Tony Kanaan - Racing Career

Racing Career

Kanaan started his driving career in Italy and won the 1994 Formula Europa Boxer title for Cram Competition using a Tatuus. After a season in Italian F3 he migrated to the US and 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 Forsythe Championship Racing. After the Forsythe 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 One car with the BAR-Honda Team at Jerez as a reward for his 2004 IRL championship in a Honda powered car.

Kanaan is good friend of Brazilian Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello, and they exchanged helmets for the events on May 28, 2006. Barrichello wore Kanaan's helmet livery during the Monaco GP and Kanaan wore Rubens's one during the Indy 500. The two of them created a charity offering financial and technical aid to institutions within the voluntary sector, the Barrichello Kanaan Institute.

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 started to patch up their differences at Indianapolis in 2007.

Kanaan had a fine 2007 season, winning a series-high five events by taking first place in Japan at Honda's Twin Ring Motegi track, the Milwaukee Mile, Michigan International Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, and the Detroit Grand Prix in Belle Isle. He also took the pole position at Kansas, although a pit-incident with team-mate Danica Patrick dropped him from a possible win. Later he took a second pole position at Kentucky. At the 2007 Indianapolis 500 he dominated the field and led at a rain delay just past the halfway point. A questionable call to pit right before the rain-shortened race ended gave the race to his teammate, Dario Franchitti, who did not appear to have Kanaan's speed. It was the latest in a string of disappointments at Indianapolis, and Kanaan is now often referred to—along with his team owner Michael Andretti – as one of the best drivers never to win the Indianapolis 500. Kanaan recorded his first win of 2008 in the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway. In the 2009 race he hit the wall and failed to finish.

In October 2010, Kanaan was released from his contract with Andretti Autosport, a few weeks after convenience store giant 7-Eleven announced it would not return as Kanaan's primary sponsor in 2011. Kanaan won 14 races and 1 championship in 8 years with Andretti Autosport.

In March 2011, Kanaan announced a deal with KV Racing Technology. He will drive the No. 82 car sponsored by GEICO. In August 2011, it was announced that Kanaan signed on for another year with KV Racing Technology according to team owner Jimmy Vasser.