Not one to shy away from challenges, among Tony Kanaan's goals for the 2014 IndyCar Series season is to become the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race in consecutive years with different teams.
Seeing his twin bas relief image on the Borg-Warner Trophy would be "thrilling," the reigning Indy 500 champion said. The first was unveiled Dec. 2 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.
"I look much better (on the trophy)," said Kanaan, who is the 100th face on the trophy after winning the "500" with a race-record speed of 187.433 mph. "I was always grateful to be here, to be a part of it and be competitive. I've always said that this track picks the winner. I was always nice to the track and I could never understand why it never picked me. It was a special moment when I saw that final yellow flag come out and I wanted to enjoy that last lap as much as I could.
"Before I won the '500,' I had nightmares about not winning it and I finally won. Having my two best friends Dan (Wheldon) and Dario (Franchitti) win and putting my face right beside them is an honor. It's a magical moment."
Kanaan, making his 12th start at Indianapolis, won in a KV Racing Technology-SH Racing car. He'll drive a Chip Ganassi Racing Teams' car in the 2014 IndyCar Series season. His first on-track seat time as a teammate to reigning series champion Scott Dixon and Charlie Kimball is Dec. 4 at Sebring International Raceway.
A Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver has won the Indianapolis 500 three of the past six years and the series championship five of the past six years.
Click it: Check out the tweets and photos from the event
"When you're a race car driver, the pressure is always there," said Kanaan, who turns 39 on Dec. 31. "I feel very fortunate at this late in my career to be able to join a team that in the last 10 championships has won seven. I put enough pressure on myself to win the '500.' We put it together at a small team at KV and I turn pressure into excitement and I'm ready to work."
Five others have won back-to-back Indy 500s:
* Wilbur Shaw – 1939 and 1940
* Mauri Rose -- 1947 and 1948
* Bill Vukovich 1953 and 1954
* Al Unser 1970 and 1971
* Helio Castroneves 2001 and 2002
Kanaan will receive a keepsake replica of the Borg-Warner Trophy -- the BorgWarner Championship Driver's Trophy, which is commonly referred to as the Baby Borg -- Jan. 15 in Detroit as part of the Automotive News World Congress.
The Borg-Warner Trophy debuted at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1936 with the 24 faces of the drivers who had previously won the event. There is one non-driver on the trophy. Following the 1987 race, the 24-karat gold image of Tony Hulman, who purchased the track in 1945 and was the owner until he passed away in 1977, was affixed.
The lineage:
* Ray Harroun 1911 was the first image on the trophy.
* Louis Meyer 1936 was the 25th.
* A.J. Foyt 1964 was the 50th.
* Rick Mears 1988 was the 75th.
Kanaan is the fourth Brazilian driver to have his image on the trophy, joining Emerson Fittipaldi (1989, ’93), Helio Castroneves (2001, ’02, ’09) and Gil de Ferran (2003). Ten countries and 20 states are represented on the trophy.
Since 1990 the drivers' portrait images on both the Borg-Warner Trophy and the Baby Borgs have been sculpted by prominent American sculptor William Behrends (at work below in his North Carolina studio).
