Daniel John Sullivan III (born March 9, 1950), better known asDanny Sullivan, is an American formerracing driver. He earned 17 wins in theCART Indy Car World Series, including the1985 Indianapolis 500. Sullivan won the1988 CART Championship, and placed third in points in1986. Sullivan also scored a victory inIROC. He competed in the1983 Formula One season withTyrrell, scoring 2 championship points.

Danny Sullivan
Sullivan in 2015
Born	Daniel John Sullivan III (1950-03-09)March 9, 1950 (age 75) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Championship titles
CARTChampionship Car (1988) Major victories Pocono 500 (1984,1989) Indianapolis 500 (1985) Michigan 500 (1988) Long Beach Grand Prix (1992)
Champ Car career
171 races run over 12 years
Best finish	1st (1988)
First race	1982Stroh's 200 (Atlanta)
Last race	1995Michigan 500 (Michigan)
First win	1984Cleveland Grand Prix (Cleveland)
Last win	1993Detroit Grand Prix (Belle Isle)
Wins Podiums Poles 17 40 19
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	American
Active years	1983
Teams	Tyrrell
Entries	15
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	2
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1983 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last entry	1983 South African Grand Prix
NASCARCup Series career
1 race run over 2 years
Best finish	74th (1994)
First race	1994Brickyard 400 (Indianapolis)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1988, 1994, 1996, 2004
Teams	TWR-Jaguar,Porsche, Bigazzi, Barron Connor
Best finish	3rd (1994)
Class wins	0

Sullivan was born inLouisville, Kentucky to a building contractor father. He attended theKentucky Military Institute and then theJim Russell Racing School. He had several odd jobs before his racing career, including lumberjack, and most famously,New York City cab driver.^[1]

Sullivan was given a 21st birthday present of a course at theJim Russell Racing Drivers School at theSnetterton circuit inEngland. He competed inFormula Ford,Formula Three andFormula Two before returning to race in the United States.

In 1980–81, he drove for Garvin Brown Racing in theSCCACan-Am Series, scoring one victory in 1981 at the season-endingCaesars Palace Grand Prix.

In 1982, he made his début in the PPG Indycar series, and was recruited by theTyrrellFormula One team for the1983 season at the request of primary sponsorBenetton, who wanted an American driver. Sullivan competed in the fifteen races of the 1983 season, scoring two points with a fifth place at theMonaco Grand Prix and finishing seventeenth in the World Drivers' Championship. He also performed strongly in the non-championshipRace of Champions held at theBrands Hatch circuit in April, seeing off an early race challenge from1980 World ChampionAlan Jones, before finishing second behindreigning World ChampionKeke Rosberg, finishing only half-a-second behind theWilliams after 40 laps of racing.

Nevertheless, he was somewhat overshadowed by his more experienced teammate,Michele Alboreto (who won the1983 Detroit Grand Prix for the team, its last F1 victory), and was not retained at the end of the season.

For1984, Sullivan returned to North America, where he competed in the CART PPG Indy Car series. He first landed atShierson Racing, winning three races including thePocono 500, and placing 4th in points. In1985, he moved toPenske Racing, winning the1985 Indianapolis 500. His victory at Indy, known in auto racing lore as the "spin and win" is one of the most legendary moments in Indy 500 history.

Sullivan would set the pace at Indy again in1988, qualifying second and leading 91 of the first 101 laps. Sullivan was part of the all-Penske front row with teammatesRick Mears andAl Unser Sr. A wing adjuster broke on Sullivan's car just after the halfway mark, and his car hit the outside wall in turn one, ending his day. Nevertheless, he rebounded, posting finishes of 4th or better over the next six races, winning atPortland and theMichigan 500. The win at Michigan completed a career Indy carTriple Crown (Indianapolis,Michigan,Pocono). He finished the season with five top-5 finishes over the final five races, including two wins. At the second-to-last race of the season atLaguna Seca, Sullivan won the pole position, led the most laps, and won the race. With still one race remaining, Sullivan clinched the1988 CART championship, holding an insurmountable 35-point lead. It was Sullivan's first championship title and Penske's first since 1985.

In1989, Sullivan suffered a broken arm in a crash during practice for theIndy 500, and would miss two races. He rebounded to win thePocono 500 in August - his second win in that event - and one other race to place a respectable 7th in points. Sullivan's last season with Penske Racing was1990. He won two races in 1990, including the season finale atLaguna Seca. He won the pole and led wire-to-wire in his final start forRoger Penske.

In 1991, Sullivan switched to thePatrick RacingAlfa Romeo team. After going winless in 1991 in a very uncompetitive machine, he parted ways withPatrick. Sullivan won two more CART races between 1992 and 1993, driving forGalles-Kraco Racing. He scored the first win for theGalmer chassis atLong Beach. It came after he bumped teammate and race leaderAl Unser Jr. on the backstretch with less than four laps to go. The incident sparked friction within the team. His later years were plagued with inconsistency, leading to a semi-retirement in 1994. His brief tenure at Galles was described as particularly toxic.^[2]

In 1986, Sullivan was a guest star on the television showMiami 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 theMiami Grand Prix. Sullivan had limited dialogue in the episode; his longest piece of dialogue was in a police station interrogation scene.

Also in 1991, theLeland Corporation released the arcade gameDanny Sullivan's Indy Heat, featuring his likeness.

In 1994, Sullivan took a sabbatical from Indy car racing. After being released from Galles Racing very late after the 1993 season, Sullivan was unable to find a new ride as most seats at that point had already been filled. He joinedABC/ESPN as a color commentator. He also attempted to run selected events in theNASCARWinston Cup Series that season.^[3] However, he failed to qualify for several events;^[4] he qualified for only one race (the1994 Brickyard 400), and finished 33rd for a very underfunded team. In 1994, he had some guest starts for Alfa Romeo in theDTM and together withThierry Boutsen andHans-Joachim Stuck he was third overall with theDauer 962 LM at the24 Hours of Le Mans.

He returned to CART racing for one final year in 1995. His season ended early after a serious crash atMichigan 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 1996–1998.

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 ofWinn 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 AmericanScott Speed from California, who drove for theScuderia Toro Rosso team in2006 and2007.

He was the drivers' representative on the stewards' panel for the2010 German Grand Prix,^[5]2010 Singapore Grand Prix,^[6]2012 Hungarian Grand Prix,^[7]2013 Australian Grand Prix,^[8]2014 Spanish Grand Prix,^[9]2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix,^[10][11]2018 Bahrain Grand Prix,^[12]2018 Chinese Grand Prix,^[13] and2018 Monaco Grand Prix.^[14]

Sullivan andMichael Andretti were inducted into the Motorsports Walk of Fame on April 5, 2010, along the route of theToyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, which both men have won.^[15]

Sullivan serves as a senior advisor at Tempus Jets and its parent company, Orion Air Group, LLC. He also has various business relationships withLexus, ABC/ESPN,CBS,Red Bull,Acura, andToyota.^[16]

Sullivan was inducted into theMotorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2012,^[17] and theIndianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in 2022.

(key)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)(Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

• List of people from the Louisville metropolitan area

• Grand Prix encyclopedia entry on Danny Sullivan
• Sullivan's 1985 win on Indy500.comArchived 2006-01-16 at theWayback Machine
• The Greatest 33
• Sullivan spins 360 degrees and goes on to win the Indy 500
• Danny Sullivan driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Danny Sullivan atIMDb