IndyCar Driver James Hinchcliffe’s Announcement Proves Again Why Indiana Craft Beer Is Winning The Race

If the heart of Indiana beats like a basketball bouncing on a gymnasium floor, then that heart pumps blood through its veins as quickly as an IndyCar flying around a speedway. Racers are true celebrities in the Circle City; they draw the public to events months leading up to race week; the news stations cover their season with as much fervor as some national media; and the crowd at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway erupts with thunderous applause each May when a town favorite takes the lead at the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

One racer, and an Indianapolis favorite, has taken that local celebrity to a new level in the past year: what started as nothing more than a mutual friendship between IndyCar’s James Hinchcliffe, the “Mayor of Hinchtown,” and Flat 12 Bierwerks co-founding partner Sean O’Connor has blossomed into a beer to be had in the racing capital of the world: Flat 12’s house Golden Ale, Hinchtown Hammer Down, a crisp, heady, lightly hopped ale that has quickly become a favorite in this writer’s circle of friends.

That partnership reached a new level Tuesday night, as Flat 12’s back patio provided the setting for Hinchcliffe’s official announcement of his 2015 team. After running with Andretti Autosport the past three seasons, Hinchcliffe announced that he will be joining Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in a multi-year deal. Finishing in the top five team standings the past three seasons, Schmidt Peterson has achieved successes in its first four seasons that are still being realized in teams with decades more experience.

This was not your run-of-the-mill presser, though. Sure Rich Nye, Dave Furst, and other Indianapolis media were there; so too were writers that cover IndyCar from Cleveland to San Francisco, along with the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team, members of the Indy Eleven (Indianapolis’ NASL squad), and prominent Indianapolis business leaders. But where this event differentiated itself from normal press conferences was what took place after: Hinchcliffe invited some of those in attendance, myself included, to ride with him on the Handle Bar (http://www.handlebarindy.com/) to Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the Pacers’ pre-season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves, sharing pints of Hinchton Hammer Down as we peddled down Mass Ave and through downtown Indy. 

IndyCar drivers don’t necessarily need help getting their faces out in the Indianapolis community (as evidenced by onlookers waving to Hinchcliffe from the sidewalk and their cars): for nearly two months each year, they dominate the local news as 500 fever takes the city. But the partnership between Hinchcliffe and Flat 12 has provided the racer with an added connection to the state, as beer drinkers get to see his (cartoon) face on cans in stores year round. That it is a darn good beer that further ingratiates himself to the community as well. 

Flat 12 itself gets something out of the pairing that it really unique in the craft beer world: while others in the state have more years of experience under their collective belts, Flat 12 is the only Indiana brewery that can say it is the official beer of a member of the international racing community (Flat 12 also brews the official beer of the Indy Eleven supporters, the Brickyard Battalion). That exposure can do wonders for a local brewery, but O’Connor says that Hinchtown Hammer Down was made more out of a “mutual love for IndyCar racing and good beer,” two things Indiana natives everywhere can appreciate. 

Hinchcliffe himself has enjoyed the partnership as well, noting that it has helped give the craft beer scene more exposure to the IndyCar world and his own career, and vice versa. Seeing your name and face on a beer can may feel funny to some, but for Hinchcliffe, being linked to an excellent Indianapolis-made product is about more than just exposure – it is about becoming an even-more involved member of the Circle City community, and that is something the Mayor of Hinchtown is more than ready to embrace.