Tony Kanaan

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Tony Kanaan
Nationality	Brazil
Date of Birth	December 31, 1974 (1974-12-31) (age 33)
Place of Birth	Salvador, Brazil
2008 IRL IndyCar Series
Debut season	2002
Current team	Andretti Green Racing
Car No.	11
Starts	88
Wins	12
Poles	8
Best finish	1st in 2004

Antoine Rizkallah Kanaan Filho, commonly known as Tony Kanaan (born December 31, 1974) is a Brazilian race car driver of Lebanese heritage from Salvador, Brazil. Kanaan won the 2004 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series championship driving Andretti Green Racing's 7-Eleven sponsored car, winning three times in his Honda-powered Dallara. That season he completed 3,305 laps, making him 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 is also the only driver to lead the Indianapolis 500 in each of his first seven starts.

Contents 1 Racing career 2 Motorsports Career Results 2.1 American Open-Wheel 2.1.1 Champ Car 2.1.2 IndyCar 2.2 Indy 500 results 3 External links

[edit] Racing career

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 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 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 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Motorsports Career Results

[edit] American Open-Wheel

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

[edit] Champ Car

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

[edit] IndyCar

(key) (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	18	19	Rank	Points
2002	Mo Nunn	HMS	PHX	FON	NZR	INDY Ret	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	KTY	STL	CHI	TX2					50th	2
2003	Andretti Green	HMS 4	PHX 1	MOT 14	INDY 3	TXS 2	PPIR 2	RIR 5	KAN 4	NSH 9	MIS Ret	STL 2	KTY 6	NZR Ret	CHI 6	FON 3	TX2 14				4th	476
2004	Andretti Green	HMS 8	PHX 1	MOT 2	INDY 2	TXS 1	RIR 5	KAN 3	NSH 1	MIL 4	MIS 2	KTY 5	PPIR 5	NZR 2	CHI 3	FON 2	TX2 2				1st	618
2005	Andretti Green	HMS 3	PHX 3	STP 2	MOT 6	INDY 8	TXS 3	RIR Ret	KAN 1	NSH Ret	MIL 4	MIS 4	KTY Ret	PPIR 3	SNM 1	CHI 5	WGL 2	FON 2			2nd	548
2006	Andretti Green	HMS Ret	STP 3	MOT 3	INDY 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	MOT 1	KAN 15	INDY 12	MIL 1	TXS 2	IOW Ret	RIR 4	WGL 4	NSH Ret	MDO 4	MIS 1	KTY 1	SNM 4	DET 1	CHI 6			3rd	576
2008	Andretti Green	HMS 8	STP 3	MOT1 5	LBH1 DNP	KAN 2	INDY Ret	MIL 3	TXS 5	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	EDM	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI	SRF2	4th*	204*

* 2008 season in progress

¹ Run on same day

² Non-points race

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)**	Top 10s (Non-podium)***	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
6	2	88	8	12	27	31	0	1 (2004)

** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.

*** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

[edit] Indy 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
2002	G-Force	Chevrolet	5	28
2003	Dallara	Honda	2	3
2004	Dallara	Honda	5	2
2005	Dallara	Honda	1	8
2006	Dallara	Honda	5	5
2007	Dallara	Honda	2	12
2008	Dallara	Honda	6	29

0 wins, 1 pole

[edit] External links

• Tony Kanaan official website

Sporting positions
Preceded by David Empringham	Indy Lights Champion 1997	Succeeded by Cristiano da Matta
Preceded by Patrick Carpentier	CART Rookie of the Year 1998	Succeeded by Juan Pablo Montoya
Preceded by Scott Dixon	IRL IndyCar Series Champion 2004	Succeeded by Dan Wheldon
Awards
Preceded by Sam Hornish, Jr.	Scott Brayton Award 2007	Succeeded by Vitor Meira

v • d • e Andretti Green Racing Owners Michael Andretti · Kim Green · Kevin Savoree IRL IndyCar Series drivers Danica Patrick (#7) · Tony Kanaan (#11) · Marco Andretti (#26) · Hideki Mutoh (#27) Indy Lights Series drivers Arie Luyendyk, Jr. (#26) · Raphael Matos (#27) American Le Mans Series drivers Christian Fittipaldi · Bryan Herta · Tony Kanaan

v • d • e 2008 IndyCar Series season Teams Andretti Green Ganassi Penske RLR D & R Vision Panther 7 Patrick 11 Kanaan 26 M. Andretti 27 Mutoh 9 Dixon 10 Wheldon 3 Castroneves 6 Briscoe 17 Hunter-Reay 15 Rice 23 Duno/Bell 2 Foyt 20 Carpenter 4 Meira Foyt Roth Conquest N/H/L KV Racing Coyne HVM PCM 14 Manning 24 Howard/J. Andretti 25 Roth 34 Camara 36 Bernoldi 02 Wilson 06 Rahal 5 Servia 8 Power 18 Junqueira 19 Moraes 33 Viso 96 Dominguez Races Homestead • St. Pete • Motegi • Long Beach • Kansas • Indy 500 • Milwaukee • Texas • Iowa • Richmond •  Watkins Glen • Nashville • Mid-Ohio • Edmonton • Kentucky • Infineon • Belle Isle • Chicagoland • Surfers Paradise

v • d • e IndyCar Series Champions (1996) Scott Sharp & Buzz Calkins • (1997) Tony Stewart • (1998) Kenny Brack • (1999) Greg Ray (2000) Buddy Lazier • (2001-02) Sam Hornish, Jr. • (2003) Scott Dixon • (2004) Tony Kanaan • (2005) Dan Wheldon • (2006) Sam Hornish, Jr. • (2007) Dario Franchitti