Perennial favorite Kanaan still seeks 1st Indy win

INDIANAPOLIS – For some drivers, winning the Indianapolis 500 would make their career. Tony Kanaan isn’t looking for any such validation.\nGood thing, too.\nThe good-natured Brazilian has done everything except win the biggest event in American open-wheel racing.\nKanaan’s sixth-place start in Sunday’s 92nd edition of the Indy 500 will be his worst in seven races, while his finishes have included a second (in 2004), a third, a fifth and an eighth. He is the only driver who has led in each of the last six 500s.\nThat record has made Kanaan a perennial favorite to win at Indy. And he easily could have two or three victories if not for circumstances and mistakes.\nLast year, he had the strongest car in the race, leading half the rain-shortened 166-lap event. But Kanaan spun out to avoid a crashed car in front of him and wound up 12th when rain cut short any hope of a comeback just 10 laps later.\nThat was just the latest disappointment for Kanaan, who seems able to win anywhere but Indianapolis.\nThough he may not get attention like two-time Indy winner and childhood friend Helio Castroneves or fan favorite Danica Patrick, Kanaan has proven time and again he is one of the best drivers in the IRL IndyCar Series. He won the championship in 2005 and has won at least one race each of the past five seasons.\nBut don’t expect Kanaan to complain about anything as minor as having bad luck at Indy.\nAfter losing his father at a young age and spending much of his youth in poverty, Kanaan now lives in a mansion in Key Biscayne, Fla., with wife Daniele and 8-month-old son Leonardo, his pride and joy.\n“The way I got brought up, with all my difficulties, I learned how to accept facts and understand what you can and what you cannot do,” Kanaan said. “I’m not saying I’m satisfied with what I have all the time, but I think I came a long ways.\n“I achieved, I conquered; I won a championship, which I believe is far more difficult than winning one race.”\nAnd, while Kanaan acknowledges that Indy is “THE race,” he is prepared to walk away eventually without a win here, if it comes to that.\n“As long as I understand the situation I was in and understand, inside myself, that I did everything I could – I didn’t let myself down – I’m at peace with myself,” Kanaan said. “Do I want to win the 500? As bad as anybody else.\n“If I retire one day without winning the 500, I’m not going to be frustrated. It’s going to be something that was a goal that maybe, for some reason, I did not achieve. But I think we all, as human beings, have many goals that we don’t achieve. That’s why you make a priority list.