'House of Herta' delivers another special moment for family: 'A dream come true' at Laguna Seca

MONTEREY, California – Bryan Herta returned to his Shell driving uniform that he wore in 1998, and it still fit. He sat on the sidepod of his son’s Honda-powered Dallara and felt a tremendous sense of pride.

The elder Herta returned to the cockpit of his No. 8 1998 Ford-Cosworth/Reynard that he drove to victory at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca. It was the first victory for a driver named “Herta” in IndyCar history.

Bryan, however, felt a tremendous sense of pride. He had just watched his 23-year-old son, Colton, drive the 1998 CART machine for some high-speed laps around the picturesque 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course off California’s Central Coast.

It was 25 years ago that Herta scored his first career win in CART. He won again in 1999 at Laguna Seca and would win twice in the Indy Racing League in 2003 (Kansas) and 2005 (Michigan).

Colton Herta drove to victory at Laguna Seca in 2019 and 2021 to give the family four wins at the stunning road course.

Bryan had a chance to revisit Memory Lane from his family’s two trips to Victory Lane at what is known as the “House of Herta” because of the family’s dominance at this road course.

The return of the No. 8 Shell Honda/Reynard was a gift from Colton Herta to his father in May.

Three months later, the car made its triumphant return to the Laguna Seca.

“The gift from Colton was amazing, and that made me want to make today happen,” Bryan told NBC Sports. “So many people had to help out to put this thing back together and make it run and get to where we could actually do this. I really appreciate that.

“I remembered all of it. It came rushing back. That was the most enjoyable thing to live that one more time.

“I’m blessed in so many ways. I love this sport, and I love IndyCar racing. To still be around and get to participate and be with the Andretti team now and work with Kyle Kirkwood and be alongside my son as he is doing it and share something like this with him, I can’t put into words what it means.

“It was definitely a top-five, all-time moment for me.”

As for getting back in the driver’s seat, Bryan Herta was a bit breathless. The 53-year-old is in great shape but not racing shape.

“It was humbling,” Bryan said. “It was fun. The car is so fast. It’s been a while for me. I wish I had enough fitness to drive it long enough to get up to speed with it.

“It felt great to drive it again, to drive it and feel it and hear it and see it here and have that experience to share with Colton. That’s the most important thing.”

Colton joined Bryan on track, driving side-by-side in his current No. 26 Gainbridge Honda that features a throwback paint scheme this weekend to the No. 8 car from 1998.

After Bryan had the opportunity to reacquaint himself with his Reynard, Colton took his turn, driving a car from his father's era for the first time.

“It was super cool,” Colton told NBC Sports. “These cars were so awesome, and something I never got to experience. This car was two years before I was born. I never even heard it start up or seen it run, so it is pretty incredible to see that for the first time.

“It’s quite a different machine from what I have driven in the past. It’s cool to see the evolution of IndyCar and what it took to drive those cars back then and what it takes to drive these cars now.

“I got to drive it in anger, and I was about eight 10ths off last year’s pole time. We got close. With a little more time, I could have beaten it.”

Several years ago, someone sent Colton Herta a listing of the car that was up for sale. It was owned by a man in Houston.

Colton Herta made the trip to Texas to look it over.

“You could tell he didn’t want to really part ways with it, but he really loved the story and getting that car back to its original driver,” Colton said. “I’m very appreciative of him and allowing us to do this.”

Young Herta wanted to drive the car at race speeds but also didn’t want to do any damage to the sleek, high-powered CART machine.

“It’s always like that, any time you go to a new track or a new place or you run a new car for the first time, I was really nervous to get into it for the first time, actually,” Colton admitted. “But as soon as I got in and got to drive it, you don’t think about what could happen, you think about, 'How fast can I go in this thing right now?'

“That’s what I was focusing on.”

Young Herta also described how different the car felt from his current Indy car and the sound of the engine, which differed from the current twin-turbo package.

“The feeling was close to the setup my dad drove in 1998 which is still pretty decent, it was not bad at all,” Colton Herta said. “There is still a little bit of room for improvement on the setup to nowadays. It was amazing.

“The sounds and the smells were the biggest thing that was different. You have an engine that when you go into the slow corners and brake, all of the exhaust goes forward into the cockpit, and you can’t breathe. I’ve never experienced that in my life.

“It was a pretty awesome deal.”

Herta believes the two cars felt physically the same, but the boost and fuel settings on the car were for more of a race setup than qualifying.

“It felt like a lot of fun, felt like there was a lot of time in it, but it was such a good time to get back into the car,” Colton said. “It was the first time I had driven a sequential gearbox since 2014, almost 10 years ago.”

A son helped make his father’s dream come true, not only of reacquiring a racing machine from a glorious era in CART/IndyCar history, but one that started the Herta family’s path to victory lane at a pinnacle level.

“Yesterday was a dream come true, to drive that incredible machine and especially have my family there and share the experience with my son Colton, I’m filled with gratitude,” Bryan said. “So many people helped to make this happen, I’m humbled by the many old friends and teammates that gave their time and knowledge to help us bring the car back to her former glory, and especially Donnie (Oldenberg, special projects/parts manager) and Phil (Howard, team manager) from BHA that sweated all the details to make it perfect."

It was also a special month for Colton, as he felt his father’s pride, gratitude, and appreciation.

“I sure hope he felt that way,” Colton said. “It was so cool for me to be able to acquire it and then the goosebumps you get just watching the thing for the first time when he was able to drive it down the front straight and hear the backfire and the turbo spool and the methanol ripping out the back of it, it was amazing.

“Laguna Seca is super important to me personally. It would be able to get a win here this year and get three wins here total, it would be a great way to tie it up.

“I’m hoping for that.”

Follow Bruce Martin at @BruceMartin_500