Chip Ganassi
Floyd "Chip" Gan*i Jr. (born May 24, 1958) is an American businessman, former racing driver, current team owner and member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. He has been involved with the North American auto racing scene for over 30 years. He is owner and CEO of Chip Gan*i Racing which operates teams in the IndyCar Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and Extreme E. He is the only team owner in history to have won the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and most recently the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Contents
- 1 Racing driver
- 2 Team owner
- 3 Personal life
- 4 Awards
- 5 Racing record
- 5.1 Career highlights
- 5.2 American open-wheel racing results
- 5.2.1 CART
- 5.2.2 Indianapolis 500
- 5.3 Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
- 5.4 Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results
- 5.5 Complete 24 Hours of Spa results
- 6 References
- 7 External links
Racing driver
Gan*i attended the Bob Bondurant Driving School in 1977 while a student at the Fox Chapel Area High School. He won his first auto race in a Formula Ford at the age of 18. He began his CART (Champ Car) racing career in 1982 upon graduating from Duquesne. Though a broken camshaft kept him from completing his first CART race at Phoenix, Gan*i qualified with the fastest speed, 197:mph, and competed in the Indianapolis 500 five times, with a best finish of 8th in 1983. He was voted the Most Improved Driver in 1983, and took 9th position in the CART standings. During that season, he took Patrick Racing’s Wildcat onto the podium twice, the first at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, then again at Laguna Seca. The following season, he would go on and finish a career best second in to 1984 Budweiser Grand Prix of Cleveland, however, in his next race his career was cut short by a huge crash at Michigan involving Al Unser, Jr. In a race full of huge accidents, he spun his car coming off one of the banked turns, he then collected Unser, Jr., his car then skated across the gr* run-off area, slammed into the inside Armco barrier, his car tumbled multiple times and broke apart- although Unser Jr. was uninjured Gan*i suffered head injuries and did not race for 9 months; he never raced full-time again.
Although he returned to race briefly in CART and IMSA in 1986. Gan*i achieved his top sportscar result in the 1986 Kodak Copies 500 at Watkins Glen that taking the Camel Light cl* victory, with his race partner, Bob Earl (7th overall). He also recorded a seventh-place finish a month early in the Löwenbräu Cl*ic, at Road America, *isted by David Sears. Both times driving for Spice Engineering, in one for their Spice-Pontiac SE86CL. In what was to be his last international race outing, Gan*i was entered into the 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans, as a member of the Kouros Racing. One of his teammates for the event, Johnny Dumfries set the fastest lap of the race prior to handing the car over to Gan*i upon whom the gearbox broke.
Team owner
Gan*i and Lorin Ranier at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2014Main article: Chip Gan*i RacingPersonal life
Gan*i was formerly a vice president of FRG Group, his father's organization involved in commercial real estate, transportation and other areas. In addition to his racing interests, he is also a former minority owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates major league baseball team. Gan*i is a strong supporter of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, to which his teams have donated over US$500,000.
He graduated from the Fox Chapel Area High School in 1978 and with a degree in finance from Duquesne University in 1982. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University in 2011.
Awards
He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2016.
Racing record
Career highlights
American open-wheel racing results
(key)
CART
Indianapolis 500
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results
Complete 24 Hours of Spa results
References
External links
- Chip Gan*i driver statistics at Racing-Reference
- Chip Gan*i owner statistics at Racing-Reference
- Chip Gan*i Racing
- Owner Gan*i gets past financial difficulties
- 2000 (Montoya)
- 2008 (Dixon)
- 2010 (Franchitti)
- 2012 (Franchitti)
- 1996 (V*er)
- 1997 (Zanardi)
- 1998 (Zanardi)
- 1999 (Montoya)
- 2003 (Dixon)
- 2008 (Dixon)
- 2009 (Franchitti)
- 2010 (Franchitti)
- 2011 (Franchitti)
- 2013 (Dixon)
- 2015 (Dixon)
- 2018 (Dixon)
- 2020 (Dixon)
- Ron Hornaday Jr.
- Matt Kenseth
- 2010 (McMurray)
- 2010 (McMurray)
- 2014 (McMurray)
- 2019 (Larson)
- 2016 (Hand/Müller/Bourdais - LMGTE Pro)
- 2006 (Dixon/Wheldon/Mears)
- 2007 (Montoya/Durán/Pruett)
- 2008 (Montoya/Franchitti/Pruett/Rojas)
- 2011 (Hand/Rahal/Pruett/Rojas)
- 2013 (Montoya/Kimball/Pruett/Rojas)
- 2015 (Dixon/Kanaan/Larson/McMurray)
- Patrick Racing
- Team SABCO
- Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
- Trackhouse Racing Team
- Laurel Hill Tunnel (testing facility)
and affiliations
- Honda Performance Development
- NASCAR operations of Chip Gan*i Racing
- J. C. Agajanian
- Cary Agajanian
- Michael Andretti
- Eddie Cheever
- Louis Chevrolet
- Mike Curb
- A. J. Foyt
- Chip Gan*i
- Kim Green
- Andy Granatelli
- Dan Gurney
- Jim Hall
- Ron Hemelgarn
- Bryan Herta
- Parnelli Jones
- Kevin Kalkhoven
- Howard Keck
- Frank Kurtis
- David Letterman
- Louis Meyer
- Lou Moore
- Jimmy Murphy
- Pat Patrick
- Roger Penske
- Kelly Petillo
- Bobby Rahal
- Michael Shank
- Wilbur Shaw
- Doug Shierson
- Fred Treadway
- Jim Trueman
- Jimmy V*er
- A. J. Foyt Enterprises
- All American Racers
- Andretti-Green Racing/Andretti Autosport
- Bryan Herta Autosport
- Chaparral Cars
- Cheever Racing
- Chip Gan*i Racing
- Doug Shierson Racing
- Galles/KRACO Racing
- Hemelgarn Racing
- KV Racing Technology
- McLaren Racing Limited
- Mecom Racing Team
- Meyer Shank Racing
- Patrick Racing
- Penske Racing
- Rahal Letterman Racing
- Team Green
- Team Lotus
- Treadway Racing
- Truesports
- Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing