By Andrew Cutler
May 4 2009

Like many young, up-and-comming British drivers, a stop in the IndyCar Series probably wasn't on Mike Conway's mind as he was climbing racing's developmental ladder over on his side of the Atlantic. He certianly wasn't on anyone's radar over here in the States; until he participated in a mid-season IndyCar test session last year.

Conway started karting at age eight, eventually progressing to the point of winning the Forumla A British Karting Championship. After that, it was on to the Formula Ford and Formula Renault UK Series, winning the 2004 championship in the latter.

For 2005, Conway stepped up to the British F3 International Series, finishing 3rd in the season standings, the best among the rookies. He came back to the series in 2006 and, driving for a team co-owned by F1 star Kimi Raikkonen, claimed the championship in dominating style.

Mike also got his first taste of the GP2 Series in 2006, running the feature & sprint events on the Silverstone weekend as a stand-in for an injured series regular. He would be back in GP2 on a full-time basis in both 2007 & 2008, driving for a different squad each year. 2007 would see Conway notch one podium and four other top-five finishes: in 2008 he would win the sprint race at Monza and claim two other top-fives. The rest of his results were somewhat lackluster, however, and he would not crack the top-ten in championship points for either year.

In the summer of 2008 Conway would get the chance to drive an IndyCar during a testing session at Sonoma, CA. He quickly came to grips with the car, setting some impressive lap times. It was this performance that brought him to the attention of the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing squad, who set about to get him signed for the 2009 campaign.

Being a rookie and driving for one of the "small" teams in the series, Mike would mostly have a long and difficult season. However, he did manage to finish third at Infineon Raceway, as well as posting two top-ten results. 2010 started out looking very promising, with three top-tens in the first four races. However, a massive crash at Indy sidelined Conway for the rest of the year as he mended from his injuries.

After recovering from his injuries, Conway inked a deal to drive for Andretti Autosport in 2011.