INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) – IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe talked life, love and racing at a tech conference downtown this morning.
Hinch also opened up about the crash during a 2015 practice run that nearly killed him.
He says, the hardest part about the recovery was taking it slow.
"Trying to tell someone that wants to work harder than you're asked to work to get back faster that's a really tough thing to deal with, and so I had to sit there and make it a game, I mentally kind of switched gears and I'm like, all right, what I have to do is the most nothing anyone's ever done, I'm going to out nothing anyone that's ever nothinged since nothing was a thing," said Hinchcliffe.
Hinch says having no memory of the crash, along with knowing it was a freak mechanical failure and not his fault, helped him get back in the car and give it 100 percent.
He came back the next year and took the Pole for the 100th running of the Indy 500.
Hinch also talked about what it would mean to win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"It's simple. It's immortality because the day you win that race you are no longer IndyCar driver so-and-so, you're Indy 500 winner so-and-so and for long after you're gone your face will always be on that trophy as one of the greats that conquered one of the biggest challenges in motorsports," said Hinchcliffe.
Hinch's popularity earned him a spot on 'Dancing with the Stars' where he came in second.
He says fellow driver Helio Castroneves reminds him often that he won the trophy during his run on the show.