For the 1986 season Ongais only ran the 1986 Indianapolis 500 for Interscope Racing. He was direct. Daniel was born on June 10, 1938 and passed away on Friday, October 11, 2019. About three laps to go, Danny ran out of fuel, and he dropped out and that was it. Ongais final attempt at Indianapolis came in 1998, when he failed to qualify in a Team Pelfrey car. For the 1984 season Ongais took over as owner of Interscope Racing fielding the #25 Interscope Racing March 84C-Cosworth DFX. 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, pic.twitter.com/X4ZqLkQY4w, Tony Stewart (@TonyStewart) February 28, 2022. In the same way the rodeo champion could break anything on four legs, Ongais could tame anything on four wheels. At a time when a lot of cars were running in the 7.70s and .80s, Ongais first pass was a 7.57, and it didnt take them long to get into the 7.30s. 1 staffing priority wasnt hiring. Two years later he qualified on the front row and led for four laps before crashing again. Zak also leads the charge in that. Danny was a super guy, but he also got himself in a lot of trouble, Indy 500 legend AJ Foyt told NBCSports.com. He made a lot of noise in a very quiet way. The best season for Ongais and the Interscope team came in 1978, when he won five races and eight poles en route to an eighth-place finish in the USAC standings. Fathers name is Not Available. All registered. ''He just doesn`t want to let anyone into his life,'' says the friend. The caution wasnt that long, but we started side-by-side to finish the race. RIP, my friend. The highlight of their sports car endeavours during this time was a victory in the 1979 24 Hours of Daytona, with Ongais and Field sharing their Interscope Porsche 935 with Hurley Haywood.[6]. 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. He suffered a concussion, compound fractures in both legs, a broken arm and a 6-inch tear in his diaphragm. We have no more information about his spouse. Danny Ongais, who risked his life routinely as part of his job even more than most auto racers died peacefully at age 79. The versatile Ongais made 11 Indianapolis 500 starts between 1977 and 1996, with four top-10 finishes. In late 1964, Ongais moved into the nitro ranks for good, driving the Broussard-Davis-Ongais "Mangler" dragster in which he won the 1965 Grand Opening meet in his adopted hometown of Carlsbad, Calif., and later moved on to wheel the Honda of Wilmington entry in 1966 and was a dominant force in SoCal Top Fuel action, but due to his unassuming nature in addition to his well-known On the Gas nickname, he also was known as the Silent Hawaiian (and sometimes the Quiet Hawaiian) he sometimes flew under the publicity radar. At the age of 54, Ongais was an unlikely call-up to replace Team Menards Indy 500 polesitter Scott Brayton who had perished in a crash in a post-qualifying practice session. Ongais stared at the money in his hand as if it were something a passing bird had just dropped there. Join Facebook to connect with Danny N Patsy Ongais and others you may know. I feel like its been so hard to find people in all departments. In 1985, Ongais also survived a spectacular barrel-roll at Michigan International Speedway after hitting the back of the slower car of Phil Krueger on the backstretch. He quickly showed he could drive those cars as fast as anyone. But auto racing is unlike any other sport. Have Harvey and RLL formed IndyCars next winning match-up? Were not shy to hire a visa candidate who might require extra effort to obtain work permits. He was a motorcycle champion in Hawaii when he decided to come to the mainland United States and go racing. The tragic circumstances of an accident also led to Ongais final start at Indianapolis in 1996. Autoweek participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. He had previously been inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1992. Scott said Arrow McLaren has lost only three team members since last years Sept. 11 finale at Laguna Seca, an unheard-of number that she attributes to working hard on trying to give back to employees with extra cash and time off. As soon as he was able, he got back on the horse but was no longer a major force. He initially drove the #65 Interscope Racing March 83C-Chevrolet V6, however, that car was replaced with the #25 March 83C-Cosworth DFX. Pole sitter Scott Brayton suffered fatal injuries in a post-qualifying practice crash, and team owner John Menard hired Ongais as the replacement driver. WebFormer Indy car, drag racing star Danny Ongais dies aged 79 Danny Ongais, a race-winner and ace qualifier in Indy car racing whose career spanned three decades died last Jim Nelson once said that what he could tell about Ongais was that "all he wanted to do was race. Writers soon learned never to ask a question that could be answered ''yes'' or ''no.'' ", "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. ''His whole heart is in racing,'' said Roger Penske, whose auto racing empire had never before embraced such a prince of darkness. Our leadership team was just looking for the best, Scott, who also worked at Stanley Black & Decker, told NBC Sports. The versatile Ongais made 11 Indianapolis 500 starts between 1977 and 1996, with four top-10 finishes. We needed to fill the car communicator role, and Alex was pretty happy with (Barnhart) previously, Ward said. After losing Saturdays AA/Dragster class final to Thompson, he beat Thompson in the final of the eliminator on Sunday, 8.39 to 8.53, to claim the big prize, then a few months later, he won the Hot Rod Magazine Championships at Riverside Raceway. First, Penske has said many times, he wants a team player. (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.). I think its a more family friendly way to go racing. While practicing for his first Indy-car race at Hanford, Calif., his car caught fire on the. Driving for Parnelli Jones, he crashed. Hes happy to be here; were happy to have him.. No information regarding his funeral ceremony has come out yet from the side of his family. We have no information about his girlfriend/boyfriend. More of the same followed in 78. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. 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. . View their obituary at Legacy.com flowers and lei are welcomed He is survived by wife, Patricia P. Ongais of Keaau; But he was not an idiot going around and doing stupid things. Adding 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi as a teammate to Pato OWard and Felix Rosenqvist, the team will be running three full-time cars for the first time (and a fourth Indy 500 entry for Tony Kanaan). The IndyCar team since has been integrated with McLaren Racings F1 operations, which naturally led to some growing pains. I was so shocked when I heard he passed away because he was the kind of guy that's, you know, crashing Indy cars and going through so much stuff and made it though that he's gonna live forever. Actually, he was only borrowing the balky, black Panavision Penske PC16 racer he stuffed violently into the fourth-turn wall at precisely 11:44 Thursday morning. 6 Chevy, is entering his third season at Arrow McLaren and said its been virtually seamless as the team doubled in size. He must please a sponsor, and sponsors are not pleased when they read stories about their surly driver. Ongais suffered serious injuries in a head-on crash in the 1981 Indianapolis 500, missing the rest of the season to recover. As a statement from Indianapolis Motor Speedway pointed out, Ongais was known not only for his huge speed, but also surviving some violent crashes. It did not matter whether he was driving a Top Fuel dragster, Funny Car, Indy car, 24-hour endurance car, Formula 1 car, or motorcycle racing, he was always fast. It would be almost 10 years before he would finally come to Indianapolis. 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 was a great guy. But Ward said it wasnt necessarily a driver-executive package deal. In this week's Dragster Insider, friends and fellow racers remember the guy nicknamed On the Gas.. But then the wild mustangs he was driving gave way to the thoroughbreds, the ground-effects cars. His most notable years at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway were with Interscope Racing and their handsome No. Gracie is a rock star and can do anything, Gundlach said. Danny Ongais Wife: Who Is She? ''But he broke her heart,'' says a friend. He was transported by an ambulance to a nearby hospital in a critical condition. And its especially true during a season with the kind of expansion that Arrow McLaren has undertaken for the 2023 season. In his first motorcycle race, at Ascot Park in Gardena, Calif., he finished second and was handed his prize--$15. Ongais later attempted to race at the Marlboro 500 at Michigan International Speedway, the Nissan Indy Challenge at Tamiami Park, and the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix at Nazareth Speedway. He was easy going outside of the car, didnt say much and kept to himself but when he got in the car and put a helmet on, it was like he flipped the switch and stood on the gas.. Ongais ended the season in 15th place in points. Im excited to see how it goes., Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Flipboard (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Though Indianapolis Motor Speedway had listed, suffered fatal injuries in a post-qualifying practice crash, Schedules, start times and how to watch the 2023 IndyCar season opener, Its crowded at the top with Ganassi and Penske drivers, organizational hierarchy was restructured, Rossis signing was followed by the arrival, was announced as a finalist for Indys Best and Brightest,. He really was. During a recent episode of his Off Track podcast, Rossi noted the Thermal test hit some snags as the IndyCar team learned to communicate with McLarens software systems in England. Indianapolis became his bete noir. Ongais tried to correct the slide by turning right, and the car hooked to the right and crashed nearly head-on into the wall. WebFilling the No. The versatile Ongais made 11 Indianapolis 500 starts between 1977 and 1996, with four top-10 finishes. Three pole positions swiftly followed, but the Interscope Parnelli-Cosworths unreliability prevented further triumphs. He was a good guy. He seldom lifted no matter how crossed up and sideways the car got. On May 15, 1982, Danny Ongais qualified 9th for the Indy 500. Ongais then won the Funny Car class in the 1969 NHRA U.S. Nationals at IRP, drag racings most prestigious event, in a distinctive blue Ford Mach 1 Mustang fielded by Mickey Thompson. His first Indy car race was the 1976 California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway, where he finished 28th after a crash. What it has done to his life no one could say. The Cosworth was hugely powerful, Ongais regularly appearing to dance the car on the rim of disaster on his way to eight pole positions, and when it hung together he tended to win: he racked up five triumphs that year. He was 79. Plus, the tracks were not prepared with traction compound like they are today, making them a lot more slick and tougher to drive on. Cars during this period would smoke the tires from the starting line to the finish line, so getting crossed up was a moderately common occurrence. He won the American Hot Rod Association AA Gas Dragster Championship in 1963 and 1964. He was always kind of a private person. He moved up to the National Hot Rod Association AA Dragster championship and defeated the legendary Don Prudhomme in the 1966 NHRA Nationals in the Top Fuel semifinals. He might show up and talk to you for a while and then youd look around and hed be gone. He was 79. Wife: The blogger is not married. I dont know how hes in so many places at once, seemingly. WebDanny Ongais, a well-known veteran of the Indianapolis 500, has not spilled any information regarding his partner. That comes from a focus on the culture of the team. Its a mentality shift thats good. In 1985, he also survived a spectacular barrel roll at Michigan International Speedway after hitting the back of the slower car of Phil Krueger on the backstretch. Ongais dominated in SCCA competition in 1974, catching the eye of media mogul Ted Field, who had recently founded the Interscope Records label. Still, those five winsthree on the large superspeedways at Ontario, Texas, and Michigan, one at the short Milwaukee Mile oval, and one road race at Mosportdemonstrated Ongais' versatility as a driver. But we are trying hard to collect all the information about him and will update you soon. 5 Dallara-Chevrolet. 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. Fielding the #25 GM Goodwrench/Panavision March 86C-Buick V6, Ongais dropped out with a mechanical failure. A driver at Indianapolis should be big enough to run what you brung, Ongais once said. Driver Danny Ongais acknowledges cheers June 10, 1978, after winning the Molson Diamond Indy race at Mosport in Ontario, Canada. In 1979 he walked away from a qualifying crash at Indy, paced the garage area like a caged lion until doctors released him to drive again, then made the race. Date, time, venue, burial service, obituary poster, Where will be Ricou Browning buried? It was always wide-open throttle. [2], That year he also ventured into Formula One with the Interscope team, entering the U.S. and Canadian Grands Prix at the end of the season in a year-old Penske PC4. By the time the broadcasting of the race ended at 11:30 PM, Ongais's condition had improved and his condition was updated to stable. That attitude often got him in trouble, though. He was 79. But then Brian is a great resource for me, for the team. Were putting the resources behind it but trying to do it in a sustainable way thats good to the people that are working here as well and also just to have fun. Burny Mattinson cause of death: How did Burny Mattinson die? [3] When he was aged 14, he tested out motorbike racing with some success. He was that quiet lion, the only way to describe him, Mario Andretti told NBC Sports. "Ongais, Danny - Drag Racing - 2000 | Inductees | Hall of Fame", "The World Championship drivers - Where are they now? The best season for Ongais and the Interscope team came in 1978, when he won five races and eight poles en route to an eighth-place finish in the USAC standings. I think people start to realize that IndyCar is a pretty fun place to be and not a bad way to go racing, Ward said. But also building a machine of a race team that can develop all year round, not sort of go racing in the season and do development in the offseason. Sadly, Ongais crashed in practice and suffered a concussion that sidelined him. Weve got a lot of new stuff that were now gelling the team and figuring out how to work together and build on the processes. Driver at Indianapolis should be big enough to run what you brung, Ongais could anything. 500 starts between 1977 and 1996, with four top-10 finishes his life routinely as of..., Calif., his car caught fire on the horse but was no longer a force. How did burny Mattinson cause of death: how did burny Mattinson die where he 28th. 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Slide by turning right, and he dropped out and that was it finish race! A very quiet way IndyCar team since has been integrated with McLaren Racings F1 operations, which naturally to! The International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1992 when he failed to qualify in a critical..
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