Tony Kanaan
Antoine Rizkallah Kanaan Filho (born December 31, 1974) is a Brazilian race car driver of Lebanese heritage from Salvador, Brazil. Kanaan is an IndyCar driver who holds the unique distinction of being the only driver in the long and storied history of the Indianapolis 500 to lead the fabled event in each of his first five starts. Kanaan won the 2004 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series championship in dominating fashion driving for 7-Eleven and Andretti Green Racing, winning three times in his Honda-powered Dallara. That season he completed 3,305 laps, the first IndyCar Series driver to complete every possible lap in a season. He also led 889 laps in 13 separate races to establish an IndyCar Series record.
Kanaan was the 1997 Indy Lights champion, driving for Tasman. In 1999 he scored his first major victory in the Champ Car World Series by winning the U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway for Tasman. After the Tasman team lost their McDonald's sponsorship package, Kanaan moved on to Mo Nunn's start-up team for the next three years before moving on to the IRL.
Following his championship season, in 2005 he placed second in the championship to his teammate Dan Wheldon. That year, he won his first pole position for the Indianapolis 500 to add to his finishes of second, third, fifth and eighth in the event. Winning the Indianapolis 500 remains one of the few holes in his resume. In September 2005 he tested a Formula 1 car with the BAR-Honda Team at Jerez as a reward for his 2004 IRL championship in a Honda powered car.
Shortly after the end of the 2005 IRL season in October, Kanaan participated in a segment promoting sponsor 7-Eleven's new P'Eatzza sandwich, to be unveiled in April 2006, as part of a task on the US Series 5 of The Apprentice. Synergy had Kannan eating the sandwich in the car in a photo shoot for flyers distributed to college students. (Synergy won the task.)
In 2006 associate sponsor Hershey's had him participate in an updated version of a classic Reese's Caramel commercial for the Caramel Cup brand with a driver in NASCAR who has a win at Indy (something Kannan aspires to do). 2003 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard winner Kevin Harvick, who drives the #29 Reese's Chevrolet in selected races (including the Allstate 400, one of 13 races where Hershey's brands replaces GM Goodwrench as primary sponsor), is walking down a street, listening to music on an iPod, bumps into Kannan, who is holding a jar of caramel. Harvick's Reese's cup is dipped into a jar of caramel held by Kannan. Happy responds, "You got your caramel into my Reese's."
Kanaan is good friend of Brazilian Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello, and they exchanged helmets for the events in May 28, 2006. Barrichello wore Kanaan's helmet livery during the Monaco GP and Kanaan wore Rubens's one during the Indy 500.
Another of Kanaan's long-time good friends and a former teammate from his Tasman days is Helio Castroneves. Kanaan and Castroneves have developed an intense rivalry that has resulted in some hard feelings. Castroneves accused Kanaan of costing him the 2006 IndyCar Series championship by racing him too hard for position in the final race. Kanaan countered that he was not paid to let other people pass him for position. The two apparently no longer speak and other IndyCar Series drivers such as Wheldon have duly noted their concerns.
Kanaan has gotten his 2007 season off in fine fashion, winning in Japan at Honda's Twin Ring Motegi track, and currently standing second in points.
Champcar career results
Year | Team | Wins | Points | Championship Finish |
---|---|---|---|---|
1998 | Tasman Motorsports | 0 | 92 | 9th |
1999 | Forsythe Racing | 1 | 85 | 11th |
2000 | Mo Nunn Racing | 0 | 24 | 19th |
2001 | Mo Nunn Racing | 0 | 93 | 9th |
2002 | Mo Nunn Racing | 0 | 99 | 12th |
1 win, 0 championships
IndyCar career results
(Races in Bold indicate pole position)
Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Rank | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | Mo Nunn | HMS | PHX | CAL | NZR | IND Ret |
TXS | PPIR | RIR | KAN | NSH | MIS | KTY | STL | CHI | TX2 | 50th | 2 | ||
2003 | Andretti Green | HMS 4 |
PHX 1 |
JAP 14 |
IND 3 |
TXS 2 |
PPIR 2 |
RIR 5 |
KAN 4 |
NSH 9 |
MIS Ret |
STL 2 |
KTY 6 |
NZR Ret |
CHI 6 |
CAL 3 |
TX2 14 |
4th | 476 | |
2004 | Andretti Green | HMS 8 |
PHX 1 |
JAP 2 |
IND 2 |
TXS 1 |
RIR 5 |
KAN 3 |
NSH 1 |
MIL 4 |
MIS 2 |
KTY 5 |
PPIR 5 |
NZR 2 |
CHI 3 |
CAL 2 |
TX2 2 |
1st | 618 | |
2005 | Andretti Green | HMS 3 |
PHX 3 |
STP 2 |
JAP 6 |
IND 8 |
TXS 3 |
RIR Ret |
KAN 1 |
NSH Ret |
MIL 4 |
MIS 4 |
KTY Ret |
PPIR 3 |
SNM 1 |
CHI 5 |
WGL 2 |
CAL 2 |
2nd | 548 |
2006 | Andretti Green | HMS Ret |
STP 3 |
JAP 3 |
IND 5 |
WGL 11 |
TXS 7 |
RIR Ret |
KAN 5 |
NSH 12 |
MIL 1 |
MIS 4 |
KTY 5 |
SNM 11 |
CHI 7 |
6th | 388 | |||
2007 | Andretti Green | HMS 5 |
STP 3 |
JAP 1 |
KAN | IND | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | NSH | MDO | MIS | KTY | SNM | DET | CHI | 2nd | 115 |
Years | Races | Poles | Wins | Podiums (Non-win) |
Top 10s (Non-podium) |
Indianapolis 500 Wins |
Championships | Teams | Total Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6 | 67 | 6 | 8 | 23 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2,147 |
Indy 500 results
Year | Chassis | Engine | Start | Finish |
---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | G-Force | Chevrolet | 5th | 28th |
2003 | Dallara | Honda | 2nd | 3rd |
2004 | Dallara | Honda | 5th | 2nd |
2005 | Dallara | Honda | 1st | 8th |
2006 | Dallara | Honda | 5th | 5th |
0 wins, 1 pole