The world of the NTT IndyCar Series was saddened on Monday evening to learn of the death of longtime Honda Performance Development Communications Director T.E McHale.
McHale spent many years in the NTT IndyCar Series paddock and passed away following a long battle with cancer.
Sebastien Bourdais said:
Honda Performance Development had another phenomenal year in the NTT IndyCar as they won their tenth and fourth consecutive manufacturers championship while also celebrating the fact that Alex Palou in the No.10 NTT DATA Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing won the drivers championship.
Honda also powered Romain Grosjean to his first career pole position at the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis where he scored his first podium.
Speaking about the season, David Salters, President of Honda Performance Development said:
To paraphrase the iconic lyrics of David Byrne and the Talking Heads:
You may find yourself in a brilliant HPD with 230 smart Honda men and women who live the dream of Honda and Acura racing in the US.
You may yourself in an awesome part of the world called Santa Clarita, California, and Brownsburg, Indiana.
You may find yourself working for the coolest, funkiest racing company that is Honda
You may find yourself in a beautiful Acura Long Beach Grand prix, which is a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife.
You may ask yourself ‘how did we get here?’
The answer is: the dedication of the men and women of HPD who start with a clean sheet of paper and design powertrains and chassis, simulate, manufacture, assemble, develop and test, develop aerodynamics and vehicle dynamics simulation and simulators, electrical hardware, software and control systems, use advanced data analytics, and develop and analyze advanced materials.
Team HPD, we salute you for the four consecutive Indy car manufactures titles; Helio Castroneves your fourth Indy 500 victory; and Alex Palou, we salute your first Indy car Drivers’ Championship.
Thank you to our brilliant Honda racing teams. This is once in a lifetime.”
Alex Palou commented saying:
my gosh man, what a race today, and what a year. This team is amazing. I don’t know what else to say. I’m super proud to be part of Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda, and all our partners. Yeah, I’m super happy. I can’t thank enough everyone who made this possible, [team owner] Chip Ganassi especially. This is one dream for me completed. Now let’s get another one!”
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