Tony Kanaan recalls his "best memory" with late IndyCar legend Dan Wheldon

Former IndyCar driver Tony Kanaan was featured in the recent episode of the Pit Pass Indy podcast as the Brazilian spoke about his relationship with late IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon. Kanaan recalled the best memory that he shared with Wheldon as he reflected on the St. Petersburg Grand Prix.

Kanaan and Wheldon made their IndyCar debut in the same year, i.e. 2002, and raced alongside each other for close to a decade before the Briton passed away in 2011 during a race in Las Vegas. The two were teammates for a brief period of time in the mid-2000s as they drove for Andretti Green (now Andretti Global).

Dan Wheldon won the first-ever IndyCar race at St. Pete in 2005, and his family was honored at the 2025 Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg, which was the 20th anniversary of the Briton's win. Tony Kanaan, who became a good friend of Wheldon despite being rivals, spoke about the same and shared his favorite memory with his former teammate. He said:

“I mean, it was a 1-2-3-4, right? If you guys remember. So this is one of my best memories. Look, this was a great venue from the get-go, right? We talk about opening season in a beautiful place. So this was always a good place to come.” (8:15 onwards)

“And for me, very special, because obviously we didn't know what was going to happen to Dan, you know, a few years later. But this is something that we can keep his memory alive. For me, one of my best memories was the 1-2-3-4, like I said, as a team with all my friends.”

All four Andretti drivers, Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti, and Bryan Herta, finished in the Top 4 at the debut St. Pete GP in 2005. Wheldon won the IndyCar championship with Andretti in 2005 and moved to Chip Ganassi Racing for the 2006 IndyCar season.

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Tony Kanaan sets the bar high for Arrow McLaren's 2025 IndyCar season

Tony Kanaan took up the role of the Deputy Team Principal at Arrow McLaren after Gavin Ward's departure from the team following the 2024 season. Before the start of the current season, Kanaan was promoted to the role of Team Principal, and the Brazilian came out to set the bar high for Arrow McLaren’s 2025 season.

Speaking about what he expects from the team in the upcoming season, Kanaan said (via IndyStar):

“All I care about is we’re going to win races, because when we do that, some people don’t realize how good that is and how addicting that is, and that’s when you start to have people clicking and buying in, cause you’re going to be fixated on being successful.”

“I want to make these guys want it as badly for themselves as I want it for the entire team,” he added.

Arrow McLaren had a subpar start to the season at St Pete, with Nolan Siegel crashing out on Lap 1. Christian Lundgaard finished P8, and Pato O'Ward made the meteoric climb from P23 to finish P11.