Tony Kanaan
Nationality	Brazilian / Lebanese
Date of birth	December 31, 1974 (1974-12-31) (age 34)
Place of birth	Salvador, Brazil
2009 IRL IndyCar Series
Debut season	2002
Current team	Andretti Green Racing
Car no.	11
Starts	104
Wins	13
Poles	10
Best finish	1st in 2004

Antoine Rizkallah Kanaan Filho, commonly known as Tony Kanaan (born December 31, 1974 in Salvador, Brazil) is a Brazilian race car driver of Lebanese heritage. He is one of the only Lebanese remaining with a last name referring to the Lebanese ancestors (Kanaan) or Canaan,(the Phoenicians). 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, though he has yet to win this flagship event. He has a total of 13 IRL race victories.

[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. The two of them created a charity offering financial and technical aid to institutions within the voluntary sector, the Barrichello Kanaan Institute. ^[1]

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 practicing for the 2007 Indianapolis 500.

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.^[2] Kanaan recorded his first win of 2008 in the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway. In the 2009 race he hit the wall and failed to finish.

[edit] Motorsports Career Results

[edit] American Open-Wheel

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

[edit] Champ Car

1 win, 0 championships

[edit] IndyCar

(key)

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 28	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 16	STL 2	KTY 6	NZR 18	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 19	KAN 1	NSH 19	MIL 4	MIS 4	KTY 20	PPIR 3	SNM 1	CHI 5	WGL 2	FON 2			2nd	548
2006	Andretti Green	HMS 11	STP 3	MOT 3	INDY 5	WGL 11	TXS 7	RIR 18	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 16	RIR 4	WGL 4	NSH 18	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 29	MIL 3	TXS 5	IOW 18	RIR 1	WGL 3	NSH 4	MDO 7	EDM 9	KTY 8	SNM 3	DET 3	CHI 4	SRF2 21	3rd	513
2009	Andretti Green	STP 5	LBH 3	KAN 3	INDY 27	MIL 19	TXS 8	IOW 14	RIR 6	WGL 8	TOR 17	EDM 21	KTY 3	MDO 10	SNM 8	CHI 13	MOT 11	HMS 4			6th	386

¹ Run on same day

² Non-points race

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

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

[edit] Indy 500 results

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tony Kanaan

• Tony Kanaan official website