Danny Ongais

Danny Ongais

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

Danny Ongais (born May 21, 1942) is an American former racing driver.

Ongais is the only native Hawaiian to compete in the Indianapolis 500. He competed professionally in motorcycle, sports car, Formula One, and drag racing.

A flamboyant figure on the racing circuit, Ongais was nicknamed "On-Gas" and "The Flyin' Hawaiian."

In Formula One, Ongais raced in six Grands Prix, debuting on October 2, 1977, and recorded a best result of seventh. In 1996, at the age of 54, he served as the substitute driver for Scott Brayton in the Indianapolis 500, as Brayton had died in a crash while practicing shortly before the race. Starting last, Ongais finished 7th in what was his final 500.

At the 1981 Indianapolis 500, Ongais was involved in a near-fatal wreck, which caused several arm and leg fractures as well as internal injuries. Four years later, 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.

Early life and career

Ongais was born in Kahului, Hawaii. When he was aged 14, he tested out motorbike racing with some success. In the late 1950s, Ongais enlisted in the United States Army as a paratrooper stationed in Europe. He was later discharged and returned to Hawaii for motor racing. Ongais became the Hawaiian motorcycle champion in 1960 and was in the top three positions in the expert class from 1960 to 1962.

In the early 1960s he started competing in drag racing. He won the American Hot Rod Association AA Gas Dragster Championship in 1963 and 1964, and in the National Hot Rod Association AA Dragster championship title in 1965. He defeated Don Prudhomme at the 1966 HHRA Nationals Top Fuel semifinals. In 1969 he won the NHRA Spring Nationals and NHRA U.S. Nationals in the Funny Car class driving a Ford Mustang for Mickey Thompson.

CART career

Ongais made his CART debut during the 1979 season driving the #25 Panasonic/Interscope Racing Parnelli 6C-Cosworth DFX. He first raced at the 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 Gould Twin Dixie 125 however bad luck hit Ongais in both races. At the 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 to its age. Ongais scored another 4th-place finish at the Kent Oil 150 at Watkins Glen International and finished in 6th place in points.

For the 1980 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 DFX. At his first race of the season, the Indianapolis 500 Ongais started 16th and finished 7th. Ongais endured a tough season highlighted by a 3rd-place finish at Watkins Glen. Ongais also made a single start for AMI Racing driving the #43 Armstrong Mould Orbiter 80C-Cosworth DFX at the Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway, finishing 11th. Ongais ended the season in 15th place in points.

In 1981 at the Indianapolis 500 Danny Ongais was involved in a very serious accident on lap 63. 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. After finally leaving the pits, Ongais approached a slower car at the end of the backstretch. He made a late pass going into turn 3. Carrying too much speed out of the turn, the car drifted out into the grey and the back end began to slide. Ongais tried to correct the slide by turning right, and the car hooked to the right and crashed nearly head-on into the wall. He was knocked unconscious by the heavy impact. Officials had to cut open the car to help Ongais out. He was transported by an ambulance to a nearby hospital in a critical condition. 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. He suffered a concussion, compound fractures in both legs, a broken arm and a 6-inch tear in his diaphragm. He missed the rest of the CART year to recover in rehabilitation.

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 in 21st place 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 place at the Escort Warning Radars 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Ongais finished in 20th place in points.

1984 Champ Car

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

For the 1985 season Ongais scored a best finish of 6th at the Beatrice Indy Challenge at Tamiami Park and finished in 24th place 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 season Ongais only ran the 1986 Indianapolis 500 for Interscope Racing. Fielding the #25 GM Goodwrench/Panavision March 86C-Buick V6, Ongais dropped out with a mechanical failure.

For the 1987 season Interscope Racing teamed up with Team Penske getting Ongais in the #25 Panavision Penske PC-16-Ilmor-Chevrolet Indy V8 for the 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 Nissan Indy Challenge at Tamiami Park and the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix at Nazareth Speedway. He would retire at Michigan and Miami and fail to qualify at Nazareth.

IndyCar

After a 9-year hiatus from racing, Ongais was asked by John Menard to fill in for Scott Brayton who was killed during Friday Practice for the 1996 Indianapolis 500. By starting 33rd, Ongais was the oldest driver to have competed in the field, at age 53. Ongais finished 7th in the race after having the best car early in the race.

Awards

• 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.

Personal

Ongais was notoriously reclusive and a private man, rarely giving interviews and revealing little or no details of his life outside of racing. Roger Penske, while employing Ongais for the 1987 Indy 500, was unable to get the racer to speak to the press, and said of him - "His whole heart is in racing, that's his life" Jim Chapman, race director at Interscope Racing stated "Nobody really knew much about him — where he lived, his family, stuff like that". Chapman did state that well into their relationship he learned Ongais was married and had a son.

Racing record

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1977	Interscope Racing	Penske PC4	Cosworth V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA Ret	CAN 7	JPN	NC	0
1978	Team Tissot Ensign	Ensign N177	Cosworth V8	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	RSA															NC	0
	Interscope Racing	Shadow DN9					USW DNPQ	MON	BEL	ESP	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED DNPQ	ITA	USA	CAN

American Open-Wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

USAC

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Rank	Points
1976	Interscope Racing	PHX	TRE	INDY	MIL	POC	MCH	TWS	TRE	MIL	ONT 28	MCH	TWS	PHX						NC	-
1977	Interscope Racing	ONT 7	PHX 5	TWS 13	TRE	INDY 20	MIL 17	POC 23	MOS 15	MCH 1	TWS 13	MIL 21	ONT 8	MCH 17	PHX 12					12th	935
1978	Interscope Racing	PHX 12	ONT 1	TWS 1	TRE 4	INDY 18	MOS 1	MIL 16	POC 19	MCH 6	ATL 21	TWS DNS	MIL 1	ONT 12	MCH 1	TRE 15	SIL 15	BRH 9	PHX 4	8th	2662
1979	Interscope Racing	ONT	TWS	INDY 4	MIL	POC 12	TWS	MIL												NC	-
1981-82	Interscope Racing	INDY 27	POC	ILL	DUQ	ISF	INDY 22													NC	-

PPG Indycar Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

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 15	ATL 14	ATL 6	INDY 4	TRE 7	TRE 6	MCH 18	MCH 12	WGL 4	TRE 13	ONT 6	MCH DNS	ATL 15	PHX 17				6th	1473
1980	Interscope Racing	ONT	INDY 7	MIL 24	POC 18	MDO 21	MCH 21	WGL 3	MIL	ONT 19	MCH 11	MEX 24	PHX						15th	601
1983	Interscope Racing	ATL	INDY 21																20th	14
	Patrick Racing			MIL 12	CLE 28	MCH 23	ROA 18	POC 24	RIV 10	MDO 5	MCH	CPL	LAG	PHX
1984	Interscope Racing	LBH DNQ	PHX 5	INDY 9	MIL 10	POR 11	MEA 18	CLE 28	MCH 24	ROA	POC 5	MDO	SAN 23	MCH 3	PHX 5	LAG 21	CPL 17		10th	53
1985	Interscope Racing	LBH DNQ	INDY 17	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	MCH 20	ROA	POC 22	MDO	SAN	MCH 7	LAG	PHX 14	MIA 6			24th	14
1986	March Engineering	PHX	LBH	INDY 23	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	TOR	MCH	POC	MDO	SAN	MCH	ROA	LAG	PHX	MIA	NC	0
1987	Interscope Racing	LBH	PHX	INDY Wth1	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	TOR										42nd	0
										MCH 17	POC	ROA	MDO	NAZ DNQ	LAG	MIA 27

¹ Injured, replaced by Al Unser

Indy Racing League

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	NHM	LVS		42nd	22
1998	Team Pelfrey	WDW	PHX	INDY DNQ	TXS	NHM	DOV	CLT	PPIR	ATL	TXS	LVS	NC	–

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Entrant
1977	Parnelli VPJ6B	Cosworth	7	20	Interscope Racing
1978	Parnelli VPJ6B	Cosworth	2	18	Interscope Racing
1979	Parnelli VPJ6C	Cosworth	27	4	Interscope Racing
1980	Parnelli VPJ6C	Cosworth	16	7	Interscope Racing
1981	Interscope 81	Cosworth	21	27	Interscope Racing
1982	Interscope 03	Cosworth	9	22	Interscope Racing
1983	March 83C	Cosworth	21	21	Interscope Racing
1984	March 84C	Cosworth	11	9	Interscope Racing
1985	March 85C	Cosworth	17	17	Interscope Racing
1986	March 86C	Buick	16	23	March Engineering
1987	Penske PC-16	Chevrolet	Practice Crash1		Team Penske
1996	Lola T95/00	Menard-Buick	332	7	Team Menard
1998	Dallara	Oldsmobile	DNQ		Team Pelfrey

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.

External links

• F1 Rejects profile