Tony Kanaan: 2004 IndyCar Champion and 2013 Indianapolis 500 Winner

Antoine Rizkallah Tony Kanaan Filho is a Brazilian retired racing driver who is now the team principal of Arrow McLaren. He raced in CART from 1998 to 2002 and in the IndyCar Series from 2002 to 2023, winning the 2004 IndyCar Series championship and the 2013 Indianapolis 500.

How did Kanaan start in racing?

Kanaan debuted in karting at the age of eight. Those titles came in and around Sao Paulo, and the Brazilian junior title in 1988 marked the peak of that early phase. He won several Sao Paulo championships between 1988 and 1990, and he took the Brazilian junior karting title in 1988.

He jumped to formula racing in 1991, finishing sixth in points in the Brazilian Formula Ford 1600. That year he also won the inaugural race at Ayrton Senna's kartodrome in Tatui, and the following year he finished fifth in the Brazilian Formula Chevrolet series.

In 1993 he competed in the Formula Opel Euroseries, where he placed tenth, and he finished third in the EFDA Nations Cup with teammate Luiz Garcia Jr. The 1994 season brought the Formula Europa Boxer title, with five wins along the way.

Known for not winning, then known for winning: the 2013 Indianapolis 500 and a 2004 IndyCar title.

What did Kanaan do in Europe and Indy Lights?

The 1995 Italian Formula Three season was run for Tatuus with a Dallara 395-Opel. He took one win and nine podiums and ended fifth in points. That was the first season of his European single-seater career, and his results there set up the move to North America.

Kanaan then left Europe for North America in 1996 to race in Indy Lights for Tasman Motorsports. That move took him from Europe to North America, and it was the start of his American career. He finished as runner-up with two wins and three second-place finishes.

He won the Indy Lights title in 1997 with two wins and seven podiums, his second season in the series. Those results set up his move into CART.

How did Kanaan's CART career develop?

His first CART season, with Tasman Motorsports in 1998, ended ninth in points after two podiums. The Jim Trueman Rookie of the Year award came with it. Each of the next seasons brought a different set of results, and the 2002 season ended 12th.

In 1999 he signed to drive for Forsythe, won the pole at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and also won the U.S. 500, finishing the season 11th. In 2000 he moved to Mo Nunn Racing, where his best results were a trio of eighth-place finishes.

Mo Nunn Racing kept him for 2001, a year that gave him a podium for the first time since Michigan in 1999 and a pole at the Chicago Motor Speedway round, the Target Grand Prix. He finished ninth in the points.

Early in 2002 he qualified second for the Bridgestone Potenza 500 at Twin Ring Motegi, the best of the opening three races. The team then switched to the Lola B02/00 chassis, and Kanaan took poles at Bayfront Park and at California Speedway. He finished third at Vancouver and Montreal and ended the season 12th.

How did the Indianapolis 500 shape his early IndyCar years?

In 2002 Kanaan and Mo Nunn Racing made a one-off entry into the Indianapolis 500 with the Indy Racing League. The result was a 28th place, a painful end to a promising start. He was the highest-starting rookie in the race, qualifying fifth, and he led 23 laps before a crash.

The crash came on lap ninety. Jimmy Vasser and Bruno Junqueira had both suffered mechanical problems and slowed on the track, and an oil leak that IRL officials had not caught sent Kanaan into the wall. He finished 28th.

In 2003 he joined the IRL full-time with Andretti Green Racing. He won the Purex Dial Indy 200 after leading 79 laps, and that victory moved him to first in the points. At the Indianapolis 500 he finished third behind Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves, and he ended the season fourth.

How did Kanaan win the 2004 IndyCar championship?

In 2004 he returned to Andretti Green Racing and drove the No. 11 7-Eleven Dallara IR03-Ilmor-Honda. He took the Copper World Indy 200 at Phoenix International Raceway, plus wins at Texas (Bombardier 500) and Nashville (Firestone Indy 200). Those three wins helped build a strong season.

He completed all 3,305 laps of the season, and his 618 points secured the championship. The title confirmed that consistency could win a season as well as individual races. The title was built on steady finishes across the year, all in the No. 11 car.

What were the Andretti Green years like after the title?

In 2006 his only win came in the A. J. Foyt 225 at the Milwaukee Mile, and he finished sixth with 384 points. The season also brought a bitter rivalry with Helio Castroneves, which Castroneves blamed for costing him the 2006 title.

Kanaan had his winningest season in 2007, driving the No. 11 7-Eleven Dallara for Andretti Green Racing. He won the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi, the ABC Supply Company A. J. Foyt 225 at Milwaukee, the Firestone Indy 400, the Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway and the Detroit Indy Grand Prix.

At the 2007 Indianapolis 500 he won the Scott Brayton Award, which recognised the spirit of the late Scott Brayton, killed while practising for the 1996 race. He finished third in the points that year, behind Franchitti and Dixon, despite the season-high number of wins.

In 2008 he rose above the controversy of the previous year to finish third in points with 513. In 2009 he finished sixth with 386 points, despite bruised ribs from the Indianapolis 500 that did not keep him out of any race.

In 2010 he won fourteen races and one championship in eight years with Andretti. Later that year he was released from his contract after 7-Eleven announced that it would not return as his primary sponsor.

How did Kanaan win the 2013 Indianapolis 500?

Kanaan returned to KV Racing Technology in 2013, and the win came from a 12th-place start, driving the No. 11 Hydroxycut Dallara DW12-Ilmor-Chevrolet. At Indianapolis he qualified 12th and moved steadily up the order, fighting for the lead against Ed Carpenter, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti.

On lap 197 he passed Hunter-Reay for the lead on a restart, after a crash by Graham Rahal with Carlos Munoz, Hunter-Reay and Andretti behind. The race ended under caution for a fourth straight year, and Kanaan's average speed was 187.433 mph.

That average beat the mark Arie Luyendyk had set in 1990. The race also produced 68 lead changes, against a former best of 34, and Kanaan matched Sam Hanks as the most experienced winner, in their twelfth starts.

He said afterwards that he had been known for not winning and was now known for winning. He described the last lap as the longest lap of his life, and he said he got to put his face on that trophy.

The 2013 season ended with eleventh in points, with 397 points, his first full-time season to finish outside the top ten. He also won the series' Most Popular Driver award.

What were Kanaan's later IndyCar years like?

In 2014 he drove the No. 10 Target Dallara DW12-Ilmor-Chevrolet for Target Chip Ganassi Racing and finished seventh in points, with 544 points, his best since the 2011 season. The results thinned out in the years that followed, and his later seasons show a clear shift away from the front.

The 2017 season was his worst and last in the No. 10 car for Ganassi. In 2018 he drove the No. 14 ABC Supply Chevrolet for A. J. Foyt Racing, and in 2018 and 2019 he finished no better than fifteenth.

He said that the 2020 season would be his last, with a five-race schedule. In 2021 he was back at Chip Ganassi Racing for a partial oval-course program in the No. 48 Dallara Honda.

How did Kanaan perform in sports car racing?

His sports car starts were spread across several years and series. His 1998 sports car outing was limited to the Rolex 24 at Daytona, where he drove the No. 4 Tom Gloy Racing Ford Mustang Cobra in the SCCA series. He finished 19th in points in the GT1 class.

In 2007 he raced in the American Le Mans Series for Andretti Green Racing in the No. 26 XM Satellite Radio Acura in LMP2. At the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, Bryan Herta and Dario Franchitti shared the driving with him, and the car won its class and finished second overall.

He returned in 2008 in the same team's Acura. At the Monterey Sports Car Championships the car started fifth in class, won, and finished third overall.

His first Grand-Am start came in 2013, and he made his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut in 2017 in a Ford GT for Chip Ganassi Team USA.

What did Kanaan do in other racing series?

In 2007 he competed in Formula Nippon for Kanaan Racing and finished sixth at Suzuka, where he entered as a special entrant. He also raced in the International Touring Car Championship at Interlagos in 1996, driving an Opel Calibra. Each of those outings added to his record outside IndyCar.

Tony Stewart's charity event at Eldora, the Prelude to the Dream, offered a seat to the 2010 Indianapolis 500 winner. Dario Franchitti opted out, so Kanaan took the seat, and he finished 24th while representing the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

In 2012 he began competing in Stock Car Brasil, finishing nineteenth in his first race. He raced there full-time in 2021 and also entered four Superstar Racing Experience races that year, with seventh-place finishes at Stafford and Eldora.

He appeared as himself in the 2001 film Driven, filmed at the Belle Isle circuit in Detroit, and he appeared in an episode of Celebrity Family Feud in 2016.

What is Kanaan doing now?

He now runs a team as principal, a role in the team office rather than the cockpit. In July 2026 it was also announced that he had become a member of the ownership group behind Legacy Motor Club, a NASCAR team co-owned by seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

His career spans karting, Indy Lights, CART, the IndyCar Series and sports car racing, and it has taken him from Brazil to the front of the Indianapolis 500 field. His career now spans team leadership as well as driving.

What were Kanaan's key results?