For every racing driver competing in the Indianapolis 500, success at the Brickyard can have a profound effect in judging the career of any driver lucky enough to win the great race. For some a win at the Brickyard can be the catalyst that turns a talented prospect into a potential face of the sport, whilst for others the win acts as the cherry on top of a fantastic open wheel career. And in the case of Ryan Hunter-Reay it serves as the reward for the hard work and determination for working his way to the top after years of hard luck and misfortune.

The road to 500 success was certainly a rocky one for Ryan Hunter-Reay. After three years competing in the Champcar series for teams such as Herdez and Rocketsports, Hunter-Reay made his Indycar debut in 2007 driving for Rahal Letterman Racing as a mid-season replacement for the outgoing Jeff Simmons, in the process claiming a best finish of sixth place in his six races with the team on his way to winning that season’s rookie of the year honours. A full season with Rahal followed in 2008, during which Hunter-Raey claimed his first victory in the series with a dominant victory at Watkins Glen in July, giving Rahal Letterman it’s first victory since 2008 and helping Hunter Reay on his way to an eighth place finish in the Championship. Unfortunately however, issues relating to Rahal’s ethanol sponsorship saw the company withdraw their sponsorship at the end of the season due to financial problems, leaving RHR without a drive just as his career appeared to be heading on the right track.

After running part-time schedules for both Vision Racing and AJ Foyt throughout 2009, Hunter-Reay was given the chance to driver for the Andretti Autosport team for the 2010 season. Although initially hired on a short-term contract, Hunter-Reay’s strong opening to the season (including a win at Long Beach) saw the team secure sponsorship for the remainder of the campaign, where Hunter-Reay picked up a further nine top ten finishes on his way to 7th place in the championship. A further victory was secured the following season at New Hampshire, but for many Hunter-Reay’s 2011 campaign was best remembered for his failure to qualify for the 2011 Indianapolis 500, forcing Michael Andretti to make a deal with A.J. Foyt Enterprises for Hunter-Reay to replace Bruno Junqueira in his already-qualified car, a move which caused much grievance within the Indycar racing community.

Following the introduction of the Dallara DW12 however, Hunter-Reay soon became a driver transformed, combining his archetypal consistency with four victories to see him emerge as a surprise contender for that season’s championship and in an intense end of season finale at Fontana held is nerve to overcome Will Power and claim that season’s title, the first for an Andretti driver since 2005 and the first for an American in the series since 2006. The change to the DW12 also saw Hunter-Reay become a contender when it came to Indianapolis, qualifying in third place for the race in 2012, before going on to finish third the following season after leading the race entering it’s later stages. With the demons surrounding his 2011 failure at the Brickyard a distant memory, Hunter-Reay entered the 2014 month of May confident of once again challenging for 500 honours come Memorial Day weekend.

After qualifying for the race in a disappointing 19th place, Hunter-Reay began to slowly work his way through the field during the race’s first extended green flag run, taking the lead for the first time on lap 100 on his way to setting the fastest lap of the race at a speed of 211.871 miles an hour. By the 400 mile mark, Hunter-Reay continued to remain with the lead pack, trading the lead with the hard-charging Marco Andretti as well as #3 machine of Helio Castroneves, who was aiming for a record-equalling fourth win in a car designed to look like that of four-time 500 winner Rick Mears. On lap 191 however, Townsend Bell crashed hard into the outside wall at the exit of turn two. With less than nine laps remaining, officials elected to put out the red flag that halted to repair the damage sustained to the outside SAFER barrier. With Andretti beginning to fall off the pace by the time of the accident, it set the stage for a duel between Hunter-Reay and Castroneves for the win when the race finally restarted with just six laps remaining.

After trading positions between them following the restart of the race, Castroneves went to the outside to pass Hunter-Reay going into turn one to retake the lead with just two remaining. The two raced nose-to-tail, with Andretti fading in third. As the field came down the main stretch to receive the white flag, Hunter-Reay made a slingshot pass to the outside to again retake the lead. He pulled out to a lead down the backstretch, and Castroneves was unable to challenge going into turn 3. As they came off of turn four, Castroneves tried to close the gap, and drafted going down the mainstretch. He made a move to the outside, but Hunter-Reay was able to hold off the challenge, and won the race by 0.0600 seconds, the second-closest finish in race history behind only 1992.

Having secured the first American win in the race since Sam Hornish Jr. in 2006, Hunter-Reay was greeted with joyous crowds upon his arrival in victory lane, the sense of relief seen on his face after such a hard-fought battle evident to see as he took the milk in victory lane before draping himself in the American flag for the immediate pre-race photographs. After years of bad luck and squandered opportunities due to circumstances out his control Ryan-Hunter-Reay had finally come to realise the dream that had long been threatened due to circumstances out his control, and to top it all done it in the most spectacular way possible.

In today’s video we have the final laps of the 2014 500, as well as the unwelcome return of the ABC wife-cam: