MOTOR SPORTS

Trip Down Victory Lane: Tony Kanaan putting down Indy roots

Curt Cavin
IndyStar
2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan with his wife, Lauren, and sons Deco and Leo.

Sixth in a series of visits with Indianapolis 500 winners.

Coming to an Indianapolis neighborhood near you: the 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner.

Actually, Tony Kanaan and his wife, Lauren, have narrowed their search for a new home, and it’s probably closer to that of Scott and Emma Dixon than yours.

In fact, it wasn’t that long ago that the Kanaans, who married in March 2013, were poring over details of the vacant lot for sale next to the Dixons’ north-side home.

Kanaan understood his friend’s playful hesitation.

“We’re teammates, but next-door neighbors might be too much,” he said of the reason they passed on the property.

Kanaan, who was born, raised and still enjoys visits to Sao Paolo, Brazil, has called South Florida home almost since the day he graduated from Indy Lights champion to CART rookie in 1998. The Miami suburb of Key Biscayne, where Kanaan has owned two homes, offers the closest thing to his native land, particularly when it comes to warm weather and South American food. Fellow Brazilians Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran live nearby, and Emerson Fittipaldi keeps an apartment in the area.

Tony Kanaan's 12-hour tattoo displays 'most important things'

But Kanaan has been spending a lot of time in Indianapolis since 2003, and in 2010 he purchased a one-bedroom apartment near the intersection of Washington and East streets, about seven blocks from Monument Circle.

It was fine until …

Marrying Lauren set in motion a formal change in Kanaan’s life. Key Biscayne could still be home, but with in-laws in Cambridge City, Ind., Kanaan needed a Hoosier balance.

At 850 square feet, the apartment could still absorb the visits of Kanaan’s son, Leo, now an 8-year-old living with his mother in Brazil. But that was before …

Tony Kanaan has two sons, Leo, who is 9, and Deco, who was born in January 2015.

Deco Kanaan was born 13 months ago.

Now, family body mass pushes the limits of the floor plan.

“The apartment was just for the two of us – no kids,” Kanaan said. “You can’t have a baby and Leo in a one-bedroom place. It’s too small.”

Kanaan is about to enter the final season on his IndyCar Series contract with Indianapolis-based Ganassi Racing – it will be his 20th season in this series — but that doesn’t mean he wants to leave the city. For starters, he could re-sign with Chip Ganassi’s team, but even if he doesn’t, he plans to spend many more days in and around Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Plus, Lauren’s family is local.

“Which means a lot of Thanksgivings and Christmases here,” Kanaan said.

Just what’s on the home shopping list – size, shape and location – depends on the day.

“Obviously, I don’t make all the decisions,” Kanaan said. “I have a boss.”

Kanaan doesn’t appear to have the patience to build a place – he’d like to have it before guests arrive for the 100th running of the 500 in May – but buying someone else’s home also has downfalls.

“It’s hard because you’re never going to find a house that suits you 100 percent because you’re not the ones who built it,” he said. “We’re not pressured on time, but we’re looking.”

The Kanaans will keep their home in Key Biscayne as a warm-weather escape, but having a permanent place here simplifies life in between.

“You don’t have to worry about bringing things, especially with the baby,” he said. “You’re taking a pack-and-play so he has a crib. And what about some of his toys? His food? When you have to relocate, you simplify.

“At the track I have the bus. That’s my third house.”

Tony Kanaan: 'Am I done? No. Satisfied? Extremely.'

The motor home parked at IMS offers a reminder of that magnificent day when the caution came on Lap 198 (of 200) for Dario Franchitti’s crash in Turn 1. Kanaan was in the lead of his 12th 500, and he would keep it.

“I knew it (was my win) because there was only three (laps) to go, and I knew it wasn’t going to go green again,” he said. “Now, I needed to complete those three laps and sometimes with our cars, odd things happen when you’re going so slow.”

Kanaan called driving behind the pace car at 60 mph “the longest lap of my life.”

“If you look at the (television) broadcast, on the last lap I’m on the backstretch raising my visor to wipe my face because I couldn’t stop crying,” he said. “It was relief – pure relief.”

Follow IndyStar reporter Curt Cavin on Facebook and Twitter: @curtcavin

An ongoing series of conversations between Curt Cavin and living Indy 500 winners.
PREVIOUS TRIPS DOWN VICTORY LANE

• Scott Dixon a Hoosier at heart and home

• Eddie Cheever still outspoken

• Sam Hornish's life vastly different

'Champion Cave' tells Bobby Rahal's story

Gordon Johncock prefers talking lumber

TONY KANAAN

Indy 500 win: 2013 for KV Racing Technology.

Race facts: Kanaan started 12th but got the lead on the ninth lap. Led 15 times for 34 laps, part of the race’s 68 lead changes among 14 drivers (both event records). Took the lead for the final time at Ryan Hunter-Reay’s expense, then saw the win secured when Dario Franchitti hit the outside wall in Turn 1. Victory was the first at Indy for team owner Jimmy Vasser, a KVRT co-owner.

Margin of victory: Under caution.

Winner’s take: $2,353,355.

Career: Has won 17 races and 15 poles over 19 seasons. Holds record for leading his first seven Indy 500s and now ranks 20th in total laps led, 14 more laps than boyhood friend Helio Castroneves, a three-time race winner. First two U.S. seasons were with Tasman Motorsports in Indy Lights, finishing second in the standings in ’96 (to David Empringham) and winning the championship the next year (by four points over Castroneves, his teammate at the time).

Quote on team radio just prior to final restart: “I’m going to go for it. It’s going to be all or nothing.”

Quote in victory lane: “This is it. I made it.”

– Curt Cavin