City of Fort Lauderdale to make ‘Ryan Hunter-Reay Day’ Proclamation

Hunter-Reay

Recently crowned IZOD IndyCar Series Champion Ryan Hunter-Reay will be honored by the city of Fort Lauderdale with a public celebration on Las Olas Blvd. on Wednesday. The three-hour event kicks off at 6 p.m. in the courtyard outside of YOLO restaurant in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Hunter-Reay and his Andretti Autosport No. 28 DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet will be on hand for guest and fans to get autographs and photos with the championship winning driver and car. Mayor Jack Seiler will present Ryan with the proclamation at 7:30 p.m.

"It's a great honor to be recognized by the city I grew up in and am so proud to still live in today," said Hunter-Reay. "I feel extremely fortunate to be able to call Fort Lauderdale home. I look forward to seeing our championship winning No. 28 IndyCar on display in downtown Fort Lauderdale."

The street-party stop is part of a three-day outing for Hunter-Reay and the No. 28 DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevy. Hunter-Reay will start the South Florida tour Monday, celebrating his championship with the employees and management at DHL headquarters in Plantation, Fla. The global market leader in the logistics industry has served as the co-primary sponsor for Hunter-Reay for two consecutive seasons.

The DHL celebration stop will be followed on Tuesday with a routine IndyCar closed test session at Homestead-Miami Speedway where Hunter-Reay will help Series tire manufacturer Firestone further the development of their Firestone Firehawk Racing Tires. This will be Hunter-Reay's first time back behind the wheel of the No. 28 since capturing the 2012 championship in the nail-biting season finale at Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, Calif.) in September.

Hunter-Reay, won the IndyCar Championship and its million dollar prize by scoring a league-leading four race victories this year. He has been the highest placed American Driver in the IndyCar Championship since joining Andretti Autosport three years ago, and is the most successful American Driver currently competing in the series with three times more race wins than all of the other current American drivers combined. A past recipient of both the IZOD IndyCar Series Rookie of the year and Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the year awards Hunter-Reay is the only driver to have won races in IndyCar, ChampCar, CART, GrandAm and the ALMS Series.

Hunter-Reay, 31, is the spokesperson for 'Racing for Cancer' a charity he co-founded in honor of his mother, Lydia, who lost her fight against cancer in 2009. The charity is devoted to raising funds for the early detection and prevention of cancer as well as supporting the fight against childhood cancer. The No. 28 carried on his Indy car in 2012 served as recognition of the 28 million people currently fighting cancer worldwide.