Danny Ongais

Danny Ongais (May 21, 1942 – February 26, 2022) was an American racing driver.

Ongais was the only native Hawaiian to compete in the Indianapolis 500.

He competed professionally in motorcycle, sports car, CART, IndyCar, Formula One, and drag racing.

A fearless figure on the racing circuit, Ongais was nicknamed "On-Gas" and "The Flyin' Hawaiian."

Ongais was born in Kahului, Hawaii, on May 21, 1942.

When he was aged 14, he tested out motorbike racing with some success.

Starting last, Ongais finished 7th in what was his final 500.

In the late 1950s, Ongais enlisted in the United States Army as a paratrooper stationed in Europe.

He was later discharged and returned to Hawaii for motor racing.

In the 1960s he won multiple drag racing championships and was named one of the National Hot Rod Association’s Top 50 Drivers for 1951-2000.

Ongais became the Hawaiian motorcycle champion in 1960 and was in the top three positions in the expert class from 1960 to 1962.

In the early 1960s he started competing in drag racing.

He won the American Hot Rod Association AA Gas Dragster Championship in 1963 and 1964, and in the National Hot Rod Association AA Dragster championship title in 1965.

He defeated Don Prudhomme at the 1966 HHRA Nationals Top Fuel semifinals.

In 1969 he won the NHRA Spring Nationals and NHRA U.S. Nationals in the Funny Car class driving a Ford Mustang for Mickey Thompson.

In the 1970s he moved to competing in sports cars and Indy cars, winning races in both types, including the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1979 and several Indy car races in 1977 and 1978.

Ongais moved into circuit racing in the 1970s, working his way up the ranks in American racing through SCCA road racing with the help of Ted Field.

Eventually progressing through regional series and Formula 5000, Ongais and Field moved to USAC and Indy cars in 1976 under the banner of Interscope Racing.

His first Indy car race was the 1976 California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway, where he finished 28th after a crash.

He also raced in Formula One from 1977-78, in six Grands Prix, recording a best result of seventh.

He was known as a fast and daring driver, but he experienced multiple crashes in his career, some resulting in injury.

In 1977, Ongais ran his first full season in Indy cars.

He had a 7th at Ontario and 5th at Phoenix and then he won his first Indy car race at Michigan International Speedway.

His most successful year in Indy car racing came in 1978.

Ongais won five races: at Ontario, Texas World, Mosport, the Milwaukee, and again at Michigan.

He also won eight poles in qualifying.

Ongais started in the middle of the front row at the 1978 Indianapolis 500, and dominated the early stages of the race.

After leading 71 laps, he dropped out with a blown engine while running in second position on lap 145.

The 1978 victory at Michigan would turn out to be the final Indy car victory of Ongais' career.

Although Ongais won more Indy car races than any other driver that season, a combination of mechanical problems and low finishes in other races meant he would only finish 8th in the 1978 USAC Championship.

Still, those five wins—three on the large superspeedways at Ontario, Texas, and Michigan, one at the short Milwaukee Mile oval, and one road race at Mosport—demonstrated Ongais' versatility as a driver.

In 1978 he also made one final attempt at F1.

He entered the season with the Ensign team, in a year-old N177 chassis, and retired in Argentina and Brazil with brake problems.

Interscope then bought a new Shadow chassis for him to race but he was unable to qualify at Long Beach and also in the Netherlands later in the season.

At the 1981 Indianapolis 500, he was involved in a near-fatal accident that caused him to miss almost a year of racing.

In 1996, at the age of 54, after nine years away from racing, he served as the substitute driver in the Indianapolis 500 for Scott Brayton, who had died in a crash before the race.

He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2000 and the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.

He qualified well over the season, earning three poles, and he finished 12th in the standings.

That year he also ventured into Formula One with the Interscope team, entering the U.S. and Canadian Grands Prix at the end of the season in a year-old Penske PC4.

He crashed out on a wet track at Watkins Glen after moving up early but managed a 7th place in Canada in what would be his best finish in F1.