CART/Champ Cars/IndyCars Herta enjoyed considerable success in the lower formulae, winning the Barber Formula Ford and
Barber Saab Pro Series, and dominating the 1993 Indy Lights championship with
Tasman Motorsports, race engineered by Gerald Tyler. Herta graduated to IndyCar racing in 1994 with team owner
A. J. Foyt, where he had several promising races before suffering a season-ending injury at Toronto. In 1995, Herta was hired to drive for
Chip Ganassi Racing. Despite a pole at Phoenix, the association was unsuccessful, with Herta managing only a twentieth place in the series standings while his teammate
Jimmy Vasser finished 8th. Even so, Herta landed a top ride with
Team Rahal for the 1996 season. During the next few years, Herta developed a reputation for his prowess on road courses, especially at
Laguna Seca Raceway. In 1996, he was the leader until the last lap, when
Alex Zanardi made a pass through the "Corkscrew" chicane and took the victory. Herta, who rarely qualified below the first row at Laguna Seca, won two events at the circuit in
1998 and
1999. At the height of Herta's career, fan interest in the Shell-sponsored driver was dubbed "Hertamania" by team owner
David Letterman. In the opening laps of the
1998 event at
Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin's
Road America circuit, Herta was involved in a major accident. In the road course's fifth turn, Herta got too close to the back of the car of co-owner Rahal, and spun out into a paved runoff area, facing oncoming traffic. A few seconds later,
Alex Barron slid into the front of Herta's car and rode up on top of it. Both drivers were uninjured; Herta reported that Barron's car had actually hit his hands, only inches from his face. From 2000 to 2003, Herta drove for a variety of Champ Car teams including
Forsythe Championship Racing,
Mo Nunn Racing, and
PK Racing, but never quite regained his form from the late 1990s. In 2002, Herta drove an F1 car for the first time, piloting a Minardi at the "Thunder in the Park" event held at Donington Park. This led to speculation that he would test and even race for Minardi in F1.
IRL IndyCar Series After dabbling in sports cars, Herta revitalized his open-wheel racing career by substituting for an injured
Dario Franchitti halfway through the
2003 IRL season. In just his third IRL start, Herta picked up his first IndyCar Series win at
Kansas Speedway for
Andretti Green Racing. He was retained in an expanded four-car squad in 2004, usually running development engines. On July 31, 2005, Herta took his second and final IndyCar Series win, defeating AGR teammate
Dan Wheldon in a close finish in the
Firestone Indy 400 at the
Michigan International Speedway. In early 2006, Herta drove at
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and
Fundidora Park for
A1 Team USA in the
A1 Grand Prix series before returning to Andretti Green for the IRL season. Across his career, Herta started in the
Indianapolis 500 five times (1994–1995, 2004–2006) with three top-ten finishes, including a best of third in 2005. Herta had his helmets painted by AliveDesignCo.com.
Sports cars On October 31, 2006, Herta was confirmed as a driver for
Andretti Green Racing's new
Acura Le Mans prototype program for the
2007 American Le Mans Series season. He shared the car with
Marino Franchitti, brother of his former teammate
Dario Franchitti. On January 3, 2007, it was announced that Dario would also drive a limited ALMS programme with both Marino and Herta. Herta finished the season seventh in driver points with one class win. He also drove for
A1 Team USA. At the event in
Australia, Herta scored a tenth place finish. ==After racing==