During a career that encompassed five decades, Danny Ongais earned nicknames that aptly defined his personality, temperament and style.
He was known as “The Flyin’ Hawaiian,” “The Silent Hawaiian” and the moniker that most accurately captured his racing persona, Danny “On The Gas.”
Shy to the point of reclusiveness, few drivers attacked a track like Ongais. From motorcycles to dragsters and sprint cars; through sports cars, Indy cars and Formula One, Ongais ran only one way — balls to the wall.
After observing Ongais toss an Indy car around in 1978, Ken Squier marveled, “I think Danny’s nickname probably says it all. They call him ‘Danny On The Gas.’ He just can sense the car being on the limit and that’s where he runs it. He’s a great thrill to watch.”
Sometimes his all-out driving style created thrills beyond breathtaking speed and thundering passes. Occasionally, he’d slip over that fine edge of control with spectacular results.
In 1985, he barrel rolled down the backstretch at Michigan Int’l Speedway. At Indy in 1981, trying to make up for a long pit stop, he lost the incredible, black Interscope “Batmobile” in turn three and pounded the concrete. The car exploded into flames and shed a shrapnel field of wheels, carbon fiber and engine chunks. When it ground to a stop, Ongais lay completely exposed, his legs dangling at hideous angles.
It was one of the most violent crashes in Indianapolis history that was survived by the driver. His injuries were horrible but he quietly went about recovering and returned to the fray, his push-it-to-the-edge spirit undiminished.
From the time he first swung a leg over a motorcycle at age 14 in 1957, that’s the only way Ongais raced. Maui-born Ongais won the Hawaiian State motorcycle championship in 1960 and then sought out four-wheel action. He landed in drag racing.
While working as a crewmember for fellow Hawaiian drag racer, Roland Leong on the mainland, Ongais caught the attention of famed racer, car owner and builder Jim Nelson.
“I told him to drive the thing as fast as he felt comfortable,” Nelson once said about Ongais’ first runs in his AA Gas Dragster. “He got in there and ran that thing quicker than I did right off the bat. He had the natural ability to drive anything. It didn’t make any difference if it was fuel or gas or a funny car. He had the balls to stab and steer it.”
Ongais was soon a drag racing star. In 1963, he won the AHRA AA Gas Dragster Winternationals. In 1963 and ’64, Ongais captured the AHRA AA Gas Dragster championship and in 1965 the NHRA championship title.
Yet, he longed for more. So, he added sports cars to his résumé, and became an accomplished road racer and sports car driver, eventually competing at Le Mans and winning the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1979.
He also ventured into open-wheel racing with an eye on Indianapolis. His early open-wheel opportunities came through Parnelli Jones. Jones owned Ongais’ drag racing team, recognized his talent and promised he’d get him in an Indy car.
After some time in Jones’ Formula 5000 car, Ongais got that first Indy car ride at Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway. He was quick, qualifying 11th. He ran with the leaders until a gust of wind caught him out and he rolled the car. He was uninjured, but the Indy car community got its first glimpse of his “On The Gas” persona.
In 1977 he qualified seventh for his first Indianapolis 500 but finished 20th after a valve broke. By then he’d hooked up with Ted Field, heir to the Marshal Field’s department store fortune and proprietor of Interscope Racing. It was a life changing moment.
Driving Field’s immaculately prepared cars, Ongais sat on the front row at Indy, won five Indy car races, won in IMSA sports cars and even ran a half dozen Formula One races. Ongais and Field ran together through 1985. After that Ongais spent a year with March Engineering and a year with Roger Penske before retiring.
In 1996, Ongais got a call from John Menard. Menard’s driver, Scott Brayton, had died while practicing after winning the pole at Indianapolis. Menard wanted Ongais to fill in. After doing a ceremonial lap at the front of the field, he dropped back to 33rd and blasted his way through the pack to finish seventh.
Nine years after he’d last driven an Indy car, Danny Ongais was still on the gas.