Tonny Kanaan says he has no regrets from his career in IndyCar as he talks about his future which includes IMSA, Formula E, Brazil Stock Car.
As he faces his final IndyCar season of 2020 – in which he will race just five oval events with A.J Foyt – Kanaan discussed his options looking past this year racing-wise, as he also evaluated his past 22 years in the American single-seater series.
The Brazilian began his professional career 22 years ago in 1998, and from then until now, has amassed one world championship, an equivalent number of Indianapolis 500 victories, 15 pole positions and 17 race overall race wins.
And, looking back on his illustrious career, Kanaan said he has no regrets. In fact, the 45-year-old looks back on everything about his illustrious career fondly, as he stated he wouldn’t change a thing, even if (hypothetically) he had the opportunity.
Kanaan also said that if he could tell anything to his more youthful self, it would be to listen to his heart, rather than others. “I would tell the young Tony Kanaan to just do what his heart wanted to do because that’s all I’ve done in my life,” he said.
“I have no regrets for the decisions that I made. There is always the pro and the con. But probably actually the one thing I would say is Tony, don’t listen to anybody, just listen to yourself. Everybody is going to have an opinion about you, good or bad.
“But that doesn’t matter. It matters what you want. It’s what you think is right, and it’s what you think you can do in life. Everybody else, they’re always going to have an opinion.” Contrasting the discussion of his past, Kanaan also spoke about what lies ahead for him.
On this front, the Brazilian said that while 2020 is more or less the end of his IndyCar career, it will not be the end of professional racing for him, as he evaluates other series such as Formula E, Brazil Stock Car, or IMSA.
“I don’t want anybody to think I’m retiring and I’m disappearing,” said Kanaan. “First of all, I still can drive. We’ve been in talks. Five years or so in this room we started it; we’ve been in talks with IMSA and a bunch of other series.
“Even Formula E, you talk about stock car in Brazil. People are like, so what are you doing, what are you doing next year, and I think this will open an opportunity for me to do — Tony Stewart is like, ‘When are you coming back to Eldora?’
“Now I think I can do all those things. I think I will enjoy it a lot. I don’t want people to get the impression that this is it, and this is not it in InydCar, either, but like I said, that’s all I can say right now. Hopefully, we’ll surprise through the year with some different stuff.”
Here’s the sad news of John Andretti passing away
Here’s Charlie Kimball on full-time IndyCar seat
