Watching earlier this month as IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe prepared to compete in a 500-mile race, it’s hard to believe that a little over a year ago, he was fighting for his life following an explosive crash.
Last May, during a routine practice for the Indianapolis 500, Hinchcliffe’s car malfunctioned, causing him to crash into a wall at over 200 mph. A piece of the car impaled his upper left thigh, hitting an artery. The part that pierced his leg still was attached to what remained of the car, forcing professionals to detach Hinchcliffe from the wreckage before he was rushed to a local Indianapolis hospital. He was minutes away from dying before doctors saved him on the operating table.
In an exclusive interview with The Post that spanned three days during the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway, Hinchcliffe detailed his terrifying ordeal and painful recovery.
“They had to go into my abdomen to get to the artery to block it up,” the 29-year-old Canadian driver said. “So I had a massive incision in my abdomen which meant I couldn’t really move or sit up very well.”
Over the next four months, he spent every other day at the hospital for physical therapy and wound care. His parents temporarily moved to Indianapolis from Toronto to help him. But amid his recovery, he and his longtime girlfriend, Kirsten, ended their relationship.
In August, after his parents headed home, Conor Daly, a fellow IndyCar driver and Hinchcliffe’s best friend, moved in. A second surgery had put Hinchcliffe’s recovery progress back at square one.
“His girlfriend at the time left to go back to Australia and never came back, so I was there,” Daly said. “I ended up just staying because it sort of just worked.”
Hinchcliffe joked: “Conor kind of moved in just to make sure I got through that and hasn’t left yet. He’s still making sure I’m OK. … He’s really dedicated to that task.”
Finally, on Sept. 28, 2015, Hinchcliffe got back into a race car for the first time.
“My desire to get back was there from day one,” he said. “The only thing you worry about is that there’s something subconscious … that was going to hold me back like I was going to get in the car, start going quickly and actually be scared. I was like 95 percent sure that wasn’t going to happen, but you just don’t know. Especially with a big head trauma and nearly dying and all the rest of it. I was super anxious to just get in and know.”
Once he was in the car, Hinchcliffe said, “Everything came back and it was like riding a bike.”
Hinchcliffe’s love for IndyCar started as early as he can remember. His dad moved from England to Canada in the 1970s and brought his love for motor sports with him.
“I was born in Ontario, and I was too small to play hockey,” Hinchcliffe said with a laugh. “I didn’t have the typical Canadian influence of a guy that loved hockey. I had a guy who loved motor sports, and so we would watch Formula One races Sunday mornings, IndyCar races Sunday afternoons, went to the race in Toronto every single year since I was 18 months old.”
After a year and a half of college, Hinchcliffe decided to put his full energy into racing. His university allowed him to keep the credits he accumulated as long as he resumed his studies within five years. He made his IndyCar debut four years and nine months later.
The challenges and struggles it took him to get to the peak of his sport make him all the more aggravated when he observes an athlete squander his talent — such as troubled NFL star Johnny Manziel.
“He frustrates me to a level I cannot even explain,” Hinchcliffe said. “He was talented and did a good job in college, but then was just dropped with an incredible opportunity and he drank it and sniffed it away. It just makes me so upset knowing how hard it is to get an opportunity. Knowing what I had to do and sacrifice to get a shot to drive for nothing, for free my first year, and this guy, it makes me so angry.”
When you fast-forward to this year, it sometimes can feel as if Hinchcliffe’s accident never happened. His charisma and self-deprecating humor have made him one of the most popular drivers on the IndyCar circuit and allowed him to cultivate a personal brand outside of his driving.
He’s dubbed himself the mayor of the fan community “Hinchtown,” he hosts a SiriusXM podcast titled “Mayor on Air” and even has a beer called Hinchtown Hammerdown — a pilsner brewed in Indianapolis.
And in the most certain sign of his celebrity yet, ABC revealed Tuesday that Hinchcliffe will be on Season 23 of “Dancing with the Stars.”
During the race at Pocono, he taped his podcast in front of a live audience. The show — which is supposed to feature talk about the upcoming race — involved a lot of trivia about Canada and even a “couple fight” with Daly about his inability to turn off the TV when he leaves the house, a topic that was brought up throughout the weekend.
“He’s a good guy. He’s done way more for me than anyone should for any other human, so I owe him a lot, for sure,” Daly said.
Hinchcliffe has moved on romantically with Becky Dalton, an actress from Toronto. The pair met through an acting class in high school and attended Hinchcliffe’s prom together when he needed a last-minute date.
Sitting in Hinchcliffe’s RV during a storm that postponed the Pocono race, Dalton recalled how their adorable love story began.
“We went 12 years without seeing each other,” she told The Post. “Randomly, we would message each other through Facebook just to say, ‘Congratulations,’ because he always wanted to be a race car driver and I always wanted to be an actress.
“In December, I was thinking about him. I hadn’t talked to him since his accident, so I sent him a message and just said, ‘How are you doing? Glad you’re OK.’ It just kind of went from there. I think we texted for a couple of months, and then when I was in LA, he was testing in Fontana [a race track in Southern California]. I drove out to the test to see him, and then that was kind of it.”
Hinchcliffe later was asked for the craziest anecdote about his interactions with his fans.
“This chick I haven’t talked to in 12 years just DM’ed me on Facebook and then like asked me out on a date,” he said. “It was super weird.” He then laughed and grabbed Dalton’s hand.
As the 2016 season approaches its finale in Sonoma on Sept. 18, Hinchcliffe says he is proud of what he accomplished in his first year back after the horrific accident. He won pole position at the Indy 500, he placed second during the race in Texas last weekend and he’s currently ranked eighth overall in the driver standings.
“That whole thing last year affected every member of that team,” he said, referring to his pit crew and support personnel. “We’re a big family, and when I got hurt, it was very hard for all the other guys at the same time. For all of us to get together and do what we’ve done this year, it’s been really good.”
He added, “I’m on track for my best finish in the series ever. So it kind of just shows that whole ‘Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ kind of mantra.”