Kanaan finally captures elusive Indy 500

Published: May 28, 2013

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News Sports Editor

INDIANAPOLIS — Tony Kanaan proved nice guys can finish first.
By doing so, he hopes it will prolong his career for at least another couple of seasons.
Kanaan, a fan favorite throughout his career, won Sunday's 97th running of the Indianapolis 500. It was his first victory at Indianapolis in his 12th try, which was another reason why more than 200,000 fans were ecstatic to see Kanaan win. Even fellow competitors, along with track safety workers and fans around the 2.5-mile oval, saluted Kanaan well after the race was over.
If they could've, the fans would've stayed a lot longer.
In recent years, Kanaan was widely regarded as being one of the best drivers to never win the Indy 500.
"I was afraid to go to bed yesterday and wake up this morning and it'd be race day again," Kanaan said Monday. "I think it's slowly getting there. I haven't gotten to sleep yet. I guess that's the price for when you win such a great race."
Within minutes after the race ended, Kanaan's cellphone and email filled up with congratulatory messages.
Kanaan got the jump on a restart with three laps to go against then-race leader Ryan Hunter-Reay and rookie Carlos Munoz to take the lead, the last of a record 68 lead changes, doubling last year's record. Moments later, Dario Franchitti crashed to bring out the caution, ultimately ending the race and giving Kanaan, 38, the long-awaited trip to victory lane.
Munoz finished second, Hunter-Reay took third. Marco Andretti finished fourth, and Justin Wilson rounded out the top-five.
"I never had a doubt I could win this thing," Kanaan said. "I talked about it many times that I could do it.
"It's a huge, remarkable achievement for me. That proves that I can still race for a few more years."
Kanaan's contract with his team, KV Racing Technology, expires at the end of this season. There was skepticism before Sunday's race as to whether this low-budget team had enough financial backing to race the entire 2013 season, even with a former series champion behind the wheel. Just over two years ago, he was in a similar position.
In the week leading up to the 2011 season, Kanaan still didn't have a team to drive for after his eight-year run with Andretti Autosport ended. He got a team just days before that season's first race at St. Petersburg. It was a struggle at the time for Kanaan, a series champion.
Former IndyCar driver Jimmy Vasser was the one that saved Kanaan's career. On Sunday, Vasser, who never won the Indy 500 as a driver, may have done it again.
"It shows that if you never give up, many good things might happen for you," Kanaan said.
For the final two laps under caution, Kanaan basked in the glory of winning the Indianapolis 500.
"Looking into the stands, it was unbelievable," he said in victory lane.
The excitement surrounding one victory mirrored Dale Earnhardt's 1998 triumph at the Daytona 500. It took the late-Hall of Famer 20 tries before he won NASCAR's biggest race.
For years, Kanaan had tried and tried and tried. Before Sunday's race, Kanaan had completed more than 1,800 laps, leading 221 of them, and had five top-five finishes, including the past two Indy 500s.
Among his close calls were in 2004 when he led 28 laps and was running second with 20 laps to go, but the race was called because of rain. In 2005, he started on the pole, led 54 laps and finished eighth. In 2007, he led a race-high 83 laps, but finished 12th in a rain-shortened race after 166 laps.
"I'm very happy, well-deserved for him," said Helio Castroneves, a three-time winner at Indianapolis, who finished sixth. "Well-deserved for his team."
"I'm very happy for Tony Kanaan," Hunter-Reay said. "He's done such a great job. He's a great champion. He's done a great job here his whole career."
Kanaan didn't think about all the bad luck until the end.
"I started to check everything on my car," he said. "Do we have enough fuel, four wheels? You kind of go crazy."
As if he didn't need any more motivation, he got it in the days, even hours, before the drop of the green flag.
Nine years ago, he gave his lucky charm to the mother of a teen-aged girl, Andrea Braun, in an Indianapolis hospital. She was there after suffering a stroke and was about to undergo life-threatening surgery the next day.
The girl survived and they stayed in touch. She recently got married.
Just a couple days before the race, Kanaan received an envelope from Braun with the lucky charm inside and a note, which told him that he could have it back and he needs the luck now. "Go win the Indy 500."
Then hours before the race, his friend Alex Zanardi, who lost his legs in a horrific crash in 2001, gave him the gold medal that he won at the 2012 London Paralympic Games in hand cycling.
"It's fantastic, it's a dream come true to see Tony win," Zanardi said. "I'm so happy, so happy."
A pair of checkered flags high above the yard of bricks never silenced so much criticism than Kanaan's victory Sunday.
"We did it," Kanaan said.