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5.15.13 (via MotorSportsTalk) – James Hinchcliffe has put aside any notion that he’s just a quirky personality with two wins from the first four races this year in the No. 27 GoDaddy Chevrolet for Andretti Autosport.

Still, that doesn’t mean the colorful Canadian isn’t quick to illuminate a press room with humor describing one of his sponsors.

Before the formal press conference started on Tuesday – Hinchcliffe led the day’s Indianapolis 500 practice thanks to a tow – he had a Dr Pepper in hand to quench the day’s thirst.

What happened next doubled as an impromptu comedic tour de force and devout dedication to this product, one of the team sponsors.

“I just generally love Dr Pepper. No seriously, I actually love this stuff,” said Hinchcliffe. “It’s like the best liquid on the planet. I mean, water’s good and all, but Dr Pepper is like, 23 flavors. You can’t beat that. It’s a fact.

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5.13.13 (via IndyCar.com) – Conor Daly passed the three-phase Indianapolis 500 Rookie Orientation Program. Pippa Mann passed a refresher program. Marco Andretti and Helio Castroneves surpassed 225 mph.

On the busiest day of practice yet for the 97th Running of the Indianapolis 500, 32 driver/car combinations co-mingled on the 2.5-mile oval during the six-hour session under sun and temperatures hovering in the low 60s.

It was a grand day to get down to business for some teams and drivers, and for others to get started on their race preparations. The latter included the Dale Coyne Racing entries for Mann, Justin Wilson and Ana Beatriz, Townsend Bell in the second Panther Racing car and Daly in the second A.J. Foyt Racing entry.

Andretti, driving the No. 25 RCA Cola car for Andretti Autosport, posted the quickest lap of the month at 225.100 mph (39.9823 seconds). Castroneves was .0043 of a second behind in the No. 3 Shell V-Power/Pennzoil Ultra Team Penske car.

Eight cars had lap speeds in excess of 223 mph (quick lap of May 12), and the top 26 were separated by a second. In total, 1,733 laps were turned without incident.

Reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay (224.386 mph) was third, 2012 championship runner-up Will Power (223.784) was fourth and JR Hildebrand (223.624) was fifth. Series points leader Takuma Sato was sixth (223.363).

The warmest day of the month is forecast or May 14, which will entice another busy day of on-track activity (noon-6 p.m. ET).

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5.10.13 (via Motorsport.com) – There’s focus, and then there’s EJ Viso’s focus. The Venezuelan, who qualified on the front row in second place at the Sao Paulo Indy 300 last week, plans to build his momentum and prepare himself for the Indianapolis 500 after finishing the demanding street track in sixth place. The key to this is focus. And to build momentum.

"My performance this past race in Sao Paulo was superb", the confident driver told Motorsport.com.

The Brazilian race, the closest IndyCar race to his home country, was one of his turning points this season. He started the season at St. Petersburg by advancing 15 positions from the start to finish seventh in the opener.

Making him even more focused on getting his first victory in the series, Viso's teammates James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay have each won a race this season. And, teammate Marco Andretti is second in the IZOD IndyCar Series championship standings going into the 500, indicating great performance consistency on his part.

"So far our performances have been amazing, and making it to the front row for the race was great. Finishing sixth was a good result. I just don’t think it was the result we had the potential to achieve", said the Venezuelan.

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The Mayor of Hinchtown became the Director of Public Safety of Indianapolis on Tuesday. Kicking off the month of May celebrations surrounding the Indianapolis 500, James Hinchcliffe, who now resides in Indianapolis, got an inside glimpse of what current Director Troy Riggs experiences on a daily basis and the steps he goes through to prepare for the 500-mile event at the end of each May.

"We get to do a lot of cool things as IndyCar drivers, but today was one of the coolest things I've been able to do," the two-time IZOD IndyCar Series race winner said. "Getting an inside look at how the city keeps the public safe, all the assets they have at their disposal, the cooperation between all the different agencies, it really was eye opening. You could really see the passion that each person had for their job, and that's a good thing when we are talking about keeping a city safe! A huge thanks to Director Riggs and everyone who contributed to our day. I'll definitely sleep better knowing who is watching our backs!"

Hinchcliffe had the opportunity to visit city center where he sat in on a short meeting to kick off the day. The Toronto native received his very own nameplate (his first one!) and got to sit in Director Riggs’ chair. From there he traveled to Survive Alive – a firehouse built in 1871 that has since been converted into a building to bring school children and families to learn about fire safety. The program sees 12,000 to 15,000 children a year and has helped lower the rate of child deaths due to fire from four children to less than one child a year; the Survive Alive on Massachusetts Avenue in downtown Indy has been open since 1995.

Following the visit to Survive Alive, Hinch made his way to Firehouse 7 where he was able to meet some of Indy’s finest firefighters and EMS. The Police Academy came next where James was able to tour bomb squad trucks, meet with animal control and their K-9 unit, as well as engage in a shooting simulator and driving simulator (where the Sao Paulo Indy 300 race winner drove into a house while in pursuit of a suspect – oops!). A meeting with the directors of many of Indianapolis’ agencies (Homeland Security, EMS, Firefighter, Police, Animal Control amongst others) concluded the day. The 26-year-old learned much about how Indy is run – 300 firefighters are on duty at any point, response time for IFD is three minutes and two seconds, Indy’s EMS teaches CPR to approximately 1,200 children a year and Homeland Security is present at the Indy 500 each year although you may not see them.

Although James enjoyed his day learning about the ins and outs of how the city of Indy is run and protected on a daily basis, the IZOD IndyCar Series driver plans to stick to his day job and leave the protecting to the professionals while appreciating all the efforts they put in to keeping the great city of Indy safe.

5.6.13 (via CBC.ca) - On the final turn of the final lap, James Hinchcliffe finally saw an opening — and made sure he squeezed into it.

Hinchcliffe made a last-ditch move on Takuma Sato, going past the Japanese driver on the inside of the last bend to win IndyCar's Sao Paulo 300 on Sunday.

The Canadian was barely even sure that Sato was finally behind him by the time the checkered flag went down in front of him.

"I don't think I was sure until after we crossed the line," said Hinchcliffe, who earned his second victory of the season and his career. "I didn't think we had it. It wasn't really until I crossed the line that I realized, 'We got it!"'

The Canadian, also the winner in the opener in St. Petersburg, Fla., moved from third to second with three laps to go and then dueled with Sato before finally making the gutsy move as right before the finish at the Anhembi street track.

Sato, coming off his first career victory two weeks ago in Long Beach, drove in too hard for the hairpin at the end of the long back straight and gave just enough space for Hinchcliffe to get past.

"To win a race on the last corner of the last lap is one of the coolest feelings," Hinchcliffe said. "To make a last-corner pass, that's something I'll remember for a long time. Takuma was making that race car really wide and he was defending the inside pretty well. He just outbroke himself just a little bit and I was able to do a high-low [pass] and got the win."

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