Team News

Ganassi Isn't One to Lap Up the Credit

By: Michael Vega, Boston Globe

June 7, 2010

Ganassi Isn't One to Lap Up the Credit

As he was in February following Jamie McMurray’s victory in the Daytona 500, car owner Chip Ganassi was reluctant to take any credit following Dario Franchitti’s triumph last Sunday in the 94th Indianapolis 500.

Although Ganassi became the first owner to win the Daytona and Indy 500s in the same year, he refused to take any bows.

“I didn’t drive either car. I didn’t change any tires. I didn’t put any fuel in the cars,’’ Ganassi said. “I don’t do any of that stuff. I have hundreds of people that do that kind of thing. I’m very, very lucky is what it comes down to.’’

That feeling was magnified Monday when the 52-year-old Ganassi beamed as he posed for photographs with his winning drivers and their hardware at the start-finish line of the Brickyard.

On Ganassi’s right was McMurray, who surprised his boss by flying in from Charlotte, N.C., the morning after finishing second to Kurt Busch in the Coca-Cola 600 to pose with the Harley J. Earl Trophy he won at Daytona.

On Ganassi’s left stood Franchitti and the Indy 500’s Borg-Warner Trophy, which will carry a second likeness of Franchitti, who also won at Indy in 2007.

The only other owner who can boast of winning both races is Roger Penske, a 15-time winner of the Indy 500 who won his first Daytona 500 two years ago with driver Ryan Newman. When Ganassi visited Victory Lane at Daytona in February, Penske texted his rival with the message, “Welcome to the club.’’

Now, Ganassi has made an even more exclusive club of one, winning both races in the same year.
Call it the Ganassi Slam.

“I’m just the guy that gets my name on the door, the sign in front,’’ Ganassi said of his role. “But it’s a lot of hard work by a lot of people, a lot of people that never get the attention they should. A lot of decision-making that you never know if you made the right decision or not.’’

The decision to bring McMurray and Franchitti back into the fold of Ganassi’s NASCAR Sprint Cup and Indy Racing League teams proved correct. But it wasn’t the result of educated guesswork, or a mere hunch on Ganassi’s part. It was his ability to recognize talent and nurture it.

McMurray won Daytona in his first race back with Ganassi, who merged the NASCAR operation he owned with Felix Sabates with Dale Earnhardt Inc. last year. McMurray made his Sprint Cup debut with Ganassi in 2002, winning his first race in just his second start in the fall race at Charlotte. Four years later, McMurray left for greener pastures when Jack Roush came calling. When Roush was forced to scale back his five-car team to four last year, McMurray found himself the odd man out.

Ganassi was quick to invite him back.

“When he left, it certainly wasn’t anything acrimonious,’’ Ganassi said.

Franchitti, meanwhile, left his Indy car ride with Andretti Green Racing, with which he won his first Indy 500 and IndyCar Series championship in 2007, and struggled behind the wheel of Ganassi’s NASCAR team. Franchitti was out of the ride at midseason when Ganassi couldn’t find sponsors for his car. When Ganassi presented him with an opportunity to join Scott Dixon on his Target-sponsored IndyCar Series team, it was a move that resulted in Franchitti winning his second championship last year. Last Sunday, Franchitti returned to Victory Lane at the Brickyard, this time chugging milk and kissing the bricks with Ganassi.

Asked why Ganassi took no credit for his feat, Franchitti said, “I don’t know what that’s about, but ultimately it’s his name above the door. He’s the man who puts all the pieces into place. Trust me, he’s the driving force behind this whole thing. That energy and that will to win starts with him and it goes through every single person.’’