Chip Ganassi Biography
 Chip Ganassi
Owner, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
Chip Ganassi has been a fixture in the auto racing industry for over 25 years and is considered one of the most successful as well as innovative owners the sport has anywhere in the world. His racing empire includes 11 drivers that represent six different countries and seven series championships, three Indianapolis 500 championships, five Rolex 24 At Daytona overall championships and over 130 wins. Today his teams include two cars in the Indy Racing League, three in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, one Daytona Prototype in the world of Grand American Sports Car racing, two entries in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and regular entries in the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). Overall, that is at least 10 cars covering no less than five different touring divisions.
Throughout Ganassi’s career as an owner he has continued to raise the innovation bar with a constant search for a better way to do things. He is recognized as one of the first team owners to create both hugely successful driver and Pit Crew development programs. Ganassi was one of the first to create an advanced research and development group that supports all of his race programs. He also created an in depth Information Technology partnership with some of his technology sponsors (Microsoft, Dell, EMC, Syntel and Numara) to best utilize their expertise in order to benefit the race program. Whether it is to more efficiently develop young drivers or to better prepare his cars for the track, Ganassi has been at the forefront of many of the innovations that the sport of auto racing has seen over the last two decades.
The 2007 season saw his teams compile a combined 13 wins, the most in team’s 18-year history. They were led by IndyCar Series runner-up Scott Dixon who compiled four wins and an IndyCar series record-tying three consecutive at one point. NASCAR newcomer Juan Pablo Montoya and veteran Grand Am driver Scott Pruett each picked up three while Dan Wheldon made it to victory lane twice. In addition, his Grand Am team picked up its second consecutive overall win of the prestigious 24 At Daytona with Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett and Salvador Duran in the No. 01 Lexus-Riley.
After the success of Montoya’s Raybestos Rookie of the Year NASCAR debut, Ganassi again surprised the racing community. He threw conventional wisdom out the window and found the best driver he could no matter the series and signed 2007 Indy 500 and IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti to drive the team’s No. 40 Dodge full-time beginning in 2008. Franchitti will become the first European to drive full-time in the series whereby further expanding the ever-growing global reach of Ganassi and his racing operation.
Following a strong career as a driver, Chip Ganassi created his own one-car IndyCar™ team in 1990 and established a partnership with a new sponsor – Target. Success has been no stranger to Ganassi as a team owner, his open wheel teams have amassed five championships and 56 wins while overall his teams can claim seven championships and nearly 90 wins; his NASCAR teams have 12 victories and three "Rookie of the Year" titles. Ganassi also boasts two state-of-the-art race shop facilities in Indianapolis, Ind., and Concord, N.C., and a corporate office in Pittsburgh, Penn.
Ganassi solidified his place in open wheel racing history, becoming the first owner to lead his team to four consecutive championships with Jimmy Vasser (1996), Alex Zanardi (1997-98) and then with rookie Juan Pablo Montoya's championship in 1999. In 2000, Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Montoya blew away the competition in the Indianapolis 500, claiming the title for his team which had not raced at the famed Brickyard since 1995. In 2003, following a switch from the CART Series to the Indy Racing League, Ganassi and Team Target driver Scott Dixon proved they could meet the challenge of a new series and new competition by capturing the 2003 Indy Racing League Championship.
After Ganassi’s majority acquisition of Team SABCO from Felix Sabates and beginning his involvement with NASCAR in 2001, Sterling Marlin and the No. 40 team gave Ganassi his first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory, and the team remained in the top 10 in driver points all season long to finish third in the standings.
In 2003, Ganassi became the first owner to have three drivers claim "Rookie of the Year" honors in stock car racing in the same season with McMurray in the NEXTEL Cup Series, David Stremme in the NASCAR Busch Series and Reed Sorenson in the ASA Series.
 Ganassi made his foray into the NASCAR Busch Series in 2004 with Sorenson, Mears and McMurray running in eight races. The trio collected one win, two poles and six top-10 finishes. Their success led the way for a full-time Busch Series entry in 2005 with rookie Sorenson behind the wheel. Sorenson finished fourth in the championship standings while racking up impressive numbers: two wins, two poles, 12 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes.
That season also saw Ganassi expand his racing team to include two Lexus/Riley Daytona Prototype entries in the Grand American Sports Car Series and four more talented drivers. In keeping with Ganassi Racing's tradition of excellence, veteran drivers Scott Pruett and Max Papis won the Rolex Series Championship with 11 pole positions and four wins in 12 races to their credit.
With Franchitti, Montoya and Sorenson running the full ’08 Sprint Cup Series schedule, the year is sure to have its share of highlights. That, coupled with returning IndyCar champs Dixon and Wheldon, the return of Pruett and Memo Rojas in a Daytona prototype, Chip Ganassi Racing is sure to be a contender on all fronts.
Ganassi's interests do not lie solely in auto racing. He has expanded his horizons to include several other sporting and business pursuits. The 1982 Duquesne University graduate was formerly part owner of his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates and is currently vice president of the FRG Group, a Pittsburgh holding company with interests in telecommunications and manufacturing. Ganassi is also a supporter and promoter of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, to which his team has donated nearly half a million dollars over the years. |
