IndyCar: Every falsehood about Arrow McLaren Racing SP points to harsh reality

All of what turned out to be untrue about James Hinchcliffe and the Arrow McLaren Racing SP IndyCar team point to a harsh reality.

It’s July of 2019. The IndyCar driver lineup for the 2020 season is slowly coming into focus. James Hinchcliffe has a contract to return to Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports next year. Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports have a contract to run Honda engines next year. Hinchcliffe is a Honda spokesman.

All is right with the world.

Skip ahead to October of 2019.

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Hinchcliffe is searching for a ride for the 2020 season because the Chevrolet-powered Arrow McLaren Racing SP, formed when Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports joined forces with McLaren, released him, just months after ending their own contract with Honda one year early.

How did this happen?

This situation was surrounded with nothing more than falsehood from day one. The thing is, most of these untrue statements didn’t come from “fake news” media outlets. Quite frankly, none of them did.

They all came directly from officials within the team(s) themselves.

Here are some quotes from Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team co-owner Sam Schmidt.

The first of these quotes was made before his team formed a partnership with McLaren and switched to Chevrolet engines.

"“Again, we have another year on our contract with Honda. The company has stated perfectly clear they can’t be associated with (McLaren CEO) Zak Brown or McLaren, so I think that alienates us from that program.”"

That “alienation” didn’t mean much, as that deal ended up happening.

Here is what Schmidt had to say about Hinchcliffe once that partnership and this switch was confirmed.

"“As far as we’re concerned, we have another year on James’ contract and we intend on fulfilling that. Today’s announcement was obviously about McLaren, Chevrolet, Arrow and ourselves, and we wanted to get that out there for the sake of the commercial deals so we can start working on joint deals for next year. Then we figured we’d deal with driver announcements in the coming weeks.”"

Yes, Hinchcliffe is technically still “under contract” with Arrow McLaren Racing SP. But he is no longer under contract as a driver and could simply stick around and collect money if he doesn’t land a deal with another team.

Here is what he had to say in the midst of speculation that Hinchcliffe might actually not return to the team.

"“We’re very pleased James is staying, absolutely, although I’m not sure why there was all that speculation. I mean, yes, it was unfortunate that we had to change engine supplier – unfortunate for us, unfortunate for him – but we had to make a change in order to join forces with McLaren, and the pros far exceeded the cons there.“James had a year left on his contract with us, and as I’ve told you before, I always wanted the continuity of going into next season with at least one established driver with measurable experience and talent and wins under his belt. So there was willingness on both sides to continue as per our contract.”"

Schmidt was “not sure why there was all that speculation”?

Well, Hinchcliffe is, at least now, anyway.

Here is one from McLaren CEO Zak Brown.

"“Hinch is under contract and we think he’s an excellent racing driver who has won lots of races and he does have big ties to Honda. From our point of view, we are very happy to continue to have Hinch, and that’s kind of the state of play.”"

Here is one from another unnamed McLaren representative.

"“James Hinchcliffe is a great member of the team and has a contract through 2020, and we look forward to confirming drivers soon.”"

Here is a tweet from Hinchcliffe himself after the McLaren partnership was announced.

pic.twitter.com/QILg7ngO4b
— James Hinchcliffe (@Hinchtown) August 9, 2019

Yet none of it is true.

In other news, Kyle Busch has been hired to run a one-off for Team Penske in next year’s Indianapolis 500.

From these quotes, everything pointed to Hinchcliffe returning to Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in a Honda-powered car next year. When that changed, he was still set to return to Arrow McLaren Racing SP in a Chevrolet-powered car.

Now the team’s, the Chevrolet team’s, driver lineup is slated to consist of Oliver Askew and Patricio O’Ward.

Figure that one out.

Really, it’s really not that hard. These falsehoods simply point to a harsher reality of America’s premier open-wheel series.

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“Under contract” really means nothing in IndyCar — from drivers to teams to engine manufacturers to sponsors. As much as nobody wants to believe it, that’s the truth of the matter.

And the idea that James Hinchcliffe is still “under contract” with Arrow McLaren Racing SP does nothing to change that considering the fact that he no longer has the ride he was once “confirmed” to have.