MOORESVILLE, N.C. — A.J. Foyt became a racing legend by his engineering mind and his “seat of the pants” feel in a race car. Driver J.R. Hildebrand is an Indy car driver who is also an engineer.
The two will join forces for the second straight year at the Indianapolis 500 and the other oval tracks on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule.
The 34-year-old Hildebrand will drive the No. 11 ROKiT Chevrolet on the circle tracks, sharing the car with Tatiana Calderón, who is driving it on the road and street circuits.
“I’m excited to have this opportunity to get back in the car, do a little more racing, and work with the AJ Foyt Racing squad again,” Hildebrand said. “Although the results may not have looked special on paper, I was really impressed by what we accomplished last year at the 500 and look forward to attacking these other ovals on the IndyCar schedule alongside Kyle and Dalton.”
The first of five races for Hildebrand will be the XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday March 20. He will also compete in the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Hy-Vee doubleheader at Iowa Speedway in July and the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway in August.
Last year, Hildebrand signed with AJ Foyt Racing to drive the team’s fourth entry in the Indianapolis 500 with sponsorship from Foyt’s longtime sponsor ABC Supply. He qualified 22nd and finished 15th, the highest finisher on the four-car team.
“We had a great experience working with J.R. last year, and there is no doubt he is very competitive at Indianapolis,” said Team President Larry Foyt. “He is still very motivated to drive Indy cars and is a setup-savvy, technical driver who will be a strong addition to our oval races this year.”
Hildebrand scored his career best finish of second as a rookie in 2011, the Centennial Running of the Indianapolis 500. It was a bittersweet finish for the then 23-year-old who had taken the lead with two laps to go.
Passing a lapped car, his car pushed high and tapped the outside wall which slowed him enough to allow Dan Wheldon to win the historic event. In 11 Indy 500 starts, Hildebrand has qualified in the top-10 four times and posted four top-10 finishes.
The 2009 Indy Lights champion has started in 66 IndyCar races and claimed 17 top-10s including seven top fives, three of which were on the podium.