11 months ago, Mike Conway nearly lost his life. If that seems blunt or overly dramatic, well, check the video to refresh your memory. As his car flew thru the air at Indianapolis, winning races had to be the furthest thing from his mind.
After months of hard rehab, Conway was signed to drive for Andretti Autosport for 2011. It was a controversial decision, since Conway had only shown flashes of brilliance in IndyCar (to be fair, he’s won at every level prior to IndyCar). Was this just a classic “ride-buy,” or was AA “that desperate?”
At Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Conway answered all of the questions, silenced the doubters (including yours truly), and completed a remarkable comeback by taking his car to Victory Lane. He did all this while overcoming a pit road error (self-inflicted) that sent him to the rear of the field.
Conway clearly had a fast car, as he stayed with leaders Will Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay throughout the first stint. The pit stop error (he overcooked it trying to enter his stall) changed all that of course, but his car was still fast. On the legendary, but rough and narrow, Streets of Long Beach, Conway doggedly worked his way back into contention.
Then, he was helped by a series of restart fiascos, culminating in the day’s biggest incident on a lap 66 restart. Third-place runner Will Power attempted an outside maneuver on second-place Hunter-Reay in turn 1. While it was a touch optimistic, both drivers were well on their way to sorting out cleanly, until Power’s teammate, Helio Castroneves, intervened. Running in fifth, Helio was late on the brakes, locked up, and plowed into his teammate. Both Penske drivers ended up at the back of the field, while Oriol Servia, running in fourth, used great skill to avoid contact and only lost four spots.
The mess put Conway into third, but from there, he passed both Dario Franchitti (Hunter-Reay retired with mechanical failure) and Briscoe for the lead en route to a stunning 6.3 second victory.
Afterwards, the notoriously reserved Conway said, “What a great result!” Given where he was 11 months ago, that seems like an understatement, for driver and team.
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