Tony Kanaan celebrated at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday the day after winning his first Indianapolis 500.(Photo Brian Spurlock USA TODAY Sports)
INDIANAPOLIS After he won a record breaking championship in 2004 Tony Kanaan bought a Ferrari. After winning a record breaking Indianapolis 500 he plans to buy a house.
His victory earned him $2 353 355 from an overall purse of $12 020 065 so he may have a little more money to play with on the real estate market.
Deprived of sleep yet none the worse for wear after a night of celebrating Kanaan arrived early Monday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway media center to kick off what will undoubtedly be one of the busiest weeks of his career.
Only hours earlier Kanaan commemorated a popular victory in the 97th Indianapolis 500 his first in 12 tries to win the historic race.
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Kanaan led 34 laps including the final three when he pulled away from rookie Carlos Munoz on a restart just before Dario Franchitti crashed bringing a caution that essentially ended the race. On Monday morning Kanaan knew what winning the Indy 500 felt like. Now he wants to know what it feels like to win it again.
What drives us to do it again is the feeling you get afterward Kanaan told USA TODAY Sports. The feeling of this is what you get addicted to. I think what drives us in trying to get another one is what I felt after the race. Now I can tell you that this is the motivation. Before I didn't know what to expect. I was like 'Man can I do this '
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Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan said he always knew he could win the race but this time he had a few lucky charms.
Kanaan's championship set records for most completed laps (3 305 or every lap possible) and consecutive top five finishes (15). Sunday's Indy victory set records for overall speed (187.433 mph) and lead changes (68). It also set a record for Kanaan's Twitter handle TonyKanaan which now has more than 600 000 followers.
I added 9 000 new followers from last night to this morning he said with a laugh. It is kind of a big deal. Now I know what it is. Now I know why Dario is so hooked up and always wants to come back and win it again.
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Kanaan is considered among the elite of his generation of drivers in the IZOD IndyCar Series yet the Indy 500 always seemed to escape him. Friends and competitors such as Franchitti Helio Castroneves the late Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon won the race while Kanaan performed consistently well at Indy without sharing in the joy.
I was totally fine with the fact that I might never be able to win this thing Kanaan said. But every year I came back I knew I had one more chance. I don't know if I can call this validation but I feel that if anybody needed a validation from me this was it. Now I have a championship and an Indy 500.
The contrast and similarities in that championship season and Sunday's victory explain the roar from the crowd of more than 200 000 as Kanaan idled home under caution. Before Sunday Kanaan had led laps in eight of his 11 Indy 500s but victory had eluded him.
If anybody had any doubt about Tony Kanaan and I don't think anybody did but if anybody did it is a kind of validation Kanaan said. But not for me. I knew I was capable of doing it. What I didn't know was whether it was ever going to happen.
This time though he knew he had the car to win. About halfway through Friday's final Carb Day practice Kanaan and lead engineer Eric Cowdin decided to park the No. 11 KV Racing Technology Chevrolet/Dallara. Often that's a sign of trouble for a team. In Kanaan's case it was a sign of trouble for the competition.
It's easy to say but this was the best car I've had here Kanaan said. Everybody was puzzled when I stopped halfway into Carb Day. Everybody was puzzled by that. Some guys tried not to acknowledge that thinking I thought it was too good but I knew exactly what I had.
As for exactly what his new house will have well it must include one feature.
A nice garage would go well with the Ferrari Kanaan said.
Follow Olson on Twitter jeffolson77
PHOTOS 2013 Indianapolis 500
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