Colton Herta gets congratulated by Graham Rahal after winning his first NTT IndyCar Series race at Circuit of The Americas. © [Andy Clary / Spacesuit Media]
by Allan Brewer
Colton Herta leads Josef Newgarden and Ryan Hunter-Reay at Circuit of The Americas. © [Jamie Sheldrick / Spacesuit Media]
Colton Herta has waited his entire life for the chance to compete in the INDYCAR series. Based on his three outings so far, it has been worth the wait. The best part? His dad could not be prouder.
“I’m really super proud of him,” said father Bryan Herta, who won four times in a 12-year INDYCAR career and is the co-owner of Marco Andretti’s No. 98 car. “It feels like Christmas around here.”
The 18-year old Herta, who led the field on the final restart of the INDYCAR Classic at Circuit of the Americas and did not give it up, won in his third-career race. His only two previous INDYCAR starts were a race in 2018 at Sonoma, and the current season’s series opener two weeks ago in St. Petersburg, Florida, where Josef Newgarden won and Herta finished eighth.
The win puts Herta second in series points behind Newgarden for the year. “We’re still learning what he can do,” papa Herta continued. “As a proud father I’m amazed at him.”
Colton Herta celebrates on the top step of the podium at Circuit of The Americas. © [Jamie Sheldrick / Spacesuit Media]
For his part, the younger Herta put his accomplishment humbly into perspective.
“Just to be up with the names of people that have won before, I’m going to live and die an Indy car winner, which is spectacular in itself,” Herta said. “Yeah, it’s a great record at a young age. To be standing up here (on the podium). It kind of feels surreal to me.”
“Today was awesome,” Colton said. “We all had a feeling that we could go for it because the No. 88 Latitude Vacation Club car was so fast today.”
“We were not expecting this, though,” he finished. “Holy crap, man! This is spectacular!”
At 18 years, 11 months, 25 days old, Colton Herta became the youngest driver to ever win an INDYCAR race, breaking the mark previously held by Graham Rahal, who was 19 years, 3 months, 2 days when he won at St. Petersburg in 2008.
“I’m just so happy for the Harding Steinbrenner Racing boys. I have to thank everyone on the team and Honda for working so hard this weekend,” said Herta afterwards.
The event was the first NTT INDYCAR Series race ever conducted at the track.
Herta was unchallenged by the pursuing Newgarden after the restart and the retirement of Team Penske’s Will Power. The latter cruised unchallenged in the race lead for the first two thirds of the 60-lap event until a broken drive unit put him on the sidelines for a DNF.
The win was also the first for the team, which is co-owned by Mike Harding and George Michael Steinbrenner IV. After fielding a car for Herta in Indy Lights in 2017 and ’18, Steinbrenner collaborated this year with Harding to bring the second-generation driver to the NTT INDYCAR Series.
“He did a phenomenal job,” the 22-year-old Steinbrenner said of Herta. “Colton hit all his marks, he did everything right, the crew did everything they needed to do to keep us out in front of Newgarden’s car the whole time. Everything went pretty much perfectly,” he continued.
“I really can’t believe we’re sitting here,’ he said, “I’m shaking and it’s a dream come true.”
The next NTT INDYCAR Series race is the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday, April 7.
Allan Brewer covers IndyCar and other racing series for RacingNation.com. Allan is a fixture at the race track, armed with keyboard and camera, eager to take you inside open-wheel sport where the news is being made. He comes to RacingNation.com with multiple professional awards from the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AWWRBA). He began his motorsports writing career at FastMachines.com; and solely published IndyProRacer.com and A1GP.com, two award-winning websites for open-wheel racing’s junior leagues, prior to becoming IndyCar correspondent at Motorsport.com. He has also covered Formula 1, NASCAR, Formula E, the Indy Lights Series and its predecessor Indy Pro Series, NHRA events and major auto shows. His major interest outside of competition is automotive technology and its application to the cars we drive every day on the public highways.
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