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Upon joining Arrow McLaren, Ward said his No. In 1996, at the age of 54, after nine years away from racing, he served as the substitute driver in the Indianapolis 500 for Scott Brayton, who had died in a crash before the race. The arduous task took nearly two minutes but was met with rousing cheers from the crowd. Click to reveal Over the past year, the team has received tens of thousands of resumes sometimes hundreds specifically for an open position while transforming its staff. A head-on shunt in the 1981 Indy 500 left him recuperating for the remainder of the season while four years later at Michigan he went into a barrel-roll after launching off the back of another car. Ongais started, but his drive line broke immediately. Were not shy to hire a visa candidate who might require extra effort to obtain work permits. People are hungry and people feel like were out here to do damage.. Not sharp like Johnny Rutherford or deep like Bobby Rahal, but he`s certainly intelligent enough.''. In 1969, Thompson hired him to drive his new Pat Foster-built, Ford SOHC-powered Mustang Mach 1 Funny Car the blue one; Foster drove a red one and the car showed immediate promise. Great guy. Danny let his racing do his talking for him, thats for sure., Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500. I mean, listen I've done well in drag racing, and I've driven Top Fuel and Funny Car, but so had Danny, but he even went two or three steps further, driving an Indy car and hauling ass and in IMSA cars. In September 1968, Thompson asked Ongais to help drive a trio of '69 Mustangs one with a 302, the other two NASCAR-style 427s on the Bonneville Salt Flats and in all set 295 national and international endurance records. WebChapman did state that well into their relationship he learned Ongais was married and had a son. It made you sad that he ran out of fuel because it would have been something to see if he could have produced anything to beat me or if I could have beat him. Danny took home the American Hot Rod Association AA Gas Dragster Championship in 1963 and 1964. We stayed friends over the years, and wed see each other at functions if he showed up. The IndyCar team since has been integrated with McLaren Racings F1 operations, which naturally led to some growing pains. As a statement from Indianapolis Motor Speedway pointed out, Ongais was known not only for his huge speed, but also surviving some violent crashes. 25 Parnelli and Penske chassis powered by Cosworth engines, with a best finish of fourth in 1979 and a top start of second next to pole sitter Tom Sneva in 1978. The starting blast damaged the electronics, and the Funny Car final used a flag start, and Ongais defeated Prudhomme for the win. Its the best team Ive ever worked at in terms of mechanics, engineers, commercial. Weve really tried to stretch ourselves to find the best and the brightest no matter where they live, Scott said. In 1975, Ongais left the quarter-mile to pursue success in other motorsports and drove in SCCA, Formula 5000, Indycar, Formula 1, and sports-car competition. Chapman did state that well into their relationship he learned Ongais was married and had a son. RIP, my friend. Racing director Gavin Ward, who oversees day-to-day operations as the direct report to McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown, started last July after working as head engineer for Josef Newgarden at Team Penske. The tragic circumstances of an accident also led to Ongais final start at Indianapolis in 1996. Was Danny Ongais married? Ongais died Feb. 26, 2022 from congestive heart failure in Anaheim Hills, California. In this Another great driver from that era was three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford, who recalled one dramatic showdown with Ongais at Michigan International Speedway in the 1978 Norton Twin 200. Ongais qualified 27th and finished 4th. For the 1985 season Ongais scored a best finish of 6th at the Beatrice Indy Challenge at Tamiami Park and finished in 24th place in points. He was 79. 4. It was always wide-open throttle. He then competed at the Gould Twin Dixie 125 however bad luck hit Ongais in both races. All the world was a colorful Circus when Bob Gerdes painted race cars, Top Fuel dynasties: Torrence, Schumacher, Dixon, Garlits, Amato, Shirley, Beck, Some top-shelf books that every drag racing history fan should check out, Yeah, but what if? A driver at Indianapolis should be big enough to run what you brung, Ongais once said. ''What happened?'' How Marcus Ericsson finally unlocked his potential in IndyCar, Remembering Dan Wheldon and his last and most amazing win, Dan Wheldon and his amazing last win While deployed in Europe in the early 1960s, he also got his first taste of sports-car racing that would become one of his many fortes later in his career. Children: He is having no children as of now. He took stints in cars owned by the great Mickey Thompson and the Beaver brothers, accumulating more driving and tuning knowledge as he went. RIP Danny Ongais pic.twitter.com/AqJW32Ko2o, Arie Luyendyk (@ArieLuyendyk) March 1, 2022. Last year, we did five races in four weekends. 39 on the list of the Top 50 Racers in 2000, the same year that he served as the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion grand marshal and was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. But were also pretty realistic that you cant rob Peter to pay Paul, so were not always going to be able to hire from motorsports and especially other IndyCar teams. Daniel was born on June 10, 1938 and passed away on Friday, October 11, 2019. A semi-serious look at the points battles heading to Pomona, T.V. Scott said more than 50 percent of applications are trending from outside the United States, which has helped the team to hire from Canada, Australia and England (including Chris Stafford, who left a position as the lead mechanic for the Williams F1 team). Carrying too much speed out of the turn, the car drifted out into the grey and the back end began to slide. Pole sitter Scott Brayton suffered fatal injuries in a post-qualifying practice crash, and team owner John Menard hired Ongais as the replacement driver. His total assets include stocks, houses, and luxury things like personal luxury boats and planes. He ran his last Indy Car race the next year, in the Indy 200 at Walt Disney World, with Chitwood Motorsports, where he finished 13th. We were running a race and about 25 laps from the end, there was a caution. He was a good guy. Burny Mattinson cause of death: How did Burny Mattinson die? On the starting line, his rival`s car broke, spilling its oil. That was the same year that Ongais became an Indy car winner. In the unlikeliest alliance since Rocky joined forces with Apollo Creed, Ongais had contracted to drive a single race for Penske, the May 24 Indianapolis 500. He competed He quickly showed he could drive those cars as fast as anyone. He was knocked unconscious by the heavy impact. In the 1970s he moved to competing in sports cars and Indy cars, winning races in both types, including the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1979 and several Indy car races in 1977 and 1978. He initially drove the #65 Interscope Racing March 83C-Chevrolet V6, however, that car was replaced with the #25 March 83C-Cosworth DFX. Every so often, a guy comes along, somebody that really catches your attention, that impresses you, and, for me, he was that guy, Prudhomme said. Getting Zak more plugged into the team has been a fantastic side effect of this change, Ward said. He also competed in four Formula One races in 1977 and 1978, including two starts with Interscope, with a best finish of seventh in 1977 at the Canadian Grand Prix. He was later discharged and returned to Hawaii for motor racing. Wife: The blogger is not married. He was a good guy. He was inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. run as the Daytona 3 Hour Continental (196263), 24 Hours of Daytona (196671/ 1973/ 1975present), This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 02:44. I always wanted to be like him. Danny Ongais Wife: Who Is She? Why Kyle Kirkwood is America's new IndyCar ace-in-waiting, Why Kirkwood is USA's ace-in-waiting The rides with major teams that could have been his went to less talented but more malleable men. But then Brian is a great resource for me, for the team. ''He studies everything he says,'' says one friend, ''but why? Theres one person coming in every other day, and it just becomes normality, the Swede said. 6 Chevy, is entering his third season at Arrow McLaren and said its been virtually seamless as the team doubled in size. There probably has never been a driver who hit the wall harder more often and was able to survive than Danny Ongais (who died earlier this year). Rossis signing was followed by the arrival of Brian Barnhart, the former IndyCar VP of competition who called strategy in Rossis final season at Andretti (when he ended a three-year winless drought). Longtime IndyCar driver Danny Ongais, who earned 11 starts in the Indianapolis 500, sustained congestive heart complications and died, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced. After a 9-year hiatus from racing, Ongais was asked by John Menard to fill in for Scott Brayton who was killed during Friday Practice for the 1996 Indianapolis 500. Ongais and Field teamed up with success in Formula 5000 and the IndyCar Series in the late 1970s. Ongais had some of the biggest, hardest crashes in Indianapolis 500 history. Ongais and Fields success with the Interscope team also extended to sports car racing, with Field also driving. WebVersatile American racing driver Danny Ongais died on February 26 of congestive heart complications at age 79, it was announced Monday. The versatile Ongais made 11 #Indy500 starts, with four top-10 finishes. The 'Flyin Hawaiian' was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America for drag racing in 2000. He first raced at the Arizona Republic/Jimmy Bryan 150 at Phoenix International Raceway where he qualified 4th and led for several laps only to drop out after 128 laps due to engine problems. We have no more Information about his Father; we will try to collect information and update soon. I got to spend time with Danny at the [Indy] Speedway, and I just watched him do his thing, and he was magnificent. But he was not an idiot going around and doing stupid things. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. Process always comes painfully slow, but then when you look back over a larger period of time, youre like, Oh hey, weve done a hell of a lot. . Ongais died from congestive heart failure in Anaheim Hills, California, on February 26, 2022, at the age of 79. He finished runner-up to Mike Snively in the Top Fuel class at the 1966 NHRA U.S. Nationals after beating the legendary Don The Snake Prudhomme in the semifinals at Indianapolis Raceway Park. The time zone changes arent quite so big. I think we want people who want to be with the team, so its not so much about trying to headhunt people, he said. Since arriving in the fall of 2019 at the former Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, she said she has watched Arrow McLaren grow while maintaining its gritty origins. He and renowned innovator Mickey Thompson set nearly 300 national and international speed records on the Bonneville Salt Flats in a Mach 1 Mustang during the 1960s. It is in this last area that Ongais has always failed. Ongais is the main Hawaiian to compete in Hustlings Greatest Show. There are some inherent advantages for a team in IndyCar, whose 17-race schedule is more manageable than NASCAR (36 races in 37 weeks) and Formula One (which has expanded to 24 races around the globe). Eventually progressing through regional series and Formula 5000, Ongais and Field moved to USAC and Indy cars in 1976 under the banner of Interscope Racing. For a few years Ongais had an uneasy truce with the press, but even that evaporated when Colleen Campbell left him. Penske looks for three things when hiring a driver, and the ability to go fast is the last of the three. Jody Scott, McLarens director of people who joined the team a year ago from Anthem, Inc. (now Elevance Health), said there was no target for the number of hires outside motorsports. Jim Nelson once said that what he could tell about Ongais was that "all he wanted to do was race. A fearless figure on the racing circuit, Ongais was nicknamed "On-Gas" and "The Flyin' Hawaiian."[1]. I, like many, always enjoyed watching the Top Fuel and Funny Cars when I was not racing my own car. Ongais made 11 Indy 500 starts between 1977 and 1996 and placed in the top 10 a total of four times. Funny Car icon Bruce Larson: NHRA's original triple-threat Pro driver, Frank Mancuso: Some good trips and some bad ones for the 'Travel Agent' driver. Copyright 1996-2023, NHRA. Date, time, venue, burial service, obituary poster, Where will be Ricou Browning buried? The cars were fragile on the half shafts, and he liked to drive them hard sometimes. Danny completed 10th place in his last race in 1996. When he was 14, he already was speeding around on motorcycles. Just like the U.S. business world since the Great Resignation of 2020-21, one of the loudest narratives in racing has been the difficulty of hiring and keeping strong personnel since the COVID-19 pandemic upended the worlds workforce. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway detailed his death two days after the fact. So thats infectious for everybody.. He was 79. Danny, the way he picked it up, was like a duck to water, Mario Andretti told NBC Sports. In 1982, he ran on only one Indy car race, the Indianapolis 500 (which was still sanctioned by USAC). Driving for Parnelli Jones, he crashed. Wow, thats some high praise. He makes an effort to keep everyone up to date from top to bottom as to where things are, what the current objectives are and whats the future look like. The car broke in two and his legs were hanging out. He was intense and good. Whether its grabbing a badass mechanic out of World of Outlaws and introducing them to IndyCar. The 1978 Michigan victory would turn out to be the final Indy car victory of Ongais' career. He did his own thing. WebDaniel Ongais passed away on October 11, 2019. The 1970 season didnt go as well, haunted by parts attrition and at least one fire that burned Ongais. Zak also leads the charge in that. In addition to Grace Hackenberg, Gundlach also played a role in the teams acquisition of systems engineer Lizzie Todd, who came from previous roles at Andretti and Penske. WebDanny Ongais, the only Hawaiian to drive in the Indy 500 and one of the most versatile drivers of his era, died Feb. 26 of congestive heart complications in Anaheim Hills, On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [3] When he was aged 14, he tested out motorbike racing with some success. He was a racer. He would retire at Michigan and Miami and fail to qualify at Nazareth. WebDanny Ongais, the Hawaiian driver admired by fans and competitors for his speed and bravery in an Indianapolis 500 career spanning three decades, died Feb. 26 of Ongais raced and drove a number of Top Fuel cars in those years, including this cool-looking winged slingshot at the 1972 Winternationals. Ongais came into the pits on lap 63 as the leader of the race, but problems during the stop caused it to drag on for a disastrous 46 seconds. Danny Ongais has Long before Danny On the Gas Ongais became a household name across the country and around the world on television and radio as a revered IndyCar driver, he belonged to us, to the world of drag racing, where he sated his need for speed in the formative years of his motorsports career. Burial site and Find a Grave details, Ricou Browning funeral, burial service, pictures, date, time, venue. But we are trying hard to collect all the information about him and will update you soon. He was the Indycar Rookie of the Year in 1977, competed in the Indy 500 11 times, and finished as high as fourth (1979) and also competed in both the famed 24 Hours of Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans before hanging up his driving gloves in 1998. In the early 1960s he started competing in drag racing. Getting out of the car, Ongais pushed it the length of the quarter-mile dragstrip to claim the championship. He was fast. View their obituary at Legacy.com flowers and lei are welcomed He is survived by wife, Patricia P. Ongais of Keaau; Facebook gives people the power to share and [4], In 1977, Ongais ran his first full season in Indy cars. 1 mechanic out of F1. Honestly, there was already so much talent in the group, and I feel like so much more has been added on which is just going to help us to really get us where we want to be.. Danny Ongais, who risked his life routinely as part of his job even more than most auto racers died peacefully at age 79. Jim Chapman, race boss for Interscope Racing, said no one was very familiar with him. We may earn money from the links on this page. Next, he wants a man who will project the Penske image to sponsors and the press. In the same way the rodeo champion could break anything on four legs, Ongais could tame anything on four wheels. Thats what it is all about, any way you can add another 500 horsepower, you do it. What it has done to his life no one could say. Born in Kahului, Hawaii on May 21, 1942, Ongais remains the first driver from the Aloha State to race in the Indianapolis 500, and hes an appropriate pioneer as May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. (Though Indianapolis Motor Speedway had listed Ongais as the only Indy 500 driver from Hawaii, Bill Alsup, the 11th-place finisher in the 1981 race also was born in Honolulu, but his racing career primarily was built in the continental U.S.). Arrow McLaren was known as Schmidt Peterson Motorsports before McLaren gradually became the majority owner in mid-2021. Nielsen was hard-core Ongais all the way, peppering me with facts and stats to prove his case, so, naturally, I reached out to ask for his parting thoughts on Ongais. The tragic circumstances of an accident also led to Ongais final start at Indianapolis, in 1996. That is what you do in drag racing. (Its) retaining the people youve got, he said. In the 1960s he won multiple drag racing championships and was named one of the National Hot Rod Associations Top 50 Drivers for 1951-2000. Weve got to take care of our people through those hard stretches, but for the most part, its a little less time away, the travels not quite so far. Ongais scored another 4th-place finish at the Kent Oil 150 at Watkins Glen International and finished in 6th place in points. Ongais started in 21st place and retired with mechanical problems. I think Gavin kind of feeds off that and has a similar style as well.. But we are sure that it is not available and his spouses name is not available. The rest of the year he raced only sports cars.[2]. Thats definitely not a rumor, said OWard, who is entering his fourth season of driving McLarens No. Staffing has been a top priority at Arrow McLaren for Ward, who says he initially was nave to how hard it is to recruit for talent right now in this sport. He piloted a new Interscope IP-1 chassis, qualifying 9th and leading several laps before crashing out on lap 62 when running 5th. ", "Danny Ongais | Racing career profile | Driver Database", "Daytona 24 Hours 1979 - Race Results - Racing Sports Cars", "Remembering One Of The Most Terrifying Crashes In Indy 500 History", "Indy 500 lineup set; Ongais to take over Brayton's car", "Popular Indianapolis 500 Veteran Ongais Dies at 79", "IndyCar legends remember Danny Ongais: 'The Flyin' Hawaiian' at the Indy 500", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Danny_Ongais&oldid=1141645826, International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0.
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