Danny Ongais, an Indianapolis 500 icon and the only Hawaiian racer to take part in the iconic race, has died at his home in Anaheim Hills, California on February 26 as a result of congestive heart complications. He was 79 years old.
Ongais was born on May 21, 1942 in Kahului, Hawaii. By the age of 14, he was racing motorcycles, and after a stint in the United States Army, where he was stationed in Europe, he returned to Hawaii to become the state’s 1960 motorcycle champion. While he was abroad, he experienced motorsport for the first time. And there he was hooked.
From there, Ongais turned to car racing for an incredible career that saw him compete in everything from NHRA drag racing to Formula One series open-wheel racing in a career spanning five decades.
Of his 11 Indy 500 starts, Ongais’ best start is seventh while his best is fourth. In his six Formula One races, Ongais finished only a single event, which he did in seventh place – which at the time, was not a scoring position. In USAC-approved open wheel racing, he won six races to take the best championship in eighth place. At IndyCar, his best championship finish is sixth.
It is his career that is best known, as Ongais is a man of privacy. Ongais did not speak to the press. He doesn’t make many friends in the racing world. No one knows where he lives, married or not, what he did off the track. Interscope Racing’s Jim Chapman said, “Nobody really knew much about him” and said that it was only through their good working relationship that he knew Ongais was married and had a son. Roger Penske once speak of Ongais that “his whole heart was beating, it was his life.”
