J.R. Hildebrand’s 1,100-mile road trip to the Indy 500
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — IndyCar driver J.R. Hildebrand is cruising around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an all-time classic.
The 1960 Cadillac rumbling around Speedway this month didn’t come off the back of a flatbed cargo transporter. Instead, it arrived rather miraculously from a third of the way across country.
Unable to crack 80 miles an hour, Hildebrand hoofed 1,100 miles in just two days in the light pink Cadillac appropriately dubbed “Rosie” by its previous owner in California. Hildebrand’s road trip with Rosie from Colorado to Indianapolis was in doubt for a moment.
Moving through Kansas, Rosie needed a pit crew. And fast.
“It died on the side of the road, we jumped it (for a second time), then it kind of ran OK, again,” Hildebrand said. “It turns out, there was an exit coming up in Goodland, Kansas. I saw a bunch of old, taken apart hot rods and trucks in front of this garage and thought, ‘these guys are going to know what is going on!’”
That’s where Alex’s Radiator and Repair saved the day.
A half-hour later, Hildebrand and “Rosie” were all fixed up and back on the road, eventually pulling 700 miles on day two of the ride to make it to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as scheduled.
“Any final destination of a road trip, I feel like is kind of a win,” Hildebrand said. “You are always feeling accomplished at that point. This time especially, just because there was so many question marks along the way.”
Good luck topping this ride this May. An epic story is already underway.