Ganassi still seeks success in stock cars
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CONCORD, N.C. -- The celebration of Chip Ganassi's success was supposed to be a surprise, an opportunity to gather his great champions and toast their remarkable runs.
He found out about it, but the celebration will stay etched in Ganassi's memory.
"It was one of the more special moments of my racing career," Ganassi said Tuesday, searching for the words to adequately describe his emotions.
- What: Daytona 500, Daytona International Speedway.
- When: 1 p.m., Feb. 26.
- TV: WPGH
- The skinny: Pole qualifying is 1 p.m. Feb. 19.
Longtime partner Target last week brought Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti together for a two-day event in Minneapolis honoring their title runs. Vasser gave Ganassi his first championship in 1996, Zanardi added two more in '97-'98, and Montoya made it four consecutive Ganassi titles in '99.
Dixon started another four-year run for Ganassi in '08, and Franchitti added the past three IndyCar championships to the incredible reign.
The core group had an enthusiastic reunion dinner on the first day, and a large luncheon with their Target partners the next. The luncheon included a tribute video to the late Dan Wheldon, who drove three seasons for Ganassi in IndyCar.
"So many years, and so many championships for Chip, and so many friendships," Montoya said.
It was an emotional two days for almost everyone involved for various reasons. Vasser and Zanardi built an incredibly tight friendship in their time as teammates, and although Zanardi now lives in Italy, the two remain close even though they don't see each other often.
"Other people could live 1,000 years and not experience the intensity or the emotions of the three years I spent with Jimmy driving for that race team," Zanardi said. "It is by far the best memories of my racing career."
For Dixon and Franchitti, it was a chance to sit back and watch the comedy routine of Vasser and Zanardi. While it was a walk down memory lane, it was yet another move toward getting on with business again after Wheldon's fatal accident in the Oct. 16 season finale at Las Vegas. Both were close friends with Wheldon, and his accident lingers over the championship, Franchitti's third in a row and fourth overall, and the ninth for Ganassi's open-wheel teams.
Motivation to win races and championships always has been what's driven Ganassi, and he's still searching for that formula in NASCAR. It's the only series he has yet to find consistent success, and 2011 was a black-eye for an otherwise banner Ganassi year.
Aside from Franchitti's title in IndyCar, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas combined to win their second consecutive Grand-Am title and were the anchors on yet another Ganassi victory in the prestigious 24 Hours of Daytona sports car race.
But Ganassi's NASCAR teams went winless. Montoya finished 21st in the final Sprint Cup standings, Jamie McMurray was 27th and Ganassi called the overall organization effort "just pathetic for a team with our ability and resources."
"It certainly wasn't the first year I've had success on one side and not on the other," said Ganassi, who ordered sweeping organizational changes to his NASCAR operation. He released three top executives, hired industry veteran Max Jones as general manager, chose John Probst as technical director and lured Chris Heroy, a coveted employee at Hendrick Motorsports, to be Montoya's crew chief.
Ganassi expects early and immediate improvement, and indicated he's not done shaking things up if the results don't turn around.
"It was obviously time to make a change and we had to do it, we had to fix it," Ganassi said. "We took a big swipe at it, and I'm certainly happy with the people that we have now. But if more changes need to be done, we'll do that as well."
Nobody doubts he means it.
First Published January 25, 2012 12:00 am
