Fast Facts: Tony Kanaan



Credit: John Cote/IndyCar Media



2004 IZOD IndyCar Series champ Tony Kanaan finished fourth in the season-opening IndyCar race in St.

Petersburg, Florida. Here are a few fast facts on this popular driver, who is starting his third season with KV Racing Technology.

• Antoine Rizkallah Kanaan Filho was born December 31, 1974 in Salvador, Brazil. He began racing karts as a 12-year-old, later moving to Italy to racing professionally. He was the Formula Europa Boxer champion in 1994 before moving to the Unites States to compete in the North American open-wheel circuits. He spent two seasons in Indy Lights competition for Tasman Motorsports, finishing second in 1996 and winning the title in 1997.
• In 1998, Kanaan moved up to the Champ Car World Series, and in 1999 he won his first race, the U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway. He competed in the series through 2002, after which he moved to the IZOD IndyCar Series with Andretti Green Racing.
• The move to IndyCar saw immediate payoff for Kanaan, who won the second race of the 2003 season, his first win since 1999. He finished fourth in points that season, and followed that up with the championship in 2004 on the strength of three wins.
• Kanaan has finished in the top 10 in points in every one of his 10 full seasons in the IndyCar Series. Through the 2012 season, Kanaan has 14 wins, his last coming at Iowa in 2010. Kanaan has never won the Indianapolis 500, but was runner-up in 2004 and has two additional third-place finishes (2003 and 2012).
• While Kanaan’s background is in the open-wheel ranks, he jumped at the chance to participate in the Prelude to the Dream charity dirt track late model race at Eldora Speedway when he was asked to participate for the first time in 2010. Kanaan has competed in three Preludes to date (2010 – 24th, 2011 – 27th, 2012 – 22nd), and even expressed interest on Twitter in participating in this season’s Mudsummer Classic Camping World Truck Series race at the Tony Stewart-owned track (November 28, 2012).
• Find out more about Kanaan at his website.