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He said this on numerous occasions in recent months after news broke that Schmidt and his Calgary-based partner, Rick Peterson, had agreed to merge their racing operation with a division of the McLaren Formula One team. Schmidt and Peterson would continue as owners while McLaren — through its sporting director, former CART and IRL driver Gil de Ferran — would run the team.

Every time he was asked, Schmidt would say the same thing: “We have a contract.�

The problem for Hinchcliffe, who only found out about this last Sunday night, is that he has a contract, all right, but actually driving a racing car for Arrow McLaren SP next year is not part of the deal.

And by continuing to say it will honour the contract, the team has completely sidelined the 32-year-old Oakville native, who now lives in Zionsville, Ind.

A source familiar with the situation, who has been granted anonymity to speak freely about the situation, told the Star that, “Schmidt Peterson have really put the screws to James. He was gobsmacked when they told him; for him, it came entirely out of the blue.

“They will pay him his salary (estimated in the neighbourhood of $500,000 U.S. a year) but to earn it he will have to go to the races and be in their hospitality unit and shake hands with people and talk about racing and be a personality. They might also have him do some appearances away from the races. They are on the hook for a lot of money and they will want to get their money’s worth.�

The insider added that if Hinchcliffe balks or refuses an assignment, the team would consider that a breach of contract and stop paying him.

Hinchcliffe’s lawyers, according to the source, have threatened to sue and been told that if they follow through, the team will stop paying him.

“James might walk away but he would be taking a big chance,� the source said. “There aren’t any rides to be had, for starters, but even if there were none of the other teams is in a position to pay him that kind of money. Except for Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi and Marco Andretti, none of the other drivers in IndyCar are even making close to that. And even if a lawsuit was successful — and that’s debatable — legal fees and court costs would eat up a lot of whatever he might win.

“So he’s really between a rock and a hard place.�

Asked if either Honda U.S.A. or Honda Canada, which use Hinchcliffe in commercials and as an ambassador, might step in to help the Canadian find a job in racing by paying a team to take him on, the source said it was unlikely. “There’s not really a lot of money there, either,� he said.

On Thursday, Hinchcliffe broke his silence, saying in a statement that he was shocked to be told he wouldn’t drive for the team next year.

“Obviously, it’s very late in the game but my team is working flat out to salvage a full 2020 IndyCar campaign. The support from the motorsports community has been overwhelming and is endlessly appreciated,� he said. “Disappointment aside, I still have my health and incredible family, friends and fan support. At the end of the day, there’s not much that a little maple syrup and a Leafs game can’t fix.

“We’ve been kicked down before and come back stronger. This is simply our next fight. Challenge accepted.�

Popularity aside, in auto racing, as it is in all sports, the name of the game is winning. The most successful team in IndyCar racing, for years, has been Team Penske. This season, for instance, Penske driver Josef Newgarden won the IndyCar championship and teammate Simon Pagenaud won the Indianapolis 500.

Hinchcliffe, in a big-league career that goes back to 2011, has won six races in all that time. He won three of those after joining Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in 2015. He missed most of that same 2015 season after being critically injured in a crash at Indianapolis, then came back in 2016 and won the pole for the 500. Two years later, however, he failed to qualify for that iconic race, something that just can’t happen to a team and sponsors who run full-time in the series.

And he hasn’t won a race since mid-2018.

At one time, there were seats open, so Hinchcliffe has to bear some responsibility for his predicament. When the deal between McLaren and Schmidt Peterson was first announced, his teammate, ex-F1 driver Marcus Ericsson, immediately went shopping and landed a ride with Chip Ganassi Racing.

And although Hinchcliffe has always maintained that sponsor Arrow Electronics was in his corner no matter what, particularly after he failed to qualify at Indy in 2018, he surely must have been aware that the company was furious about him appearing nude in a video accompanying an ESPN Magazine feature on injuries suffered by professional athletes.

There has been media speculation since September that Hinchcliffe’s tenure was in jeopardy, which the driver must have known about. So add those whispers to a season without a win and an unhappy title sponsor and job security would be tenuous at best.

Schmidt, during a midweek media conference that made Hinchcliffe’s exit official and introduced Pato O’Ward and Oliver Askew as the team’s drivers, said that he and his partner, Peterson, want to win the Indianapolis 500 and the series championship — in that order.

“You can tell by these announcements that we’re constantly pushing to win races and the McLaren association is specifically for that,� said Schmidt, a quadriplegic as the result of an Indy Racing League crash at Walt Disney World’s “Mickyard� in 2000. “We have long-term partners that are major global corporations and these two young guns we feel are the future of the team.�

Speaking specifically about Hinchcliffe, Schmidt said:

“This is one of the toughest decisions we have had to make since we have been team owners, because I personally have known James, (father) Jeremy, (mother) Arlene, his brother Chris for 11 years and love him. And I really appreciate what he’s done for the team — tremendous, tremendous investor in the sport and our brand and everything else.

“So it’s a gut-wrenching decision, but we were faced with an opportunity to pick up these two young guns coming out of Indy Lights that already have 13, 14, 15 years worth of experience and it was just an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up.

“So it’s just a competitive environment and … we got an opportunity in front of us, we got to take it. We want to go win races.�