Since the 2011 season Hunter-Reay's car number has been 28. The number 28 is meant to represent the estimated 28 million people that live with cancer. In 2009 Hunter-Reay's mother died of colon cancer. During the 2013 season Hunter-Reay, as the defending series champion, used number 1 as his car number. This would be the first time that a defending champion has used #1 in the Verizon IndyCar Series since Scott Dixon in 2004 (although Michael Andretti did use #1 in a one-off race during the 2006 season at the Indianapolis 500 due to the team winning the championship the previous season with Dan Wheldon). During the 2013 season a small 28 was placed inside of the 1.