Chip Ganassi
Ganassi at Le Mans in 2023
Born	Floyd Ganassi Jr. (1958-05-24)May 24, 1958 (age 67) Monessen, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education	Fox Chapel Area High School
Alma mater	Duquesne University (BA)
Occupation(s)	Owner and CEO, Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
Years active	1990–present
Employer	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
Website	ChipGanassiRacing.com

Floyd "Chip" Ganassi Jr. (born May 24, 1958) is an American businessman, former racing driver, current team owner and member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. He has been involved with the North American auto racing scene for over 30 years. He is owner and CEO ofChip Ganassi Racing which operates teams in theIndyCar Series,WeatherTech SportsCar Championship,FIA World Endurance Championship, andExtreme E. He is the only team owner in history to have won the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and most recently the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Ganassi attended theBob Bondurant Driving School in 1977 while a student at theFox Chapel Area High School.^[1] He won his first auto race in a Formula Ford at the age of 18. He began his CART (Champ Car) racing career in 1982 upon graduating from Duquesne. Though a broken camshaft kept him from completing his first CART race atPhoenix, Ganassi qualified with the fastest speed, 197 mph, and competed in theIndianapolis 500 five times, with a best finish of 8th in 1983. He was voted the Most Improved Driver in 1983, and took 9th position in the CART standings. During that season, he tookPatrick Racing’s Wildcat onto the podium twice, the first atCaesars Palace inLas Vegas, then again atLaguna Seca. The following season, he would go on and finish a career best second in to1984 Budweiser Grand Prix of Cleveland.

Ganassi's career was cut short by a huge crash at the 1984Michigan 500, the race immediately following the Grand Prix of Cleveland. In one of many major accidents to occur in that year's race, Ganassi spun his car coming off one of the banked turns, and collided withAl Unser Jr.'s car. Ganassi's car then skated across the grass run-off area, slammed into the inside Armco barrier, tumbled multiple times and broke apart. Unser was uninjured, but Ganassi suffered serious head injuries. When CART doctorStephen Olvey reached Ganassi he found him unconscious and unresponsive, and initially feared that Ganassi had been killed in the accident. When Olvey was about to start administering CPR, Ganassi resumed breathing. He was airlifted to theUniversity of Michigan Hospital. After a time he regained consciousness, and while initially suffered short term memory loss he would go on to feel he had made a full recovery.^[2] Ganassi never returned to driving full-time after the accident,^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} although briefly drove in both CART andIMSA in 1986. Ganassi achieved his top sportscar result in the 1986 Kodak Copies 500 atWatkins Glen that taking the Camel Light class victory, with his race partner,Bob Earl (7th overall). He also recorded a seventh-place finish a month early in the Löwenbräu Classic, atRoad America, assisted byDavid Sears. Both times driving forSpice Engineering, in one for theirSpice-Pontiac SE86CL. In what was to be his last international race outing, Ganassi was entered into the1987 24 Hours of Le Mans, as a member of theKouros Racing. One of his teammates for the event,Johnny Dumfries set the fastest lap of the race prior to handing the car over to Ganassi upon whom the gearbox broke.^[9][10]

Ganassi was formerly a vice president of FRG Group, his father's organization involved in commercial real estate, transportation and other areas.^[3] In addition to his racing interests, he is also a former minority owner of thePittsburgh Piratesmajor league baseball team. Ganassi is a strong supporter ofSt. Jude Children's Research Hospital, to which his teams have donated over US$500,000.^[11]

He attended the Monessen School district prior to his family moving to the Fox Chapel. He graduated from theFox Chapel Area High School in 1978 and with adegree in finance fromDuquesne University in 1982.^[12] He received anHonorary Doctorate fromCarnegie Mellon University in 2011.

Ganassi appeared inSylvester Stallone's movieDriven, the film took place in fictionalized 2001 season. He is credited as "Team Owner" and fieldedTil Schweiger played as Beau Brendenburg.

He was inducted into theMotorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2016.^[13]

(key)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1987	Kouros Racing	Johnny Dumfries Mike Thackwell	Sauber-Mercedes C9	C1	37	DNF (Gearbox)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1986	RC Buick Hawk/Conte	John Paul Jr. Ivan Capelli Whitney Ganz	March-Buick 85G	GTP	310	DNF (Engine)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1980	I.M.C. Toyota	Emmanuel Remion José Close	Toyota Corolla GT	ser.T1.6		DNQ

Wikinews has related news:

• Chip Ganassi makes American motor sports history

• Chip Ganassi driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Chip Ganassi owner statistics at Racing-Reference
• Chip Ganassi Racing
• Owner Ganassi gets past financial difficulties

• 1958 births
• Duquesne University alumni
• Indianapolis 500 drivers
• IndyCar Series team owners
• Living people
• NASCAR team owners
• Racing drivers from Pittsburgh
• Sportspeople from Pittsburgh
• World Sportscar Championship drivers
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• 24 Hours of Daytona drivers
• 24 Hours of Spa drivers
• SCCA Formula Super Vee drivers
• People from Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania
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• A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers
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