Local Face of Racing
By Doug Kennedy

Arguably, he's the racing industry's most recognizable owner. The same can be said of his sponsor-in both open wheel and NASCAR-the bull's eye red and white Target logo. But it almost didn't happen for Chip Ganassi, who 25 years ago nearly walked away from the sport.

Ganassi began racing open wheel cars in the CART Series in 1982. He drove in five Indianapolis 500's, his best performance coming in 1983 when he finished eighth. Just five years later, however, the track led Ganassi directly to a crossroads. His reaction was to retire from racing.

"I was in my late twenties and I was wondering if I was going to get a real job in life or just race," said Ganassi.

At the time, his family owned Davison Sand and Gravel in Pittsburgh and had just purchased the Dravo shipyard. So the Monessen native followed his own words and decided to get a real job, working at the shipyard as manager.

It wasn't long before the racing that was in his blood led him back to the game. With the help of some family money, Ganassi bought into Patrick Racing, an enterprise he would solely own by 1990.

At the same time, a department store not even known in Pittsburgh came aboard as his sponsor. Target has been by his side ever since.

"At the time, they weren't even in the Pittsburgh area," said Ganassi. "They had 300 stores nationwide and now they have 1,400 plus. People at the time didn't even know who Target was. Now they certainly know who they are."

To Ganassi, his relationship with Target is one of the main reasons for his success.

"They've meant a helluva a lot," he says. "They've been much more than a sponsor. It's almost like a partnership. They're involved not only with my professional side, but my personal life as well."

Born in 1958, Ganassi's roots in racing date back to the early sixties. His father Floyd was in the asphalt paving business and one of his jobs was a go-kart track.

"All of a sudden my cousins and I had three go-karts," said Ganassi, who claims that he couldn't even reach the pedals. "That was the start of my fossil fuel fired youth."

As a student at Duquesne University in the late 1970s, Ganassi raced Formula Fords on weekends at regional tracks like Watkins Glen, Nelson Ledge and Summit Point. After finishing third in 1980 behind Al Unser, Jr. and Michael Andretti, the next logical step was on to Indy cars.

In 1982, Ganassi became the fastest rookie qualifier at Indy, starting 12th. He finished 15th overall that year.

Ganassi continued to race CART events during his years on the Indy circuit, taking a second place in Cleveland in 1984. His very next race, however, he was involved in a severe accident at Michigan.

"Al Unser, Jr. and I touched," recalled Ganassi, who never won a CART event. "I got airborne and flipped about 12 times. I was in a coma overnight and had what they called a closed head injury; a black and blue mark on my brain."

The injury didn't curtail his career, however, and wasn't part of his decision to retire-however briefly-from racing. In fact, Ganassi drove in 25 more races before entering the world of ownership.

After 11 seasons as an open wheel car owner, Ganassi expanded his racing operations to NASCAR when he became the majority owner in Team SABCO, a group previously owned by Felix Sabates.

"It was obviously growing and about to take off and I wanted to get into it," he said. "It's racing and it's damn good and it's attracted the eyes of corporate America and the fans. If you're going to be in racing, you better be in it."

Make no mistake, Ganassi is indeed in it. Ganassi's CART teams won four consecutive championships, making him the first owner to accomplish such a feat. The list of champions included Jimmy Vasser in 1996, Alex Zanardi's back-to-back titles in '97 and '98, and Juan Pablo Montoya in '99.

Ganassi cut his own path the very next year by breaking the CART/IRL picket line and bringing his team to compete in the Indy 500, where his driver, Montoya, dominated the race.

"At the time, we were the first to do it," Ganassi recalled. "But then everybody started doing it. At first, it raised some eyebrows, but hey, (Indy) was the king-daddy of racing. I don't get involved in the political battles in racing. I'm not a good politician. I just want to focus on the racing."

When CART went bankrupt in 2003, Ganassi made the switch to rival league IRL. Not surprisingly, he made an immediate impact as his driver, Scott Dixon, won the championship.

The list of drivers who have been behind the wheel of Target Chip Ganassi race cars is an impressive one: Michael Andretti, Eddie Cheever, Arie Luyendyk, Tomas Schekter, Dan Wheldon, Sterling Marlin and Casey Mears. Ganassi's drivers have captured 78 wins, five Indy Car Championships, two Sport Car Championships, two Daytona 24-Hour Races and an Indy 500.

Even though Ganassi grew up as an open wheeler, no specific style of racing is in his blood - it's racing in general.

"Open wheel may not be as popular as NASCAR anymore," he said, "but it's popular within the sport. It drives technology and innovation and there's still a place for it. It is the action, not the racing style. It's like going to Vegas and asking if you like blackjack or craps. It's all about the action."

"I've known Chip for about 10 years," said Montoya, now driving the No. 42 Texaco Havoline Dodge full-time for Ganassi in Nextel Cup. "I think he's a great owner to work for because we are very similar. We are both intense competitors and we both want to win more than anything else. I know Chip and the way he thinks. He will do whatever it takes to turn us into a championship caliber team. He is the reason I came to NASCAR and I would not have made this move with any other owner."

Of newly introduced Car of Tomorrow (COT), Ganassi says that if it is for safety and leveling the playing field, he's all for it.

"People say it doesn't look like a car. In three or four more races, they will forget what the car looks like," he says. "I'm into racing, not what the car looks like. Midway through the Bristol race, I was looking at how we were doing, not how the cars looked."

Ganassi, a Fox Chapel resident, can usually be found at his offices in Pittsburgh early in the week, before traveling to Charlotte or Indianapolis, the homes of his race shops, mid-week. Weekends are race time.

"Which race I go usually depends on where the larger event is and where I will be entertaining sponsors," he says. "But I just built a new home here, so I don't plan on leaving anytime soon."

Nor does he plan to hang it up in search of a "real job" anytime soon.

Doug Kennedy is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh.