Team USA Scholarship Alumni Shine Brightly on Memorial Day Weekend

Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. – One of the busiest weekends of the racing season saw Team USA Scholarship alumni playing starring roles at a variety of venues.

The primary focus of Memorial Day weekend, of course, was on the Centennial Indianapolis 500. One of the most dramatic and exciting races in the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway reached a sensational climax when 2005 Team USA Scholarship winner J.R. Hildebrand crashed in Turn Four on the final lap while leading in Panther Racing’s #4 National Guard Dallara-Honda.

Hildebrand, 23, had qualified as the fastest rookie in 12th and ran among the top 10 for much of the afternoon. A canny strategy by his team saw Hildebrand make a pit stop for fuel on Lap 164 – the last possible opportunity prior to the restart of what proved to be the final full-course caution of the day. Target/Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dario Franchitti, the defending race champion and one of the race’s hot favorites, followed an identical strategy.

The pair took the restart in 11th (Franchitti) and 12th positions, and ran toward the back of the leading pack until, one by one, other contenders in front of them needed to make pit stops for fuel in order to reach the finish.

Franchitti began to run low on fuel with seven laps to go and was instructed by his engineers to reduce his pace drastically. Hildebrand, meanwhile, had managed to eke out his 22 gallons of ethanol more effectively, and after passing Franchitti on Lap 196 out of 200, the young Californian found himself leading two laps later when Bertrand Baguette peeled off into the pit lane. (Hildebrand’s thrifty fuel consumption also had enabled him to lead Laps 100-103.)

On the final lap, just as Hildebrand seemed set for victory, he was suddenly confronted by a slowing Charlie Kimball as he sped into Turn Four at over 220mph. Just one corner remained. Hildebrand had to make split-second decision. The speed differential to Kimball was immense but Hildebrand committed himself to the outside line, knowing that he, too, was low on fuel and Dan Wheldon was closing fast after making his final pit stop for fuel on Lap 177.

An instant later, as he sped past Kimball (who, ironically, also won a Team USA Scholarship in 2003), Hildebrand’s car drifted fractionally high, into the “marbles”…then arced agonizingly and inevitably toward the outside retaining wall. The unavoidable impact wiped off the right-hand side of Hildebrand’s car. He kept his foot in the throttle and scrabbled his stricken machine to the finish line, but not before Wheldon had swept past to victory.

Hildebrand had to be content with second place and was a universally popular choice for the Chase Rookie of the Year honors.

Instead it was Wheldon who celebrated in Victory Lane….along with team co-owner Bryan Herta, who himself had won a Team USA Scholarship in 1991.

Also at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, on Carb Day, 2008 Team USA Scholarship winner Josef Newgarden triumphed in the Firestone Freedom 100, Round Four of the Firestone Indy Lights Championship, which he now leads.

2009 Team USA grad Connor De Phillippi claimed a dominant victory from the pole in the Star Mazda Championship qualifier as part of the traditional “Night Before the 500″ fiesta at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis (formerly known as IRP/ORP), while 2001 alumnus A.J. Allmendinger qualified his Richard Petty Motorsports Ford on the front row for the Coca-Cola 600 Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and finished a strong fifth.

The Team USA Scholarship has been helping young American drivers since 1990 and is supported by Doug Mockett & Company, Road Racing Drivers Club, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, Walldinger Racing, Robo-Pong, Highcroft Racing, “The Road to Indy,” Mazda, Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, Honda Performance Development, Silicon Salvage, McMurry Inc., Robertson Racing, PitFit Training, Sparco USA, eFormulaCarNews.com, Speedstar Management, Styled Aesthetic and Manifest Group as well as numerous past Scholarship winners.