Kanaan couldn’t understand why the fans gave him such an ovation after finishing 11th.
“I asked my wife, Lauren, ‘Do you think people felt sorry for me? What is it?’” Kanaan recalled. “I tried to understand it. She said, ‘Have you thought about that you never really complained about this place? You never threw this place down. You were always humble about it.’
“It is one of my very special moments in my career and that was one of the things that kept me going to come back here and trying to win this thing; and it still makes me come back every year.”
Kanaan finished fourth in 2011 and third in 2012.
It’s been said the Indianapolis Motor Speedway chooses the winner of the Indianapolis 500.
In 2013, it chose Kanaan.
He led 34 laps and had the “restart of his life” when he went from fourth to the lead on lap 197.
One lap later, Dario Franchitti crashed and the final two laps were run under the yellow flag.
Kanaan coasted to the checkered flag behind the pace car and he could finally celebrate being an Indy 500 winner.
Seven years later, Kanaan is prepared for what may be his “Last Lap” at the Indianapolis 500.
“For the past three decades, I’ve been in a race car in IndyCar,” Kanaan said. “I live IndyCar. I love IndyCar. I said I want to be involved. I still want to race. I’m still capable. I’m in the best shape of my life, so how can we figure this out.
“Five races, I’ll be coming.”
So what is next for Tony Kanaan?
Once the season begins, he will compete in the five oval races for A.J. Foyt Racing. He will attend the other IndyCar contests in which he is not competing, working with series sponsor NTT and its clients.
“I’m excited for the future,” Kanaan said. “It’s the unknown, what’s going to happen, opportunities that will come and we’ll see. I still have a job to do. I still get to race at the Indianapolis 500.”
Kanaan will also try to compete in different forms of racing.
“I don’t want anybody to think I’m retiring and I’m disappearing,” he said. “First of all, I can still drive. We’ve been in talks with IMSA and a bunch of other series. Even Formula E and stock cars in Brazil. I think this will open an opportunity for me to do other things.”
Many drivers dream of racing in the Indianapolis 500, but few actually get to do it. Even fewer become a fan favorite at the Indy 500 and even fewer actually win the race.
Kanaan has gotten to experience all three as he prepares to leave a legacy to a brilliant career.
He was a driver who never took “no” for an answer.
“Since I started racing, when dad passed away, people say now you’re done,” Kanaan reflected. “To be honest in the past eight years, I’ve been hearing ‘When are you retiring?’
“Am I retiring because I’m not physically capable of racing? Not really. I want people to think about doing what they want to do and don’t listen to what people have to say. If that’s what you want to do, doesn’t matter if you are winning or not winning.
“Let’s face it, I haven’t been doing well the past two years here and there, whatever the reasons are,” Kanaan continued. “That didn’t defeat me or make me say, ‘You know what? I don’t need this.’
“I love racing. And that’s the message I want people to look back at is the kids who have something they’re looking for in the future and not get discouraged by whoever it is — not to get discouraged by it and just go do what you want.
“I’m living proof of that.”