Tony Kanaan finally won the Indy 500 to give himself a win at the race that had always eluded him.
Kanaan ran in the Indy 500 11 previous times without winning. His best previous finish came in 2004 when he finished second as a driver for Andretti Green Racing. He had a third and fourth-place finish the last two years with KV Racing Technology before finally winning the big one on Sunday.
Kanaan passed Ryan Hunter-Reay and broke away from the pack with three laps left to win the race. He won under a yellow flag as Dario Franchitti had crashed in the back of the field.
After winning, Kanaan took off his helmet and signaled for his new wife, Lauren, to come over for a big long kiss. The two got married in March after dating for a few years, so this can be considered a nice wedding present for the family.
“I got a little bit of lucky today,” Kanaan told ABC after the race. “It’s for the fans. It’s for my dad that’s not here. But, mainly, it’s for all you guys.
“I’m speechless. This is it, man. I made it. Finally I’m going to put my ugly face on that trophy! We were known for not winning and now we’re known for winning [the race].”
Kanaan also said he promised his 5-year-old son that he would return home to Brazil to see him after winning the race.
Below are more pictures of Kanaan with wife Lauren, a former volleyball player at DePauw University and current TV host/reporter:
Here’s Lauren’s massive engagement and wedding ring that had all the other women jealous:
And here are a few wedding pictures from March:
Thanks Ry, happy you were w/ us! RT @ryanhunterreay So happy @tonykanaan & @laurenbohlander. Such a great night! twitter.com/RyanHunterReay…
— Lauren Kanaan (@LaurenBohlander) March 12, 2013
Thanks, Seb! #IDoToo RT @sebsaavedra @tonykanaan & @laurenbohlander happy marriage! Congrats! #Happymarriage #IDo twitter.com/sebsaavedra/st…
— Lauren Kanaan (@LaurenBohlander) March 12, 2013
