INDIANAPOLIS — Tony Kanaan had one more lap, one anticlimactic last lap under the yellow caution flag, to end 12 years of frustration in the Indianapolis 500.
He flipped up his visor to wipe away tears as the crowd roared its approval, and then in Victory Lane gave his bride of two months a long kiss and poured the celebratory winner’s milk over his head.
The Brazilian is Indy’s hard-luck loser no more. He is its champion at last, fittingly with a dose of good luck for a change.
“I have to say, the last lap was the longest lap of my life,” Kanaan said.
It was one of Indy’s most popular victories. The losers were pleased with the outcome, evidenced by a scene similar to rivals lining up to congratulate Dale Earnhardt when he finally won the Daytona 500 on his 20th try. Dario Franchitti, whose crash brought out the race-ending caution, stood grinning by his crumpled car, two thumbs up as Kanaan passed under yellow.
“When I saw who was leading, it cheered me up a little bit,” said Franchitti, last year’s winner. “He’s a very, very deserving winner.”
The fans thought so, too, standing on their feet, screaming “TK! TK! TK!” as he and team owner Jimmy Vasser went by during the traditional victory lap.
In all, Kanaan went into yesterday’s race with 221 laps led at Indy — more than any non-winner except Michael Andretti and Rex Mays — but his second-place finish to Buddy Rice in 2004 was the closest he had come to victory. He had a pair of third-place finishes, including last year, again to Franchitti.
Carlos Munoz, a 21-year-old rookie making his first IndyCar start, finished second and Hunter-Reay was third.
The average speed was 187.433 mph, another Indy record. Marco Andretti finished fourth,.