Hinchcliffe excited about Go Daddy role

James Hinchcliffe is looking forward to his on-and-off-track future with Go Daddy.

The 25-year-old IndyCar driver from Oakville, Ont., discussed replacing Danica Patrick at Andretti Autosport on Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Wednesday morning.

Although Hinchcliffe now has one of the most prolific sponsors in auto racing and replaces one of the sport’s most popular drivers, he isn’t feeling pressure having to follow up Patrick.

“I think every race car driver gets judged on their driving no matter what car they’re driving, no matter what team they’re driving for, that’s par for the course,” Hinchcliffe told Jeff Blair on Wednesday. “I think the bigger thing for me is, ‘is James going to be in a green bikini?’ joke. I already had pictures of my head superimposed on Danica’s body in some photo shoot. I realize I’m going to be subject to some of that but hey that’s all good man. It’s more press for us, right?”

Hinchcliffe joined IndyCar in 2011 with the legendary Newman/Haas Racing team and finished 12th in the standings, earning the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award. But on Dec. 1, Newman/Haas announced they were pulling out of the IZOD IndyCar Series for the 2012 season, leaving Hinchcliffe without a job.

“I know we struggled a little bit this past season with sponsorship — we were working hard on a couple programs — I gather all the companies decided to go in a different direction within a short span of time,” Hinchcliffe said. “I think Newman/Haas realized that starting to look for a new sponsor that late in the going was unrealistic and decided to pull off operations on the IndyCar side of things for 2012 on Dec. 1.

“I only got about 10 minutes warning ahead of the press release going out so for sure it was a little bit of a shock. But I guess I understand where they were coming from.”

But Hinchcliffe wasn’t unemployed for long. On Tuesday, he announced he had signed with Andretti Autosport, replacing Patrick in the No. 27 Go Daddy car, a sponsor known for featuring Patrick in edgy TV commercials.

Hinchcliffe is no stranger to online marketing, creating his own website where he declared himself the mayor of “Hinchtown” as well as filmed a YouTube video where he took a spin in a dog washing machine at his sister’s pet spa.

It’s all part of the job for Hinchcliffe and may have helped him land the Go Daddy spot.

“It’s no hidden thing on anybody that these days — because our sport is so cost-driven — that you have to be part-race car driver and part-businessman and part of that is being a spokesperson for the company because today you are representing a large corporation in your driving and in your off-track behavior,” he said. “I think I was appealing because we had a good year on-track last year and they’ve got faith in my abilities in the car and furthermore I think my personality fits in with the ethos at Go Daddy.”

Hinchcliffe also said the passing of 2005 IndyCar champion Dan Wheldon will weigh heavily on the drivers’ minds at the start of season, especially with the opening race taking place in Wheldon’s hometown of St. Petersburg, Fla.

“There are a lot of elements that’s going to make St. Pete difficult for everyone and certainly a time to remember Dan, but after that the thing we have to do is get back to racing,” Hinchcliffe said. “Trust me, there’s nobody who would’ve wanted that more than Dan himself.”