Ryan Hunter-Reay Leaps Into Stardom as Winner of Indy 500

The 2014 Indy 500 was won Sunday by Ryan Hunter-Reay. It's an interesting story because Mr. Reay was in studio with me almost two years ago.

Reay is from Boca Raton, Florida, where at a very early age he began to race small cars and stayed with it.

He and I had something in common: both our mothers died from cancer. His mom had colon cancer and mine lung cancer.

Reay was part of Team Livestrong, which was centered around Lance Armstrong and Nike. I asked Mr. Reay about his friendship with Armstrong and he was sort of closed-mouth. I then asked him his thoughts on Armstrong and he became somewhat annoyed with me. It wasn't a blindside, just a basic question about PED allegations against Armstrong. Reay responded by telling me that Armstrong passed all his drug tests. Well, we all know how that worked out for Lance Armstrong!

To me looking back at that interview, Ryan Hunter-Reay was a quiet but humble cat that was destined for great things. I also gave Mr. Reay a Tigers hoodie as a gift. My family has close ties to South Florida, and Reay being from Florida gave me a perfect comfort zone. He will be racing at Belle Isle in Detroit very soon.

I never thought two years later this cat would be drinking milk in the winners circle as the winner of the Indy 500.