James Hinchcliffe joins NBC Sports as motorsports analyst for IndyCar, IMSA races

Associated PressDec 16, 2021, 12:15 PM EST
James Hinchcliffe NBC Sports
David Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
7 Comments

New IndyCar on NBC analyst James Hinchcliffe was a natural in front of the camera the very first time he stepped into a broadcast booth more than a decade ago. His charisma and quick wit made him one of the NTT IndyCar Series’ most popular drivers and a runner-up on “Dancing with the Stars.”

His blossoming second career eventually got to the point where Hinchcliffe decided broadcasting work was a stronger future than full-time racing. He said this week he was stepping back from IndyCar, and he was announced Thursday as an analyst for NBC Sports.

The Canadian will replace countryman Paul Tracy in the booth and call next year’s 17-race schedule alongside Leigh Diffey and Townsend Bell. He’s previously done pit reporting and booth work for NBC Sports during the 2020 season.

“I’ve never been shy about saying this was a move I wanted to make at some point in my career, and the time was just right,” Hinchcliffe told The Associated Press. “It didn’t just happen overnight. But when I assessed the landscape and took the emotion out of it and looked at it from a 30,000-foot view, it was honestly an easy call.”

Sam Flood, executive producer and president of NBC Sports, called Hinchcliffe “one of the most dynamic personalities in motorsports.”

“We’re excited to bring `The Mayor of Hinchtown’ straight from the car and into the booth for NBC Sports,” Flood said. “James’ engaging personality, combined with his unique perspective of what these drivers are experiencing in real time, will be a great addition to our motorsports coverage.”

Hinchcliffe is coming off a 2021 season in which he scored just one podium for Andretti Autosport and was a career-low 20th in the standings for a full schedule. He missed most of the 2015 season when he was injured in a crash during practice for the Indianapolis 500 – a suspension part broken in the impact pierced an artery, and he nearly bled out on the way to surgery – and raced only six times in 2020 while trying to put together a funding package to drive for Andretti.

The frustration of the last two seasons helped ease Hinchcliffe into the NBC Sports job: Andretti replaced him next season with Devlin DeFrancesco, and Hinchcliffe wasn’t going to take a seat just to ride around in a non-competitive car.

“I’ve always been very cognizant of wanting to step back on your own terms and still feeling like you’ve got paid to be competitive,” Hinchcliffe said. “I can go to bed at night believing both of those things, and that was a big goal for me.”

Hinchcliffe will have the most knowledge of the series’ rules, regulations, tracks and cars since Bell last drove an Indy car in 2016. He’s also close friends with many of the current drivers and knows it will be a balancing act to be impartial in the booth while not angering any of his buddies.

“I’ve got a job to do and you can’t play favorites, and you can’t sugarcoat it,” he said. “I’m going to call what I see how I see it, but because a lot of the drivers are my friends, I’ll be able to talk to them about things after. They can tell me to go jump, they can disagree and we can have a beer and a conversation and talk about it.”

Ford unveils a new Mustang for 2024 Le Mans in motorsports ‘lifestyle brand’ retooling

Associated PressJun 9, 2023, 7:00 PM EDT
Ford Mustang Le Mans
Ford Performance
2 Comments

LE MANS, France — Ford has planned a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its iconic Mustang muscle car next year under a massive rebranding of Ford Performance aimed at bringing the automotive manufacturer “into the racing business.”

The Friday unveil of the new Mustang Dark Horse-based race car follows Ford’s announcement in February (and a ballyhooed test at Sebring in March) that it will return to Formula One in 2026 in partnership with reigning world champion Red Bull.

The Mustang will enter the GT3 category next year with at least two cars in both IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, and is hopeful to earn an invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The IMSA entries will be a factory Ford Performance program run by Multimatic, and a customer program in WEC with Proton Competition.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, also an amateur sports car racer, told The Associated Press the Mustang will be available to compete in various GT3 series across the globe to customer teams. But more important, Farley said, is the overall rebranding of Ford Performance – done by renowned motorsports designer Troy Lee – that is aimed at making Ford a lifestyle brand with a sporting mindset.

“It’s kind of like the company finding its own, and rediscovering its icons, and doubling down on them,” Farley told the AP. “And then this motorsports activity is getting serious about connecting enthusiast customers with those rediscovered icons. It’s a big switch for the company – this is really about building strong, iconic vehicles with enthusiasts at the center of our marketing.”

Ford last competed in sports car racing in 2019 as part of a three-year program with Chip Ganassi Racing. The team scored the class win at Le Mans in 2016 in a targeted performance aimed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford snapping Ferrari’s six-year winning streak.

Ford on Friday displayed a Mustang with a Lee-designed livery that showcased the cleaner, simplified look that will soon be featured on all its racing vehicles. The traditional blue oval with Ford Performance in white lettering underneath will now be branded simply FP.

The new mark will be used across car liveries, merchandise and apparel, display assets, parts and accessories and in advertising.

Farley cited Porsche as an automaker that has successfully figured out how to sell cars to consumers and race cars in various series around the world while creating a culture of brand enthusiasts. He believes Ford’s new direction will help the company sell street cars, race cars, boost interest in driving schools, and create a merchandise line that convinces consumers that a stalwart of American automakers is a hip, cool brand.

“We’re going to build a global motorsports business off road and on road,” Farley told the AP, adding that the design of the Mustang is “unapologetically American.”

He lauded the work of Lee, who is considered the top helmet designer among race car drivers.

“We’re in the first inning of a nine inning game, and going to Le Mans is really important,” Farley said. “But for customer cars, getting the graphics right, designing race cars that win at all different levels, and then designing a racing brand for Ford Performance that gets rebranded and elevated is super important.”

He said he’s kept a close eye on how Porsche and Aston Martin have built their motorsports businesses and said Ford will be better.

“We’re going in the exact same direction. We just want to be better than them, that’s all,” Farley said. “Second is the first loser.”

Farley, an avid amateur racer himself, did not travel to Le Mans for the announcement. The race that begins Saturday features an entry from NASCAR, and Ford is the reigning Cup Series champion with Joey Logano and Team Penske.

The NASCAR “Garage 56” entry is a collaboration between Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear, and is being widely celebrated throughout the industry. Farley did feel left out of the party in France – a sentiment NASCAR tried to avoid by inviting many of its partners to attend the race so that it wouldn’t seem like a Chevrolet-only celebration.

“They’re going right and I’m going left – that NASCAR thing is a one-year deal, right? It’s Garage 56 and they can have their NASCAR party, but that’s a one-year party,” Farley said. “We won Le Mans outright four times, we won in the GT class, and we’re coming back with Mustang and it’s not a one-year deal.

“So they can get all excited about Garage 56. I almost see that as a marketing exercise for NASCAR, but for me, that’s a science project,” Farley continued. “I don’t live in a world of science projects. I live in the world of building a vital company that everyone is excited about. To do that, we’re not going to do a Garage 56 – I’ve got to beat Porsche and Aston Martin and Ferrari year after year after year.”

Ford’s announcement comes on the heels of General Motors changing its GT3 strategy next season and ending its factory Corvette program. GM, which unlike Ford competes in the IMSA Grand Touring Prototype division (with its Cadillac brand), will shift fully to a customer model for Corvettes in 2024 (with some factory support in the IMSA GTD Pro category).