Kanaan wins first Indy 500

INDIANAPOLIS — Entering the 97th running of the Indianapolis 500, Brazilian IndyCar driver Tony Kanaan had 14 wins, 11 poles and a 2004 IndyCar Series title to his name.

Yet, there was a void in his career résumé left from his unsuccessful pursuits of an Indy 500 victory after 11 starts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Before Sunday, Kanaan had five top-five Indy 500 finishes and had led a sizeable number of laps in eight Indy 500s, but he had never captured the elusive title in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

All of that changed Sunday.

After a restart on lap 197 following Graham Rahal’s crash on the back straightaway, Kanaan stole the lead from Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay in Turn 1. Seconds later, three-time Indy 500 champion and Kanaan’s former teammate, Dario Franchitti, lost control of his No. 10 Target car. Franchitti drove high on the track and crashed into the wall, which brought out the yellow caution flag for the remaining three laps. Kanaan, the fan-favorite at IMS, took the checkered flag.

On a race day in which the drivers set numerous records relating to speed and passing at the front of the pack, including the number of lead changes (68, which doubled the 2012 record of 34), the winning average speed (187.433 mph) and the number of lap leaders (14), Kanaan crossed the finish line with the caution flag waving above the track.

Sunday’s 21 caution-flag laps tied the record for the fewest in Indy 500 history and the drivers raced without incident for a record 133 consecutive laps from lap No. 61 to lap No. 193, when Hunter-Reay held the lead heading into the caution. 

Kanaan celebrated his victory by accepting the winner’s wreath, drinking 2-percent milk out of a glass bottle in the winner’s circle, kissing the yard of bricks with his KV Racing Technology team and, most importantly for him, crossing his name off the list of “the best drivers to never win the Indy 500.”

“I’m glad I put myself out of that group and put myself in the other group,” he said. “I’m glad I’m on the other side and I can put my big nose on that trophy.”

Franchitti said he felt a little better seeing who was leading after he crashed into the wall in Turn 1 and praised Kanaan for earning his spot on the Borg-Warner Trophy.

“It cheered me up a bit,” he said. “Great, just phenomenal that Tony won. We were never in contention, but I’m just so happy he won. He’s a very, very deserving winner.”

The two former Andretti-Green Racing teammates traded waves when Kanaan passed Franchitti’s wreckage as they both knew that Kanaan would soon join an elite group of drivers to win the biggest race in IndyCar.

“When he saw I was in the lead, he was shaking his head, like waving at me,” Kanaan said. “It was special, very special.”

Just as he shared his soon-to-be victory with Franchitti for that brief moment, Kanaan celebrated his win with the fans at the IMS.

“I got a little bit of luck today,” Kanaan said. “It’s for the fans. It’s for my dad that’s not here. But mainly for all of you guys.”

There is mutual love between Kanaan and his fans in Indianapolis. The loudest cheers of the day were for the Brazilian driver.

“I was looking at the stands, and it was unbelievable,” Kanaan said. “I’m speechless.”
Kanaan said his large IndyCar fan base became apparent after a crash in 2008 when the fans at IMS celebrated him with thunderous applause when he climbed out of his car.

“Ever since then it kept growing and growing,” he said. “Every year that went by that I didn’t win, we kept growing the fan base. More people felt sorry. More people felt that I deserved to win.”

Kanaan said he didn’t have enough pockets for all of the things that his fans gave him to bring him luck.

“I probably have to bring a truck with me behind the car,” he said when considering how he could possibly bring all of his good luck charms with him to IMS.

Kanaan said he began to realize his change in fortune at IMS when he was following the pace car on the 199th lap.

“I started to check everything in my car,” he said. “Do we have enough fuel, have four wheels? You kind of go crazy.”

After 12 tries, Kanaan captured his first Indy 500 title.

“We were known for not winning. Now we’re known for winning,” Kanaan said. “This is it. I made it.”

Kanaan said he has dreamed of winning the Indy 500 for his entire life but, as he has gotten older, he wanted to win more for his fans than for himself.

“If you can bring some joy to them, and I think the best thing was try to put an exciting race for them,” he said. “I believed that this win was more for the people out there than for me.”

Kanaan said as he began to accept that he might never have the chance to win at IMS, the fans are what made racing in the Indy 500 so special for him.

“From day one, it catches me by surprise, I can’t walk out there,” he said. “The parade, everywhere, it’s just unbelievable. I think wins are important, trophies are really nice, but what I’m going to take forever, it’s definitely this.”