Legendary Team Owner Humbled as Honoree of The Amelia This Weekend
By David Phillips
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – What’s left for a man whose race team has eight Rolex 24 At Daytona and four Indianapolis 500 wins, as well as victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Twelve Hours of Sebring, Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 along with 14 IndyCar and six IMSA championships to its credit?
How about segueing into a prominent role in one of the most prestigious events on the entire automotive calendar?
That’s what’s on tap for Chip Ganassi when he serves as the 2022 Honoree of The Amelia’s renowned Concours d’Elegance this weekend, the first such event since the Hagerty automotive enthusiast brand acquired The Amelia from founder Bill Warner in mid-2021.
“Quite honestly, I was flabbergasted,” Ganassi said when asked for his reaction to being named honoree of the prestigious event on the northeast Florida coast. “I remember meeting Bill Warner years ago and him getting Amelia Island started. Now, having Hagerty take over stewardship of the event is a great thing that the motorsports world needs dearly.”
The Amelia is known for affording unique and noteworthy racing machinery a place of honor in its celebration of automotive culture. That will surely be the case this year, given that several particularly significant race cars from the Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) stable will be on display, including: the Reynard 94I-Ford/Cosworth which scored the team’s first win in the hands of Michael Andretti at the 1994 IndyCar race in Surfers Paradise, Australia: the Chevrolet Impala that Jamie McMurray drove to victory in the 2010 Daytona 500: two of the Ford GTs CGR campaigned in IMSA and at Le Mans from 2016-19; and one of the team’s Cadillacs currently competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Although Ganassi readily concedes his focus is always on the next race – be it the upcoming Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts, IndyCar Series or Extreme E events (and, before selling his stock car team last year, the NASCAR Cup Series) – he is a student of the automotive history that will be on display at The Amelia.
“History is integral to the automotive industry,” he says. “You don’t know where you’re going forward if you don’t understand your history. That says it all in motor racing as well. When (we) bring in people new to the sport, I always explain the history because some people take for granted the way the rules are, the tracks the way they are.
“Football fields are 100 yards long and 50 yards wide, but every racetrack in the world is different. Even when we try to make them the same, they’re different. So, it’s interesting to explain to newcomers how things got where they are.”
I'm looking forward to spending this weekend at @AmeliaConcours. Quite frankly I had to be picked up off the floor after being asked to be their 2022 Honoree! All my heroes are past Honorees!
— Chip Ganassi (@GanassiChip) March 2, 2022
Ganassi is keenly aware history is in the making these days. The current CGR lineup in the WeatherTech Championship boasts a pair of Daytona Prototype international Cadillac DPi-V.Rs powered by internal combustion engines (ICE) running on VP Racing Fuels unleaded gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol.
The team’s IndyCars are powered by internal combustion engines using E-85 ethanol. In Extreme E, it’s an electrically powered SUV. And, of course, come 2023, CGR will campaign hybrid-powered Cadillac prototypes in the WeatherTech Championship’s new Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class.
While some have been quick to anoint hybrid powertrains and electric motors as the future of the automotive industry and racing, skeptical observers have remained loyal to the internal combustion engine. Ganassi is no such absolutist.
“I don’t care what the propulsion system is, cars are still fun to drive,” he says. “That’s what got us all interested in the first place. I think there’s a bit of what I would call government coercion going on, pushing us on electric cars. It’s a developing technology and there’s certainly a place for it, but whether it’s the propulsion package long term, I don’t think anybody knows.
“We all grew up with the ICE, but today there are five or six propulsion systems that all do something really well. Electric does something really well, natural gas does something really well, hydrogen … diesel does something really well. I think we have to become accustomed to the fact that it won’t just be ICE platforms going forward.
“I have no doubt the 2032 Amelia will feature a multitude of propulsion systems. And there will be great stories about how some technologies have fallen by the wayside and others have come to the fore. I just want to be there to hear them!”
What’s left for a man whose race team ranks among the most successful in American motorsports and who has served as Honoree of The Amelia?
Before answering that question, recall that, prior to embarking on his career as a team owner, Ganassi bested Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan and Hurley Haywood (among others) to become the fastest rookie qualifier for the 1982 Indianapolis 500; and that he was named most improved driver in the 1983 IndyCar season.
What’s left for Chip Ganassi?
“(Beat) Mario Andretti!” he smiles. “When I was driving in 1983, I finished third at Caesars Palace (in Las Vegas) and (WeatherTech Raceway) Laguna Seca. I had really good cars and I was at the top of my game as a driver.
“But Mario won at Caesars Palace, Teo Fabi was second and I was third. Then at Laguna Seca, Fabi was first, Mario was second and I was third. I’d finished ahead of Mario from time to time, but he’d fall out with mechanical problems or something, so I wouldn’t call that beating him. But I had a real opportunity to outrun him in both of those races. And I didn’t.”
Some people are never satisfied. But that’s part of what makes Chip Ganassi, Chip Ganassi.