualifying setup.

“We’re just gonna put the ball line set up on, see how fast it is. And then tomorrow, I think the weather is gonna come in late. So I think we might get a couple of runs in tomorrow with the qualifying boost.”

Wilson said they are not thinking about future expansion of the program just yet.

“I think right now, we talked about it, we thought about it, but right now it’s not in my mind. I’m just totally focused on the next two weeks. Next weekend, and trying to make the most of this opportunity. I think after that when the dust settles, we’ll think about okay, what do we need? “

Wilson likes the way the team is setup now ansd wants to continue.

” I think this is such a great combo me and Ryan. If I had my choice would be to just keep the same group together and just hold again next year, so that’d be the goal.”

Hunter-Reay Returns to 500

thepitwindow

Dreyer and Reinbold Racing announced this afternoon that 014 Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay will return to the Indianapolis 500, driving the team’s car 23. Hunter=Reay, the 2012 series champion, returns after not driving in the race in 2022.

There are now 33 confirmed entries with drivers.

The team announcement from rom Ryan Hunter-Reay via Twitter:

Cusick, Wilson Return to Indy, Teamed with Dreyer & Reinbold

thepitwindow

Photo from team press release

In an announcement that is going to be popular with many fans, Stefan Wilson will attempt to make his fifth Indianapolis 500 mile race next May, driving for Cusick Motorsports in association with Dreyer& Reinbold. Wilson takes over car 24, which was driven by Sage Karam in 2022. The car will have Chevrolet power.

“As soon as the checkered flag fell on the Indy 500 this year, we set out to find the best possible partner for the future,” said Don Cusick, Founder and CEO of Cusick Motorsports. “We have immense respect for what Dreyer & Reinbold Racing have done both on and off track over the years and quickly identified them as our ideal partner for this endeavor. We couldn’t be happier to partner with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, along with several long-standing and new partners in CareKeepers, Sierra Pacific Windows, Jay Paul Company’s 181 Fremont, Gnarly Jerky, LOHLA SPORT, Romak Iron Works, Mosaic Animal Care, The Thermal Club and Mr. and Mrs. James Lowes. We’ve created a special relationship with our partners and Stefan Wilson over the last two years – joining forces with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will have a significant impact as we move forward.”

Stefan Wilson is excited to drive for a team his late brother, Justin, also drove for.

“I’ve been very impressed with how hard Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has worked at and focused on the Indy 500,” said Wilson. “It’s such an honor for me to join them in partnership with Cusick Motorsports and work on our collective goal of trying to win the Indy 500. There’s a great opportunity here for us to all grow together. I hope this leads to more 500’s, and maybe even more races together. There’s history here with this team. Justin [Wilson, Stefan’s late older brother] spent two years with DRR back in 2010-2011 and secured podiums. I got to know Dennis (Reinbold), Brett De Bord and Chase Selman really well back then, so it just feels great to be rejoining them in a sense. I also have to say a big thank you to Don Cusick, who has put more faith in me than anybody else in my career. I’m honored to represent Cusick Motorsports and all our partners and will do my utmost to make the most of this fantastic opportunity.”

This announcement accounts for one of two Dreyer & Reinbold cars I assume will enter the 500. No word on the second car as of now.

DRR Adds Two Cars for Indy with Karam and Ferrucci

thepitwindow1 Comment

Dreyer and Reinbold Racing announced a two car effort for the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500, featuring two drivers who finished in the top seven in last year’s race.

Sage Karam

Sage Karam, who will look to be in his ninth 500, eighth with this team, finished seventh in 2021. He returns in car 24.

Santino Ferrucci

Santino Ferrucci, who has finished in the top 10 in each of his 500 mile races to date will drive car 23. Ferrucci drove several races for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in 2021, including a sixth place finish at Indy. Ferrucci also had a couple of top fives for RLL.

The announcement raises the confirmed car count for the 500 to 29, with a total of 36 entries expected. Chevy and Honda should each power 18 cars.