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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 of Chip Ganassi Racing which operates teams in the IndyCar Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, FIA World Endurance Championship, and Extreme 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's career was cut short by a huge crash at the 1984 Michigan 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 with Al 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 doctor Stephen 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 the University of Michigan Hospital. After a time he regained consciousness, and while he initially suffered short-term memory loss, he would go on to feel he had made a full recovery. Ganassi never returned to driving full-time after the accident,Wicker, Ned. IndyCar Champion – A Season with Target/Chip Ganassi Racing, Motorbooks International, 1997, page 10 although briefly drove in both CART and IMSA in 1986. Ganassi achieved his top sportscar result in the 1986 Kodak Copies 500 at Watkins Glen, taking the Camel Light class victory with his race partner, Bob Earl (7th overall). He also recorded a seventh-place finish a month earlier in the Löwenbräu Classic at Road America, assisted by David Sears. Both times driving for Spice Engineering, in one for their Spice-Pontiac SE86CL. In what was to be his last international race outing, Ganassi was entered into the 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans as a member of Sauber. 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.[1]Ken Wells, “Jaguar vs. Porsche – The Battle for Le Mans 1987" (William Kimberley Limited, , 1987)
Ganassi attended the Monessen School district prior to his family moving to the Fox Chapel. He graduated from the Fox Chapel Area High School in 1978 and with a degree in finance from Duquesne University in 1982.Wicker, Ned. IndyCar Champion - A Season with Target/Chip Ganassi Racing, Motorbooks International, 1997, page 9 He received an Honorary Doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University in 2011.
Ganassi appeared in Sylvester Stallone's movie Driven; the film took place in a fictionalized 2001 CART season. He is credited as "Team Owner" and Til Schweiger played as Beau Brandenburg.
| 1981 | Robert Bosch Formula Super Vee Championship | 6th | March-Volkswagen 79/80SV Ralt | |
| 1981-82 | USAC Gold Crown Series | 37th | First Commercial Corp. | Wildcat-Cosworth |
| 1982 | PPG Indy Car World Series | 34th | Rhoades Racing | Wildcat-Cosworth |
| 1982-83 | USAC Gold Crown Series | 16th | Patrick Racing | Wildcat-Cosworth |
| 1983 | PPG Indy Car World Series | 9th | Patrick Racing | Wildcat-Cosworth |
| 1983-84 | USAC Gold Crown Series | 32nd | Patrick Racing | March-Cosworth 84C |
| 1984 | PPG Indy Car World Series | 20th | Patrick Racing | Wildcat-Cosworth March-Cosworth 84C |
| 1986 | IMSA Camel Light Championship | 35th | Spice Engineering | Spice-Pontiac SE86CL |
| 1981 ! Brayton Racing | PHX1 | MIL1 | ATL1 | ATL2 | MIS | RIV | MIL2 | MIS2 | WGL | MEX | PHX2 | ! NC ! - ! | ||||||||
| 1982 ! Rhoades Racing | PHX1 | ATL | MIL1 | CLE | MIS1 | MIL2 | POC | RIV | ROA | MIS2 | PHX2 | 34th | 10 ! | |||||||
| 1983 ! Patrick Racing | ATL | INDY | MIL | CLE | MIS1 | ROA | POC | RIV | MDO | MIS2 | LVG | LS | PHX | 9th | 56 ! | |||||
| 1984 ! Patrick Racing | LBH | PHX1 | INDY | MIL | POR | MEA | CLE | MIS1 | ROA | POC | MDO | SAN | MIS2 | PHX2 | LS | LVG | 20th | 24 ! | ||
| 1985 ! A. J. Foyt Enterprises | LBH | INDY | MIL | POR | MEA | CLE | 51st | 0 !rowspan=2 | ||||||||||||
| 1986 ! Machinists Union Racing | PHX1 | LBH | INDY | MIL | POR | MEA | CLE | TOR | MIS1 | POC | MDO | SAN | MIS2 | ROA | LS | PHX2 | MIA | 43rd | 0 ! |
| Totals | 594 | 0 | ||||||
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