Jalopnik: tony kanaan

Indy 500: Tony Kanaan Crashes Out Hard On Lap 99

Ben Wojdyla — Sun, 24 May 2009 14:59:56 EDT

Tony Kanaan's streak of leading every Indianapolis 500 he's ever been in has come to an end as he crashed hard into the wall on the entry of turn two and bounced off, hitting hard again on the other side. Thankfully he walked off under his own power.

Detroit's 2008 Belle Isle Grand Prix: IRL Race Result Tainted By Controversy, Prickish Fans

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Last weekend saw the second iteration of the reborn Belle Isle Grand Prix and we were right there, enjoying the spectacle played out in weather so perfect Roger Penske couldn't have paid for better. Aside from a couple spin outs, Sunday's Indy Racing League run was largely unremarkable until lap 72, when things got very interesting. Helio Castroneves had been leading Justin Wilson and Tony Kanaan for the bulk of the race, but officials ordered Castroneves to yield to Wilson after aggressive blocking across the entire track. Helio gave way and Wilson eventually pulled away, opening up a lead and taking the checkered flag. Normally this would be a non-issue, as Helio was clearly blocking, but that he was issued no warning first, as is customary, has many of his fans rubbed the wrong way — as you can tell from the video.

Indeed, on the victory lap, Wilson decided he'd do a victory donut right in front of the Corvette Racing chalet, but humorously stalled it. We missed the stall, but we caught tail end of the resulting drunken tirade from a nameless Castroneves fan as Wilson was pushed to the corner for a start. We have no idea why she was screaming about transvestites and McDonalds — she's probably got a problem with their refusal to discriminate against them, but whatever.

In any case, the sentiment was shared as there were strong boos on the awards stand from the crowd in one of the saddest displays of fan assholery we've seen in a long time. We're fine with the sentiment that it was a questionable call, but Helio had 17 laps to get ahead of Wilson and couldn't manage. Too bad, that's racing. Booing the winner is just bad form.

In any case, here are the full results, and we'd like you to chime in on this controversy: Tell us what you think about the blocking, the penalty, and the fans' reaction.

[IndyCar] Partial photo credit to Alex Conley

Wife Busts Tony Kanaan's Balls After Qualifying Behind Danica Patrick

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:40:00 EDT

She's everywhere these days - Danica Patrick is the Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova of open wheel racing and everyone wants a piece of the moment. Well, maybe except teammate Tony Kanaan and his wife. A quick item at Automobile relays a phone call from Kanaan's pregnant wife after he qualified third and behind Patrick at the last Mid-Ohio IRL race. When she heard about the result, she had a question for him:

"Could you do me a favor? In our motor home, in the bedroom, go to my closet. All the way in the back of the closet, there's a blue dress. Maybe you should wear it next time you qualify!"

Man, that's cold. She knows Tony looks so much better in red dresses. When asked for a comment, Kanaan replied by saying "Why do I look like Vin Diesel?" [AutomobileMag] photo source AP

Tony Kanaan, Danica Patrick Go First, Second In Crash-Filled Finish To Detroit Grand Prix IndyCar Race

Ray Wert — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 18:14:53 EDT

Tony Kanaan wins the IndyCar race here at the Detroit Grand Prix, and Danica Patrick took second place in her best ever finish after a shocking last lap and a half. Just before the white flag came up a number of drivers were involved in some "contact" that included "the wall" and "other drivers." Oh and Dan Wheldon came in third despite thrashing his car today earlier in practice— who woulda thunk it? We'll have more shortly — full results below the jump.

1 Tony Kanaan (11) ... 1:13.8906 100.852 47 1:55.5276 64.504 89 D/H/F Pit
2 Danica Patrick (7) 0.4865 1:14.9125 99.476 65 1:49.0264 68.350 89 D/H/F Pit
3 Dan Wheldon (10) 1.2207 1:15.5578 98.626 62 1:46.8565 69.738 89 D/H/F Pit
4 Darren Manning (14) 1.9217 1:15.7840 98.332 8 1:46.6266 69.889 89 D/H/F Pit
5 Kosuke Matsuura (55) 1 lap 1:16.8399 96.981 24 1:25.4777 87.181 88 D/H/F Pit
6 Dario Franchitti (27) 26.7568 1:13.5110 101.373 65 3:46.3920 32.916 88 D/H/F Pit
7 Buddy Rice (15) 2 laps 1:14.9325 99.450 66 1:17.2492 96.467 87 D/H/F Down
8 Scott Dixon (9) 0.3174 1:13.9671 100.747 47 1:17.0664 96.696 87 D/H/F Down
9 AJ Foyt IV (22) 5.8999 1:15.9727 98.088 84 1:15.9865 98.070 87 D/H/F Down
10 Ed Carpenter (20) 3:22.0789 1:16.5793 97.311 15 1:25.3308 87.331 87 D/H/F Pit
11 Scott Sharp (8) 7 laps 1:16.6533 97.217 45 1:29.9598 82.837 82 D/H/F Pit
12 Sam Hornish Jr (6) 14 laps 1:15.9201 98.156 20 1:46.2941 70.107 75 D/H/F Pit
13 Tomas Scheckter (2) 22 laps 1:15.0292 99.321 64 1:16.0919 97.934 67 D/H/F Accident
14 Helio Castroneves (3) 0.1228 1:14.0702 100.607 46 1:15.9849 98.072 67 D/H/F Accident
15 Vitor Meira (4) 58 laps 1:16.2266 97.761 13 1:59.8095 62.199 31 D/H/F Accident
16 Sarah Fisher (5) 60 laps 1:19.4239 93.826 21 2:02.6506 60.758 29 D/H/F Accident
17 Marco Andretti (26) 62 laps 1:15.0482 99.296 24 1:46.7042 69.838 27 D/H/F Mechanical
18 Ryan Hunter-Reay (17) 65 laps 1:15.2302 99.056 20 1:25.5628 87.094 24 D/H/F Mechanical