Redwood Grad Hildebrand Looking For IndyCar Win At Home

A trip to a Giants game, a night out on the town and the chance to hang out with old friends from the neighborhood, "… it's always awesome coming back. I don't really get the chance to come back here that much. It's nice just to spend a little time in the area," said Redwood High School grad J.R. Hildebrand.

Hildebrand is back in town this weekend for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway. The rookie driver for Panther Racing is 13th in the overall standings, fighting to stay alive for the IndyCar Series championship chase in the final five races this season. He has two top-five finishes and four top-10 finishes.

"In the end, it's still a super-competitive field. There's still a bunch of guys out here who've driven a lot more IndyCar races here than I have. It's not like it's going to be easy," said Hildebrand, who honed his craft on the Sonoma road course. 

Looking for the first win of his debut campaign, Hildebrand is trying to separate himself in the Rookie of the Year race from fellow freshmen James Hinchcliffe, Charlie Kimball and Ana Beatriz, who are all less than 100 points behind the Sausalito native. 

"From a points standpoint, it's just so close. Things are taking such big swings for everybody from race weekend to race weekend that you've got to be ready to roll out as aggressive as you can," said the 23-year-old Hildebrand. "We've had the misfortune to be taken out the last couple of races, but that's just the way it is. There's just more chance of that kind of thing happening when you're in the thick of it, but you can't back off."

Hildebrand looks around the familiar landscape at Sonoma's Infineon Raceway and sees a lot of fan support from his friends and family, his past instructors … and even his competitors.

"My experience level here takes a little of the guess work out of it. … Here, you know where you're supposed to be on the track," said Hildebrand, who trained at the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School based at Infineon. The track, with its elevation changes and wild turns, is difficult to master as Hildebrand found out when he finished 24th there last season with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in one of two races he ran in the IndyCar Series.

"This is something I've been looking forward to," Hildebrand said. "Last year here all the way through practice and the race, everything but in qualifying, we were quite competitive from a lap time perspective. We're looking to improve on that. This year, obviously, it's a different team, different digs. With some sort of success last year, we're looking to improve on that momentum."

Hildebrand's biggest moment this season came on IndyCar's biggest stage: the Indianapolis 500, where he seemed headed to a stunning victory until he hit the wall and slid across the finish line just after being passed by Dan Wheldon.

"Second place at the Indy 500 is really good," said Scott Dixon, Hildebrand's partner in the gym and a past Indy 500 winner. Dixon is currently third overall in the standings, 73 points behind leader and Target Chip Ganassi teammate Dario Franchitti.

"(Hildebrand's) good for the sport," said Ryan Hunter-Reay, the Andretti Autosport driver in eighth place overall. "He's three-quarters through his first season, so he's almost a veteran now and it shows."

Hildebrand knows he doesn't have all the answers … yet. "We're on the upswing with road courses. We're still learning and figuring things out. Overall, we've had a strong season for being a one-car team."