Chip Ganassi

Chip Ganassi
Ganassi at a race in 2006
Born	Floyd Ganassi, Jr May 24, 1958(1958-05-24) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Residence	Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania
Nationality	United States
Other names	Chip Ganassi
Citizenship	United States
Education	B.A. Finance
Alma mater	Duquesne University
Occupation	Owner and President, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
Years active	1990-present
Employer	Earnhardt Ganassi (co-owner, NASCAR) Target Chip Ganassi (co-owner, IRL)
Home town	Pittsburgh
Website
ChipGanassiRacing.com

Floyd "Chip" Ganassi, Jr (born May 24, 1958) is a former American racecar driver and current racecar owner.

He is currently the owner and president of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates which operates teams on the IndyCar, NASCAR and Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series circuit. His NASCAR operation is under the banner Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, after a merger with Dale Earnhardt, Inc.

His Indy team has won multiple Indianapolis 500 races and the CART championship.

On February 14, 2010, Jamie McMurray won the Daytona 500 in a Ganassi-owned car, and on May 30, 2010, Dario Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500 in one of Ganassi's cars, making him the first owner to win both races in the same year and joining Penske Racing as the only owners to win both races all time. On July 25, 2010, Jamie McMurray won the Brickyard 400, making Chip Ganassi the first team owner to win the "Triple Crown" of American auto racing.

IndyCar driver and race team owner

Ganassi began his CART (Champ Car) racing career in 1981 and competed in the Indianapolis 500 five times, with a best finish of 8th in 1983. His career was cut by a big crash that injured him at Michigan in 1984,^[1] although he returned to race briefly in CART and IMSA in 1986,^[1] Ganassi purchased an interest in Patrick Racing in 1988^[1] -- a team he had raced with before in 1984 -- and was part of the team that won the 1989 Indianapolis 500. In 1990, he split off and formed his own team, Chip Ganassi Racing, with Target as the principal sponsor. He also became active in the NASCAR circuit.

He currently operates two cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, four cars in the Indy Racing League, and two cars in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype class.

His CART/IRL drivers have included Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi, Scott Dixon, Bruno Junqueira, Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Renna, Jeff Ward, Bryan Herta, Robby Gordon, Ryan Briscoe, Kenny Bräck, Tomas Scheckter, Darren Manning, Ryan Briscoe, Jacques Lazier, Nicolas Minassian, Tony Stewart, Memo Gidley, Dario Franchitti, Giorgio Pantano, Alex Lloyd, and Dan Wheldon. His NASCAR drivers have included Sterling Marlin, Jason Leffler, Dorsey Schroeder, Scott Pruett, Aric Almirola, Bryan Clauson, Kevin Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Reed Sorenson, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, Jimmy Spencer, David Stremme, Montoya, and Franchitti.

Ganassi teams have won Champ Car titles in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 and the IRL championship in 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2010. His teams have also won the 2000 Indianapolis 500 with Juan Pablo Montoya, the 2008 Indianapolis 500 with Scott Dixon and the 2010 Indianapolis 500 with Franchitti, as well as 50 Champ Car and IRL races. His NASCAR race team is based in Concord, North Carolina. The IRL team is located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

1984 Michigan 500

In the 1984 Michigan 500, Ganassi cut a tire and got into Al Unser Jr. on the backstretch. They drifted into the infield. Unser hit the inside guardrail nose-first, while Ganassi's car got airborne and slammed top-first into the guardrail with Ganassi's head hitting the rail. Ganassi's car literally disentigrated in midair. Ganassi suffered smoke inhalation, a concussion, a broken sternum and collarbone and many contusions. This effectively ended Ganassi's driving career.

Personal life

In addition to his racing interests, he is also a former minority owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates major league baseball team.

He graduated with a degree in finance from Duquesne University in 1982.^[2]

He received an Honorary Doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University in 2011.

He currently resides in the Pittsburgh suburb of Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania.

Racing record

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

CART

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
1981	Brayton Racing	PHX1	MIL1	ATL1	ATL2	MIS	RIV	MIL2	MIS2	WGL	MEX	PHX2 DNQ							NC	-
1982	Rhoades Racing	PHX1 Ret	ATL	MIL1	CLE Ret	MIS1 Ret	MIL2	POC Ret	RIV	ROA	MIS2 16	PHX2							34th	10
1983	Patrick Racing	ATL	INDY 8	MIL	CLE Ret	MIS1 8	ROA Ret	POC Ret	RIV	MDO Ret	MIS2 6	LVG 3	LS 3	PHX 5					9th	56
1984	Patrick Racing	LBH Ret	PHX1 11	INDY Ret	MIL 11	POR Ret	MEA 9	CLE 2	MIS1 Ret	ROA	POC	MDO	SAN	MIS2	PHX2	LS	LVG		20th	24
1985	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	LBH	INDY Ret	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE												51st	0
	Machinists Union							MIS1 Ret	ROA	POC	MDO	SAN	MIS2	LS	PHX	MIA
1986	Machinists Union	PHX1 14	LBH	INDY Ret	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	TOR	MIS1	POC	MDO	SAN	MIS2	ROA	LS	PHX2	MIA	43rd	0

Indianapolis 500

Year Car Start Qual Rank Finish Laps Led Retired 1982 12 11 197.705 13 15 147 0 Engine 1983 60 16 197.608 24 8 195 0 Running 1984 40 22 201.612 28 28 61 0 Engine 1985 84 25 206.104 25 22 121 0 Fuel Line 1986 31 26 207.590 31 29 70 0 Head Gasket Totals 594 0

Starts 5 Poles 0 Front Row 0 Wins 0 Top 5 0 Top 10 1 Retired 4

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1987	C1	62	M	Sauber C9 Mercedes-Benz M117 5.0L Turbo V8	Kouros Racing	Johnny Dumfries Mike Thackwell	37	DNF	DNF

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Wicker, Ned. IndyCar Champion - A Season with Target/Chip Ganassi Racing, Motorbooks International, 1997, page 10
2. ^ Wicker, Ned. IndyCar Champion - A Season with Target/Chip Ganassi Racing, Motorbooks International, 1997, page 9

External links

• Chip Ganassi Racing
• Owner Ganassi gets past financial difficulties

Persondata
Name	Ganassi, Chip
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 24, 1958
Place of birth	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death