If now-retired IndyCar driver Tony Kanaan had his life to do all over again, he’d still become a racer — but with a twist. Kanaan, who won the 2013 Indianapolis 500, retired after the 2023 IndyCar season. Part of it was he had had enough, but the other part was he was hand-picked by Team McLaren to tutor NASCAR driver Kyle Larson in an IndyCar as Larson began preparations to take part in “The Double,” racing the same day at Indy in the 500 and at night in NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600.
Advertisement
Being a coach to Larson came naturally to Kanaan as he was a mentor to numerous IndyCar drivers over his career. Even if they drove for a rival team, Kanaan always welcomed young drivers who came to him, seeking out his advice.
But once he started working with Larson to get him up to speed in an IndyCar open-wheel ride, Kanaan became both teacher and student, the latter because Larson showed Kanaan why it’s an advantage to drive various race cars in different series such as NASCAR, sprint cars, midget racers and other four-wheel variations.
It made Kanaan regretful and almost jealous in a way, wishing he would have been more versatile in his own racing career, rather than just sticking primarily to IndyCar open wheelers.
“The biggest thing for me growing up, especially on the IndyCar side, we got told we shouldn’t drive anything else because that’s what you needed to do, that it’s confusing if it’s a different car, different this and different that,” Kanaan said on this week’s Dale Jr. Download podcast.
That’s why Kanaan feels Larson came to IndyCar racing with a “huge advantage” because of his versatility. “He’d say, ‘We got sideways and it was okay.’ It was never okay in my book. It wasn’t because I was concerned about crashing a car, it’s just like it’s different.”
“(NASCAR) guys drive more and are more conditioned to cars that slide more. For us, if it’s sliding (it’s) the probability we’re going to crash — that’s what we’re conditioned to.”
And when Larson finally got on track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to take his first few laps in preparation for his rookie test that he had to pass to qualify for the 500, Kanaan quickly realized he had nothing to worry about his young “student.”
“I was really excited for his first day in Indy and after he did his rookie test, in typical Kyle (fashion), he was like ‘Yeah, it’s okay, it’s not a big deal,’” Kanaan said with a laugh.
Kanaan Wishes He Had Done Things Differently In His Career
Kanaan relaxed, but watching Larson’s almost effortless way of handling yet another type of race car, due to all his prior racing experience over the years, it got Kanaan wishing he could have done things different earlier in his career.
It wasn’t until late in his racing career that he raced stock cars in his native Brazil (when he wasn’t racing Indy cars) — and even took part in all three seasons of the now-defunct Superstar Racing Experience.
“It made me think different,” Kanaan said. “I would have done things different myself, looking at how (Larson) approached it. I would have done more races, like race every day, because I wanted to be in a race car every day.
“A driving skill is a driving skill. A driver that’s fast is never going to become slow. You just have to figure out the car.”
Kanaan also made an interesting observation of the handful of drivers who have done The Double over the years: most of them were known more so for their NASCAR experience, which was an asset when they climbed into an Indy car.
“To me, the biggest challenge we have is we swap drivers between NASCAR to IndyCar and I think it’s much easier for guys (from NASCAR) coming our way (to IndyCar) than for us to do the other way (IndyCar to NASCAR) because it’s coming from something that has a lot of grip and kind of masks a lot and kind of makes it easy for you,” Kanaan said.
“So when we come to something where you’ve got to lift in the middle of a straightaway, like in Indy (in a stock car vs. an Indy car), it doesn’t compute that in my mind,” he concluded.
