Danny Sullivan

For other people of the same name, see Daniel Sullivan (disambiguation).

Danny Sullivan Sullivan at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2006. Born March 9, 1950 (1950-03-09) 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

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.

Formula One

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Indy 500 results

Year Car Start Qual Rank Finish Laps Led Retired Team 1982 53 13 196.292 17 14 148 0 Crash T4 Forsythe 1984 30 28 203.567 17 29 57 0 Broken Wheel Shierson 1985 5 8 210.298 8 1 200 67 Running Penske 1986 1 2 215.382 2 9 197 0 Flagged Penske 1987 3 16 210.271 6 13 160 4 Engine Penske 1988 9 2 216.214 2 23 101 91 Crash T1 Penske 1989 1 26 216.027 15 28 41 0 Rear Axle Penske 1990 7 9 220.310 9 32 19 0 Crash T1 Penske 1991 20 9 218.343 17 10 173 0 Turbo Patrick/Alfa Romeo 1992 18 8 224.838 9 5 199 0 Flagged Galles/Kraco 1993 7 12 219.428 19 33 29 0 Crash T3 Galles 1995 17 18 225.496 29 9 199 0 Running PacWest Totals 1523 162

Starts 12 Poles 0 Front Row 2 Best Start 2nd Wins 1 Top 5 2 Top 10 5 Retired 8 Laps Led 162 Races Led 3 Total Laps 1,523 Winnings $2,064,211

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	WDC	Points
1983	Benetton Tyrrell Team	Tyrrell 011	Cosworth V8	BRA 11	USW 8	FRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON 5	BEL 12	DET Ret	CAN DSQ	GBR 14	GER 12	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret			17th	2
		Tyrrell 012															EUR Ret	RSA 7

Indycar career results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
1982	Forsythe Newman	PHO	ATL 3	MIL 21	CLE	MCH	MIL	POC	RIV	ROA	MCH	PHO							22nd	28
1984	Shierson Racing	LBG 24	PHO 6	IND 29	MIL 16	POR 23	MEA 2	CLE 1	MCH 10	ROA 19	POC 1	MDO 3	SAN 1	MCH 9	PHO 20	LAG 9	LAV 18		4th	110
1985	Penske	LBG 3	IND 1	MIL 4	POR 27	MEA 18	CLE 27	MCH 14	ROA 13	POC 5	MDO 2	SAN 5	MCH 8	LAG 8	PHO 4	MIA 1			4th	126
1986	Penske	PHO 4	LBG 11	IND 9	MIL 11	POR 11	MEA 1	CLE 1	TOR 2	MCH 25	POC 16	MDO 3	SAN 5	MCH 12	ROA 6	LAG 2	PHO 2	MIA 26	3rd	147
1987	Penske	LBG 22	PHO 11	IND 13	MIL 11	POR 11	MEA 20	CLE 4	TOR 2	MCH 4	POC 17	ROA 5	MDO 3	NAZ 22	LAG 2	MIA 12			9th	87
1988	Penske	PHO 23	LBG 13	IND 23	MIL 2	POR 1	CLE 3	TOR 2	MEA 4	MCH 1	POC 18	MDO 5	ROA 4	NAZ 1	LAG 1	MIA 5			1st	182
1989	Penske	PHO 3	LBG 8	IND 28	MIL 10	DET 24	POR	CLE	MEA 8	TOR 3	MCH 23	POC 1	MDO 5	ROA 1	NAZ 3	LAG 14			7th	107
1990	Penske	PHO 6	LBG 3	IND 32	MIL 8	DET 14	POR 4	CLE 1	MEA 14	TOR 4	MCH 21	DEN 2	VAN 2	MDO 5	ROA 16	NAZ 18	LAG 1		6th	139
1991	Patrick Racing	SUR 4	LBG 11	PHO 7	IND 10	MIL 5	DET 10	POR 21	CLE 9	MEA 6	TOR 14	MCH 18	DEN 18	VAN 9	MDO 17	ROA 16	NAZ 20	LAG 9	11th	56
1992	Galles Racing	SUR 5	PHO 12	LBG 1	IND 5	DET 5	POR 12	MIL 12	NHA 9	TOR 3	MCH 8	CLE 20	ROA 7	VAN 7	MDO 8	NAZ 17	LAG 7		7th	99
1993	Galles Racing	SUR 13	PHO 23	LBG 8	IND 33	MIL 16	DET 1	POR 14	CLE 14	TOR 3	MCH	LOU 22	ROA 26	VAN 10	MDO 27	NAZ 20	LAG 27		12th	43
1995	PacWest Racing	MIA 9	SUR 5	PHO 27	LBG 10	NAZ 18	IND 9	MIL 17	DET 12	POR 22	ROA 25	TOR 18	CLE 5	MCH 16	MDO	LOU	VAN	LAG	19th	32

External links

• Grand Prix encyclopedia entry on Danny Sullivan
• Sullivan's 1985 win on Indy500.com
• The Greatest 33
• Danny Sullivan at the Internet Movie Database

Sporting positions
Preceded by Rick Mears	Indianapolis 500 Winner 1985	Succeeded by Bobby Rahal
Preceded by Bobby Rahal	PPG IndyCar World Series Champion 1988	Succeeded by Emerson Fittipaldi