Tony Kanaan, Andretti Green Racing, Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick, Hideki Mutoh
Tony Kanaan has a deal with his wife, Dani. He’ll do anything
for six-month-old son Leonardo – feed him, burp him, play
with him, sing to him – but he won’t do diapers. He’s
sensitive to odors – naturally, he blames it on his nose – so he claims
to get nauseous around a full diaper. “I’ll change a No. 1 once in
awhile, but I can’t do No. 2s,” he says. “I get sick.”
The first time he agreed to change a No. 1, Kanaan
discovered that little Leo was indeed his father’s son. “Just as I
got the diaper off and was all proud of myself, he let go,”
Kanaan explains, breaking into laughter. “He peed all over me. I
thought, ’That’s my boy!’”
Tony Kanaan doesn’t think fatherhood has changed him, but
it has. On track, he’s still the same fierce competitor he always
has been, but away from the racetrack he’s not fierce at all. He
won’t admit it, but he’s softened. He’s quieter. The most
important piece of equipment in his passenger car isn’t a zillionwatt
sound system. It’s a $200 car seat. Yep, he’s a dad now.
“It’s changed the way I think,” he says. “If I’m with him in the
car, I’m consciously careful. Before, I would stop at a stop sign
for three milliseconds. Now I stop three seconds and look both
ways. That’s what changes you. Instead of being impatient or
mad, your mind doesn’t do that anymore. Before I had nothing
to lose. Now I have somebody to go home to. I have more to
think about than just myself.”
Before, Tony Kanaan was racing. It consumed his every
moment, had since he was a child. When he was 13 and
already an accomplished kart racer in his native Brazil, his
father died after a long battle with cancer. Suddenly the
family breadwinner, Kanaan turned pro, first as a factory kart
racer, then leaving home to begin his climb up the formularacing
ladder in Italy. Since as early as he can remember,
Kanaan has been racing, and racing has been Kanaan.
GALLERY
More photos of Tony Kanaan
BIO/STATS
Read more about the new dad
“Racing has always been my life,” he
says. “I was in a go-kart when I was in
kindergarten. For 26 years I’ve been doing
this. Racing has always been first. It’s
always been racing and then everything
else. I planned my wedding for the offseason.
Before the honeymoon, I went to
a race. I take my vacations after the
“It’s changed the
way I think. I
have more to
think about than
just myself”
season. We planned to have a baby during
the off-season. That tells you how
important racing is to me. Does a child
change my life? Totally. But not when it
comes to racing. It changed my personal
life, but not my racing life.”
Right now his racing life is quite solid.
Kanaan is in the final year of his contract
TONY KANAAN
PAPA’S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG
Fatherhood has left Tony
Kanaan no less a determined
racer – some think this
is his year to win it all –
but work stays at his
200mph office
with Andretti Green Racing, the
established leader of a four-car lineup that
features three young drivers. TK is called
upon to be the mentor, but he tries not to
be pushy about it. If Marco Andretti,
Danica Patrick or Hideki Mutoh want
Kanaan’s advice, he’ll be glad to offer it.
“I’m going to do my job and help them
as much as I can with the time I have,”
Kanaan says. “But I’m going to keep
moving forward. If they can’t keep up with
me, I’m not going to come back to get
them. I don’t want to sound greedy. I’m
not saying I know everything or I’m going
to beat them all the time, because that’s
not the case. They might be ahead of me,
and I might be the one who has to catch
up. Experience-wise, I think I can help,
but as far as talent goes, they all have it.”
This year, however, could be the year
for the new dad. Kanaan was at his best at
the end of the 2007 season, winning
three of the last five races to put himself
back into a championship that earlier
appeared to be out of reach. Many
speculate that Kanaan might be capable
of a season like 2004, when he won three
races and finished among the top three in
11 of the 16 races.
“Every year I come into it thinking,
‘This is going to be my year,’” Kanaan
explains. “Everybody I’ve talked to says,
INDYCAR SERIES 2008 FAN GUIDE 57
Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
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