Ryan Hunter-Reay didn't get to enjoy his first IRL IndyCar victory for long.
Just days after winning at Watkins Glen on July 26, the 27-year-old driver found out that his mother has colon cancer.
"She's doing OK. The thing that's really been hard about it is being away from her with all the traveling we have to do," said Hunter-Reay, who drives for Rahal-Letterman Racing.
"It's tough, but at least racing gives me something I can deal with, something I'm having some effect on. I feel blessed to have racing."
That focus has helped a team that has struggled at times to be competitive in the past few years.
In 2004, the team co-owned by former driving star Bobby Rahal and TV personality David Letterman got three wins, including the Indianapolis 500, from Buddy Rice, who finished third in the points. The next year, Danica Patrick joined Rice on the team and made a big impact, starting and finishing fourth at Indy, as well as winning three poles and drawing international attention to the sport.
Veteran Vitor Meira was also part of what was then a strong three-car effort at Rahal Letterman. But things have changed considerably in the intervening years.
Rice, Patrick and Meira are all driving for different teams now. Sponsors have drifted away. And Rahal-Letterman has also dealt with the death of Paul Dana in a crash before his first race with the team in 2006.
Jeff Simmons, the driver who replaced Dana, had little success before being replaced with six races left last season by Hunter-Reay. And Scott Sharp, who finished eighth in the points last year with three top-10s, left the team in a rancorous dispute in which both sides filed breach of contract suits that were later settled.
That left Hunter-Reay part of a one-car operation that now has even more competition than in the past, thanks to IndyCar absorbing former rival Champ Car into one league.
"It's crazy competitive now," Hunter-Reay said. "Those guys have made a good transition and, when you think about, it somebody who qualified fifth or sixth at a certain race last year, well, they're probably 10th or 11th now with the same time."
Scott Roembke, the team's CEO, calls the races for Hunter-Reay from the pits and is sold on the young driver.
"Ryan only ran six races last year, so this is really his first full year in the IndyCar Series and he is adapting and progressing pretty much as we had hoped," Roembke said. "His win at Watkins Glen gave him the confidence in his ability that he needed to run up front with these guys, and he has certainly been every bit as competitive as we expected he would be.
