Danny Sullivan

Daniel John "Danny" Sullivan III (Born March 9, 1950 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a former racing driver from the United States. He is best known for winning the 1985 Indianapolis 500.

Before Racing

Sullivan was born to a building contractor father in Louisville Kentucky. He attended the Kentucky Military Institute and then the Jim Russell Racing School. He had several odd jobs before his racing career, including lumberjack, and most famously, New York City cab driver.

Indy Car Career

Sullivan participated in 15 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, all during 1983, debuting on March 13. He scored two championship points. The following year Sullivan returned to America, where he competed in the CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) open-wheel series winning the Indianapolis 500 in 1985. The "spin and win" footage of his red and white Miller American spinning through 360 degrees down the south short chute (between turns one and two) at Indy after passing Mario Andretti for the lead in the race's 120th lap has been played on countless motorsports programs. Recovering from the spin undamaged except for flat-spotted tires, Sullivan went into the pits for new rubber, then returned to the track and passed Mario a second time twenty laps later to go on for the win. Danny would set the pace at Indy again in 1988, leading 91 of the first 101 laps, until he drifted out and hard into the turn 1 wall. Nevertheless, he went on to win the CART series title for Roger Penske that year.

In 1986, Sullivan was a guest star on the television show Miami Vice, playing a race car driver accused of murdering a prostitute. In 1992, Rare released Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat for Nintendo Entertainment System.

After Indy

In 1994, Sullivan took a sabbatical from Indycar racing, and joined ABC/ESPN as a color commentator. He also attempted to run selected events in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series that season. He, however, qualified for only one race (the 1994 Brickyard 400), and finished an unimpressive 33rd for a very underfunded team.

He returned to Indycar racing for one final year in 1995. His season ended early after a serious crash at Michigan International Speedway. While recovering from a broken pelvis and other injuries, he announced his retirement from open-wheel competition. He returned to ABC-TV for 1996-1997. Meanwhile, he moved to France, and began racing a very limited schedule in European sports cars, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Sullivan was also instrumental in the Red Bull Driver Search program to find an American driver to compete in the Formula 1 world championship. The program successfully promoted American Scott Speed from California.

Indy 500 results

Year Car Start Qual Rank Finish Laps Led Retired 1982 53 13 196.292 17 14 148 0 Crash T4 1984 30 28 203.567 17 29 57 0 Broken Wheel 1985 5 8 210.298 8 1 200 67 Running 1986 1 2 215.382 2 9 197 0 Flagged 1987 3 16 210.271 6 13 160 4 Engine 1988 9 2 216.214 2 23 101 91 Crash T1 1989 1 26 216.027 15 28 41 0 Rear Axle 1990 7 9 220.310 9 32 19 0 Crash T1 1991 20 9 218.343 17 10 173 0 Turbo 1992 18 8 224.838 9 5 199 0 Flagged 1993 7 12 219.428 19 33 29 0 Crash T3 1995 17 18 225.496 29 9 199 0 Running Totals 1523 162

Starts 12 Poles 0 Front Row 2 Wins 1 Top 5 2 Top 10 5 Retired 8

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(F1 driver results legend 2)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	WDC	Points
1983	Benetton Tyrrell Team	Tyrrell 011	Cosworth V8	BRA 11	USW 8	FRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON 5	BEL 12	USE Ret	CAN DSQ	GBR 14	GER 12	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret			17th	2
		Tyrrell 012															EUR Ret	RSA 7

CART career results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
1982	Forsythe Newman	PHO	ATL 3	MIL 21	CLE	MCH	MIL	POC	RIV	ROA	MCH	PHO							22nd	28
1984	Shierson Racing	LBG 24	PHO 6	IND 29	MIL 16	POR 23	MEA 2	CLE 1	MCH 10	ROA 19	POC 1	MDO 3	SAN 1	MCH 9	PHO 20	LAG 9	LAV 18		4th	110
1985	Penske	LBG 3	IND 1	MIL 4	POR 27	MEA 18	CLE 27	MCH 14	ROA 13	POC 5	MDO 2	SAN 5	MCH 8	LAG 8	PHO 4	MIA 1			4th	126
1986	Penske	PHO 4	LBG 11	IND 9	MIL 11	POR 11	MEA 1	CLE 1	TOR 2	MCH 25	POC 16	MDO 3	SAN 5	MCH 12	ROA 6	LAG 2	PHO 2	MIA 26	3rd	147
1987	Penske	LBG 22	PHO 11	IND 13	MIL 11	POR 11	MEA 20	CLE 4	TOR 2	MCH 4	POC 17	ROA 5	MDO 3	NAZ 22	LAG 2	MIA 12			9th	87
1988	Penske	PHO 23	LBG 13	IND 23	MIL 2	POR 1	CLE 3	TOR 2	MEA 4	MCH 1	POC 18	MDO 5	ROA 4	NAZ 1	LAG 1	MIA 5			1st	182
1989	Penske	PHO 3	LBG 8	IND 28	MIL 10	DET 24	POR	CLE	MEA 8	TOR 3	MCH 23	POC 1	MDO 5	ROA 1	NAZ 3	LAG 14			7th	107
1990	Penske	PHO 6	LBG 3	MIL 8	DET 14	POR 4	CLE 1	MEA 14	TOR 4	MCH 21	DEN 2	VAN 2	MDO 5	ROA 16	NAZ 18	LAG 1		6th	139
1991	Patrick Racing	SUR 4	LBG 11	IND 10	MIL 5	DET 10	POR 21	CLE 9	MEA 6	TOR 14	MCH 18	DEN 18	VAN 9	MDO 17	ROA 16	NAZ 20	LAG 9	11th	56
1992	Galles Racing	SUR 5	PHO 12	LBG 1	IND 5	DET 5	POR 12	MIL 12	NHA 9	TOR 3	MCH 8	CLE 20	ROA 7	VAN 7	MDO 8	NAZ 17	LAG 7		7th	99
1993	Galles Racing	SUR 13	PHO 23	LBG 8	IND 33	MIL 16	DET 1	POR 14	CLE 14	TOR 3	MCH	LOU 22	ROA 26	VAN 10	MDO 27	NAZ 20	LAG 27		12th	43
1995	PacWest Racing	MIA 9	SUR 5	PHO 27	LBG 10	NAZ 18	IND 9	MIL 17	DET 12	POR 22	ROA 25	TOR 18	CLE 5	MCH 16	MDO	LOU	VAN	LAG	19th	32

External links

• Grand Prix encyclopedia entry on Danny Sullivan
• Sullivan's 1985 win on Indy500.com
• Danny Sullivan at the Internet Movie Database