Colton Herta's Amazing Birthday Gift For His Father, hosted by RACER's Marshall Pruett

Second-generation IndyCar star Colton Herta surprises his father Bryan with the ultimate birthday present.
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[@PoyneStar]

Rarely do birthdays make people feel younger. Props to Colton for turning his dad into a kid again.

[@yellowduck8061]

No "kidding"!!

[@brendan7632]

"did you do this?" Man that got me emotional. this has to be the coolest present ever. Great job Colton

[@jonjones3958]

'90s era CART cars are still the nicest looking and best sounding machines in the history of AOWR.

[@arthuralford]

Bryan's face was priceless. Colton, you did good

[@ImpalaSS08]

I love that era of Cart Indy Cars.

[@SlipstreamDigital]

What a fantastic moment captured on video - one thing is to have a photograph to remember the moment it raced, but another is to have the actual car - and still able to run it on a track is the icing on the cake. Congrats to Colton on the find and keeping it secret for so long until now.

[@carltonduty2662]

That man is stunned and overwhelmed. So rad.

[@f500raptor]

Would like to see Colton drive it as well & give his honest assessment of a 1998 car vs. the current car.

[@FOH3663]

Agreed Interesting re; his comments on relative size, being much tighter than the current Dallara.

[@darwinLee81283]

98/99 champ cars Are probably a little Faster. 1998. 1.08.146. vs 2022 - 1.11.612

[@paulo143PE]

@@darwinLee81283 Comparing at Laguna isn't fair because the last few races with the current cars were held on a very old asphalt. In a track like Long Beach, the current cars are faster, but in a track like Road America the CART cars have the upper hand

[@darwinLee81283]

@@paulo143PE My Local Midohio track in 1998 Yielded a 1.05.6 Pole lap 2022 Yielded a 1.06.7 Pole lap Over 1 Second Faster after 25 yrs ?? 1999 was 1.05.3 Over 83 laps 200 Miles. The Current Car Would be a Lap Down over the Champ Car

[@jonlinen225]

Yea, we need to see this car run under Colton's hands. That would be so cool! Probably sounds better than the current car.

[@penske1]

Can we just take a second to appreciate how this video was uploaded without any unnecessary cuts and how we can experience the moment with these guys? Awesome job, Marshall!

[@brianturner2005]

He outdrove Zanardi to win and he kept Zanardi from making another impossible pass. Great race, great driver, great car. Fix it and drive the heck out of it!!

[@garymeredith2441]

I've always known Colton Herta to be such A class act this just goes to prove my initial thoughts of Colton , he truly is a great son to Brian Herta , how many son's would do this for their father .

[@deepinthewoods8078]

Actually, i took a 20 year break from indycar between Fontana 1999 and Indy 2020, so Bryan's victory at Laguna Seca 1998 still feels like yesterday for me ...

[@dzelpwr]

Yeah, it got kind of hard for me after Greg Moore died that day, too... 1999 was an amazing season with two tragic race weekends to end it. It never quite seemed the same after... then the big name teams and drivers began migrating to IRL not long thereafter. I still sort-of followed it, but followed F1 more closely and followed ALMS for a time, too. Went to a bunch of ALMS races in the mid to late 2000s. IndyCar is really getting good again, though. The cars still aren't as wild as late 90s CART, but they're decent enough. The competition and story lines are as good as ever.

[@thevettboy]

I was there at Laguna when Bryan won that race. If he's able to get the thing up and running and makes to Laguna for the historics, I'll be there.

[@ferretout4937]

The CART cars were beasts I would always love watching the on-boards on just how explosive the acceleration were on these car.

[@izzdin6228]

I've never grew up watching 90s CART, i know they run big power turbo v8s, but were they turbo laggy beasts? Or do they just pull and pull from down low till redline?

[@TheUsmc0802]

They were like any other 90s beasts. No power until 5kish and than ungodly.

[@TheUsmc0802]

I can’t find proof but I recall either it was Ford or Honda that had one small turbo and one large turbo to minimize lag.

[@dzelpwr]

@Izz Din the boost was already pretty low by then. Regs were in inMg rather than PSI, but by 99-2000, they were 40 inMg absolute, meaning it included atmospheric pressure. So, at sea level that means just under about 5 PSI boost pressure on a gauge. Really not much, so the lag shouldn't have been all that terrible, just bear in mind redline by the year 2000 was approaching 15,000 RPM. So, sure, maybe you don't get boost until closer to 5,000, but 5,000 isn't all that much higher than idle speed for one of these engines! Normal operation would be between 8,000 and 15,000 anyway. It's their ability to achieve such lofty revs that contributed a good bit to the horsepower output despite the big reductions in turbocharger boost pressure as made by the regulations. Boost was last completely unregulated in the early 1970s. Then they regulated with pop off valves near enough to 100 inMg absolute (once again, meaning subtract ambient air pressure to get what it reads on a boost gauge, which is ~14.7 PSI at sea level) kept going down from there incrementally over the years. To 37 inMg by 2001.

[@TheUsmc0802]

@@dzelpwr excellent fact based reply.

[@Scarface19798]

"You did this", wauw this mean something to Brian. What a star!

[@DugTheDog]

Boys and their toys, so wholesome!

[@JosephKang]

I'm not crying. You're crying! What a beautiful story. Thanks for sharing it with us, MP.

[@glennlane6599]

And with that, Colton wins Son of the Century! But Bryan Herta should be proud, he raised that great kid!

[@mgers75]

that was wholesome as hell!

[@SchumiFan92]

Man those old Indycars were gorgeous

[@jayd2517]

I remember watching that Laguna Seca race back in the day on Eurosport here in the UK. I was a huge Brian Herta fan back then and I'm as big a fan of Colton now. Those Reynards were gorgeous bits of kit!!

[@MaunoKoivistoOfficial]

What an amazing present. Top class, Colton.

[@de-fault_de-fault]

Bryan's two wins in CART were both at Laguna Seca, but 1998 was his first win, not his last. And then if he really ran the same car on all the road courses that year, it would mean he was in it when he got an official life size Alex Barron hat at Road America, and then drove it to win at Laguna Seca just two races later. That's a lot of history for one car.

[@warphammer]

A lot indeed. If it's a winning car and the Eagle Holder, that's amazing.

[@nomiguda]

Plus podiums at Long Beach and Portland in 98. Car's definitely got some history! A first winner in my opinion is much, much more important than a last winner. I imagine the seller got a few wires crossed and told Colton and Colton never actually went and looked it up. Only way I think he could have been mislead.

[@kcbroncohater]

What a good son.

[@mikulitsi1819]

This is simply beautiful 😍 What an amazing present by Colton and that reaction from Bryan told it all. He really really appreciated this

[@erikkarlsson2874]

Class people all the way. this was way fun to see and gave a human dimension to some folks we usually see only under the constraints of competition. Beautiful. Makes me a bigger fan than I was before.

[@Justin6623]

Rob Dahm has Richie Hearn's Lola/Cosworth car from '97, it would be interesting to see the two on track together if it was running

[@skykid2]

😂😂😂 that definitely made my day.. especially when he got in the car 😭😭😭 that look on his face alone

[@MaverickXSE]

Awesome stuff! Now we gotta get Colton and Bryan on the track together with their respective cars for some demo runs.

[@UnsounderGnome]

Has to be a track day at Laguna with Bryan and Colton in this thing now. We need to see it.

[@camrsr5463]

This is one of the most amazing videos on youtube. I mean it. Pure love. I to am speechless.

[@ATCDave1]

That's pretty cool, good lad that Colton. Love to see it run at the WeatherTech International Challenge vintage event at Road America in July!

[@gcatwyo]

How utterly cool! I met Bryan at Cleveland in 97.

[@reneegs4403]

OH MY! What a wonderful birthday present! I was a fan of Bryan's & of course, been a fan of Colton's! This brought tears seeing Bryan's reaction! Enjoy your car! Love you both! ❤❤❤

[@rodneycaupp5962]

The son gets to live this day forever..., it is called Eternal Love at these levels.

[@motomoog]

My friend and neighbor Ken worked with Brian as the Ford Cosworth engineer. I remember watching Brian race at Long Beach and Fontana. This was great to watch his reaction way to go.

[@chadwickstephens4843]

Colton Herta you my friend are a good son, way to go, please make sure we see the video if and when he runs it

[@chrisclodfelter6930]

Unbelievable! Greatest Indy video of the year,

[@therealjuralumin3416]

I am amazed that car has survived, so rare to find old racing cars like this that haven't been repurposed or cannibalised. It's still frozen in time, as it was when he last raced it!

[@Avofan]

Those cars were beautiful, powerful and loud. Good times! Great job Colton!

[@charlesfitch4962]

Wow, well done Colton!

[@dzelpwr]

This is awesome! Also, I love Marshall offering to be mechanic for a day again. Great stuff.

[@tcantel1]

What a Birthday gift and early Fathers Day gift, your a great son and a great person Colton!

[@micko_music]

This is brilliant, only thing I love more than the gesture and the car is the fact Bryan Herta Autosport is playing MF DOOM in the shop!! Thanks for sharing Marshall

[@armorgeddon]

The game? When was that said, I missed it.

[@micko_music]

@@armorgeddon No he was a rapper/producer, you can hear his song Rhymes Like Dimes playing in the background from the 10 minute mark onwards 🤝

[@freddyhung]

The most beautiful open wheel car in the history

[@stevesingiser2325]

The relationship between the two of them is so awesome.

[@jeffreygortz6146]

I live near laguna seca , I was there when this car won , way to go Colton !!!!!! Way to go marshal and the racer channel , I've got tears 😢 😭 🤣 😂 🤧 ❤️

[@sixflags48]

This was so wholesome

[@kben24]

It’s surprising that we’ve never seen a throwback livery of this Shell car…

[@carlosroman2905]

That shell livery was beautiful

[@vinewood8295]

Some dude, gave me a great deal, he liked the story so he hooked me up. Like the phone rang and it's Colton Herta, son of the man who drove the chassis you have in your possession. Amazing it's still in original condition WITH the engine as well, a rare find indeed. I was about to shed tears myself cause I whole heartedly remember watching that car race back then, hell I was Laguna Seca the day of The Pass. Was happy for Bryan when he finally won, well overdue...

[@stoll1st4]

I will always remember these cars as the best Racecars that were build 🤩 i liked the races so much . Greetings from Germany 🇩🇪

[@brianh9529]

Love this family

[@speedweenie7394]

What a good kid. He reminds me of my son. ❤

[@plantfeeder6677]

Ah you got me tearing up here! What a special gift seeing Bryan's face. What a special son. This was feels good on steroids. The amazing thing is, that Reynard-Ford could qualify and run quite competitively today.

[@JoeBeardsley]

Awesome, awesome, awesome! Way to go, Colton, and thank you Marshall for sharing this with us!

[@paulanthonynelson2733]

Thanks all for sharing, Im a happy racefan when I see this. Nice one Colton, you're alright man.

[@rhondalarimore8196]

Bryan is beside himself. Trying to keep his composure

[@F-Man]

Best thing I’ve seen all week.

[@MrWATM]

WOW! WHAT A STORY! I'm speechless, too.

[@kptempel]

That's a great looking car, too. I'd pick this one a lot playing CART World Series on Playstation.

[@danrez42]

Your a great son Colton made me a fan for life great luck on the 500

[@datdudeRem]

This was too cool!!! I saw this car run in Cleveland the season it was raced……..what a SOUND!!!

[@bidi5002]

Wow congrats!! How could u not love your son to-do this for his dad time to go back to Laguna to his last win and bring back the memories!!

[@MX304]

That was awesome! Can't wait to see him drive it again.

[@GoFeri]

This was a fantastic livery, I wish Team Penske put on something similar on Newgarden's No. 2 Shell Chevy.

[@Fmontes]

That was simply fantastic.

[@ianward7376]

Laguna Herta, looks better than I remember it. Indycars from this era where so awesomely cool

[@rickthomas3970]

What a great story .. I just watched the replay of the race .. It was a dogfight to the end .. Mr. Herta earned that one he should be proud of that car ..

[@healthyone100]

Great looking car hats off Colton!

[@shredhead4604]

Outstanding work Colton. 🤙

[@jethrooffemaria1990]

Like father, like son.

[@MonteCarloGP]

Now THAT'S a birthday present.

[@DSaw78]

That is awesome! Hope he gets a chance to get it back on a track with you doing the video!

[@Richard.Hybels]

Beautiful car, beautiful era.

[@littlepoolefam3]

A great gift, from a great son to a great dad. I am just a schlub who used to race KT100 karts with Bryan when we were teenagers at Indian Dunes and Little Ascot in Southern California. Although it has been 37 plus years since we last saw and/or raced with each other, I remember it as if it were yesterday. He has always been a professional, respectful, and genuine kind of guy, and it seems to me that Colton is very much like him. However, I think Colton is a better driver...LOL! Thak you for posting this video. It brought me to tears, believe it or not. It was very moving watching Bryan's reaction, and then it reminded me that we are not teenagers anymore...😩🤣. Happy belated birthday, Bryan! Troy P.

[@senorsoupe]

Marshall's Jimmy Bly hat is amazing

[@Mario_Ramirez]

It needs a CART logo, beautiful Champ Car.

[@andrewmoreno2027]

So awesome Colton could do this for his dad!

[@DavidLeighAlsace]

The best!

[@mrhollio2]

well done, son!!!!

[@leifsoderman5065]

Awesome great job Colton

[@jebediahgentry7029]

I wanna see this thing run! These cars were monsters! What a perfect birthday present!

[@FuddButter]

Seems fitting that this be at the Monetary motorsport reunion. (as a demo, it's too new to race)

[@padeksewenejt1032]

Best looking race car ever. At least for me! I will always have a sweet spot in my heart for that livery.

[@Spyke-lz2hl]

He was so confused, it was amazing watching it set in what he was actually looking at.

[@V10ViperSRT]

What a great looking livery

[@Mikertt]

That really is the ultimate birthday gift for Bryan. Hopefully they can get it up and running so he can take it for a ride on the track sometime.

[@john2ndname]

This car to me was one of the best looking Cart1998 cars in the series back then...I remember Brian Herta was so dominant at Laguna back in those days..

[@AlistairMaxwell77]

given a 96 chassis holds the lap record , that 98 raynard would still probably break it if you could get all the parts to fully prep it

[@rayisland23]

Beautiful Birthday Gift

[@bgood12081]

I’m not crying - you’re crying !

[@kevinburris4298]

Great stuff! Good job Colton.

[@llanitedave]

Until this video, I never really appreciated how closely Colton resembles his dad.

[@Mr2it3881]

Awesome gift man, the best ever.

[@mattg9971]

This is a beautiful video MP.

[@apm78229]

So cool that Cosworth still runs their old CART motors unlike some folks…

[@scottm4267]

Great story Marshall...Thanks for sharing and for all your hard work this month!

[@billk656]

What a present! it would be so cool to see that car and Bryan at the Rolex Reunion/Laguna Seca!!!

[@rodbrown8306]

Colton is a special type of guy. not hard to notice besides this.

[@donaldwoodward7221]

For me, probably the best livery/ color combo ever.