IndyCar Series
James Hinchcliffe's real-life racing story stranger than fiction
IndyCar Series

James Hinchcliffe's real-life racing story stranger than fiction

Published May. 28, 2016 7:02 p.m. ET

Stick around auto racing long enough and you'll learn that the truest stories are far more surreal than any piece of fiction one could dream up.

Consider, for a minute, this year's 100th running of the Indianapolis 500.

Starting from the pole will be the popular and engaging Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe, better known as "The Mayor of Hinchtown." 

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Hinchcliffe scored the biggest pole of his career in his No. 5 Arrow Electronics Honda out of the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team. He claimed the Indy 500 pole at a speed of 230.760 miles per hour, best of the 33 drivers at the venerable 2.5-mile Brickyard oval.

Now ponder this for a moment: Hinchcliffe was nearly killed getting ready for this race a year ago. After hitting the wall in practice for the 2015 race, a piece of Hinchcliffe's suspension went through his left thigh and he bled profusely.

In fact, had the track not been so close to IU Health Medical Center, the driver well could have died.

Hinchliffe never raced again in 2015. In addition to the huge blood loss, Hinchcliffe suffered his second major concussion in less than a year in the Indy crash. After the immediate crisis passed, Hinchcliffe spent his time working to regain full cognitive function in preparation of returning this year.

And his team co-owner, Sam Schmidt, has a story as harrowing or more so: While testing at Walt Disney World Speedway in January 2000, Schmidt had a hard crash that left him a quadriplegic. He spent five months on a respirator.

"It was the perfect storm," Schmidt told Forbes. "The angle of the hit, no SAFER-barrier walls. I'm lucky to be alive."

And yet here they are, Hinchcliffe and Schmidt, two men who nearly died, joining forces to win the pole for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. Hollywood couldn't make up a script more outlandish than that.

Unless, maybe, they win on Sunday.

And they just might do it.

The speed of Hinchcliffe's car is no fluke. His SPM teammates Mikhail Aleshin and Oriol Servia qualified seventh and 10th, respectively.

SPM is the only team that put three cars in the top 10 in qualifying, a hungry David with a legitimate chance to beat the Goliaths from Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi and Michael Andretti.

"It's just crazy to think about where we were a year ago, and now my first-ever pole comes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a year out from what happened last year, in the 100th running of the biggest race in history," said Hinchcliffe.

And he's ready to chase his dream at Indy on Sunday.

"I came into the month of May really hoping that by the time we left, we'd have a new story to tell," he said. "Regardless of what happens on Sunday, I'm so proud of my team and what we've accomplished. We've at least taken a good step toward closing that chapter and starting a new story."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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