James Hinchcliffe Tells How He Joined 'Dancing With The Stars'

James Hinchcliffe is going ‘Dancing with the Stars’ next month, and the IndyCar star told Beyond the Flag how – and why – he landed on the ABC reality show.

James Hinchcliffe surprised Verizon IndyCar Series fans on Tuesday by signing up for the next season of Dancing with the Stars, and he joined Beyond The Flag yesterday afternoon to talk about his decision to become a reality TV star.

More from IndyCar

“I consider myself dancing challenged to be honest, so this is definitely going to be a unique sort of experience for me, definitely outside my comfort zone, and [his partner] Sharna [Burgess] definitely has her work cut out for her,” the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver said. “But I’ve got the competitive spirit, and IndyCar drivers have a pretty good record on this show, so hopefully that counts for something.”

Hinchcliffe (pictured above left, with Ryan Hunter-Reay) explained that ABC had brought him out to the Dancing with the Stars ballroom while IndyCar was in Long Beach in April to get a look at how the series works.

“They brought us out to a taping of last season’s after the Long Beach race to kind of let me see it and get behind the scenes a little bit,” he told us, “meet some of the people involved and kind of see how it all went down, but that was the first time that we really talked about it.”

In the meanwhile, he joined fellow drivers Conor Daly, Will Power, Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan for an appearance on the ABC game show Celebrity Family Feud that aired in June. Here’s what happened:

Being in a dancing competition seems like a big change for Hinchcliffe, particularly since it’s only been about a year and a half since the tremendous pre-Indianapolis 500 accident that almost killed him. What was his thought process in saying yes to the show?

“It wasn’t an easy decision to be honest,” he admitted, “because, like I said, dancing is not something I would consider myself any type of expert at. If there’s something lower than amateur, it would be that.

“But like I said, the experiences of last year have just kind of taught me a lot about life, and one of those lessons is to take opportunities, not shy away from things, don’t be afraid. You’ve got to kind of live your life.

“This is one of those things that might not have ever come around again, and it is outside my comfort zone, so it was certainly not a decision I took lightly, but I think ultimately we made the right choice to be a part of it, and I’m looking forward to getting started.”

One of the first things he did was consult with Castroneves, who appeared on Dancing with the Stars twice in Season 11 and Season 14.

“I spoke to Helio at length before I committed to doing the show,” Hinchcliffe revealed. “There were a lot of questions that I had, and luckily having a friend and colleague who had been through it was a huge benefit to me.

“He definitely explained a really fun opportunity. He thoroughly enjoyed it, so much he went back for a second time. It was great to get to chat to him, and he warned me about the amount of work that it is, but said that it’s going to be an awful lot of fun. He kind of helped me warm up to the idea.”

Hinchcliffe was also motivated by the idea that appearing on a high-profile network TV show – Dancing with the Stars reached an average of 13 million viewers during Season 21 – could help turn audiences on to IndyCar.

“Certainly getting one of our drivers out into some primetime, mainstream media and especially during the off-season, kind of keep IndyCar’s name out there a little bit,” he said. “Again, we’re all assuming this is me making it past week one, so it’s already a bit of a bold statement. But for sure, it’s definitely got two sides to it.”

“From a young age, I was counseled that this is the motorsports world that we live in, and I’ve always just prepared myself for that, and so I’ve not shied away from extra commitments,” Hinchcliffe continued. “I’m a very driven person on track and off, whether it’s my racing or promoting the sport or outside business ventures I’m involved in. I like staying busy. I like staying active in that sense. This is a big part of our sport and it’s a huge help.

“This kind of thing, sure, it benefits me personally but it also benefits the sport, and I’ve always said from day one that anything that I can do outside of a race car to help grow the sport of IndyCar racing is something you can sign me up for because I’ve got such a passion for this sport. I plan on being around it for a long time as a driver [and] for a long time after that, as well, and I just love the fact that we’ve got the opportunity to do this kind of stuff and just try and help spread the word and show people that IndyCar racing is an incredible form of sport.”

must read: Graham Rahal On Texas Win: 'This Team Deserves It'

Lest you worry that Hinchcliffe’s forgotten there’s still a racing season going on, he remains committed to finishing the IndyCar season strong, being one of the nine drivers still in contention for the championship with two races to go.

“Obviously I’ve got a day job, and that’s first and foremost priority at the moment,” he told us. “The first two episodes [of DWTS] are going to be the biggest challenge scheduling-wise, but once we clear Sonoma and clear episode two, if I’ve made it that far and stay on the show, then we’ll have a much freer schedule and [I’ll] be able to dedicate 100 percent of myself to learning and improving and being competitive.

“But certainly up to that point, it’s going to be a challenge with the races that we have coming up and the travel involved and all that.”

“Today will be the first rehearsal session with Sharna, and we’ll do today and tomorrow,” he explained of what his schedule looks like. “Then obviously I’ve got to take off to my day job, and we’ll practice through the start of next week before the test in Sonoma and then over the weekend into the first show there.

“The real challenge will be show two, because I really only have Tuesday and Wednesday before I’ve got to take off to Sonoma for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and the next show is Monday,” he added. “The second show will be more difficult than the first if we get through there. We might have to do a little extra work in the days leading up to show one to already start preparing for week two.”

But he’s not so worried about the schedule. His biggest issue is what Daly – who’s been living in his house in Indianapolis – might get up to while he’s out in Los Angeles for his new second job.

“I have a tremendous concern,” Hinchcliffe quipped. “I’ve already set up a network of people that will be coming to check on him and the house in my absence.”

Dancing with the Stars premieres Monday, Sep. 12 at 8 p.m. on ABC.

James Hinchcliffe Tells How He Joined ‘Dancing With The Stars’

By Brittany Frederick | Aug 31, 2016

James Hinchcliffe is going ‘Dancing with the Stars’ next month, and the IndyCar star told Beyond the Flag how – and why – he landed on the ABC reality show.