Danny Sullivan

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Danny Sullivan
Danny Sullivan 1991
Nation: United StatesUnited States United States
Formula 1 world championship
First start: 1983 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last start: 1983 Grand Prix of South Africa
Constructors
1983  Tyrrell
statistics
World Cup balance: WM-17. ( 1983 )
Starts Victories Poles SR
15th - - -
World Cup points : 2
Podiums : -
Leadership laps : -
Template: Info box Formula 1 driver / maintenance / old parameters

Daniel John "Danny" Sullivan (born March 9, 1950 in Louisville ) is a former American racing driver .

Career

When Danny Sullivan came to Europe with no money in the 1970s, little did he know that by the end of his career he would be a wealthy man. With a lot of enthusiasm but little knowledge of the customs of motorsport, Sullivan began motorsport in small formulas in Great Britain - a tedious endeavor when you lack the support of a sponsor. After years of average success, Sullivan returned to the United States in late 1979 and joined the CanAm series there.

In 1981 he celebrated his first win in Las Vegas and finished the season fourth overall. The big momentum in the career began in 1982 with the first engagement in the CART series . He made his debut for the Forsythe Newman team in Atlanta with a strong third place. The Forsythe team decided against Sullivan when it came to an annual contract and gave the cockpit to the Mexican Héctor Rebaque . Sullivan was forced to add a season in the CanAm series and finished the year third in the championship.

The door of Formula 1 opened in 1983 when Ken Tyrrell offered him a car for an entire Formula 1 season. With the Tyrrell 011 he made his debut at the Brazilian Grand Prix with an eleventh place. He scored his first and only World Championship points in Monaco , and in the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch he even took a brief lead in a duel with Keke Rosberg . He finished the race in second. Despite some good races, Sullivan was overshadowed by his team-mate Michele Alboreto and did not get a contract extension.

Back in the USA he drove CART races again. In 1984 there were three wins for the Shierson team before the great success came in 1985. With his Indianapolis 500 triumph for Penske Racing , Sullivan became a highly paid top driver. With four wins, he also won the overall series in 1988. At the end of the 1993 season, Sullivan could look back on 17 champ car wins.

Sullivan was also a world-class touring and sports car driver. In 1994 he made several guest starts for Alfa Romeo in the DTM and, together with Thierry Boutsen and Hans-Joachim Stuck, finished third in the overall standings at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a 962 LM . In NASCAR , he drove the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis .

In 1995, Sullivan had a serious accident at the CART race in Michigan, which practically ended his career. Sullivan took on the role of TV commentator and made a surprising comeback at Le Mans in 1996. With his partners Nelson Piquet and Johnny Cecotto , he drove a McLaren F1 of the Bigazzi team to eighth place overall. Eight years later he was at the Sarthe for the last time when he drove a Ferrari 575GTC together with Thomas Biagi and John Bosch .

statistics

Le Mans results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
1988 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Silk Cut Jaguar Jaguar XJR9LM United StatesUnited States Price Cobb United StatesUnited States Davy Jones Rank 16
1994 GermanyGermany Joest Racing Duration 962LM GT BelgiumBelgium Thierry Boutsen GermanyGermany Hans-Joachim Stuck Rank 3
1996 ItalyItaly Team Bigazzi SRL McLaren F1 GTR VenezuelaVenezuela Johnny Cecotto BrazilBrazil Nelson Piquet Rank 8
2004 NetherlandsNetherlands Barron Connor Racing Ferrari 575 GTC ItalyItaly Thomas Biagi NetherlandsNetherlands John Bosch failure Engine failure

Sebring results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
1979 United StatesUnited States Automobiles International Lancia Stratos United StatesUnited States Anatoly Arutunoff United StatesUnited States José Marina failure Engine failure
1987 United StatesUnited States AJ Foyt Enterprises Porsche 962 United StatesUnited States AJ Foyt United StatesUnited States Hurley Haywood failure accident
1988 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Castrol Jaguar Racing Jaguar XJR-9D NetherlandsNetherlands Jan Lammers United StatesUnited States Davy Jones Rank 7
1997 United StatesUnited States MSI Racing Riley & Scott Mk III CanadaCanada Ross Bentley United StatesUnited States Jeff Jones Rank 16
2004 NetherlandsNetherlands Barron Connor Racing Ferrari 575 Maranello GTC ItalyItaly Thomas Biagi NetherlandsNetherlands John Bosch Rank 15

literature

  • Rick Popely, L. Spencer Riggs: Indianapolis 500 Chronicle. Publications International Ltd., Lincolnwood IL 1998, ISBN 0-7853-2798-3 .

Web links

Commons : Danny Sullivan  - collection of images, videos and audio files