Danny Ongais

Danny Ongais in 1984
Born	(1942-05-21) May 21, 1942 (age 70)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	American
Active years	1977-1978
Teams	Ensign; non-works Penske & Shadow
Races	6 (4 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1977 United States Grand Prix
Last race	1978 Dutch Grand Prix

Danny Ongais (born May 21, 1942 in Kahului, Maui Island, Hawaii^[1]) is a former racecar driver from the United States.

1984 Champ Car

He is the only native Hawaiian to compete at the Indianapolis 500. A motorcycle, sports car, Formula One, and drag racing competitor, in 1963 and 1964 Ongais won the American Hot Rod Association AA Gas Dragster Championship and in 1965 he added the National Hot Rod Association AA Dragster championship title.

A flamboyant figure on the racing circuit, Danny's nickname was "On-Gas" for his 'balls to the wall' driving style. He was also known as the "Flyin'-Hawaiian".

He was a Formula One driver who participated in six Grands Prix, debuting on October 2, 1977, and recorded a best result of seventh. In 1996 at the age of 54, Ongais agreed to be the substitute driver for Scott Brayton in the Indy 500 who had died in a practice crash shortly before the race. Starting last, Danny finished 7th in what was his final 500.

In 1981 he had a severe accident in the Indy 500, which almost cost his life. Several arm and leg fractures as well as internal injuries were the result. Then in 1985 at the Michigan 500, he spun on the exit of turn two and barrel-rolled down the back straight, during a race which had several crashes throughout its duration.

CART career[link]

Ongais made his CART debut during the 1979 SCCA-CART/PPG World Series season driving the #25 Panasonic/Interscope Racing Parnelli 6C-Cosworth DFX. He first raced at the 1979 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. He then competed at the Twin Dixie 125s however bad luck hit Ongais in both races. At the 1979 Indianapolis 500 Ongais crashed in practice and this put Ongais in jeopardy of not being able to compete. Ongais qualified 27th and finished 4th. As the season progressed the Parnelli 6C (which was already a two year old car) started to struggle due its age. Ongais scored another 4th place finish at Watkins Glen International and finished 6th in points.

For the 1980 CART/PPG World Series season Interscope was intending to use their own chassis with a Porsche V6 engine. The car was disallowed and Interscope brought out their Parnelli 6C-Cosworth. At his first race of the season, the 1980 Indianapolis 500 Ongais started 16th and finished 7th. Ongais endured a tough season highlighted by a 3rd place finish at Watkins Glen International. Ongais also made a single start for Armstrong Mould driving the #43 Armstrong Mould Orbiter 80C-Cosworth DFX at the Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway, finishing 11th. Ongais ended the season 15th in points.

Ongais next drove in CART during the 1983 CART/PPG World Series season, first driving at the 1983 Indianapolis 500 driving the #65 Interscope Racing March 83C-Chevrolet V6 however, the car was replaced with the #25 March 83C-Cosworth DFX and he started 21st and retired with mechanical problems. Ongais replaced an injured Johnny Rutherford in the #40 Sea Ray Boats Wildcat Mk 9-Cosworth DFX. Later in the season Interscope Racing set up a partnership between themselves and Patrick Racing giving Patrick Racing March 83C-Cosworth DFXs. Ongais scored a best finish of 5th at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Ongais finished 20th in points.

For the 1984 CART/PPG World Series season Ongais took over as owner of Interscope Racing fielding the #25 Interscope Racing March 84C-Cosworth DFX. Ongais finished 3rd at the Detroit News Grand Prix at Michigan International Speedway. He also finished 10th in points.

For the 1985 CART/PPG World Series season Ongais scored a best finish of 6th at the Grand Prix of Miami and finished 24th in points. Ongais also survived a spectacular barrel roll at the Michigan 500 at Michigan International Speedway when he ran into the slower car of Phil Krueger on the backstretch.

For the 1986 CART/PPG World Series season Ongais only ran the 1986 Indianapolis 500 in a factory effort by March Engineering with Interscope Racing as the enrant. Fielding the #25 GM Goodwrench/Panavision March 86C-Buick V6, Ongais dropped out with mechanical failure.

For the 1987 CART/PPG World Series season Interscope Racing teamed up with Team Penske getting Ongais in the #25 Panavision Penske PC-16-Ilmor-Chevrolet Indy V8 for the 1987 Indianapolis 500, however Ongais crashed in practice and suffered a concussion. The car went to Al Unser Sr who went on to win a record-tying 4th Indianapolis 500. Ongais later attempted to race at the Marlboro 500 at Michigan International Speedway, the Grand Prix of Miami, and Nazareth Speedway. He retired at Michigan and Miami and failed to qualify at Nazareth.

Awards[link]

• He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2000 in the drag racing category.
• On the National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers, 1951-2000 he was ranked 39th.^[2]

Racing record[link]

Complete Formula One results[link]

(key)

American Open-Wheel racing results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

CART[link]

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
1979	Interscope Racing	PHX Ret	ATL1 Ret	ATL2 6	INDY 4	TRE1 7	TRE2 6	MIS1 Ret	MIS2 Ret	WGL 4	TRE3 Ret	ONT 6	MIS3 DNS	ATL3 Ret	PHX2 Ret				6th	1473
1980	Interscope Racing	ONT1	INDY 7	MIL1 Ret	POC Ret	MDO Ret	MIS1 Ret	WGL 3	MIL2	ONT2 Ret		MEX Ret	PHX						15th	601
	Armstrong Mould Interscope Racing										MIS2 11
1983	Interscope Racing	ATL	INDY Ret																20th	14
	Patrick Racing			MIL 12	CLE Ret	MIS1 Ret	ROA Ret	POC Ret	RIV Ret	MDO 5	MIS2	LVG	LS	PHX
1984	Interscope Racing	LBH DNQ	PHX1 5	INDY 9	MIL 10	POR Ret	MEA Ret	CLE Ret	MIS1 Ret	ROA	POC 5	MDO	SAN Ret	MIS2 3	PHX2 5	LS Ret	LVG Ret		10th	53
1985	Interscope Racing	LBH DNQ	INDY Ret	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	MIS1 Ret	ROA	POC Ret	MDO	SAN	MIS2 7	LS	PHX 14	MIA 6			24th	14
1986	March Engineering	PHX1	LBH	INDY Ret	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	TOR	MIS1	POC	MDO	SAN	MIS2	ROA	LS	PHX2	MIA	NC	0
1987	Team Penske	LBH	PHX	INDY Inj	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	TOR	MIS Ret	POC	ROA	MDO	NAZ DNQ	LS	MIA Ret			42nd	0

Indy Racing League[link]

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
1996	Team Menard	WDW	PHX	INDY 7									29th	28
1996-1997	Chitwood Motorsports	NHM	LVS	WDW 13	PHX Rpl	INDY	TXS	PPI	CLT	NH2	LV2		42nd	22
1998	Team Pelfrey	WDW	PHX	INDY DNQ	TXS	NHM	DOV	CLT	PPI	ATL	TX2	LVS	NC	–

Indianapolis 500[link]

¹ Al Unser succeeded Ongais as driver in the car; Unser won the Indianapolis 500 with a March-Cosworth that had been a show car.

² After Scott Brayton was killed in a practice crash with a backup car, Ongais drove the car Brayton qualified on the pole; under USAC rules, the car had to start last.

References[link]

External links[link]

• F1 Rejects profile

Look up Danny in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Danny may refer to:

Music[link]

• Danny Saucedo aka Danny, a Swedish singer
• Ilkka Lipsanen aka Danny, a Finnish singer
• Danny!, American hip-hop performer
• "Danny" (song), a song by Tiffany in the album Tiffany
• "Danny Boy", a Celtic folk song
• "Danny" (American singer), lead singer of Hollywood Undead

Film[link]

• Danny (film), a 2001 Indian Malayalam film

Television[link]

• Danny (TV series), a short-lived CBS sitcom starring Daniel Stern

People[link]

• A diminutive of Daniel (name)
• Danny (footballer), born Daniel Miguel Alves Gomes, Portuguese footballer
• Danny Denzongpa, Sikkimese-born Indian actor, known as just 'Danny'

Fictional characters[link]

• Danny Tanner, a character in the TV sitcom Full House
• Danny (Pokémon), a character in the Pokémon universe
• Danny, the leader of The Bash Street Kids from the UK comic, The Beano
• Danny, the main cat from the movie Cats Don't Dance
• Danny, a character in Return to Neverland
• Danny Baker (character), a character from the comedy TV show 30 Rock
• Danny Messer, a character from the TV crime drama CSI: NY
• Danny Phantom (character), alter-ego of Daniel "Danny" Fenton and the title character from the Nickelodeon cartoon series Danny Phantom
• Danny Van Zandt, in Degrassi: The Next Generation
• Danny Zukko, in the musical Grease
• Danny Fatfuck, a character in the Adult Swim television pilot Paid Programming
• Danny, from the Just! series of short story collections by Australian author Andy Griffiths

Other uses[link]

• Danny House, an Elizabethan mansion in West Sussex, England
• Hurricane Danny (disambiguation), any of several Atlantic hurricanes
• Operation Danny, 1948 Israeli attack on Arab areas in Palestine

See also[link]

• Daniel (disambiguation)
• Dan (disambiguation)
• All pages beginning with "Danny"
• All pages beginning with "Danni"

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Mickey Thompson's Challenger I car from 1960

Marion Lee "Mickey" Thompson (December 7, 1928 - March 16, 1988) was an American off-road racing legend. He won many championships as a racer, and later formed sanctioning bodies SCORE International and Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group (MTEG). He also raced in dragsters and land speed record automobiles.

Thompson was born in Alhambra, California. He was known universally as "Mickey." In his early twenties, he worked for the Los Angeles Times newspaper while becoming involved in the new sport of drag racing. He developed a brilliant career as both a driver and an innovative automotive technician; later as a designer, manufacturer and seller of racing and performance equipment. In addition to being a drag racing champion, Mickey Thompson set more speed and endurance records than any other man in automotive history. He is credited with designing and building the first slingshot dragster in 1954, moving the seat behind the rear axle to improve traction when the existing racing tires proved unsuitable.^[1] A change so momentous would not happened again until Don Garlits introduced the rear-engined digger in 1971.^[2] Thompson also was noted for being the first manager of Lions Drag Strip near Long Beach, California in 1955.

In 1960, at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Thompson achieved international fame when driving Challenger 1 ^[3]he became the first American to break the 400 mph barrier, hitting 406.60 mph and surpassing John Cobb's one-way Land speed record of 402 mph.

Indianapolis 500 1962

The 1962 Harvey Aluminium Special Indianapolis 500 car. Mickey Thompson in car. Standing, Harvey representative on left, John Crosthwaite on right

In 1962 Mickey Thompson entered three John Crosthwaite designed cars in the Indianapolis 500 Unusually they used a stock V8 Buick engine and it was in the rear unlike the front engined, race tuned, Offenhauser powered cars used by most competitors. It was the first stock engine to be raced at Indy since 1946 and was the beginning of the rear engine transformation at the Indianapolis 500. Thompson's crew led by Fritz Voigt were young, smart and hard working. Working 12-14 hour days, the car was designed and built in 120 days. For the race, the engine (enlarged to 4.2 litre capacity, the maximum allowed by the regulations for “stock block” engines) had to be detuned because they were concerned it would not last the distance. Despite being more than 70 bhp down on the other cars Dan Gurney qualified eighth and was in ninth place until a leaking oil seal seized the gearbox and ended his race on lap 94. He was placed 20th out of 33. The team won the Mechanical Achievement Award for original design, construction and accomplishment ^{[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]}

Indianapolis 500 1963

Mickey was a good promoter and the sponsors were very pleased with the publicity generated that year. For the 1963 Indianapolis 500 Crosthwaite designed the innovative Harvey Aluminium Special ‘roller skate car’ with the then pioneering smaller profile (12 inch diameter) and wide racing tyres (front 7 inches and rear 9 inches wide) and wheels. Mickey Thompson took five cars to Indianapolis. Two of the previous year's design with Chevrolet V8 engines and three 'roller skate' cars. One of the new cars, the Harvey Titanium Special, featured a lightweight titanium chassis. Al Miller II raced one of the modified 1962 cars to 9th place despite only qualifying in 31st position. Duane Carter qualified one of the roller skate cars 15th but was only placed 23rd after an engine failure on the 100th lap. The small tyre sizes and low car weights caused complaints amongst the old hands and owners, so for future races cars were restricted to minimum tyre sizes and minimum car weight. ^{[15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22]}

Mickey Thompson raced a funny car^{[clarification needed]} in 1971

In 1963 Thompson traveled to England where, along with Dante Duce, he demonstrated his Top Fuel Harvey Aluminum Special dragster at the Brighton Speed Trials. His Ford-powered dragster was then displayed at the Racing Car Show in London in January 1964.^[23]

In 1965 he published "Challenger: Mickey Thompson's own story of his life of speed." In 1968, he redesigned the Funny Car, and his vehicle went on to win the 1969 NHRA Spring Nationals and NHRA Nationals for driver Danny Ongais. In his long career, Thompson raced everything from stock cars to off-road vehicles and engineered numerous competition engines. He went into the performance aftermarket business in the early 1960s and then, in 1963 he created "Mickey Thompson Performance Tires" that developed special tires for racing including for Indianapolis 500 competitors.

Thompson founded SCORE International in 1973, a sanctioning body to oversee off-road racing across North America. He and his wife Trudy formed the "Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group" (MTEG) which ran an indoor motocross and off-road vehicle racing show and competition that brought the sport from the back-country terrain to stadiums in the heavily populated metropolitan areas.

Murder, investigation, and associated trials[link]

On March 16, 1988, Mickey Thompson and his wife Trudy were killed by two gunmen at their home in Bradbury, California in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.^[24]

On the morning of the murder two gunmen waited outside of the Thompson home for Mickey and Trudy to leave for the day - Mickey opened the garage door for Trudy to pull out in her vehicle, and as he headed for his own vehicle to pull out of the garage the gunmen attacked, shooting and wounding Mickey and then dragging him out into the driveway, and then one of the gunmen went after Trudy as she was driving down the driveway in her vehicle and shot and killed her. The gunman then came back up the driveway where the other gunman was watching over Mickey and shot Mickey in the head, killing him. The gunmen then made their escape on the bicycles that they had ridden to the Thompson residence.

Mickey, his wife and his pets are interred in the Rose Hills Memorial Park, in Whittier, California.

An intense police investigation led nowhere until thirteen years after their deaths, when former business partner Michael Frank Goodwin was charged in Orange County, California with the murders.^[24] However, that case was overturned on jurisdictional grounds by the California District Court of Appeal. On June 8, 2004, Goodwin was formally charged in Pasadena in Los Angeles County. In October 2006, a Pasadena Superior Court judge ordered Goodwin to stand trial for the murders.

On January 4, 2007 a jury found Michael Goodwin guilty of two counts of murder in the death of Mickey Thompson and his wife. Goodwin was sentenced to two consecutive life-without-parole terms for the murders of Thompson and his wife. The judge also denied Goodwin's motion for a new trial.

The murder investigation was the subject of the April 28, 2007 episode of the CBS television program 48 Hours Mystery.

The murder investigation was also the subject of an episode of NBC's Unsolved Mysteries and TruTV's Murder by the Book.

A local band in Rhode Island, That'll Learn Ya, wrote a song about the incident, titled "Murder of the Speed King".

The CSI episode "Early Rollout" was based on this murder case.^{[citation needed]}

Awards[link]

• In 1990, Mickey Thompson was elected posthumously to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
• On the National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers, 1951–2000, Mickey Thompson was ranked No. 11.
• Inducted posthumously to the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2009.

References[link]

• News release on documentary of the murder
• Trial Commentary
• M/T Tires Official Page
• Michael Goodwin profile on America's Most Wanted

Danny Sullivan File:DannySullivan.jpg Sullivan at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2006. Born (1950-03-09) March 9, 1950 (age 62) Formula One World Championship career Nationality American Active years 1983 Teams Tyrrell Races 15 Career points 2 First race 1983 Brazilian Grand Prix Last race 1983 South African Grand Prix

Danny Sullivan PPG Indycar World Series Years active 1982-1993, 1995 Teams Forsythe Racing Shierson Racing Penske Racing Patrick Racing Galles Racing PacWest Racing Starts 170 Wins 17 Poles 19 Best finish 1st in 1988 Championship titles 1988 PPG Indycar World Series Awards 1985 Indianapolis 500 winner

Daniel John "Danny" Sullivan III (born March 9, 1950) is a former racing driver from the United States. He is best known for winning the 1985 Indianapolis 500.

Before racing[link]

Sullivan was born in Louisville, Kentucky to a building contractor father. He attended the Kentucky Military Institute and then the Jim Russell Racing School. He had several odd jobs before his racing career, including lumberjack, and most famously, New York City cab driver.^[1]

Formula One[link]

Sullivan was given a 21st birthday present of a course at the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School at the Snetterton circuit in England. He competed in Formula Ford and Formula Three before running out of money and returning to race in the United States. In 1982, he made his début in the PPG Indycar series, and was recruited by the Tyrrell Formula One team for the 1983 season at the request of primary sponsor Benetton, who wanted an American driver. Sullivan competed in the fifteen races of the 1983 season, scoring two points with a fifth place at the Monaco Grand Prix and finishing seventeenth in the World Drivers' Championship. He also performed strongly in the non-championship Race of Champions held at the Brands Hatch circuit in April, finishing second behind reigning champion Keke Rosberg. Nevertheless, he was somewhat overshadowed by his more experienced team-mate, Michele Alboreto, and was not retained at the end of the season.

Indy Car career[link]

Sullivan's Lola T800 at Laguna Seca in 1984.

For 1984, Sullivan returned to America, where he competed in the PPG Indycar series winning the 1985 Indianapolis 500. The "spin and win" footage of his red and white Miller American spinning through 360 degrees down the south short chute (between turns one and two) at Indy after passing Mario Andretti for the lead in the race's 120th lap has been played on countless motorsports programs. Recovering from the spin undamaged except for lightly flat-spotted tires, Sullivan went into the pits for new rubber, then returned to the track and passed Mario a second time twenty laps later to go on for the win. Danny would set the pace at Indy again in 1988, leading 91 of the first 101 laps, until a wing adjuster broke and his car drifted out and smacked the turn 1 wall. Nevertheless, he won the Michgan 500 later that summer, and went on to win the CART Indycar series title for Roger Penske that year.

In 1986, Sullivan was a guest star on the television show Miami Vice ("Florence Italy") playing a race car driver accused of murdering a prostitute. The episode featured some short outdoor scenes in the pit lanes of the Miami Grand Prix. Sullivan had limited dialogue in the episode; His longest piece of dialogue was in a police station interrogation scene.

In 1992, Rare released Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat for Nintendo Entertainment System.

After Indy[link]

In 1994, Sullivan took a sabbatical from Indycar racing, and joined ABC/ESPN as a color commentator. He also attempted to run selected events in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series that season. He, however, qualified for only one race (the 1994 Brickyard 400), and finished 33rd for a very underfunded team. In 1994, he had some guest starts for Alfa Romeo in the DTM and together with Thierry Boutsen and Hans-Joachim Stuck he was third overall with the Dauer 962 LM at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

He returned to Indycar racing for one final year in 1995. His season ended early after a serious crash at Michigan International Speedway. While recovering from a broken pelvis and other injuries, he announced his retirement from open-wheel competition. He returned to ABC-TV for 1996-1997.

Sullivan was a paid celebrity endorser for Danny Sullivan Lexus in Jacksonville, Florida. The Lexus Dealership was owned primarily by members of the Davis Family, who were the founders of Winn Dixie supermarkets.

Sullivan was also instrumental in the Red Bull Driver Search program to find an American driver to compete in Formula One. The program successfully promoted American Scott Speed from California, who drove for the Scuderia Toro Rosso team in 2006 and 2007.

He was the drivers' representative on the stewards' panel for the 2010 German Grand Prix and served in the same post for the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix.^{[2] [3]}

Sullivan and Michael Andretti were inducted into the Motorsports Walk of Fame on April 15, 2011, along the route of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, which both men have won.^[4]

Sullivan serves as a Senior Advisor at Tempus Jets and its parent company, Orion Air Group, LLC. He also has various business relationships with Lexus, ABC/ESPN, CBS, Red Bull, Acura, and Toyota.^[5]

Indy 500 results[link]