“Hollywood Harvey” Is Living the Dream

By Dennis Krause

Life can’t get much better these days for Jack “Hollywood” Harvey. The driver of the No. 24 DRR INVST Chevrolet for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has been among the fastest in the first two days of practice for the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on May 24th.

Instead of patrolling the pits for FOX TV, Harvey is back in the driver’s seat. While the Dreyer & Reinbold team is Indy 500 only, its performance and preparation is anything but according to Harvey.

“I think people don't understand how complete of a race team Dreyer & Reinbold is. They absolutely are ready to race full-time if an opportunity presents itself, at least with how they structure their team and a lot of the core fundamental people they have.

“Yeah, we only get to do one race right now, but it's an annual effort to be good here, and we made some, what I totally believe are some great hires, acquiring some new people. I think for anyone who knows Dennis (Reinbold) and spent any time talking to him, you know what his passion is for this place. The you go into his garage, and it's like a mini shrine, it's Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and it's pretty cool.

“It's his passion, and we're going to go try to deliver him that win.”

There’s a deep tradition and history of Indy 500 one-offs. Being a part of this one in particular is important to Harvey.

“This is everything I work for, in all fairness,” commented Harvey. “I love doing the opportunity that I have with FOX and being in pit lane and being in the commentary booth for INDY NXT, but being a racing driver is what I wanted to do from when I was 9 years old and started go-karts, and this is where we spent all our time, energy, resources, effort goes into the Indy 500.

“I think without single entries, you're not going to be at 33 cars, period. So clearly, to the history of this place, the tradition of this place -- and I'm talking explicitly only at the Indy 500 -- you need the one-off cars. Until more teams or charters become a bigger thing for this race, you need the one-off entries.

“To be honest with you, I can't think of a better team to do it with than Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. They've got beautiful race cars. They do all their body work. I think we found some speed in some other areas. I think generally we're all excited to try to have -- I think we were good last month of May, but I think we can do a bit better.”

So far, the team is performing at a high level. Harvey’s teammate, Conor Daly, posted the fastest overall speed in Wednesday’s practice at 228.080 mph. Harvey was slower at 225.100, but ranked seventh on the “no-two” speed chart at 220.110.

“Conor was flying this morning,” noted Harvey. “He has been every day in all fairness. I've been teammates with Conor second time at least. First time was in 2013. So I've known this guy a long time. I know how good he is. Certainly very talented and deserves to be racing more than one time a year. It's nice that he's showing it.”

Each driver is working on different programs, gathering data and sharing the information with the other side of the garage. Harvey, for example, is working on a qualifying set-up while Daly has been concentrating on running in traffic.

“I think we're working together as two entries within one team, like excellent so far,” Harvey noted. “Nothing has been hidden. Everything's been super firm. We all talk about it. We discuss it, and we kind of just divide and conquer.

“No, it's working really well. “In terms of trying to figure out what's good for us both, it's just staring at the computer screen and working with engineers and trying to dive through everyone's notes and long conversations between us all. I sit directly opposite him in a garage, and we both share a lot.

“We'll see how the rest of the month pans out, but it's going exactly how you would hope it would go.”

For a driver that spends most of the season with a microphone in his hand, one would think Harvey has spent a lot of time preparing for the 500 in the simulator. But he claims that’s not the case.

“(The) simulator is like Pandora's box a little bit. If you're going to really dive into that and open that, you have to spend a lot of time, energy, and resources to be able to really correlate it well and then therefore trust the information.

“I would say as a team for us right now with the experience we all have being at IMS, it's not where we spend a lot of focus. We have a lot of simulation software programs, but in terms of actually driving on a simulator, it's not something we as a team spend a lot of time doing.

“In terms of my prep, I never stop working out mostly because you never know when an INDYCAR opportunity might present itself. So I felt physically ready to go all year.

“And then in preparation for this, which is a lot of onboard and data analysis, honestly I have our share link. So a lot during the day when I'm just hanging out and don't know what else to do, I just kind of look at data and look at the onboard footage and just try to be as prepared as we can.”

And about that nickname “Hollywood”?

“Maybe someone else can explain it to me,” Harvey said. “That's maybe a question for (fellow FOX broadcasters) Townsend Bell and Will Buxton. The general story is it all started (at) Barber (Motorsports Park). Actually, I wasn't even at the center of -- I don't know what word, shenanigans, maybe.

“It started when I was trying to push forward Bookie Bookston because Bookie's is right by the track and it's awesome. Anyway, Will went and loved it, and we started pushing that. Somehow Hollywood Harvey started to get a ring. I did the worst thing you could do, I said I didn't like it on TV, and then James (Hinchcliffe) kept absolutely nailing me with it. Then everyone in our graphics department at FOX and suddenly throughout the open test, it went from Jack "Hollywood" Harvey to Hollywood Harvey and then just Hollywood, and then here we are. So yeah.”

As Harvey balances his broadcasting and driving duties, the 33-year-old from Lincolnshire, UK, says life is good.

“It's awesome. My life at the minute is as good as it could (be). If you could think of making it better in some way, it's not clear to me how. The only thing that is really going to make it better is if we win this race in 14 days or something -- no. Probably like 10 days, I guess.

“I mean, (the) Lincoln (Red Imps FC) season has been a historic one for us. It's been one that I'll remember forever. For anyone that doesn't know what I'm talking about, me and my parents became very small equity shareholders in my hometown soccer team, a team that I followed for most of my life, about 10 months ago.

“Foreign concept in America, I don't know if America maybe, they got promoted into the league above them, which it's not really a concept here. People have their franchises. But essentially it's like a Triple-A team stepping up to the majors.

“Now the league below the English Premier League, it's called the (UEFA) Champions (League). Watch Ted Lasso, they explain things perfectly. 65 years since they've been at this level. That is a lifetime for most of the fans and stuff like that.

“For our first year into -- it's ridiculous to call us soccer owners because the percentage is hilarious. But to have won the league the way we did and whatnot, it's something I'll remember forever. It's cheesy as hell, but it's completely true. I was a fan. I was watching every game. Hard to put into words how cool that is when it's your hometown team.

“The reason we even did it in the first place was to make sure that that commitment from me, my parents, to our city that we're so proud to be from very much remained front and center. Then when they got promoted, I went back to the game. I think it was in between -- it was like right after Long Beach before the open test, which wasn't perfect timing. When I told the team I was doing it, they were like please don't get stuck.

“But something that cool happens, you've got to be a part of it.”

As a Brit, a win in the 500 for Dreyer & Reinbold, an Indianapolis hometown team, would also be cool.

“I think a lot about what winning would mean. Truthfully, I think it's hard to ever put into words exactly what it is. You hear all the previous champions say you don't know what it means, but actually I could pretty much imagine what it means. I live in Indy enough of the year to know what winning in this community does for you, the motorsport community worldwide.

“I think it would be really cool to have another Brit on the board and continue to raise the profile and presence of INDYCAR in the UK. I think what we have as an on-track product right now is awesome. I know there's a Spaniard who seems to be just unbeatable, but I think our racing is awesome.

“So if we can just keep growing that in the UK, I think we'll pull so many people from Formula One, just the people who want to watch a real battle, just people going head to head and pushing all the time.

“To be one of the people who have won the Indy 500 and have come from the UK, they're legends. They're like my sporting heroes. Yeah, that would be pretty cool.”

Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.

“Hollywood Harvey” Is Living the Dream

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