J. R. Hildebrand

J. R. Hildebrand
Hildebrand at the 2013 Grand Prix of Long Beach
Nationality	American
Born	John Randal Hildebrand Jr. (1988-01-03) January 3, 1988 (age 36) Sausalito, California, U.S.
Racing licence	FIA Gold
Previous series
2019 2009 2008–09 2007 2005–2006 2005 2004	Americas Rallycross Championship Firestone Indy Lights A1 Grand Prix Champ Car Atlantic Series U.S. F2000 Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Cup SCCA Formula Russell
Championship titles
2009 2006 2004	Firestone Indy Lights U.S. F2000 SCCA Formula Russell
Awards
2005 2011	Team USA Scholarship Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year
IndyCar Series career
68 races run over 13 years
2022 position	30th
Best finish	11th (2012)
First race	2010 Honda Indy 200 (Mid-Ohio)
Last race	2022 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 3 0

John Randal Hildebrand Jr. (born January 3, 1988) is an American race car driver. He last competed in the IndyCar Series driving part-time in the No. 11 Chevrolet for AJ Foyt Enterprises. Hildebrand won the 2009 Indy Lights championship and came close to winning the 2011 Indianapolis 500, hitting the wall on the final corner of the race and crossing the line in second place.

At the age of 14, Hildebrand started racing go karts in the Jim Russell Arrive and Drive Championship at Infineon Raceway in Northern California; winning not only his first race but the championship that year. In 2003, he raced in the Jr. 80cc Shifter class finishing a close second, and at the end of that year made the transition from karts to cars by winning the Jim Russell Graduate Runoffs; racing in Formula Russell in 2004. That year, he went on to win the series championship; also participating in the Red Bull Driver Search. He then moved up to Pacific F2000 in 2005; finishing second overall as rookie of the year, also being chosen for the Team USA Scholarship, earning him a ride in the Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy, in which he finished third. In 2006, he dominated the U.S. F2000 National Championship; winning the championship and 12 out of 14 races.

In recognition of his impressive 2006 performance, Hildebrand won the Gorsline Scholarship and was elected to the AARWBA All American Auto Racing First Team.

For 2007, he moved to the Champ Car Atlantic series, driving for Newman Wachs Racing. He finished seventh in points and was the top US rookie in the series. After the season's conclusion he made 2 starts for RLR-Andersen Racing in the Indy Pro Series. Hildebrand then went on to contest the entire series schedule, which was renamed the Firestone Indy Lights Series, for RLR-Andersen in 2008.^[1] He captured his first series win in the fourth race of the season at Kansas Speedway, his second start on an oval. He finished 5th overall in the 2008 championship.

For the 2009 season he signed with defending championship-winning team AGR-AFS Racing,^[2] and after winning four races and taking five pole positions, he eventually claimed the title at the penultimate round at Chicagoland. That year he also competed in the final round of the A1 Grand Prix series for A1 Team USA at Brands Hatch, finishing 4th in the Sprint race. He was again elected to the AARWBA All American Auto Racing First Team for 2009.

American Le Mans Series' Genoa Racing signed Hildebrand to race an LMPC class car for 2010. He contested the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Hildebrand spent three days testing for the Force India Formula One team in December 2009, at the Jerez circuit, in a car shared with Paul di Resta.^[3][4][5]

Hildebrand made his IndyCar Series debut in 2010, competing in two races for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing as a substitute driver for the injured Mike Conway. On Tuesday, December 14, 2010, it was announced that Hildebrand signed a multi–year contract to drive the No. 4 National Guard entry for Panther Racing, starting in 2011 after impressing the team during a test.^[6]

Later in 2011, Hildebrand qualified for the Indianapolis 500 and was the most successful rookie during his premiere race. Hildebrand was able to lead at the halfway point for Panther Racing and stayed on the lead lap for the entire race. This allowed him to take a gamble during his last pit stop, stretching out his fuel load to an eventual lead on the final lap. On the very last turn, he slid out of the racing lane and into the retaining wall while passing rapidly slowing Charlie Kimball, allowing Dan Wheldon to take the victory. Despite the damage to his car – including the loss of a wheel – Hildebrand retained enough speed to cross the finish line in second place.

On October 16, 2011, Hildebrand was involved in a 15-car chain-reaction crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the season-ending IZOD IndyCar World Championships. He sustained an injured sternum and was transported by ground ambulance to a Las Vegas area hospital, where he was admitted for treatment. The crash claimed the life of two-time Indy 500 winner and 2005 IndyCar Series champion Dan Wheldon.^[7][8]

Following a last-place finish in the 2013 Indianapolis 500, Hildebrand was released by Panther Racing.^[9] He had announced earlier in the year that he would be running selected Formula DRIFT races as a teammate to Tyler McQuarrie.^[10]

In 2014, Hildebrand joined Ed Carpenter Racing for the Indianapolis 500, driving the No. 21.^[11] On November 4, 2016, it was confirmed that Hildebrand would take over the Ed Carpenter Racing No. 21 car for the 2017 season, replacing Josef Newgarden.^[12] He finished 15th in the points standing for the season, achieving a second-place finish in Iowa and a third in Phoenix. Following the season Hildebrand was not retained by the team.^[13]

For 2018 Hildebrand was signed for by Dreyer & Reinbold Racing to pilot their car in the Indy 500 (their only entry of the season) and finished 11th. He returned in the same role in 2019, finishing 20th.^[14] He again returned in 2020 for the same one-race role, despite the team's increased commitment to a part-time schedule. He finished in 16th.^[15]

In 2021 Hildebrand drove a specially liveried car for A.J. Foyt Enterprises, commemorating the 60th anniversary of team owner A.J. Foyt's first of four Indianapolis 500 wins. He finished in 15th place.

In 2018, Hildebrand competed in the Pikes Peak Hillclimb, driving a Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport, finishing 2nd in Porsche Trophy category behind Travis Pastrana.

In 2021 it was quietly announced Hildebrand would compete in the Open Wheel Class, driving a IndyCar.^[16] That effort fell through due to numerous technicalities which could not be overcome in time to compete.

On February 1, 2022, it was announced Hildebrand had entered the 2022 running of the event,^[17] competing in the Open Wheel Class, driving a 2022 Dallara IR18 Evo IndyCar.^[18] While not an IndyCar sanctioned event, all of the IndyCar suppliers are involved in it,^[19] as well as chassis manufacturer Dallara.

In 2006, Hildebrand graduated from Redwood High School in Larkspur, California as a National Merit Scholar.^[20] While in high school, he also played varsity baseball. He applied and was accepted by several top universities, including the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Berkeley, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). MIT granted a three-year deferral, but he eventually allowed it to lapse as he continued to pursue his racing career.^[21][22]

(key)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos	Points
2006	Cape Motorsports	ATL1 1	ATL2 1	MDO1 1	MDO2 1	PIR1 1	PIR2 1	CLE1 1	CLE2 2	TOR1 1	TOR2 1	MDO3 1	MDO4 1	ROA1 13	ROA2 1	1st	361

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2006	Newman Wachs Racing	LBH	HOU	MTY	POR	CLE1	CLE2	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	ROA 19	43rd	2
2007		LVG 13	LBH 30	HOU 7	POR1 6	POR2 9	CLE 2	MTT 9	TOR 19	EDM1 21	EDM2 5	SJO 15	ROA 9	7th	140
2008	Genoa Racing	LBH	LS	MTT	EDM1	EDM2	ROA1	ROA2	TRR	NJ	UTA	ATL 15		26th	7

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
2007	RLR/Andersen Racing	HMS	STP1	STP2	INDY	MIL	IMS1	IMS2	IOW	WGL1	WGL2	NSH	MDO	KTY	SNM1 22	SNM2 20	CHI	37th	18
2008		HMS 10	STP1 5	STP2 2	KAN 1	INDY 24	MIL 5	IOW 8	WGL1 19	WGL2 9	NSH 4	MDO1 5	MDO2 6	KTY 18	SNM1 4	SNM2 4	CHI 22	5th	409
2009	AGR-AFS Racing	STP1 3	STP2 21	LBH 1	KAN 14	INDY 2	MIL 2	IOW 6	WGL 1	TOR 2	EDM 1	KTY 17	MDO 3	SNM 1	CHI 5	HMS 2		1st	545

Year	Team	Chassis	No.	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points	Ref
2010	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dallara IR-05	24	Honda	SAO	STP	ALA	LBH	KAN	INDY	TXS	IOW	WGL	TOR	EDM	MDO 16	SNM 24	CHI	KTY	MOT	HMS			35th	26	[23]
2011	Panther Racing		4		STP 11	ALA 13	LBH 17	SAO 10	INDY 2	TXS 23	TXS 18	MIL 21	IOW 4	TOR 8	EDM 11	MDO 25	NHM 21	SNM 23	BAL 19	MOT 7	KTY 20	LVS1 C		14th	296	[24]
2012		Dallara DW12		Chevrolet	STP 19	ALA 15	LBH 5	SAO 7	INDY 14	DET 14	TXS 5	MIL 22	IOW 22	TOR 7	EDM 21	MDO 9	SNM 8	BAL 12	FON 11					11th	294	[25]
2013					STP 19	ALA 17	LBH 5	SAO 15	INDY 33	DET	DET	TXS	MIL	IOW	POC	TOR	TOR	MDO						25th	112	[26]
	Barracuda Racing		98	Honda															SNM 16	BAL	HOU	HOU	FON 11
2014	Ed Carpenter Racing		21	Chevrolet	STP	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 10	DET	DET	TXS	HOU	HOU	POC	IOW	TOR	TOR	MDO	MIL	SNM	FON		26th	66	[27]
2015	CFH Racing		6		STP	NLA	LBH	ALA	IMS 21	INDY 8	DET	DET	TXS	TOR	FON	MIL	IOW	MDO	POC	SNM				31st	57	[28]
2016	Ed Carpenter Racing				STP	PHX	LBH	ALA	IMS 22	INDY 6	DET	DET	RDA	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	TXS	WGL	SNM				23rd	84	[29]
2017			21		STP 13	LBH 11	ALA	PHX 3	IMS 14	INDY 16	DET 17	DET 18	TEX 12	ROA 16	IOW 2	TOR 13	MDO 17	POC 19	GTW 18	WGL 15	SNM 14			15th	347	[30]
2018	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing		66		STP	PHX	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 11	DET	DET	TXS	RDA	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	GTW	POR	SNM			33rd	38	[31]
2019			48		STP	COA	ALA	LBH	IMS	INDY 20	DET	DET	TXS	RDA	TOR	IOW	MDO	POC	GTW	POR	LAG			33rd	20	[32]
2020			67		TXS	IMS	ROA	ROA	IOW	IOW	INDY 16	GTW	GTW	MDO	MDO	IMS	IMS	STP						30th	28	[33]
2021	A. J. Foyt Enterprises		1		ALA	STP	TXS	TXS	IMS	INDY 15	DET	DET	ROA	MDO	NSH	IMS	GTW	POR	LAG	LBH				33rd	30	[34]
2022			11		STP	TXS 14	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 12	DET	ROA	MDO	TOR	IOW	IOW	IMS	NSH	GTW	POR	LAG			30th	53	[35]

^* Season still in progress.

¹ Race cancelled due to death of Dan Wheldon

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (non-win)	Top 10s (non-podium)	Indianapolis 500 wins	Championships
8	5	56	0	0	3	14	0	0

** Podium (non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.

*** Top 10s (non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2011	Dallara	Honda	12	2	Panther Racing
2012	Dallara	Chevrolet	18	14	Panther Racing
2013	Dallara	Chevrolet	10	33	Panther Racing
2014	Dallara	Chevrolet	9	10	Ed Carpenter Racing
2015	Dallara	Chevrolet	10	8	CFH Racing
2016	Dallara	Chevrolet	15	6	Ed Carpenter Racing
2017	Dallara	Chevrolet	6	16	Ed Carpenter Racing
2018	Dallara	Chevrolet	27	11	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2019	Dallara	Chevrolet	21	20	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2020	Dallara	Chevrolet	32	16	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2021	Dallara	Chevrolet	22	15	A. J. Foyt Enterprises
2022	Dallara	Chevrolet	17	12	A. J. Foyt Enterprises

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Rank	Points
2010	Genoa Racing	LMPC	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet 6.2L V8	M	SEB ovr:25 cls:2	LNB ovr:7 cls:3	MON	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	PET	17th	36

Year	Car	Time	Pos.	Class Pos.
2018	Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport	10:39.301	29th	2nd

(key)

Year	Entrant	Car	No.	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	ARX2	Points
2019					MDO		GAT		TRR		COTA	MDO
	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Olsbergs MSE	48	J. R. Hildebrand	4	4	3	4						9th	79

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2021	NTE Sport	GTD	Audi R8 LMS Evo	Audi 5.2 L V10	DAY 15	SEB	MDO	DET	WGL	WGL	LIM	ELK 11	LGA	LBH	VIR	PET	42nd	394

• Official Website
• IndyCar Driver Page
• IndyCar 36: JR Hildebrand – IndyCar documentary

Sporting positions
Preceded by Raphael Matos	Firestone Indy Lights Champion 2009	Succeeded by Jean-Karl Vernay
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Simona de Silvestro	Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year 2011	Succeeded by Rubens Barrichello