North Carolina striving for place at Indianapolis 500

Daniel Herrington is making his mark as an open-wheel driver from stock-car country.

Herrington, a 23-year-old N.C. State engineering graduate from Winston-Salem, got a breakthrough victory in the Firestone Indy Lights series at Chicagoland Speedway in August and will close his first full season on the tour Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Perhaps as remarkable as the fact that a North Carolina driver has realistic hopes of competing in the Indianapolis 500 in a year or two is the fact that Herrington had a relatively late start in racing, didn't grow up around the sport and had little interest in it until a few years ago.

"Really, before I was 16, I knew nothing about racing," Herrington said. "I caught up in a hurry. I started watching every single race event that came on TV.

"When I was 16, it was my dad's birthday and I convinced him that he should go down to Florida, and take me with him, of course, to this driving school. I did pretty well there, got a lot of encouragement, and I sort of had a knack for it."

Herrington's father, David, is a cardiologist at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. His mother, Deirdre, is an internal-medicine physician at Blue Ridge Medical Associates.

Herrington started racing at age 17, in an E30 BMW at Virginia International Raceway. While pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering at N.C. State (he graduated in May), he progressed from the club-racing ranks and landed a part-time ride in the Indy Lights series, the top stepping stone to the IndyCar Series.

Herrington had a major breakthrough this year, racing full-time in Indy Lights for Bryan Herta Autosport.

He is sixth in the season standings, and he had his first victory in the most recent race, Aug. 29 at Chicagoland.

"To be at this level, working for guys like Bryan Herta, it's a big step in my career," Herrington said. "Hopefully, just the first step."

He hopes to reach a goal of racing in the Indianapolis 500 in the next year or two.

"We're working on ways to raise sponsorship so we can do the 500 next year with Bryan Herta, but it's a tough business, especially with the economy right now, so we'll just work hard and bide our time and hopefully catch a break and be able to do it," Herrington said.

"You have to have some natural ability, but a lot of it is just hard work that goes on behind the scenes.

"I work with a driving coach, Ross Bentley, who has helped me a lot. I put a lot of effort in trying to reach and meet as many people as I could in racing. You work hard at that and get lucky here or there, get a break or two, and win a race…"

David Herrington said that his son has had an amazing learning experience.

"He's really matured through the process," David Herrington said. "I told him he already knows and has connected with more CEOs as a recent college graduate than I'll ever know."

Mike King, a Winston-Salem native who is a broadcaster for Indy Lights and the chief announcer for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network, said that Daniel Herrington's engineering training helped offset his lack of a traditional racing background and was a boon to his fast progression.

"I think the ability might not have been tested, but the intelligence was there, and when he simply connected the two, it clicked," King said. "For a guy to go from never having sat in a racecar to winning at the level he has won at in less than six years -- that's pretty phenomenal.

"And to have a guy like Bryan Herta, who has been a winner in CART, in Champ Car, in IndyCar and in sports-car racing, to have him believe that you're good enough to go to the next level -- to the IndyCar series after maybe one more year in the Indy Lights series -- that's really amazing."

And, King said, it's "unheard of" to see a driver from North Carolina in an open-wheel, Indy-type car.

"I'm pretty much it," Herrington said.

King said he introduced himself to Herrington in Ohio two years ago when he saw that a driver from Winston-Salem was entered in a race.

"I met him, nice kid, he told me he went to N.C. State," King said. "I thought, ‘Well, you know, we probably won't hear much of him.' There just aren't any successful drivers from the South in open-wheel racing that do much.

"When Bryan Herta hired Daniel, it raised my eyebrows because Herta would not waste his time with somebody that he didn't think had true potential. Then, of course, Daniel won this year with Bryan."

King did some research after Herrington's victory.

"I called Donald Davidson, a historian at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and said, ‘Donald, tell me about other successful open-wheel racecar drivers that have grown up in North Carolina.' He told me he'd have to get back to me. Three or four hours later, I get an e-mail from Donald saying he can't come up with anybody.

"He said there were some guys that might have lived in North Carolina for a while, and maybe based in Charlotte, but drivers who have grown up in North Carolina, he couldn't come up with a single name.

"So Daniel Herrington is breaking some real ground here."